Affiliate Site Sells For Millions...

[Planet Mark]

£87 Million (thats $133m)... Just an ordinary guy who labelled himself as a money-saving guru in the UK and slowly built up a media following... and a huge website. If nothing else his forum shows how financially illiterate even 'professional' people are.

A well deserved success - from nothing to millions in less than 10 years (though I'll have to admit feeling urges to repeatedly punch his face several times along the way).

Martin Lewis sells MoneySavingExpert website for £87m - Telegraph

Mark

[Prop]

WTB Domains: "Exact M" Gambling (.co.uk domains) + "Any" Saving Money (.com domains)

This went back previous. For a long time now I wanted to buy savingmoney.com, but lowest he would go was $150,000 and no where near my range. But I've always loved that idea, his site and forum. But I thought even if having huge money would never make sense for that domain. Pretty cool here because for 0.1% of that price ($150) Martin Lewis initially got not only the domain, but also a design and some content and turned it into what it is. This was a guy I watched and learned a TON from - huge fan of his.

[baldidiot]

That guy definitely knows how to establish a brand - good on him.

[scrawnybob]

hi

and his "messy" unprofessional looking site and distinctly amateur look of the site ADDS to the authority of it
people trust his "impartial" advice and recomendations far more than a bunch of other slick comparision sites

IMHO he is like the steve badger of financial products

BTW moneysupermarket is a much bigger "brand" in UK than moneysavingexpert but expert will have way way way more trust factor

interesting they sold it for 7-8 times earnings

SB

[Tim]

A well deserved success...

Yep.... I've seen him on TV many times over the years and he has always come across as a very decent chap - so good on him!

his "messy" unprofessional looking site and distinctly amateur look of the site ADDS to the authority of it people trust his "impartial" advice and recomendations far more than a bunch of other slick comparision sites

I agree, but I think it's more to do with his personality and integrity rather than the aesthetics of the site. I wouldn't describe it as an unprofessional looking site either, but I know what you're saying.

I think the other lesson here is that it's important to be passionate about what you're doing. People listen to and trust Martin Lewis when it comes to their personal finance because he's not only knowledgeable about the subject, he's also very passionate about it.

[scrawnybob]

hi

yep definately "he" is the brand and the trust factor even if now its more likely to become like an endorsement thing

just had a look again at the site and it looks like the non forum sections have had a makeover (the forum looks a little titdier too) ... but the whole site used to look very dated and very web 0.75 until recently

glad they have kept the ugly mug picture of "the forum team" who look like real people

I can only think moneysupermarket plan to really crank profits and turnover up other wise paying 87m for something that "only" turns over 12m pa is alot of investment to recoup before a real profit

SB

[Tim]

Yeah, I remember what the site used to look like. I visited the site yesterday for the first time in a long while and noticed the revamp.

There's an interview with Martin Lewis here (the audio within the article, not the video at the top):

BBC News - Martin Lewis sells MoneySavingExpert.com for £87m

[Prop]

real money is not in gambling nor porn, but in teaching others to clip coupons.

[t_roy]

Amazing. Definitely some motivation

[CasinoMack]

real money is not in gambling nor porn, but in teaching others to clip coupons.

AMEN! #couponsuzy #wtf