domain hostelsworld.com - over $32,000 in commission over 3 yrs and growing - pls appraise

[joconey]

I would appreciate honest appraisals of the above.

It has earned over $US32,000 in affiliates comms. in the last 3 years and is growing at approx. 100% per year - last month $2050. This month $1100 to date.

Hostelworld.com is the largest booking engine of its type in the world and we have owned the above name for about the same time. We have had an affiliate agreement with them for three year and each year the income increases 100%.

We would appreciate an honest appraisal of the business please.

Ta!

 

[theporngod]

can you post proof of traffic and income

your alexa traffic rank for www.hostelsworld.com is 2,702,967 which means it cant be getting more than about 50 visits per day

how is the traffic generated?

 

[joconey]

It's an affiliate and redirects straight to the hostelworld.com site.

Not in the office at the mo but can substantiate (independently) every day, week, month and year of traffic and income. As a direct, redirect I don't think Alexa will rate it as an independent site.

It's more natural as a two word name than hostelworld i.e. pluals and is proving itself.

Cheers.

 

[Damion]

I have no idea about the amount of people searching online for a hostel but when doing a G search for the term ''hostel'' hostelworld.com came up fourth.

And for ''hostels'' 3rd place!

That is by itself a very nice result 50 visitors? It could be more then that LOL

Edit: I just noticed the site in question was the plural form

 

[theporngod]

It's an affiliate and redirects straight to the hostelworld.com site.

Not in the office at the mo but can substantiate (independently) every day, week, month and year of traffic and income. As a direct, redirect I don't think Alexa will rate it as an independent site.

It's more natural as a two word name than hostelworld i.e. pluals and is proving itself.

Cheers.

Actually the do rank individual
www.hostelworld.com - 7,018
www.hostelsworld.com - 2,702,967

I cant imagine you making several thousand dollars when their affiliate program only pays a small % commission fee

and you are only getting a few visits per day

 

[joconey]

OK, if you think of the people with English as a second language searching for hostels and budget hotels then hostelsworld is a more natural terminology.

Now try searching hostelsworld.com in Google and see where the ranking comes in.

Cheers

 

[theporngod]

OK, if you think of the people with English as a second language searching for hostels and budget hotels then hostelsworld is a more natural terminology.

Now try searching hostelsworld.com in Google and see where the ranking comes in.

Cheers

are you serious man

obviously www.hostelsworld.com will come up high in google it should because it is the only hostelsworld.com

you need to post stats because your info doesnt add up

a site with alexa rank 2,000,000+ would be impossible to make thousands per month

 

[joconey]

What I'm actually trying to say is that hostelsworld is a more natural phraseology than hostelworld.

I'm not trying to "big" up the revenue - I can prove it 100% - but I am just trying to get a valuation based on the proven stream. If you don't believe it, then fine.

The proof is in the bank and the affilate programme report backend backs it up.

Sometimes it goes a little deeper than Alexa ranking.

 

[Damion]

OK, if you think of the people with English as a second language searching for hostels and budget hotels then hostelsworld is a more natural terminology.

Now try searching hostelsworld.com in Google and see where the ranking comes in.

Cheers

Nobody would search for hostelsworld.com. That just doesn't make sense.

Hostels or Hostel and related searches such as budget hotel would make sense but...

hostelsworld.com

That i can not imagine. English being a first or second language is irrelavant.
Nobody searches for a URL unless you're talking about eBay.com or Yahoo.com...yes people do that

But hostelsworld.com? That's just not going to happen.

 

[theporngod]

so prove it.

their affiliate program pays a small %

alexa rank does have alot of meaning, it track the traffic of every website on the internet

where do your visitors come from?

you only have 700 incomming links to your site, which is crap

you will need to post stats to get an appraisal here since your stats dont add up

sorry

 

[joconey]

OK, fine.

I think you are all missing the point. Hostelworld is the first, and most recognised, hostel and cheap hotel booking engine in the world.

For some reason, in 2000, we registered hostelsworld.com - 6 months after hostelworld was registered.

Time passes and hostelworld becomes a huge site and we affiliate to it - through time traffic grows through mispells and plural usage (word of mouth, blogs etc.) and suddenly we are looking at a v. good monthly earn.

I can post a screen shot of earnings no prob. and independent earnings verified and audited but if you doubt then I can't convince you whatever I do.

 

[theporngod]

wake up man,

you claim you made $2,000+ dollars last month

the hostels that are rented cost on average 15-20$ per night

if you are getting a small 10-20% max commission for each room

you would have had to book 400+ rooms in one month (13 per day)

off about 50 random visitors per day

alexa rank 2,000,000+

700 incomming links, 7 from google

impossible

I would like to see a link to traffic stats and earnings

 

[metoni]

I think that you have very good domain name. Maybe you can sell for high xxxx or low xxxxx.

 

[joconey]

OK, again.

I'm fully awake and that's the thing that intrigues me. The stats I receive show that at the beginning unique visitors were over 2,000 a month and slide slowly down to now about 16 a month. I think (like the Alexa stats) these are referring to links on other sites linking through to ours - don't know and not too bothered.

I'm after an honest appraisal and some people on this board are too wrapped up in stats and not looking any deeper. It doesn't worry me if you don't believe me - the facts back me up.

OK, in a hypothetical world, assuming everything I say is true - can anyone give me an appraisal without the doubters?

 

[theporngod]

OK, again.

I'm fully awake and that's the thing that intrigues me. The stats I receive show that at the beginning unique visitors were over 2,000 a month and slide slowly down to now about 16 a month. I think (like the Alexa stats) these are referring to links on other sites linking through to ours - don't know and not too bothered.

I'm after an honest appraisal and some people on this board are too wrapped up in stats and not looking any deeper. It doesn't worry me if you don't believe me - the facts back me up.

OK, in a hypothetical world, assuming everything I say is true - can anyone give me an appraisal without the doubters?

alexa ranks visitors that directly visit your site and has nothing to do with other links.

you just said it, you get 16 visitors a month but book 400+ rooms a month

appraisals are given on facts not belief and you have no facts

doubters? give a reason to believe

the info you gave doesnt make sense/add up

sorry

 

[joconey]

Alright, tomorrow I'll take a screen snap of the historical revenue page and post it on the back of one of my websites - would that suffice?

 

[theporngod]

Alright, tomorrow I'll take a screen snap of the historical revenue page and post it on the back of one of my websites - would that suffice?

sure as long as they arent altered in photoshop.

along with a link to your traffic stats

I just dont get how 16 visitors a month can lead to 400+ sales a month

 

[Damion]

Even though the site is the plural form and not the singular that has first page results on Google i do think that the OP's remarks about his monthly visitors are plausible.
Something that i could not believe was people searching for hostelsworld.com in Google.

As he has corrected he was more refering to the typo. And very much understandable since this is more commonly used. The plural that is! And i can fully understand when the site hostelworld.com (the singular) is being mentioned and people refering to it they make mistakes and mentions the plural form in writing or by word of mouth.

So i say once again the amount of visitors is very plausible.

And please ThepornGod don't get hung up on Alexa stats man That is far from reliable and is not a argument to put forward and to keep putting this forward as a consistent factor that proves it all.

I would suggest to take a look at this site to get an idea what Alexa is all about and why you should not get so hung up on this

 

[cwnt]

theporngod, think about it. You say it must be 400+ rooms per month, but that is if each room is booked for one night. Most people stay at Youth Hostels for a short break, usually a few days to a couple of weeks. If all the bookings made were for two nights (say Friday to Sunday), then that would only require 200 bookings a month. You see how much the difference of a single night can make to the number of bookings required?

 

[blacksnday]

Man, I can't believe the people who die-hard believe in Alexa Traffic Ratings.

Please read their FAQ on how they get their ratings:
http://pages.alexa.com/exec/faqsidos/help/index.html?index=1
From the first sentence on that page:

Alexa's traffic rankings are based on the usage patterns of Alexa Toolbar users over a rolling 3 month period.

If you read it you will see their ratings only come from those who
have the Alexa Tool Bar installed and who have visited the website in question.
And on top of that, Alexa Traffic Rankings it are only for top-level.
Meaning any page viewed under the domain is not considered.

Do we believe 100% of web-users have the Alexa Tool Bar installed?
Do we believe that even 50% have it installed?

Having faith based in a flawed concept is a human trait I know,
but please reconsidered all this Alexa Rating talk.