Affiliates Who Abandon Their Sites

**pandadragon** · 28-01-12

I was just checking my top competitors out on Google and i came across a site which basically in principal is the same as one side of my site which is a online shopping sites index, however i noticed it has a hell of alot of dead links from old awin advertisers.

This sort of thing annoys me because they are on top of page 1 on google results with dead links which are useless to visitors, and also annoys me because i have spent years refining my site learning from errors and doing my best to get my site the best it can be.

Btw these are extreme,y old merchants that have left awin years ago so its not like you could say they have been busy.

I can half see their logic .... leave site up even though i have abandoned it in the vain hope i get the odd comms.

Is this a common practice people do ? surely just take it down would be better !!

.. Sorry about the mammoth post, just needed to air my opinion.

Thanks

Phil

**pandadragon** · 28-01-12

Surely its better to just remove them?

Then one it gets rid of useless dead links people cant use and give way to others who are actively doin updated sites to get good results seems these ppl have moved on?

**kamikaze** · 29-01-12

like findlite says, they've probably moved on to better things and happy for the site to bring in small amounts of commission without any work involved.

have you thought about offering to buy the site off them ?

**John Jupp** · 29-01-12

Originally Posted by pandadragon

...and i came across a site which basically in principal is the same as one side of my site which is a online shopping sites index

I have just such a shopping sites index (and offers) site (.com) that I haven't the time to update and it's a generic and #1 literally globally. Has been for over 7 years.

Would happily sell it.

I can understand your frustration at rubbish sites being above you in the listings. If I had the time I would spend more on mine. However I won't abandon it simply because it is #1. Eventually I may find the time to keep it updated, unless someone makes me an offer.

*edit* ranked #1 for the generic term out of 570,000,000

**John Jupp** · 29-01-12

ROFL

It's even ranked #1 on Google China. (#1 in most countries)

**AffirmUK** · 29-01-12

Is a big problem or you could treat it as an opportunity? If they hadn't abandoned their sites then they would be potentially taking an awful lot more business from you now? So don't forget they are not just blocking you but your competitors too. I would recommend getting a third party to make an offer for their website and try to acquire it for as little as possible?.. Every cloud...

**aotagain** · 29-01-12

Obvious lesson there as well. Old established sites are an advantage - although the generic must help I guess. There are also retailer sites out there from businesses that no longer exist and I know a holiday cottage guy who has a 6 year old rubbish site featuring his cottages and a much better one, carefully constructed on a more relevant domain. Guess which one is on page one and which one can't get above page 3. No duplicate content either because the old one was rather badly written !

**pandadragon** · 29-01-12

I have considered the buying route, there is one that expires domain in Feb so im poised haha , my domain is 5 years old this year so that goes in its favour.

How much would you sell it for out of interest John ?

**forexaffreviews** · 29-01-12

Aged domains definitely fare better than newer ones. And yes it can get quite frustrating to see an abandoned site being ranked higher than yours. Directly approaching the domain owner to buy it off might evoke an unrealistic price demands .... comes down to how good you negotiate with them.

Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes.

P.S: Keep an eye out on that domain which expires in Feb. It has a redemption period bla bla.. maybe you should backorder the domain just to be safe (however neither does a backorder guarantee the domain).

**MattSweet** · 29-01-12

I have a few old sites that do the odd commissions and are worth renewing. But I've started to go through them and make them adsense only info sites - because of this EU cookie thing.

The chances are minimal but I'd hate to get caught out on the cookie issue by a crappy site making £50 a year that I'd almost forgotten about.

**AffirmUK** · 29-01-12

Originally Posted by MattSweet

I have a few old sites that do the odd commissions and are worth renewing. But I've started to go through them and make them adsense only info sites - because of this EU cookie thing.

The chances are minimal but I'd hate to get caught out on the cookie issue by a crappy site making £50 a year that I'd almost forgotten about.

I'll be damned if I let any EU law make me compete at a lower level than our friends across the pond or anywhere else for that matter. You need to think about circumnavigating this red tape with a no compromise attitude. By May, all of my sites will be owned by 3rd parties in Asia but legally entitled to me via a nominee agreement. that extra 'click' could kill a decent percentage of your business.

**pandadragon** · 30-01-12

True true i can see your views, im keeping an eye on domains lol to see if i can aquire them on renewal as some are due for renewal afte 6-8 years so they may have forgot or wont renew (i hopes)

Another question do you think sites like mine can survive now we are in the age of voucher code sites and nectar etc?

Ta

Phil