Why would you need a partner for a simple affiliate site like this?
I plan on expanding quite a bit. Setting up a huge network of sites, expanding on features, working out the best ways of marketing and SEO.
Ask HN: I'm looking for a partner
41–50 of 61 posts
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a partner
#42since iPad is a registered trademark...you can lose that domain at any time Milk it as much as you can...but don't expect to keep it forever. I think a big problem with trying to rank for trademark terms, is that you'll never beat out apple for the #1 position. So even though "ipad case", is searched 70K+ a month, #2 position will only see a 1/3 of that if lucky.
Do you think Apple would come at us?
eventually yes...they have to defend their trademark or they'll lose it.
Here you can see a bunch of domains that they fought for:
http://www.udrpsearch.com/index.php?query=apple&search=p...
Granted for each one of those, there are probably hundreds of domains flying below apple's radar...but if you get big, you can expect them to sue.
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a partner
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you think Apple would come at us?
eventually yes...they have to defend their trademark or they'll lose it. Here you can see a bunch of domains that they fought for: http://www.udrpsearch.com/index.php?query=apple&search=p... Granted for each one of those, there are probably hundreds of domains flying below apple's radar...but if you get big, you can expect them to sue.
I'm prepared to think we're safe, for at least quite a while. I imagine they would allow you to move before having to give it up as well. They seem to mainly be after direct names e.g. iPod Nano, or Airport, etc.
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a partner
#44Ok, so I've found this rip of a site: http://ipadcasestore.org. What should I do? I know we bought the theme, but they ripped the concept, the filtering, the theme, etc. This sucks! (Also, they're ranking for our keyword - Which we had for about a week, then Google dropped us from all major keywords).
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a partner
#45Ok, so I've found this rip of a site: http://ipadcasestore.org . What should I do? I know we bought the theme, but they ripped the concept, the filtering, the theme, etc. This sucks! (Also, they're ranking for our keyword - Which we had for about a week, then Google dropped us from all major keywords).
Oh that is harsh! What douche bags!
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a partner
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
eventually yes...they have to defend their trademark or they'll lose it. Here you can see a bunch of domains that they fought for: http://www.udrpsearch.com/index.php?query=apple&search=p... Granted for each one of those, there are probably hundreds of domains flying below apple's radar...but if you get big, you can expect them to sue.
I'm prepared to think we're safe, for at least quite a while. I imagine they would allow you to move before having to give it up as well. They seem to mainly be after direct names e.g. iPod Nano, or Airport, etc.
what I would do in your position is start a site called skinz.com or something along those lines.
And use the ipad site as a way to direct traffic to it. i.e. in the footer list "a skinz company". Also setup a newsletter and add a subscribe to newsletter button prominently on your site. This way you'll have a way to contact your users when Apple hits you(and if you get big, they will). Then you just tell them to come to your skinz.com/apple-ipad-skins website and instead of losing all your traffic, you'll lose just half.
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a partner
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
We track our search term rankings daily and they frequently drop off the frontpage google results for a day than come back higher up or at the same rank the next day. Google is constantly testing sites and seeing which ones perform well. I wouldn't be worried unless its still not back in 2-3 days.
It's been one week, and a copy cat site ipadcasestore.org has ranked much better than us. I'm quite annoyed!
Think of imitation as flattery. It also gives you a chance to think about whether your competitive advantage is easily duplicated. And I mean that in a positive way. Really nice site. =)
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a partner
#48I just clicked on a link over to a vendor, and didn't see any affiliate tags on the URL. How do you make money on this purchase?
The product was the first one (CNS360 Neoprene)?
Great looking site, and nice idea.
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a partner
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a bit of a problem. We had a very high ranking position on that term #5 or so. Then we suddenly dissappeared on every single term. We're trying to get in touch with Google on this issue - just to make it clear - we did no spam / blackhat.
We track our search term rankings daily and they frequently drop off the frontpage google results for a day than come back higher up or at the same rank the next day. Google is constantly testing sites and seeing which ones perform well. I wouldn't be worried unless its still not back in 2-3 days.
What tool do you use to track search term rankings? Manually or automated?
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a partner
#50I just clicked on a link over to a vendor, and didn't see any affiliate tags on the URL. How do you make money on this purchase? The product was the first one (CNS360 Neoprene)? Great looking site, and nice idea.
We only make money on some of the cases!