8 ms·

The dude that built DudeRanch.com

153 points by eightturn 7y ago

dewey 7y ago
Also by the same guy and mentioned in the blog post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19728132 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19728132 "I Sell Onions on the Internet"
- eightturn 7y ago
  hey, I know you! : )
gorpomon 7y ago
I love reading about Deep South Ventures websites-- the projects are simple but inspiring. They're kind of like the other side of the coin to YC-- they make business seem possible but in a completely different way. Heads up-- something on duderanch.com is putting a max-width on rows making the site unreadble in desktop: <section class="row row-3" style="width: 100%; max-width: 328px;">...</section>
- eightturn 7y ago
  author here.. thank you for heads up.. I'll let David know..
  - eightturn 7y ago
    this is hopefully fixed now..
    - somehnguy 7y ago
      Still broken. Chrome + uBlock Origin. If I turn off uBlock the site looks fine.
      - RhodesianHunter 7y ago
        So the site is not broken, you're using a plug-in that breaks it.
        somehnguy 7y ago
        A large portion of the web uses this plugin. If the site doesn't work with it I would consider that broken. Additionally UBO should not cause basic site layout to break unless something is wrong on the sites side (like including formatting markup from an advertising domain). Thanks for stating the obvious though. Nevermind the other comments saying the exact same thing about the site being broken for them too. Just trying to help not have the site be broken for a portion of visitors.
      - jjulius 7y ago
        Site works fine in Chrome with UBO running for me.
        somehnguy 7y ago
        The layout works? On mine with UBO running everything gets bunched up on the left side.
        jjulius 7y ago
        Sorry for the late reply, but yep! Here's a screenshot. https://imgur.com/CYAa5Us https://imgur.com/CYAa5Us
        somehnguy 7y ago
        Oh I'm talking about his duderanch.com site, not the blog post. Sorry for the confusion!
        gorhill 7y ago
        Site works fine here using default settings/lists and up to date lists. Did you customized uBO by adding more filter lists or rules?
- davidw 7y ago
  Stuff like this, or some of patio11's early work seems a lot more within the grasp of ordinary people. That's why it's interesting to read about for me, at least.
- erikig 7y ago
  I agree. I just finished reading this guide on how to build a profitable side business and it is as practical as it is - eye-opening. https://www.deepsouthventures.com/build-a-side-business/ https://www.deepsouthventures.com/build-a-side-business/
  - michaelbuckbee 7y ago
    I agree, but with some minor quibbles specific to the HN audience: 1. The ability to write software is an asset and the DSV type projects are more software adjacent. Software has such great margins that it's much easier to create a profitable business than anything that involves shipping or physical goods (MicroSAAS, Dev Books/Courses, Themes, etc.) 2. It's sort of left unsaid that much of the purpose of buying these "domains you can make a business around" is to optimize SEO. And my honest feeling is: well done, that's a huge leg up in ranking. But there have been some changes to SEO (Google weighting factors and more navigational searches) that have reduced the value of them. Also, I think there's a strong argument to be made that if you're just starting out today and have $20,000 you'd be better off today with: duderanchjourney.com ($14 to register) + $19,986 in content, advertising, etc. vs duderanch.com ($20,000 to buy) + a blank page.
    - bhartzer 7y ago
      >> But there have been some changes to SEO (Google weighting factors and more navigational searches) that have reduced the value of them. Well, I've actually studied this a lot... and it's not that Google reduced the value of them (Exact Match Domains EMDs). It's just that Google stopped giving them more weight. So now all domains are given the same potential ranking weight--even the new gTLD domains. Bing, on the other hand, still gives more value to EMDs.
      - siruncledrew 7y ago
        I don’t doubt, but I was trying to find up to date information if Google hasn’t changed their algorithm about this and couldn’t find anything besides a reference to 2012 changes: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/do-exact-match-domains-still-work/283759/ https://www.searchenginejournal.com/do-exact-match-domains-s... Is there a more up to date source?
mylons 7y ago
i really enjoyed the onions piece. it was inspiring, and i was checking those domain auctions daily for awhile, then fell off. edit: i enjoyed this piece too.
- eightturn 7y ago
  thank you, mylons
zapstar 7y ago
What a wonderful and refreshing approach to entrepreneurship. I loved his previous post about selling onions, and I like his strategy of picking a domain first and then running with it -- the details will be filled in later. Domain names have so much potential! They are so motivating initially -- and he clearly follows through!
- eightturn 7y ago
  thank you zapstar! Sorta like Bill Walsh (49ers coach) said (essentially).. start on the right foundation and "the score will take care of itself".. Domain names are such a great way to start a project off on the right foot..
  - zapstar 7y ago
    Absolutely! I’m using that exact strategy on my latest project, and so far, I feel like I’ve started off on the right foundation!
    - frequentnapper 7y ago
      where can you discover and buy a good domain?
GCA10 7y ago
Any idea what the yearly gross income from duderanch.com might be? Or the selling price at the exit? I love the narrative. I'd love it even more if we had a glimpse of whether this ultimately settled in as predicted ($25k/year) or turned out to be a whole lot more rewarding.
- ggcdn 7y ago
  I'll bet its more than the $664 USD this website valuator [1] reports, lol. [1] http://www.siteworthtraffic.com/report/duderanch.com http://www.siteworthtraffic.com/report/duderanch.com
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - bhartzer 7y ago
    GoDaddy's appraisal tool values it at $7,628 https://www.godaddy.com/domain-value-appraisal/appraisal/ https://www.godaddy.com/domain-value-appraisal/appraisal/ Even though, in the same result, they report the comparables: duderanch.com $17,949 heroesranch.com $7,500 urbanranch.com $7,000
- eightturn 7y ago
  author here.. the revenue for both sites (since I partnered) was much more than I anticipated, but my take home for DudeRanch.com actually fell around my estimation.. (if that helps)
  - GCA10 7y ago
    Thanks. Connecting the dots, I'm guessing that travel to various ranch operators ate into your gross revenue. But, hey, it's the right way to build the business. And it sounds as if those trips made it an unusually enjoyable project. Great story.
chmod775 7y ago
I'm surprised he paid $20k for that domain name, and then made the site look like this: https://i.imgur.com/3XYXdo6.png https://i.imgur.com/3XYXdo6.png That is Firefox by the way. I suppose it looks differently in whatever browser it was tested at the time? Or maybe it is my adblock blacklisting wpengine.com by default? He could have hired a web designer/coder for a fraction of that price. Edit: Turns out it is uBlock. Don't use styles/JS from domains used for serving ads I suppose. That's analogous to sending legitimate mail from servers that also tend to send out a lot of spam. You'll have spam filters/adblockers ruining your day.
- eightturn 7y ago
  author here.. thanks for mentioning this.. try to fix this as we speak.. does it still appear wonky?
  - jordanmoconnor 7y ago
    It still appears wonky, yes. FF + uBlock.
    - eightturn 7y ago
      thanks.. continuing to dig into it..
mcthornton 7y ago
He should have tried westworld.com
walrus01 7y ago
The wikipedia article for the origin of the word 'dude' is interesting as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dude https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dude
Based_Detroiter 7y ago
Dude Ranch is not as fun as ram ranch!
notmyfuture 7y ago
I really love the whole story, especially the idea of the domain name being like the "starter sentence" in a creative writing course. Much has been written about constraints enhancing creativity. In addition to the constraint of the domain name itself, the author also spent $17,949 (taking 6-9 months to repay) which would help constrain them to focus on just this one idea over that time.

153 points by eightturn 7y ago

Also by the same guy and mentioned in the blog post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19728132 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19728132 "I Sell Onions on the Internet"

eightturn 7y ago
hey, I know you! : )

gorpomon 7y ago

I love reading about Deep South Ventures websites-- the projects are simple but inspiring. They're kind of like the other side of the coin to YC-- they make business seem possible but in a completely different way. Heads up-- something on duderanch.com is putting a max-width on rows making the site unreadble in desktop: <section class="row row-3" style="width: 100%; max-width: 328px;">...</section>

eightturn 7y ago
author here.. thank you for heads up.. I'll let David know..
- eightturn 7y ago
  this is hopefully fixed now..
  - somehnguy 7y ago
    Still broken. Chrome + uBlock Origin. If I turn off uBlock the site looks fine.
    - RhodesianHunter 7y ago
      So the site is not broken, you're using a plug-in that breaks it.
      - somehnguy 7y ago
        A large portion of the web uses this plugin. If the site doesn't work with it I would consider that broken. Additionally UBO should not cause basic site layout to break unless something is wrong on the sites side (like including formatting markup from an advertising domain). Thanks for stating the obvious though. Nevermind the other comments saying the exact same thing about the site being broken for them too. Just trying to help not have the site be broken for a portion of visitors.
    - jjulius 7y ago
      Site works fine in Chrome with UBO running for me.
      - somehnguy 7y ago
        The layout works? On mine with UBO running everything gets bunched up on the left side.
        jjulius 7y ago
        Sorry for the late reply, but yep! Here's a screenshot. https://imgur.com/CYAa5Us https://imgur.com/CYAa5Us
        somehnguy 7y ago
        Oh I'm talking about his duderanch.com site, not the blog post. Sorry for the confusion!
        gorhill 7y ago
        Site works fine here using default settings/lists and up to date lists. Did you customized uBO by adding more filter lists or rules?
davidw 7y ago
Stuff like this, or some of patio11's early work seems a lot more within the grasp of ordinary people. That's why it's interesting to read about for me, at least.
erikig 7y ago
I agree. I just finished reading this guide on how to build a profitable side business and it is as practical as it is - eye-opening. https://www.deepsouthventures.com/build-a-side-business/ https://www.deepsouthventures.com/build-a-side-business/
- michaelbuckbee 7y ago
  I agree, but with some minor quibbles specific to the HN audience: 1. The ability to write software is an asset and the DSV type projects are more software adjacent. Software has such great margins that it's much easier to create a profitable business than anything that involves shipping or physical goods (MicroSAAS, Dev Books/Courses, Themes, etc.) 2. It's sort of left unsaid that much of the purpose of buying these "domains you can make a business around" is to optimize SEO. And my honest feeling is: well done, that's a huge leg up in ranking. But there have been some changes to SEO (Google weighting factors and more navigational searches) that have reduced the value of them. Also, I think there's a strong argument to be made that if you're just starting out today and have $20,000 you'd be better off today with: duderanchjourney.com ($14 to register) + $19,986 in content, advertising, etc. vs duderanch.com ($20,000 to buy) + a blank page.
  - bhartzer 7y ago
    >> But there have been some changes to SEO (Google weighting factors and more navigational searches) that have reduced the value of them. Well, I've actually studied this a lot... and it's not that Google reduced the value of them (Exact Match Domains EMDs). It's just that Google stopped giving them more weight. So now all domains are given the same potential ranking weight--even the new gTLD domains. Bing, on the other hand, still gives more value to EMDs.
    - siruncledrew 7y ago
      I don’t doubt, but I was trying to find up to date information if Google hasn’t changed their algorithm about this and couldn’t find anything besides a reference to 2012 changes: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/do-exact-match-domains-still-work/283759/ https://www.searchenginejournal.com/do-exact-match-domains-s... Is there a more up to date source?

mylons 7y ago

i really enjoyed the onions piece. it was inspiring, and i was checking those domain auctions daily for awhile, then fell off. edit: i enjoyed this piece too.

eightturn 7y ago
thank you, mylons

zapstar 7y ago

What a wonderful and refreshing approach to entrepreneurship. I loved his previous post about selling onions, and I like his strategy of picking a domain first and then running with it -- the details will be filled in later. Domain names have so much potential! They are so motivating initially -- and he clearly follows through!

eightturn 7y ago
thank you zapstar! Sorta like Bill Walsh (49ers coach) said (essentially).. start on the right foundation and "the score will take care of itself".. Domain names are such a great way to start a project off on the right foot..
- zapstar 7y ago
  Absolutely! I’m using that exact strategy on my latest project, and so far, I feel like I’ve started off on the right foundation!
  - frequentnapper 7y ago
    where can you discover and buy a good domain?

GCA10 7y ago

Any idea what the yearly gross income from duderanch.com might be? Or the selling price at the exit? I love the narrative. I'd love it even more if we had a glimpse of whether this ultimately settled in as predicted ($25k/year) or turned out to be a whole lot more rewarding.

ggcdn 7y ago
I'll bet its more than the $664 USD this website valuator [1] reports, lol. [1] http://www.siteworthtraffic.com/report/duderanch.com http://www.siteworthtraffic.com/report/duderanch.com
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- bhartzer 7y ago
  GoDaddy's appraisal tool values it at $7,628 https://www.godaddy.com/domain-value-appraisal/appraisal/ https://www.godaddy.com/domain-value-appraisal/appraisal/ Even though, in the same result, they report the comparables: duderanch.com $17,949 heroesranch.com $7,500 urbanranch.com $7,000
eightturn 7y ago
author here.. the revenue for both sites (since I partnered) was much more than I anticipated, but my take home for DudeRanch.com actually fell around my estimation.. (if that helps)
- GCA10 7y ago
  Thanks. Connecting the dots, I'm guessing that travel to various ranch operators ate into your gross revenue. But, hey, it's the right way to build the business. And it sounds as if those trips made it an unusually enjoyable project. Great story.

chmod775 7y ago

I'm surprised he paid $20k for that domain name, and then made the site look like this: https://i.imgur.com/3XYXdo6.png https://i.imgur.com/3XYXdo6.png That is Firefox by the way. I suppose it looks differently in whatever browser it was tested at the time? Or maybe it is my adblock blacklisting wpengine.com by default? He could have hired a web designer/coder for a fraction of that price. Edit: Turns out it is uBlock. Don't use styles/JS from domains used for serving ads I suppose. That's analogous to sending legitimate mail from servers that also tend to send out a lot of spam. You'll have spam filters/adblockers ruining your day.

eightturn 7y ago
author here.. thanks for mentioning this.. try to fix this as we speak.. does it still appear wonky?
- jordanmoconnor 7y ago
  It still appears wonky, yes. FF + uBlock.
  - eightturn 7y ago
    thanks.. continuing to dig into it..

mcthornton 7y ago

He should have tried westworld.com

walrus01 7y ago

The wikipedia article for the origin of the word 'dude' is interesting as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dude https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dude

Based_Detroiter 7y ago

Dude Ranch is not as fun as ram ranch!

notmyfuture 7y ago

I really love the whole story, especially the idea of the domain name being like the "starter sentence" in a creative writing course. Much has been written about constraints enhancing creativity. In addition to the constraint of the domain name itself, the author also spent $17,949 (taking 6-9 months to repay) which would help constrain them to focus on just this one idea over that time.