One Man’s Goal to One Man’s Hope
Wed, May 28, 2008
A few months back while reading an article about the impending sale of WPDesigner for a whopping $65,000 - I ran across a handful of comments about this young guy named Marc, who bought OneMansGoal.com from Bryan Clark over at Website Flipping University. This $10,000.00 sale is exciting I know, but after a number of weeks simply following Marc in his new found venture, I decided it was time to start looking a little deeper at what he was and wasn’t doing.
“My goal is to stop being a wage slave and write my owner ticket (create my own trust fund) by purchasing and developing online assets.” - Marc@ OMG
My decision to speed up this post was driven by the lack of recent activity on Marc’s blog as well as the refusal to communicate with his readers.This article will show newcomers the first hand the importance of dedication to this craft we call blogging.
“Focus, focus, focus, focus and then when you think you’re done… focus some more!”
The Make Money Online niche (MMO), is likely one of the hardest markets to penetrate. If super saturation and incredible failure rates don’t get you down in the dumps… the critiques you’re likely to get is enough to make you roll over and play dead! So the question is… Are you the right guy for the job? Marc thinks so but what worries me is his “multi-talented” mind set. Is this bad? Not really, but what Marc and thousands of other bloggers fail to realize is that blogging can be a full time business requiring more time and energy than you may have initially expected… especially if your hand is in more than one cookie jar like Marc’s.
“I currently live in Durango, Colorado and I am a Realtor and Bartender. I started learning about making money online on the 30th of November 07 and have been studying a ton about the topic since then.”
The market is tough, and only tough guys and gals that can keep a handle on the stresses should attempt such a feat. If you’re going to get involved in the blog world, especially the MMO niche, be prepared for the long haul with plenty of rainy days and drizzle of income until you make a name for yourself. I think under estimating the demands was Marc’s first mistake and it’s starting to show.
“What’s your purpose?”
I’ll be the first person to admit that I’m one of the most hap-hazard people around. I’ve built hundreds of websites, designed numerous blogs, and tried over and over again to write some of my own. In fact this blog is my first attempt to stick with something for the long haul, so I guess you could say that I’m not just a finger pointer. I’ve got to remind myself daily to focus on my blog’s purpose and it’s not as easy as one might think.
I’m not entirely sure of why Bryan Started OMG, but I can assume it was to make some cash. I can also assume that his “goal” was to build a full time income from his blogging efforts. The blog sold… and then Marc stepped in and overnight reverted the content back to where it was months ago. His knowledge didn’t match the current content flow and now he’s paying the ultimate price. Buying OMG and not being prepared to supply the “proper” content is fatal mistake number two.
“Focus = Success!”
In a comment I recently left on OMG, I offered a few important pieces of advice that I really wanted Mark to take seriously… he has yet to even respond much less take action. Here are some excerpts regarding Marc’s focus…
“…the title “one mans goal†is a bit misleading to any new visitors who happen across your site and can’t figure out exactly what it is you’re offering.”
As you can see, I started my comment subtly telling him to find his focus again and re-discover his purpose! I then decided that better advice would be to tell him why 95% of his visitors are actually visitors…
“The fact is that no one is here to learn how to install WordPress or any other “how to†technical information (try problogger for that). We are here because we want to see you go from “Zero to Hero†and share along the way. THAT IS THE ONLY REASON WE ARE HERE AND DON’T LET ANYONE TELL YOU OTHERWISE!“
And just in case he didn’t catch my drift the first two times, I added my closer! It might be a bit biased, but I think that I offered Mark some great advice here.
“Your BIGGEST selling point right now is simple. You spent 10 grand on this website when most business savvy folks wouldn’t have done that simply out of principle and lack of existing profitability. However, you did, and we want to follow you throught the successes and failures. THAT IS WHY WE ARE HERE. There are not to many guys out there who have made a successful blog from nothing so you’ve got the potential to do great things here.”
When I think about it, I’ve just given Marc a years worth of advice here. I only wish that I had someone to take me by the hand and say “Hey PB… you’re suck at giving advice… we only visit your blog to see how stupid you are” Yep, like or not negative press is better than no press… Marc needs to step up and start taking advantage of what he’s got. Not focusing on what his readers really want is Marc’s fatal mistake number three.
“To comment or not to comment? That is the question.”
It’s a pretty well known fact that commenting on a blogs is not only a way to build traffic, but also a great way of filling the gap between posts and inspiring great discussion. Addi’s blog is the perfect example of what it is to create a dynamic discussion so newbies take note!
Marks latest mistake has been to not be involved in his own blog. As I’ve already mentioned, Marc has gotten some great advice from both myself and others to which he has yet to reply. Aside from that, he rarely ever responds to his comments and it’s obviously starting to make the natives a little restless. Since there are literally thousands of articles out there about commenting, I won’t get to much more into it in this post. I will however tell you all that Marc has committed fatal mistake number four… not participating in his own blog.
In closing I hope that this article will help some of you get back on track by looking at a first hand account of what happens when you neglect your pride and joy. Marc, thanks for being a way to the means for anyone who finds this article useful, and as always, if you need something, just drop me a line and let me know!
-PB
May 28th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
We all knew Marc would struggle when he took over OMG. It’s not that he can’t do it, because he can. Dude is extremely smart, and he’s going to crack the code eventually. The thing is, and I can say this out of experience rather than speculation, that Marc needs to focus his time and energy on ONE project until he’s getting results. Then he can slowly shift focus away from that project and work on others at the same time.
Also from experience I can say this. As far as his revenue and traffic numbers are concerned… it’s going to get better. My first few months blogging, I felt like I was just banging my head on the wall, and not doing anything that would get me any closer to my ultimate goal. However, it seems almost as if there is a time frame that you have to surpass as a blogger, and then it starts to become pretty easy. After about month 6, I was brining income in ways that I hadn’t even thought of in the previous months. I was getting better and better at what I was trying to do, and no longer needed to worry about whether or not I should seek work.
Long story short, Marc will get there. It’s going to take a bit, but he’ll succeed in the long run. Of that, I’m almost 100% positive.
May 28th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
@Bryan: I simply want Marc to embrace his position as well as the position of your former blog. Yes, in time it will come. Eventually he’ll get caught up, and if he loses all of his followers in the process.. it’s okay to… as long as he sticks with it.
As for the revenue… it’s relative… and it’s the LAST thing I think Marc should be “concerned” with right now. Money will come in time as well, but more importantly, he needs to focus… focus… focus on what he’s doing and where he’s going!
May 29th, 2008 at 4:04 am
@ PB: Great post, great name and great attitude. Thanks for commenting on the affiliate post. You may have seen that I followed this one closely and was not too pleased that people were so quick to batter Marc about his purchase. Like you, I am slightly worried about how much his inexperience is starting to show but like Bryan said, everyone has gotta start somewhere. Let’s just hope he starts taking all of the valuable advice everyone has offered him. I see it all the time when people get involved in this niche and then simply can’t hack it!!!!
@ Bryan: Damn, you get everywhere!
May 29th, 2008 at 6:39 am
@Affiliate Post: Thank you, thank you, thank you, and no problem… I’m going to make it a point to check AP daily and now that it’s in my reader… I’m good to go
Hey, why don’t you grab yourself a gravatar?
May 29th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Gravatars on! Work in progress.
May 30th, 2008 at 12:22 am
I’m everywhere! Nobody can say that I don’t practice what I preach when it comes to commenting on blogs, and generating traffic and relationships by doing so!
May 30th, 2008 at 12:46 am
@Bryan: I’ll give that one to you!
May 31st, 2008 at 1:21 am
@Bryan’s first comment: Excuse me for saying this (well then again i’m not talking on you), but isn’t the whole point of buying a blog to circumvent the awkward starting period and just to get off and running. Marc had the whole internet captivated, all eyes were on him, all he had to do was stay on top of things, pump out some quality content for a good few weeks straight, and he would have been on and popping forever. Instead he’s telling us elementary things, he doesn’t have to be scholar, just do what you said the first time. Do stuff, try out products, tell us how the money chase is going, and that’s it. Like PB said, we just want to see someone else do it. Instead though, he’s posting BS, and in the - what- month since he’s got it he took a week off for vacation and now we’ve had another dry week. Not good.
May 31st, 2008 at 1:41 am
@Nick: I have to agree with you. Marc’s issue has nothing to do with just buying the thing, or having advertisers drop off. It has to do with effort!
If he’s waiting tables to make ends meet… he should post about it. I want to know that the guy is busting his butt serving bread and water to pay the server bills. Nothing wrong with hard work as it’s all part of the journey.
It’s all part of the learning experience and we’d like to see him reach some sort of goal. Growing pains are to be had in every business and blogging is no different.
As Bryan already knows, rumors have it that ol’ Marc fell for a line when he bought the site. I’d disagree, as Marc is a grown man and capable of making his own decisions - good, bad, or otherwise. Bryan on the other hand, did what he said… made money from his blog and who can fault him for it. The sad thing is, that the only thing we’ve learned from Marc so far is what not to do.
Maybe he should have just bought a scooter instead.
May 31st, 2008 at 5:17 am
Whats left to be said?
Great input Nick…..I am on the way to check out your site now as I do appreciate people who leave quality comments.
PB - as always I gotta say that you are right. EFFORT! I write all the time about people who want/hope/think that this is easy, its not. Growing pains and mistakes are indeed something that we all learn from. I would rather read about the mistakes he is making and help him along than look at another post about installing wordpress!
Bryan - Should he have bought a scooter instead? LMAO
May 31st, 2008 at 3:13 pm
“As Bryan already knows, rumors have it that ol’ Marc fell for a line when he bought the site. I’d disagree, as Marc is a grown man and capable of making his own decisions - good, bad, or otherwise. ”
Yes, Bryan took a bad wrap on this, and I don’t think it was fair. He didn’t go out and find Marc, he put up an ad and Marc responded. What’s he supposed to do, if it costs Marc 10G’s to learn that he isn’t motivated, then that’s actually a pretty cheep tuition to pay. How come no one is flipping out on Small Potatoe who took a guy for 65k that doesn’t know anything about the internet? That guy is f’ed.
May 31st, 2008 at 3:26 pm
@Nick: LMAO! You know I was just compiling my ideas for “The Pissies”. (An award system for the good, the bad, and the ugly) and WPDesigner is looking like top dog for the “Biggest Pisser” award… Wow, he should have bought a few scooters. What a jackass!
It’s issues like these that will scare legitimate site buyers away from the market. I mean hell, I’ve even got concerns about stuff like this now and I’ve been really interested in learning more about it. Lets face it, even if you DO find a buyer… what’s it going to do to the sellers reputation if it takes a nose dive?
Pretty soon it’s going to be like all those so called real estate investors who are “buying” houses for “cash” in ten days… bunch of milk duds trying to play hard ball with the big boys ruins it for the good ones.
Maybe this would be a topic for Bryan to write about on his blog… I’d be interested to see what he makes of all these flat-liners.
May 31st, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Good idea for a post, maybe I’ll take you up on it.
From the sellers perspective, here’s what I can say. When we sell blogs, most of them fail. I’ve seen it again and again. Is it the sellers fault? Absolutely not… as long as we are being honest, and representing the product for what it is, then we can hold our heads high, knowing that in an un-ethical world, we might just be the exception.
However, as far as the bad rap is concerned, how can I scam someone by giving them a chance to succeed? I obviously didn’t sell a dud. I was collecting income from it, so it stands to reason that someone else can too. Is it any different buying an established blog or website, than it is buying an info product on a late night infomercial?
Here’s the real deal. It’s not about the blog, the info product, or whatever else you buy. It’s about the method. Info products work for the person that created them, the same as blogs. I, for one, wouldn’t sell something that didn’t work, and a blog is no exception. The thing is, what works for one person, doesn’t necessarily work for everyone else. And in most cases, the reason it doesn’t work for everyone else, is because they either deviate from the method, or they never followed the method to begin with.
How many books, info products, membership sites, etc. have you signed up for, and then canceled without REALLY doing anything they said? I can’t count how many times I’ve read something that sounded like a golden ticket, and then never put the plan in action. That’s why people fail. Follow the method, or don’t complain about the product. There is no in-between. It’s either 100% or 0. So as far as the scammer tag was concerned… it’s really moronic. I sold a working product, and it still could work. It’s just going to take some effort on the new owners part. And I have confidence that Marc is going to step his game up, and realize why he spent the $10k in the first place.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:01 pm
One more point to make. My opening statement about most blogs that we sell failing needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Whether you buy a blog or build one from scratch, 99% of blogs fail anyway.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:03 pm
@ Bryan: Let me say thanks for the great reply and follow it with… I totally agree. I don’t think for a second real business minded folks think you ripped anyone off. I think it’s degenerate attention mongers (no names mentioned, but you know who I’m talking about) that use search and destroy tactics as a ploy for page views… and they should be tarred and feathered for it.
Fact is that you run a business just like the rest of us. You sold your product and that’s the end of the story… job well done. I myself, sell clients website designs all day long some of which cost more than I make in a year. What if they go out of business? Not my problem. What if a zillion lawsuits bankrupt them? Not my problem. And just as it’s not my problem when a former customer fails… It’s not yours either.
For example I bought a really SWEET domain name for almost four thousand dollars just a few months ago. I was so stoked about what I was going to build on it that I convinced myself to spend this months bonus to buy it! So… we did.
Of course I got slammed at work with tons of new projects… short handed on designers… and a new DS3 Fiber line install that cost us $26,000.00 and took three days longer than expected. A month later, I was so tired of design, and so tired of thinking about my new idea… I became to aggravated to actually use it.
Is this the fault of the seller? NO WAY! I’m the only one to blame and the sweet woman I’m marrying reminds me of it daily. We’ve all got our faults… so no finger pointing here…
Maybe you should write a course on “Blog Buying Depression”… quite a few women feel down in the dumps after childbirth and they get therapy. So what’s to say there’s no need for it in our world too? (If you write it, don’t forget the street cred!)
June 1st, 2008 at 1:49 am
I disagree with the fact that Marc was too busy with his other project to the point where he neglected his 10K conquest of a blog. Does it mean that the other project worth more of his time and focus? If yes, why he bought it in the first place knowing jolly well that he would not have to the time to manage it?
I reason it is due to the fact that he has no idea on what to do with it. Probably, he thought the blog could self-sustain the success it has tasted before or Bryan being an effective and persuasive salesman. Poor Marc, as PB has said and said it well, you should have bought a scooter instead.
But then that’s just my own assumption. From the bottom of my heart, I offer my real sympathy to Marc.
June 1st, 2008 at 2:51 am
Like Yan Susanto,
all my sympathy is with Marc on this issue.
And Bryan, your comments may sound ‘ethical’ to you, but they are full of total bs:
“When we sell blogs, most of them fail. I’ve seen it again and again.”
“how can I scam someone by giving them a chance to succeed? I obviously didn’t sell a dud. I was collecting income from it, so it stands to reason that someone else can too.”
Bottom line, you know you scammed Marc with your so-called ‘ethical’ sales talk and by presenting OMG’s ’selling points’ in a way you knew the guy wouldn’t have a clue about. But if you can sleep at night knowing deep down the real bottom line on this, then so be it.
As to Small Potatoe. No one is ‘beating up’ on him because the guy had something worth selling, unlike OMG.
I subscribe to OMG since Marc purchased it from you. I certainly wouldn’t have done that before. And the reason for that is I want to see the guy make it despite being scammed.
But my subscription to his RSS feed won’t do him any good at all in terms of sales.
There again, I guess he could always scam some other poor sucker into buying OMG and tell him that all those RSS readers will equal money in his pocket.
June 1st, 2008 at 10:43 am
It’s interesting that Mark lost his PR4 so quickly. Couldn’t have been the fact that Bryan had an advertising page which claimed that he didn’t pass PR when selling text links and yet the “sweet links” were all do-follow - in other words he was selling PR while claiming not too. Mark has since figured this out and added the no-follow to what’s left of the advertisers. I’m sure Bryan meant to tell Mark that he was in danger of losing PR for selling PR…
The RSS subscribers aren’t really 600 and change either - more like 200 and the rest were added just prior to the sale by Bryan. He added his aweber mailing list to the mix. This was done on March 26 to be precise when the RSS feed numbers jumped from 216 to 583 in one day.
I suppose all this is ethical to someone who has no problem selling a worthless blog to a total noob and doesn’t explain some of the basics to him. Hey - some people believe that suckers are meant to be taken and can sleep fine at night doing just that. I just find it interesting that Bryan is doing a lot of explaining to others about his actions - a strange thing to do when his conscience is clear. Of course there wouldn’t be any explanations if things didn’t smell a bit…
Whether Bryan did anything wrong or not is immaterial as he has tarnished his image nonetheless and if 10K was worth it then so be it.
June 1st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
@ Zania: At first I was going to tell you that the proof is in the pudding and that unless you know specifics, there could be no “witch hunt”. As for OMG, I too only subscribed after Marc’s purchase, but that’s because a comment elsewhere about said purchase got my interest peaked. I’ve actually not really gone back and read through any of Bryan’s older stuff at OMG so I’d be wrong for commenting as if I had.
@ Grizzly: Your comment sort of fell into place with what I wanted to hear befor rethinking my initial comment. You’ve added some apparent realism to the accusations that should be addressed by the accused. I HATE witch hunts, and I HATE malicious unwarranted attacks, but, you seem to have some sort insight that really could use a response from Bryan himself… The subscriber issue you mention is very interesting to say the least… I’m just not familiar with OMG’s entire online history so I’m glad you chimed in.
@ Bryan: I’m not sure if I wrote it or thought it last night, but I was going to advise that maybe you should stop defending Marc and his actions 9or lack there of) and let him ride it out. It does seem a bit funny at first glance that you’re always backing him up but it’s totally understandable too. As Grizzly said your reputation has been tarnished over it no matter what was done you’re going to have to deal with that. Your way of dealing has been rebutting and refuting. Maybe you should bring a gun to the gun fight? No more defensive arguments… simply show it and kill the rumors.
On your blog, you wrote a post talking about how you’ve flipped 55 websites in a good month (http://siteflipu.com/this-guy-is-off-his-rocker/)… with that in mind, why not make the details of those many other transactions and make them public. (They might already be, and I just don’t know where to find it)… but I think if you have had so many successes under your belt, you could snuff out the “rumors” in one well placed post… almost like designers have design portfolios… you should have ‘flipping” portfolio right?
June 1st, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Hi PB
(and sorry this is the first time I am addressing you directly)
I guess my initial post did sound like part of a ‘witch hunt’. Sorry to come steaming into your blog like that.
It’s just that Bryan’s post made me so angry when I knew a lot about what had gone on with OMG (but Grizzly explained it in facts and figures much better then I ever could).
I had come in here after checking out Bryan’s site flipping blog and seeing your comments there. I looked at your original post about Marc and it expressed some of the frustration I was feeling about OMG.
But then I saw Bryan’s comments and (especially after seeing what he was saying about selling sites which do not live up to expectations) and I flipped!
You actually have a nice blog here, so please don’t take what I said to Bryan as addressed to you, especially now you know a few more things about what happened with OMG.
I had begun to wonder though, until your last comment
June 1st, 2008 at 8:53 pm
This is the last time I explain myself. It won’t happen again on this blog or any other. I stick up for Marc, because I’d like to see the guy succeed. It’s as simple as that. I’ve been there for him from day one and we’ve had many phone conversations about what I did, and how I drove traffic and revenue. It’s up to him to follow those instructions, but if I stick up for him… it’s because I want him to succeed.
And as for the RSS numbers… Grizz, you couldn’t be more full of crap if you tried. It’s one thing speculating on how I got them, it’s a complete line of BS when you try to throw your speculation into the mix as “truth”. The RSS numbers were posted clearly in the auction. The newsletter subscribers are all legit. Each time someone downloaded my ebook, which you can find on the blog, it signed them up for my newsletter. And the ebook was cross-promoted with all sorts of launches, blogs, and marketers. So until you know something as fact, don’t throw it out there as such.
And to the person who had this little gem to add..
“Bottom line, you know you scammed Marc with your so-called ‘ethical’ sales talk and by presenting OMG’s ’selling points’ in a way you knew the guy wouldn’t have a clue about.
How was I supposed to present selling points (or statistics in this matter) any differently? You post the statistics, and that’s the end of it. I didn’t post the statistics any differently than any other person that has ever sold a site. How does posting traffic, revenue, seo, and rss numbers get any simpler? You post a number, a screenshot to prove it, and that’s it. And why are you assuming he didn’t understand what any of this meant? Posting them in a way that I knew the guy would have no clue about? It was a PUBLIC auction. I didn’t post these stats for Marc, I posted them once, and any number of people got the chance to bid on them in an AUCTION. So how could I post them in a way that I knew he’d have no clue? I didn’t know WHO would be bidding, better yet how experienced they were in blogging.
Really, can you people get any more clueless? Go back to making .25 cents a day from Adsense, and stay out of something you have no business being in.
June 1st, 2008 at 9:55 pm
It just occurred to me that I didn’t address some of the other accusations, so I might as well get those out of the way here too.
Grizz - I just re-read your comment. The newsletter subscribers were combined with the Feedburner subscribers on March 26. You are correct about that… however, the motive isn’t as devious as you made it seem. That’s about a week after I found out that you could combine your Feedburner and Aweber accounts to create one “blog blast” to send to your readers. After seeing this, I then combined them. I thought you were claiming the newsletter subscribers were fake, so my apologies for misinterpreting your comment.
Piss Biscuit - I don’t have a blog flipping portfolio as such. I do have tax records from all the sites that I’ve sold though. Also, as far as the 55 websites in a month thing, you may have misunderstood. The comment says that I’ve had months where I’ve bought and sold 55 websites. It’s always more buying than selling though. If I sold 55 websites in a month, I’d be on an extended vacation. And as far as bringing a gun to a gun fight instead of being on the defensive, I’ll direct you here - Vic’s Blog”
If you scroll through the comments you’ll see that not once, but twice I laid down a challenge to Vic that would prove the validity of my claims. I said that if it was proven, he’d have to issue a video apology. His comment dodged the issue, and he hasn’t accepted.
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:46 am
PB. I would like to thank you for bringing this topic up and apologize if I seem to bogart your comments - I don’t mean to be so rude.
I am pleased to see that Bryan re-read my comment and corrected his error and apology accepted. This leads me to believe we can have a civil discussion.
My concern is pretty straight forward; did Marc know that his feed numbers included mostly names on an email list? I’m sure we can agree that an email list is quite different from a feed subscriber list - the latter being much more involved in the day to day traffic a blog may receive. The fact that the aweber list was added just prior to the sale does look a bit like padding the numbers which would be acceptable provided the buyer was made aware of what had transpired.
Also, did Marc know that he was in a position to lose his PR due to the fact that the site was selling paid links? His own comments on one of the posts seemed to indicate that he was unaware of what paid links were or what do-follow/no-follow was all about.
I am not interested in a witch hunt and am simply pointing out a few of the problems I observed with the sale of this blog. I’m sure Bryan can understand how those with some experience in these matters might view these two issues as being relevant items of concern.
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:09 am
Grizz - I appreciate the civil tone, and I’m willing to discuss these matters all day in a calm and rational way. I’m not so willing to hear that I’m a scammer, with no justification to even use the term. To answer your questions…
Rss/Newsletter Subscribers - Yes, Marc knew, as did anyone who bid or viewed the auction. The auction actually had many more Rss subscribers than were listed. This was due to complications in transferring the feedburner account back to me when I repurchased the site in December from Austin. However, the only claim that I made was that they should assume the number posted (slightly over 200) was correct, since I had no way to prove that there were more. So, I listed it as having somewhere in the neighborhood of 220 Rss Subscribers and 500+ Newsletter subscribers. These stats were posted within the auction, and backed up by screenshots (also in the auction). And the only reason the Newsletter subscribers were added to the Feedburner account, even though I can agree that it may look like stat-padding (even though I accounted for them honestly in the auction statistics), is so that I could keep my newsletter subscribers more involved in the blog itself. As you said, Rss subscribers are more involved, and so by adding my newsletter list to feedburner, it allowed me to effectively turn them into Rss email subscribers. It was merely an experiment, and I’m not sure if Marc kept up with it or not.
Paid links - Marc and I had a few in depth conversations about the Pro’s and Con’s of paid links. It was his choice to keep them “no-follow”. I informed him that it was a double-edged sword… if you take away no-follow, you may lose advertisers… but if you keep them, you may lose PageRank. In the end, his decision was that the advertisers made him money, and PageRank didn’t, and I agreed with his assessment. It’s unfortunate that he dropped a couple of points, but he knew the risks. It’s only after the PR drop, that he added no-follow to the links in the sidebar. I believe he sent in a reconsideration request, and hopefully he goes back to a 4, or even a 5 at this point.
Grizz, if you have any more questions, I have no problem answering them. I have nothing to hide, and I’m really tired of my name being dragged through the mud over something that I really had no control over. As I said, it was an auction, and Marc won. It’s as simple as that. I didn’t single him out, he placed a bid, and we agreed to terms on a sale. If I had it to do over again, I would have waited a few more days, because I had higher offers after I agreed to terms with Marc. But I’m an ethical guy, and backing out of a verbal agreement is bad business.
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:11 am
Correction - It was his choice to keep them “do follow”
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:17 am
Thanks for clearing that up Bryan. I have found that there are always two sides to every issue and have wondered just how much Marc was aware of. Unlike you he has not been very forthcoming. It seems that he did know more than he let on (The paid links). Appreciate you taking the time to answer and I think you’ve cleared the air somewhat - at least from my perspective.
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:28 am
No problem Grizz, and thanks to PB for letting me air out everything. I just wish your buddy Vic had the same clear head, and would accept reason.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:24 am
Now isn’t this what it’s all about? Awesome discussion! Thanks Bryan for sticking with it. I knew that things would come to light.
@ Grizz: Thanks and no problem. I think that we all have a more clear understanding of what transpired now. In truth, I think Marc’s lack of communication on almost every level sort of played apart in the “assumptions” about Bryan. I’m glad that you;ve found a little clarity.
@ Zania: No problem there either. I’m an avid follower of the proof is in the pudding. Bryan has always been a straight forward guy and it’s only fair that he gets heard.
@ All: I almost closed commenting last night out of frustration, but I’m glad I was advised otherwise. The topic was about Marc and learning what not to do… it had nothing to do with the actual purchase or sale of OMG. That said I’m glad that the fog has lifted and appreciate all of you who have helped make this one informative discussion and learning experience.
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Glad you did not close comments, this has been one hell of a read! Is everybody friends again?
As for OMG I can only hope he reads Justins case study over at seozombie!
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
@ AP: I think all is well under the hood at PB thanks to the professionalism of all these awesome contributions!
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:05 am
Wonderful post and discussion. btw, never close comments on something like this. Even it it goes off topic, you’re getting free content generated by others =P This page is now 2 to 3 times longer than just the post alone. I’m sure you got a lot of love from Google because of this post.
I’ve been very vocal about the O.M.G. situation at my blog and would love to see Marc pull his stuff together. I know he might have other things going on, but he should capitalize on the press he’s getting. Right now would be a perfect time for him to jump back in. His press from the sale had died off, but now people are talking about him again. I wrote a post giving him some honest advice. I even emailed him recently offering to work with him behind the scenes to help out (he hasn’t replied). I hope he listens to people and takes the help people are offering.
I liked seeing the discussion with Grizz.
This made me laugh “making .25 cents a day from Adsense”
If anyone doesn’t know who Griz is, Google Make Money Online. He’s the guy who ranks in the top 5 with his blogspot blog. Griz knows his stuff.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:37 am
Justin - I’m well aware of who Grizz is. The comment was directed towards Zania.
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:26 am
Sorry PB, but I have to comment again here.
I was going to leave the matter as closed, and just be grateful that at last Bryan has been able to give some more information on the situation which was of concern to an awful lot of people.
The fact that he has been able to do this on your blog because you kept the comments open and allowed everyone their say is good.
And I admit, steaming in here and calling out Bryan as a ’scammer’ was not the most diplomatic thing to do and I still have my doubts, because I know [and yes, 'know' is the correct term] that any facts can be altered, especially when one has the time to do so. Having said that, Bryan has been able to state his case and provide the other side to the story which had, in some ways, been missing up until now. Which I guess is all anyone can do in his situation.
But the main reason I came in here again was the throw away remark about ‘25 cents adsense’ which Bryan has now said he did address to me.
Yes Bryan, I deserve that cheap remark for calling you a scammer. Fair enough. But when you state that I am clueless, you do not know me. You do not know how much I knew about how the advertising went down with OMG and you certainly do not know anything about the way I make money.
This is not the place to get into a ‘who earns what’ discussion and let’s face it, when people say ‘I have nothing to hide’, very few people actually mean it. There are facts and then there are ‘facts’…
So I will not be ‘proving’ to your satisfaction whether or not I make ‘25 cents with adsense’ as to do so would be entirely pointless and of no benefit to you, me, or anyone else other than the tax man.
Just to say, you could well be wrong.
And at the end of the day, my real concerns are still with Marc and I hope that he takes your advice PB and Justin’s too and soon gets his act together.
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Zania - The comment about making .25 cents a day with Adsense was out of frustration. I apologize. I’m sure you can imagine how exhausting it is having to defend yourself to unwarranted claims over and over again. Once again, I apologize for the cheap shot,and I wish you lots of luck with your blog. If I can ever be of assistance, let me know.
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Actually Grizz, Marc didn’t know more than he let on, I actually had to set up his links for him. I’ve been corresponding with him through email, and I’ve tried to help in any capacity I could. This was one of those.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
now the site is down
June 5th, 2008 at 12:01 am
I know… I sent a screen shot on over to Bryan showing him… Not sure if he knows yet!
June 5th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Way to spend $10k!!!!
June 5th, 2008 at 1:03 am
I know huh! And here I thought Marc was going to be a real winner. Maybe he actually stepped out of the dark and started reading what other bloggers were saying. I might turn PB off too, if the natives were as restless.
June 5th, 2008 at 2:38 am
I saw you left a comment over there about ‘is it for sale, I’m interested’ did you mean OMG? I bet you could get it for a knockdown price now!!! you’d have to get in quick before Bryan buys it back again and turns it over once more… Actually he is probably sick to death of hearing about it.
Were you serious PB?
June 5th, 2008 at 2:43 am
Very. I’d do it… just for the publicity
June 5th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
It would be a great PR move… and I thought the same thing when it went down about Bryan. Well, actually I was wondering if he or PB bought it.
June 5th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I think Marc got beat down too badly… he likes to play around and not “work”… thought it would be easier… decided to become a Sherpa on Everest… or I’m way off base and it’s my internet connection
… if not… he’s just made a fatal mistake. I even offered to buy the damn thing I would have paid good money for it… it would have been a GREAT PR deal!
June 5th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
He’s having server problems. I just emailed him today. Better believe I would have swooped in and bought it
June 7th, 2008 at 5:02 am
Bryan,
The people would probably go nucking futs if you bought it back again.
June 7th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Really really interesting read. Bryan I think I discovered your blog shortly after you started it and I have to say that where you’ve taken it, and any other sites you’ve been involved in has been pretty impressive.
Just a questions… would everyone be talking about this if Marc had taken OMG to new heights? Or what if someone else bought it for $9500 that had more of a clue and they made a success out of it? I think you would have been off the hook Bryan.
I have no idea why some of you are so sure Marc will be able to make a go of this. So far he hasn’t proven a thing. His posts are pretty basic, although I do like what he’s doing with video. Not to come across like an ass kisser because I’m not, but I think Bryan has shown that he knows his stuff and is a talented marketer. These aren’t skills that everyone has and, from what I’ve seen so far, I’m not sure Marc has it in him.
I wish him the best of luck and, like most of us, would really like to see him take OMG to new heights. He’s had a head start in the publicity department and has done nothing with it though and that doesn’t bode well.
So I guess, in short, I don’t think Marc is right for the job but that’s not going to stop me from hoping that he proves me wrong. The reason for that is like you said PB, we want him to go from zero to hero after having spent a crapload of money on something that might not have been worth that much to someone more savvy.