Revealing My Sites: Pro and Cons

[999gi]

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Ive been thinking recently as to whether Im being really silly concealing what my sites are from everyone, so I thought Id use the power of the forum to get some advice on whats best.

Plenty of people splash their sites all over the forum yet just as many guard them with their life like some secret cult.

So heres what I have fo revealing

PROS
Spread the word - easy marketing
Your competitiors know about you anyway from the search results etc.
Word spreads so many of the serious players/threats find out anyway
Opportunities for PMs offering interesting alliances etc

CONS
People who didnt know about you may will copy your ideas
You could end up with loads more PMs most of which could be spammy or time consuming

So what should I do?

[morleymouse]

most of my sites are pretty well interlinked, so reveal one and reavel quite a few. a few folk on here know a few of mine that ive told. a few others may know some of mine if they have checked whois results on search terms, seeing sites that way as I certainly see sites by people on here showing up in a few of the areas I target.

another con is if you find a nice niche area and you want to exploit it, you deserve to get the rewards. quickest way id do this is link to th new site from a bit-ish existing one to pass on PR, get a quick spidering etc and if everyone knows your sites then they'll see and soon your small non competative niche area is full of competition.

I think its good as it stands, if people want to share their sites they can. But its accepted that not sharing is fine too.

You could then argue that your just taking from the forum, using other peoples ideas without putting back in. But I contribute sometimes, help people out etc and dont need to post urls to do so

hm, just my thoughts

[renegade]

We did have this discussion on the forum a while back, probably several times, and I've been both sides of this fence.

I'm happy to disclose my sites to anyone I meet at get2gethers, chat to by email or who anyone who posts to the forum that simply wants to know and asks me privately but there are so many lurkers whose motives for reading the forum are unclear that I prefer not to include the URLs publicly on the forum.

[John]

Each to their own I reckon... I can see why some people choose not to disclose their URLs on a public forum, but some guard it even closer than the Enigma.

If your site is successful, then people will already know about it - There's this amazing tool that can easily find successful affiliates websites... It's called Google

There are Pros and Cons to both sides, and if you wish to keep your URL private, then people should respect that.

[loquax]

I think it's best to keep things under your hat ....

Seriously, I don't mind people knowing - and for me, who finds G2G's and networking not the most comfortable experience to behold, it does help with setting up one or two contacts via the old fashioned way of email rather than this new fancy idea of meeting real people

Jason

[giveasyouget]

I can totally understand people wanting to hide their sites away but I think John's very right when he points out that Google will reveal all quite quickly however those who do have niches have every right to guard them - who's to say someone from on here would ever search for that particular area?

Most of the time I haven't plugged anything else is cos I simply don't have anything I'm proud of enough yet, rather than any real desire to keep things hidden...

[ianm]

Originally posted by John
If your site is successful, then people will already know about it - There's this amazing tool that can easily find successful affiliates websites... It's called Google

That really depends on the type of site - if it's a portal / shopping directory type then agreed there really is no point in hiding it as if it's doing well everyone will see it on Google using the same terms as everyone else .

However what if I'm making a fortune from a niche site promoting 'Blue Widgets' because I've managed to optimise for some good keywords with little competition. If I splash it all over the forum - everyone (including the multitude of lurkers) can see it and soon everyone and his dog will be competing with me.

If I don't advertise it then the only people that will see it are those who are actually looking - and they are either looking to buy blue widgets or they've had the same idea as me.

[999gi]

Do those of you that do reveal your sites think you get positive benefits from doing it - so far all Im hearing really is that the downsides arent that significant, but if there are no real upsides then why bother I guess.

[Rich]

I'm normally quite open, working on the fact that if people want to copy sites they will find them. Having said that I did have a very niche area that I promoted via a minisite and PPC that was doing well and I wouldn't let on about that - unfortunately it sank while at the g2g

The main reason I post sites on here is just to get feedback on what people think of them. It might mean some people think about using your ideas, but that is likely to happen anyway if the site is successful, so the feedback is worth it.

The other way around that is just to ask people by email/messenger, but were all busy people so I find a post for comments gets a better response.

Back to your original cons, I don't think I get anymore PMs because I let some of my sites be known.

[Frostie]

I obviously hide my sites as you can tell in my current and past signatures - its just that I am not very good at it

OK Seriously, I have no problem letting people know my sites, as has already been said, find 1 of them, and you will find (nearly) all of them

I welcome feedback on the deisgn of my sites, most of which I try to take note of and seriously consider any suggestions. By not hiding my sites, it has led to a few additional PM's but this is mainly from people wanting to swap links - and to be honest, its from members here who are 'old timers' anyway.

As for sites being copied - I couldn't be bothered and seriously believe that nowadays there aren't many ideas that haven't been created, so a unique or niche market will only stay unique/niche for a short time anyway, whether you post the url here or not. I have had sites ripped off before, but if I am doing a good job, then I have nothing to worry about.


I always try to imagine my website as a shop - did B&Q hide their shops from people who worked for homebase? No. Tesco vs Sainsbury? Aldi vs Somefield? BA vs Virgin? I really don't see the point of hiding to be honest. My only concern is when someone rips the actual pages - ie, the layout, the graphics etc. This has happend to me before, but hey ho - such is life.

The decision is yours........

[Dynamoo]

I think it's useful to share your site information when you're starting out and ask for a site review either here or on another board. That way you'll get some good positive feedback.

But if the site is earning money.. well, let's put it this way, once you've had the pain of someone ripping off your whole site, you'll appreciate why people don't like to share.

[ChrisM]

I'm not particularly protective of my sites staying secret - but equally can understand why some people are protective.

I think it comes down to how confident you are that you are and can continually be the best in your area - if someone copies me, I dont have a problem copying back - although I won't go and nick someone elses idea unless they've clearly done that to me first.

I'd like to think that the reason some of my sites are successful whilst other sites offer similar content is that I've pitched them at the target audience more effectively - just because one site is loaded with whizz bang features doesnt necessarily mean its better. I hold a strong belief that people use the internet to get what they want as fast as possible, and some sites make things far far too difficult.

I did my dissertation at Uni on Human Computer Interaction - I wish I'd known then what I know now!

Has it ever been considered that a directory of affiliate sites should be set up through the forum? I'd be more than happy for my sites to go in there - at the end of the day, if people steal the ideas (most of which aren't exactly ground breaking anyway) then they must be short of ideas so they probably wont be a threat. I'd like to think other forum users could get ideas from what I've done before - the chances of them coming up with exactly the same ideas as me are pretty remote anyway.

[Green2K]

I have had dozens of ripoffs of my sites. Includes a fair few merchants ripping me off.

The latest, which I discovered yesterday is by some guys in Ukraine. Exact copy.

999gi -- most of the interesting people already know your network of sites so there is not much to gain on the upside in terms of new contacts and partnerships. On the downside you're likely to spawn copycats.

HTH,

Green2K.

[Frostie]

Originally posted by ChrisM
I won't go and nick someone elses idea unless they've clearly done that to me first

Chris

The problem is, that how do you know that you were the very first person who came up with the idea? This is what I mean when I say there is nothing unique anymore.

It may be that I created a site, in Jan, you created a site in March and you were quicker/better at SEO than me and you site gets listed in Google quicker. Come November, you may then stumble across my site and presume that I had ripped your idea for a site.

Interesting thread this

[harris1]

I can understand both points of view to be honest. I stand somewhere in the middle. As someone else has mentioned, if I know the person from the forum or meet someone at a G2G I will happily discuss my sites. If someone asks me I will tell them normally.

At the end of the day if you do well with a number of networks, they know your sites. Knowing the people I deal with they will talk freely about the big players so there are no real secrets.

It’s a bit different if you are just going to add sites to your signature or list them in a thread. If I want some advice and constructive criticism I will just ask.

As they say lose tongues lose lives, unfortunately there are people out there without any morals and will do anything to make cash. That includes ripping off your hard work.

I would say that if you want advice, to share ideas and network, do it at the G2G`s. I much prefer doing this sort to thing face to face so I know who I am dealing with. Its how I prefer to build up contacts and a network, takes longer but I feel more comfortable with it.