Category Archives for Marketing Strategies
PBN Lab Review and Tutorial – How to Easily Find Expired Domains in 2015
For the last few years I have used every domain finding tool on the market including custom in house tools to try and make my team incrementally more efficient. After delivering or building 1,500 domains I am only now showing the second tool I use (first was talked about on my ultimate guide to expired domains and PBNs).
NOTE – The links here are affiliate links for PBN Lab… as you will see my team does use it extensively for my PBN business and this is only the second tool I have ever recommended for finding domains!
The reason I am reviewing PBN Lab is because it brings something different to the table. Most of the services and tools out there are some variation on a big list of domains that you can sift through and if you can’t find what you are looking for then wait for more domains to be added. Or the others are tools to make the scraping method incrementally easier. This basic setup is available for free at ExpiredDomains.net but you are very limited in the quality of domains you can get if you are also wanting to find relevant domains.
This is where PBN Lab is different – you can very easily find quality domains that can be VERY relevant and they handle the entire process with only the minimum number of inputs from the users!
In this article I will share…
- The “problem” PBN lab created for my business
- My PBN Lab Review
- My Teams PBN Lab Tutorial (the exact training how my team uses it)
Heavier Emphasis on Relevance Over Authority:
The reason I like PBN lab so much is because it works well with my systematized processes and allows my team to find high quality and very relevant domains!
PBN Lab “Problem” for PBN & Expired Domain Business
PBN Lab has introduced one “problem” for my team… we have been finding a lot of domains in some very commonly used niches and as a result built up a surplus of domains we don’t want to lose out on. In addition with a supply of quality sites no longer used by clients I have launched a service that addresses some of the most common concerns raised by potential PBN clients…
Done For You PBN Service Concerns…
- “Costs to much to get started”
- “I can’t wait 4 weeks for my PBN, I need rankings now”
- “Not a fan of the monthly costs”
- “Can I build just one PBN I think that is all I need?”
So my solution is that, in conjunction with the launch of the Source Wave marketplace, I have introduced a new smaller/introductory offer…
Done For You PBN With Unbeatable Prices vs Metrics Delivered in Under 24hrs!
- Prebuilt (customized for you in under 24hrs!) (my team does not like me right now with the procedure I created for them 🙂 )
- Reduced Price (under $100!)
- No Monthly Fee (Free Hosting for 1 Year)
- What is the Downside? Lower Metrics, Less Relevant and some sites have been gently used (but are well indexed and pass my detailed QC check)
Check out the launch offer now and let me know your thoughts.
Thanks to everyone who has made this product the TOP seller on the new Source Wave SEO Services marketplace…
Back to the PBN Lab Review…
PBN Lab Review
Pro:
- RELEVANT DOMAINS – This is the part I like the most, the ability to find relevant domains in obsecure niches easily by using the search results and not generic keyword searches on other sites or the scrape method.
- Queuing Ability – This ability to set up a series of searches and then let the system run while my VA’s
- Works Well With My Systematized Approach
- Multiple Logins – With one account my team of 3 domain finders can all set up their searches to run
- Results – Finding GREAT domains!
Con:
- Speed – It is fast but not instant. We often have a back-log of crawls waiting to be run. If it was instant I would like it more. If there was an easier way to jump the que and pause the current crawl so I could start the one that my short attention span had me wanting to look for now.
- Cost – Not inconsequential!- See Prices
Who Is It For:
The ideal people to use PBN Lab are SEO Agencies who build their own PBNs in house or domain finders.
Who Is It Not For:
I think for smaller site builders/owners it is a fairly expensive route to go to find expired domains. If my only use for PBN Lab was my portfolio of sites making in the $3-$7k/month range it would be an expensive investment! But with the monthly sign up options using it extensively for 1 month to find many domains in your niches would be good value!
PBN Lab Tutorial
Here is the exact training and procedure my team goes through…
Start – PBN Lab
Search Setup
Once you enter your login details, you will be brought to your dashboard. Here you can quickly check the different jobs you have going and view the domains in each job. In order to start a new job, you will need to go to the side panel and click on Add Job Wizard.
You will now be brought to the screen where all the magic happens. You will want to name your job. I usually name my job using the same keywords I am basing my search on, so for this search I will use basement renovation tips. What PBN Lab will do is for your keyword that you use, it will take the top 50 sites in Google for that specific keyword(s) and check its backlinks to see if any of those domains are available. If you choose Crawl Depth 2, it will even check those sites backlinks to see if any of those domains are available. There are a 2 cons with going 2 deep; takes longer to run (as there is many more sites to go through) and the domains become less relevant to your keyword(s) you are aiming for.
Next, you will be brought to the Crawl Source page. On this page, the first thing you have to do is choose where you want the domain crawler to crawl. You have 3 different options to choose from; search by keyword, manual list of seed URLs or parse google serps results. I would suggest sticking with searching by keyword as this will bring up more domains and will be more targeted to your niche, however if you have specific sites you want the bot to crawl through, you can input them using the manual list of seed URL option.
What I really like about this tool, is the fact that you can choose which country you would like the search results from. This is really handy if you are looking to target certain countries. This tool will bring up domains that are relative to the country you are searching in. For this search I will stick with United States.
Next you will input your keyword(s) you are hoping to search for as well as how far back in age you would like to go. If you are looking for newer domains, you can change this year, however I keep it at 1998 as it brings up the most domains for you to sort through.
On the next page, you will find a summary of the details of your search. This page will also show you the sites it will crawl to find your domains. If you do not like what you see, you can always go back a page and edit the information. Once you have all the details correct, you can go ahead and click finish.
Viewing Results
Depending on the amount of sites PBN Lab has to crawl and the depth of crawling, it could take anywhere from 5 mins to 2 hour. If you click on Dashboard on the left hand side, it will bring you back to the main page. Here it will show you if you have any jobs being crawled. If you do have jobs being crawled, it will tell you how many domains it’s gone through, how many domains left to crawl as well as the amount of time until the job is completed.
The main screen will also let you know how many jobs are running, queued, waiting or completed. Depending on what type of plan you have, you can either have 1 job running at a time or 2 jobs running. If you bought the plan that has 2 jobs running, it will be quicker at getting through the jobs then if you were to have the 1 job running at a time.
Once a job that you are waiting for is completed, you can click on Completed. This will then bring you to a page that has all of your completed jobs. This page will also tell you how many domains turned up in the search at a quick glance. For my search, 25 domains are available. On this page, you can also redo the search, re-fetch the metrics or delete the job easily. This is helpful if you have done a search a while ago and you would like to redo the same search to see if any new domains or new metrics have become available.
Sorting Through The Domains
If you click on the number of domains for the job you are looking at, it will bring up all of the domains available. For my job, it brings up 25 domains. Once you click on the number of domains, it will take you to a page where you can view all of the domains the bot found for you. You can now go ahead and sort the domains in ascending or descending order by any metric you would like. If you have a specific TLD your looking for you can also set the filter to show only those domains as well.
Another way you can filter through the domains is by expanding the filter settings. I usually set the filters to:
PA > 20
DA > 10
CF > 5
TF > 5
By filtering the domains, it narrows down your search even further. This narrowed down my search from 25 domains to 4 domains. This allows me to spend more time looking at domains with quality metrics rather than sorting through a bunch of domains with weak metrics.
Once you find a domain you are interested in, you can click on the domain and it will give you a brief overview of the domain. If you want to further analyze the domain, you can click on Action and it will drop down a variety of different tools for you to use such as Moz OSE, Ahrefs, MajesticSEO, Archive.org, Screenshots.com, NameCheap and Hostnine.
I use the following to ensure the domains are quality:
Moz OSE : Use to confirm the PA and DA of the domain as well as checking the inbound links to the site.
MajesticSEO: Use to check the TF and CF of the domain. You can also check the anchor text, referring domains as well as the external backlinks of the domain. I ensure that the backlinks are spam free and the metrics are quality.
Archive.org: Use to look at the sites history to ensure that is was never abused with spam.
Thats its! PBN Lab is that simple to use. There is a lot of different customization you can use to suit your needs better as explained. Another good thing to do is to link you Moz API credentials to your account. This will help speed up the process when your bought is running the searches. You can set this up by going to your account settings on the left hand side at the bottom and clicking on Your Account –> Moz Access Credentials.
Happy Domain Finding!
Special thanks to our Project Manager Kelley for updating our PBN Lab procedure and turning it into this post.
301 Building Block Strategy – Part 2
Last week I introduced a new strategy I am using to combine powerful expired domains, epic posts and a silo structure on a website to systematically build my six figure challenge authority site.
This strategy has not resulted in explosive growth but what it has done is provided a very systematic way to build out my authority site which has already started making money $150 in Feb.
This post will get into the exact details of how I go about setting up these building blocks.
The strategy is a combination of…
- Buying POWERFUL Expired Domains
- Creating an Epic/Niche Dominating Post
- 301 redirecting the domain to a relevant Silo Structure on Your Authority Site
301 Building Block Strategy – Part 1
Update – Part 2 Here
As part of the six figure challenge I have been testing out a new strategy to use expired domains to boost my organic traffic I am calling the 301 Building Block Strategy.
This post is a quick intro…please let me know what parts you want to see more information on and what your questions are on. I will be sure to update Part 2 and specifically answer any questions you have.
Sharing on AuthorityWebsiteIncome the exact details of new strategies I am using including the specific tools, steps and procedures I use is what I enjoy most. So this and the follow up post have been great to create and I look forward to hearing the success others are having with it!
The strategy is a combination of…Continue reading
How to Host a Private Blog Network – Review of the Best Options
UPDATE – July 2015 – My new PBN host recommendation for most people is a safe option with a LOT of IP diversity – Check Out Host Here
Hosting your own PBN too much work? Have a look at my done for you PBN service HERE
Are you trying to determine what the best hosting options are for a PBN? There is no easy answer it will cost you money and if you try and save a lot of money with cheap hosts it can be a massive headache.
The pain with hosting a PBN is one reason why customers enjoy my Done For You Service where I build and manage a clients PBN to take the headache of PBN Hosting off their plates entirely.
So what am I looking for in a PBN host?
- Each site must be on a unique or shared class A IP with a lot of other “real” sites.
- The servers must be geographically spread out. All PBN sites hosted in the same data-center would be an easy footprint for Google to spot.
- The host must not send me a “to much bandwidth” email after 10 visitors and try to force me to upgrade to a more expensive package. This can be very frustrating when my team has set up sites only to have to move them because the hosting company tries to force me to upgrade even though I know my sites are not pulling much bandwidth.
- The uptime and speed of the host must be acceptable. I don’t expect extremely high numbers here but to expect average up time. Several hosts (fatCow in particular) I have had problems with uptime.
- Ease of use of the host must be such that my VA can easily build the PBN site (sorry IXWebHosting but you take too much work to set up WordPress!)
Do It Yourself PBN or SEO Hosting Options
If you are looking to handle the creation of a PBN by yourself here is a summary of the hosting options. A detailed review of each option is listed below.
Once you review the options if you think it makes sense to have my team find domains, build and then host a PBN for you apply here.
- Best – Reliable Shared Hosting Providers
- Second Best – Next generation SEO hosts
- Example – HostHub
- Cost for 25 site PBN = $88/month
- OK Option – Single Host with Multiple IPs
- HostNine and IXWebHosting are the most popular options
- Cost for 25 site PBN = $20/month
- OK Option – Cheap Shared Hosts (dollar hosts)
- See Complete List Below
- Cost for 25 site PBN = $25/month
- OK Option – CloudFlare CDN Rotating IPs (Cheapest Solution)
- CloudFlare with MediaTemple Hosting
- Cost fro 25 site PBN = $7.99
- Worst Option – SEO Hosts
- SEOHosting (but easiest)
- Cost for 25 site PBN = $150/month
Detailed Review of Each Private Blog Network Hosting Solution
ONE – Best Option – Reliable and Popular Shared Hosting Providers
This is the option I use for my service and personal PBN. The central goal of a PBN site is to be as “real” as possible including real content, links and hosted on a server with other mom & pop websites.
On any of the popular shared hosting providers there are hundreds of other websites from small businesses to mom blogs. This avoids the “bad neighbourhood” of IP numbers that has brought down so called “SEO Hosts” in the past.
List of some of the hosts I use…
(some of the links below are affiliate links)
| Host | Link |
| Webhostingbuzz | Sign Up Here |
| HostMonster | Sign Up Here |
| Eleven2 | Sign UP Here |
| IPage | Sign Up Here |
| HostPapa | Sign Up Here |
| DreamHost | Sign Up Here |
| HostNine | Sign Up Here |
| MediaTemple | Sign Up Here |
| Arvixe | Sign Up Here |
| HostGator | Sign Up Here |
| iPower | Sign Up Here |
| WebHostinPad | Sign Up Here |
TWO – Next Best Option – Next Generation SEO Host
I have started using a host called CloakHosting.com (not an affiliate link) to test it out and so far it is solid and lately the best option I have been using is HostHub.
The concept is basically the same as the option listed above. By combining multiple shared hosting accounts
The downside is that although they promise all different Class A Hosting Accounts in reality that is not what we get.
You can see the backend of my account below showing that I have several sites all on the same Class A host, although different Class C IPs.
(Red Arrows Same Class A but Different Class C)
Overall I believe if you are going to host the sites yourself this is a great option that combines suitable protection with an economical price.
THREE – OK Option – Single Host with Multiple IPs
Although I don’t recommend this as a hosting option if you are looking for the most economical way to test out a PBN than a HostNine reseller program is probably the best way to go.
With the HostNine each time you add a new site to your reseller account you can get a new IP.
I use this method but it is not my recommended option.
Note – IXWebHosting used to be recommended on this site but if you are going to host more than 10 sites and get much traffic they are a massive pain! I had to several times argue with their customer support about the bandwith draw my sites were pulling. Very time consuming for my VA to install wordpress on IX Web Hosting as well.
FOUR – OK Option – Cheap Shared Hosts (dollar hosts)
This option is attractive but I DO NOT recommend it. Unless you enjoy rebuilding sites and monitoring up time the dollar hosts are a recipe for disaster.
Anytime I have heard good things about a dollar host and tried them out it has been a huge failure because of the amount of time my VA’s had to spend rebuilding sites.
The up time, customer support and speed are all generally bad with cheap hosting and for me the amount of waster effort was not worth the few dollars it saved.
Another incredible frustration I have experienced is that for some reason many of these hosts don’t seem to have an auto-renew feature so every month you would need to go in and renew.
I no longer use any dollar hosts!
If you do want to test out the dollar hosting option I have had my VA compile a list of 30+ Dollar Hosts including a promo code so you can get the hosting even cheaper.
(None are affiliate links)
FIVE – OK Option – CloudFlare CDN Rotating IPs (Cheapest Solution)
One concept for hosting a PBN some people are discussing is to use a CDN (content delivery network) such as cloudflare and then only one host which integrates well with CloudFlare like MediaTemple.
The theory behind this is that each time a site setup through CloudFlare gets called it is delivered from the closest/most efficient data center meaning a potentially different IP each time someone visits the site.
If there is a new IP almost everytime someone or a search engine bot visits a site then it means there would be no IP footprint…right?
Well, the fact is that the IP will be different but they will all be associated with the Cloudflare CDN network and the nameservers of the sites will also be associated with CloudFlare. This leaves the sites open to a large footprint.
If you were looking to spend as little money as possible building out a PBN then this is certainly better than simply placing all your PBN sites on the same host but
Note – I do highly recommend CloudFlare for peoples money site as there are a lot of benefits!
A great host if you are going to use the benefits of a CDN is MediaTemple.
SIX – Worst Option – SEO Hosts
I don’t need to spend too much time on option six. SEOHosting is both expensive and puts your PBN at risk.
Since almost all clients of SEOHosting are using it for PBNs or other non-google Terms of Service uses it puts your site on the same A Class IP as many other nefarious sites.
The result of all these bad neighbours is a bad neighbourhood of sites that Google can zero in on and wipe out as they have done in the past.
Summary of Do It Yourself PBN or SEO Hosting Options
Once you review the options if you think it makes sense to have my team find domains, build and then host a PBN for you apply here.
- Best – Reliable Shared Hosting Providers
- Second Best – Next generation SEO hosts
- Example – HostHub
- Cost for 25 site PBN = $88/month
- OK Option – Single Host with Multiple IPs
- HostNine and IXWebHosting are the most popular options
- Cost for 25 site PBN = $20/month
- OK Option – Cheap Shared Hosts (dollar hosts)
- See Complete List Below
- Cost for 25 site PBN = $25/month
- OK Option – CloudFlare CDN Rotating IPs (Cheapest Solution)
- CloudFlare with MediaTemple Hosting
- Cost fro 25 site PBN = $7.99
- Worst Option – SEO Hosts
- SEOHosting
- Cost for 25 site PBN = $150/month
UPDATE – Feb 23 – The Done For You PBN Service is now open! Let my team find, build and host a niche specific PBN for you built to my high standards!
Private Blog Network Building Service in 2015 – Is It Still Worth The Risk?
It has been several months since I last opened up my service, today I am excited to announce I am opening it up again for a limited number of spots!
Since the PBN de-indexing I wanted to make sure the risks were fully understood and today I plan to share a few data points to try and provide insight into what I believe both the risks and benefits of a private blog network building service is in 2015!
Done for you Private Blog Network Building Service Now OPEN!
15 spots available
This post includes…
- My Case Study Results (recent results!)
- Is any PBN Safe and why a Silo’d PBN is Safer
- Data from an Open Marketplace on how many people use PBN’s
- Peoples Plan to Use a PBN for the Six Figure Website challenge