st0ned what domains do you have available? good chance no one will ever top that site for that exact search term because of seasoning and exact keyword.
The vast majority of the targeted domains are already taken. I snagged a few last night though. I will post them once it is a functioning site.
That statement is somewhat incorrect. Age and exact match domains don't mean as much as they once did. Age will always be a factor, but not one which cannot be overcome.
IMO the domain mentioned in this post is a low quality exact match domain (the kind Google is working to eliminate with their EMD update). The majority of their content is recycled from other news sites, leaving little unique content. Unique content is king when it comes to SEO and these cookie cutter sites who recycle content don't rank quite as well as they used to. IMO the only reason they are there now is because there aren't any sites which are more targeted with unique content on the subject yet (which I plan to change).
I would also have to agree with Chronicseeker that they actually have very poor SEO overall. Their images aren't even hosted on their server, but instead hotlinked from the servers of the site they scraped the content from.
I used to be able to put up a simple redirect on an exact match domain (to a sponsor I was promoting) and have it ranked 1st in Google within 2 weeks. There would be ZERO content on my site, just a simple framed php redirect to another site. No meta data, nothing. After Google fixed this, it was a walk in the park to do exactly what ArizonaMarijuanaDispensary.com is doing now and get ranked. It still is, if there is no competition. However once someone comes along with a proper SEO plan, their site will start to slip further down the page. Google knows how people game their search engine and are constantly adjusting their algorithm to combat this. However at the end of the day Google's focus is to rank the most relative sites first.
I haven't had the chance yet but I would assume if you did a reverse dns on this domain, you would likely find hundreds more sites that they own just like it. Many people who used to simply sell domains realized that if they actually put up a site with relative content and get some sort of rankings, people will likely pay more for the domain (like your buddy's 10k offer - which I also agree is INSANE). They likely have a plugin which is pulling in the posts for them which would require very little admin work on their end. I would assume this is what they are doing since they aren't even running any ads. I could however be wrong though.
I am not here to argue or shoot anyone down. Simply stating my opinions on things after being in the SEO business for the past 7 years. I could go on and on about subjects which I am passionate about.
If it were me however, I would never advertise on or purchase that domain. Changing a complete sites structure will have very negative effects in your rankings from my experience. IMO it is much easier to start with a new domain, even if it is not as targeted. Not to mention the up front costs that you will be saving.
No need to argue guys. We should appreciate the fact that we have some of the same interests (SEO, MMJ, etc) and work together rather than against each other.
Cheers!
