London.co.uk

[laura]

Talk to someone who has developed a proper domain name about this, not the con artists or small players about. This domain needs proper work from experianced people.

I agree

Laura

 

[badger]

I have, I kid you not, been offered a PPC platform by a guy who said he would make me loads of money. My chaps looked at the site "he built for me" and most of the code is ripped right out the back of visitlondon.com

Oh my... The person/people Simon is speaking of (whove ripped all the code from visitlondon.com) is/are us at iMODO.com .. The ripped (unreleased) code can be seen here in the top navigational bar at www.london.co.uk.imodo.com .. This is the platform we offered Simon (along with the offer to build out all his domains in a similar vein using both our Adsense and Yahoo feeds and giving him the vast lions share of the ad revenue). Heres another example http://glasgow.co.uk.imodo.com/

So, this is what constitutes "most of the ripped code" from visitlondon. Aside from it only simulating the same colour scheme and it not being a finished product, our code is dynamic (unlike visitlondon), has been used solely as inspiration (as discussed with the client) and only emulates what we, between us and the client spoke of, before he chose to observe complete radio silence. Being able to finalise exact requirements, when the client doesnt observe basic courtesies such as "sorry, im gonna create an MFA site instead", is pretty difficult when your a developer in the dark.

As most honest people who develop know; you spend time, money, effort and labour building custom platforms and verticals which will not only will make money, but also ensure the client aquires something which is unique, tangible, open, honest and has natural augmentation... All of which takes time and effort on our part and input from the client...

I really take issue with Simon's comments. Not only only have i been trying to contact him about this platform for several weeks, all to no avail, I even just this morning warned him by PM that his homegrown version for london.co.uk breaks several adsense rules. I never got a reply and so for him to then spout that his "chaps" have made some call that were code rippers really sits bad with me.

A lot of you know us from another forum. Im sorry this is a bit of a rant but some things are more important than turning a buck and remaining silent.

 

[paul]

Oh my... The person/people Simon is speaking of (whove ripped all the code from visitlondon.com) is/are us at iMODO.com .. The ripped (unreleased) code can be seen here in the top navigational bar at www.london.co.uk.imodo.com .. This is the platform we offered Simon (along with the offer to build out all his domains in a similar vein using both our Adsense and Yahoo feeds and giving him the vast lions share of the ad revenue). Heres another example http://glasgow.co.uk.imodo.com/

So, this is what constitutes "most of the ripped code" from visitlondon. Aside from it only simulating the same colour scheme and it not being a finished product, our code is dynamic (unlike visitlondon), has been used solely as inspiration (as discussed with the client) and only emulates what we, between us and the client spoke of, before he chose to observe complete radio silence. Being able to finalise exact requirements, when the client doesnt observe basic courtesies such as "sorry, im gonna create an MFA site instead", is pretty difficult when your a developer in the dark.

As most honest people who develop know; you spend time, money, effort and labour building custom platforms and verticals which will not only will make money, but also ensure the client aquires something which is unique, tangible, open, honest and has natural augmentation... All of which takes time and effort on our part and input from the client...

I really take issue with Simon's comments. Not only only have i been trying to contact him about this platform for several weeks, all to no avail, I even just this morning warned him by PM that his homegrown version for london.co.uk breaks several adsense rules. I never got a reply and so for him to then spout that his "chaps" have made some call that were code rippers really sits bad with me.

A lot of you know us from another forum. Im sorry this is a bit of a rant but some things are more important than turning a buck and remaining silent.

Can't see why you would own up to it, looks ripped off to me and would land Simon in deep shit if he were to publish it on his site

 

[badger]

Can't see why you would own up to it, looks ripped off to me and would land Simon in deep shit if he were to publish it on his site

Well, quite... Aside from it not being possible to get into trouble for using a pretty common navigational technique, it was, like i said, something unpublished, something we wanted feedback on and something where we clearly wouldnt publish an identical copy of someone elses work..

There are a lot of people who know me here and a lot that dont.. Please dont simply jump on the bandwagon without completely reviewing the facts .. Im not looking to defend our platform, nor our integrity. We fly under the radar as best as possible and build custom monetization platforms for our clients. We have been doing this since the 90's...

My point is that I take issue when we present a look and feel concept and an example page for a client and then he chooses to announce in a public forum that weve ripped someones code when he hasnt given us this feedback or the chance to present an alternate version..

 

[Edwin]

I think you have to make it clearer what a potential partner could expect to get out of the deal. Those who KNOW what they're doing won't come cheap - and those who offer their advice cheaply likely don't know what you need to know (otherwise, why would they be helping cheaply when they could be applying that knowledge and time and energy to their own sites and projects?).

Nobody's going to PM you a fully packaged business model, that's for sure.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but given the quality of the portfolio you're sitting on I think you need to get realistic very quickly, as every day that passes is potentially hundreds or thousands of pounds you're throwing away.

 

[SimonFox]

I think you have to make it clearer what a potential partner could expect to get out of the deal. Those who KNOW what they're doing won't come cheap - and those who offer their advice cheaply likely don't know what you need to know (otherwise, why would they be helping cheaply when they could be applying that knowledge and time and energy to their own sites and projects?).

Nobody's going to PM you a fully packaged business model, that's for sure.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but given the quality of the portfolio you're sitting on I think you need to get realistic very quickly, as every day that passes is potentially hundreds or thousands of pounds you're throwing away.

Thanks Edwin

I will find a suitable partner soon.

I don't mind the criticism, it just all points one way in that I have to devote more time to the project.

 

[SimonFox]

Can't see why you would own up to it, looks ripped off to me and would land Simon in deep shit if he were to publish it on his site

Yes Paul

Thats what I was very afraid of.

 

[grandin]

disagree

Edwin I do disagree with this statement 'Sorry if this sounds harsh, but given the quality of the portfolio you're sitting on I think you need to get realistic very quickly, as every day that passes is potentially hundreds or thousands of pounds you're throwing away.'

Only the owner can answer this....too many variables could exist i.e. his other interests....you can make as much money asset holding or trading as developing

Lee

 

[BFTUK]

Badger, whilst i appreciate you may be a little annoyed at Simons comments, he quite rightly did'nt name you or your company. I would have thought if you felt aggreived by his comments its a private matter, not to be discussed on a public forum.

 

[badger]

Badger, whilst i appreciate you may be a little annoyed at Simons comments, he quite rightly did'nt name you or your company. I would have thought if you felt aggreived by his comments its a private matter, not to be discussed on a public forum.

Sure, you're probably right.. it should have been a private matter and I guess my posts are borne somewhat out of frustration. But when you have an agreement with someone and you uphold your end of the bargain only for your partner to suddenly not respond, give you feedback and / or extend you the courtesy of saying "thanks but no thanks", instead mentioning you in a negative vein in a public forum, when a lot of people knew it was us producing a platform for him, its time to stand up and say "hey, wait a minute..."

Edwin, youre absolutely right - I would say especially so in this case

As a final comment from me on this episode, ironically, our template london.co.uk.imodo.com in test was acheiving some of our best ever CTR/CPM

Bon Voyage,

Ian

 

[retired_member16]

Whats also clear Badger, is the owner(s) of london.co.uk clearly dont know what they have or what to do with it.

 

[mat]

It kinda makes you wish he would just give you london.co.uk doesnt it??

 

[grandin]

presumptions

I would presume in today's market the end price is about 20k....but based on accumlative values this would, of course, accumulate faster cause of its starting value....

Lee

 

[philiporchard]

The end price is 20k?

Are you referring to the value of London.co.uk?

 

[mat]

The main point is you have pretty much every county website?

Your sitting on a goldmine and not doing anything with them!! Its really strange how your going about this all when you have domain names of this calibre...

 

[retired_member12]

The end price is 20k?

Are you referring to the value of London.co.uk?

Surely not! 20k? No way Grandin. What do you think philiporchard, it seems to be your forte?

 

[Edwin]

Undeveloped, London.co.uk is probably worth 200k-250k. It's harder to see it go much beyond that, as the market for London area portals is already quite full, but of course whoever comes in with THE name has a huge credibility advantage.

Developed? Well, the sky's the limit if it's a fully developed site... a better parking page isn't likely to change the base value, as Simon posted in an earlier thread that it gets around 30,000 monthly visitors (if my memory is accurate) and so there's a fairly low upper limit to how much can be generated from those visitors via PPC.

Done right, a real destination with business listings, articles, maps, classifieds, job listings, property listings, etc. could easily be pulling in millions of pounds a year over time.

 

[Ask]

I think you'd be best selling it to the highest bidder ... I'm being cruel to be kind in saying that you seem out of your depth mate.

 

[badger]

Developed? Well, the sky's the limit if it's a fully developed site... a better parking page isn't likely to change the base value, as Simon posted in an earlier thread that it gets around 30,000 monthly visitors (if my memory is accurate) and so there's a fairly low upper limit to how much can be generated from those visitors via PPC.

Done right, a real destination with business listings, articles, maps, classifieds, job listings, property listings, etc. could easily be pulling in millions of pounds a year over time.

Absolutely Edwin... If you see touchlondon.co.uk - this is pretty much as geographically web 2.0 as youre gonna get - Obviously building out a custom solution as big as this would take a while, so a staged roll out beginning with a "glorified" parking page seemed the obvious starting point.

Actually, it was also our intention to blend database content with user generated content/reviews, social networking, PPC ads and ads served from a clients (also to have been developed by us) in-house ad network. We had agreed to do all this development for free, simply in return for a medium term commitment and a small percentage of our Yahoo / Google PPC revenue.

But anyway, lets be positive, we can use our part built platform for something else and if any of you acorn guys pick up the project from here on in, please do feel free to contact me and i'll give you the heads up on the acquisition of databases and other discovery that weve already made..

 

[grandin]

Are you sure

Are we sure that london.co.uk could pull in millions of pounds without spending significant money first?....If the starting point is truely £150k then I think money is better spent elsewhere as no generic name has resulted in so much return....moneysupermarket.com, youtube, facebook... bought for £10 indeed and probably developed for £150k each

The fact it wasn't sold at the sedo auction shows it wasn't a bargain

Lee