I'm making a viral Trump site, couple of questions

bernard

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I asked in another thread about tactics about runnning a conspiracy/secret history site, but I decided against it, since the site already exists and is a big estrablished player, even though I think I could do better at some themes.

I'm making a viral Trump site instead.

Couple of questions:

1) Would running such a site anonymously be feasible?

2) Monetazation: Adsense and CPM?
 
Running anonymously could be done but the problem comes when you monetize it. The money has to go somewhere ans that's how people find you.

Just be cautious. People are either one way or the other (hence the potential viral value of the site) but he is known to sue people.

I believe this guy does okay. You can look up Tuck Frump. He monetizes through selling products. Interested in seeing how this goes.
 
This reminds me of this NPR episode:

We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here's What We Learned

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/12/02/504155809/episode-739-finding-the-fake-news-king

"A few days before the election, an extraordinary story popped up in hundreds of thousands of people's Facebook feeds. This story was salacious. It was vivid, filled with intriguing details. There was a photo of a burning house, firemen rushing in. The headline read, "FBI Agent Suspected In Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide."

It was all fake. There was no FBI agent. There was no shooting. The site it was published on, The Denver Guardian, isn't a real news source. It was one of many fake stories that play into conspiracy theories about the Clintons and it worked."

"Today on the show, we take this single fake news story and follow the clues all the way back. We follow the digital breadcrumbs until we find ourselves on a suburban doorstep, face to face with the man behind a bogus news empire run. Then he tells us his secrets."



 
Based on other people's responses, I'm guessing a "viral Trump site" means some type of bullshit fake news site.

Unless you're just looking to have some fun, why not create an actual political news website? Why force it into a Trump niche? Fake news might go viral, but real news goes viral as well. And, real news is sometimes a little fake. And it will always have an angle.

But, fake news will limit your advertising opportunities. You can't do fake news and AdSense. And fake news might make you feel like a fraud. And, some one might track you down.

since the site already exists and is a big estrablished player, even though I think I could do better at some themes.

You're aware that there are thousands of news websites that are also very established, right? If you're trying to take a sliver out of their pie, why not take it out of something you're more passionate about?
 
I'm not making a fake news site, I am making a site with a good mix of lulz and memes with real news since European coverage is basically 99% negative and there is a demographic which wants real Trump news and some of the great entertainment as well, but not from the typical clicheed "everything Trump does is wrong" bias.
 
I'm not making a fake news site, I am making a site with a good mix of lulz and memes with real news since European coverage is basically 99% negative and there is a demographic which wants real Trump news and some of the great entertainment as well, but not from the typical clicheed "everything Trump does is wrong" bias.

Good. Then, there's probably no reason why running the site anonymously would be any more difficult than running any other "normal" website anonymously. The nature of news is that some people may get pissed and look "more into it," but just get whois protection.

I imagine CPM will ultimately be the best, by far.
 
Old media calls all new media fake news, so some people will try to figure it out. I'll use some anon hosting in Iceland and separate emails and such, so only the registrar will be a concern for leaks.
 
For added degree of protection in anonymity, I would do some research and learn a bit more about how to incorporate various types of legal entities into your efforts. For example, LLC's. Take it a step further, a living trust that is the managing partner of an LLC, so no individual (yourself) is publicly visible as being the managing partner. Beast mode when you're purchasing real estate in this manner. I am NOT an expert on these things, and instead choose to pay experts that are, to handle that for me. I'd recommend doing the same. The idea being, you house your various digital and other assets within these various business "vehicles". Certain types of legal entities do allow for a great degree of anonymity, and certainly towards various ends like dissociating digital assets from detectably being owned by a single entity (you know, for algorithms and such...).

Considering the subject matter, regardless of the angle, it would be well worth learning to also approach your anonymity in the same manner as those that may be expending effort to try and identify you, because you know there will be assholes that will try. Use that perspective to help vet your efforts to obfuscate. Not at all going to get into politics but, in this day and age, the importance of anonymity cannot be overstated when it comes to being faced with the backlash of politically-outraged opponents.

Another thing for people to consider. Stuff like WHOIS protection only goes so far. PEOPLE work at these companies whose digital services you use. All of the big name social platforms. The evil G. Etc. You may think you're safe and obfuscated on your own site, but what may exist on your off-site assets, that might leak your identity? I mean, it's not like any employee of a major social media platform might "look you up" and share your info with someone anonymously. That would never happen... If you're paranoid enough, the obfuscation will start at the beginning of the TCP connection, before it even hops on the line leaving your house... Think VPN's, routing traffic through an external machine/VPS, etc.
 
I'm not sure I would start a new website that has a built-in lifespan.

Is there going to be any interest in this site once Trump is out of office?
 
I'm not sure I would start a new website that has a built-in lifespan.

Is there going to be any interest in this site once Trump is out of office?
8 years of potential profit is more than average lifespan for business when more than 98% of business are out of business within 3-4 years.
 
8 years of potential profit is more than average lifespan for business when more than 98% of business are out of business within 3-4 years.

Why even put all that effort and risk into ONE person? There are sooooo many evergreen possibilities out there right now.. instead why not build a real asset that generates cash flow AND will be worth something to someone else/another business down the line.

Often the real $$ is from the exit and you won't get much for a Trump site.
 
Or just make a President praise / hate site in general so you can cover upcoming candidates and then jump to the new prez.

Then again... what's the internet even going to look like in 8-16 years? Will people consume content in text form with pics, or will video grow more, or will it become some 3D holography? Can your site pivot to that type of content as the changes come?

I think a lot of evergreen sites can dodge this issue for the most part (or slowly integrate the new stuff) since it's not a flavor-of-the-day kind of site. The old content will remain relevant and can even be repurposed in the new media. Even if you don't pivot you still have a valuable asset that will bring in (an albeit decreased) income.

Often the real $$ is from the exit and you won't get much for a Trump site.

This is what you should anticipate, I think... the exit. If you can strike while the iron is hot and build an asset that can then be passed to the next guy who wants to do a site on "President Elect XXXX", then you're in business.

You could make insane money in the next 8 years, but it would take a simple broadening of the brand to make sure it's even more at the end, or let you stay relevant and cover the next president or politics in general (which you'll be doing regardless to provide context to your president-based posts)
 
The Trump site might be limited in time, but I plan on flipping it anyway within a few years. That's the plan, but you guys are forgetting something, Trump is not just Donald, there's Ivanka, there's Don Jr., Eric Trump, Baron Trump. I probably don't have to tell you this, because you're smart, but the Trump clan is far from done in politics with the Donald.

A poor man wants to be rich, a rich man wants to be king, a king wants to be god.

The Trumps are going to be the new Kennedy family. Ivanka and Don Jr. will absolutely go into politics in the future, follow Don Jr. and it seems to me he is already in politics. Ivanka might even run as a democrat.
 
Whose to say you can't use the Trump site to funnel link juice and visitors to a money site? Political sites can infuriate and have the potential to create impulse buyers. Look at the number of gun sales during the Obama administration (seen as anti-2a), and when Trump took over (seen as pro-2a).

Politics and guns have a correlation in America.
 
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