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5 Tips That Will Have You Flipping Websites Like a Gymnast

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Flipping Websites

Getting involved with buying a business seems overwhelming, but…wait, oh no that’s actually true. It is overwhelming. There is a lot involved with buying a website, so if you are not completely confident in your ability to fix this website, you are looking at a lot of money lost. After all, most websites that are for sale are for sale because they are poor and failing.

Fortunately, this brings the cost of the website way down; unfortunately, this leaves a lot of work for you if you’re going to try and re-advertise a website that was once ignored. However, there are many benefits to buying a website and having the skills to successfully flip it, or turn it around, for profit:

  • Although your audience may not be fond of your acquired website, you still have an audience to work with (who will hopefully be glad to hear someone is taking over).
  • The site is likely already indexed with search engines.
  • You will avoid problems with Google, who often place new websites into a spam category as a filter.
  • There is generally a higher chance of success than if you were to start a similar website from scratch.

If done correctly, flipping a website is sure to have more benefits than pitfalls. Once you think you have what it takes to take an existing website and make it profitable; then comes the challenge of deciding which website is right for you. You must first know what you want out of a website. In other words, make sure you know what purpose you want the website to serve; then consider a few of the routes you can take when finding the right website:

5 Tips That Will Have You Flipping Websites Like a Gymnast

1. Advertising revenue—There are lots of websites out there that have good content and a good layout, but do not take advantage of advertising opportunities. If advertising is your thing, this might be a route that could lead you to success. You could use your time using your newly acquired content to build a subscriber list or focus on diversifying your advertising.

2. Traffic—Some sites will tell you that they are a high traffic site, and they very well may be able to prove this to you. However, not all traffic is targeted traffic. In other words, make sure the current visitors of your potential website are ones you can profit from.

3. Competition—Chances are you are not looking to buy an overly dominant website, so the websites you’re interested in are likely to have competition. Before buying a website, look at this competition and see if you can afford to either buy both websites, or attempt to merge the two to gain popularity.

4. Domain Name—Many people buy a website specifically for the domain name, or URL. This is often times difficult because many of the obvious “money making” domain names are not for sale, but every once in a while you will find a domain name that you feel has potential. If you think something will be a big trend in the coming years (ex: ipod.com, blogger.com), you just may be able to snag the domain name before anyone else. People usually do this for the sole purpose of re-selling; not to develop the website.

5. Quick Flip—Many entrepreneurs today are buying websites for the sole purpose of a complete renovation. This takes a lot of work and usually needs to be done fairly quickly if you want to avoid the general public getting fed up with the changes. The best websites for this type of project are usually websites that are in their very early stages with potential to grow.

Where to Find a Website Worth Flipping

Once you know what you want out of a website and which strategy will work best for you, it’s time to shop around. There are many good website trading sites you can find on the web, but I recommend looking for a site on your own to get the best deal.

If you’re using a major search engine to search for websites, skip the first two or three pages to avoid the sites that are doing well. Once you get further along in your search, try to find sites that are active, but small. These sites won’t necessarily be for sale, but if the site isn’t taken seriously you might be surprised to find how willing someone will be to make a few dollars.

About

Amanda DiSilvestro is the Editor-in-chief for Plan, Write, GO. She has been writing about all things digital marketing, both as a ghostwriter, guest writer, and blog manager, for over 10 years. Check out her blogging services to learn more!

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{ 13 Responses }

  1. Tim says:
    I think taking over a domain with someone else's unfinished work is a bad idea usually. However sites like Flippa do a great job of marketing them, and can sometimes provide a great value for anyone wanting to get an already established (sort of) domain. Flippa actually coined the term "flipping", because they are just such an authoritative business.
  2. Chris Roberts says:
    I'm just getting into this business myself. It's not easy but just the other day I made a sale of site that profited me $70.00 and that was pretty cool for me! It makes me want to keep shooting higher!
    • Amanda DiSilvestro says:
      That's great news! And a great start. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions :)
  3. Noel Addison says:
    Thanks for these tips. Buying a website can be profitable if you know how to restore it.
  4. Amanda DiSilvestro says:
    I'm so glad you all reacted well to this article. I also think flipping websites is a great way to get started, yet I think many do not even consider this as an option. I think if we can help spread the word, we can help get rid of a few of those waste-of-time blogs. However, many do prefer to start a website from scratch (as many of you mentioned). I agree that for some, this is the right way to go. This is simply another option for those nervous about starting their own website. I know flipping a website is working for my company (Business.com) in a big way, but some are not interested in starting such a large operation. Either way, it's always great to see people excited about starting any type of website!
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Thank you Amanda for the nice post, really good stuff! I know some of my fellow bloggers and internet marketers do flip websites, and they actually profit from it very well as DiTesco says! I actually do have a few blogs that I am not interested in managing them, especially that I am so involved on managing FamousBloggers.net and my other design project! You brought the idea, probably I will flip some of some of these blogs soon! Thanks again, I appreciate it.
  5. David says:
    Flipping websites is probably one of the best ways to make a profit these days because of the ROI involved. I also advise beginners to buy a website instead of building a new one as this last one could be very hard especially with today's web. H David
  6. DiTesco says:
    Very well said Amanda. Flipping websites is actually a very profitable endeavor, providing it is done properly. Your tips certainly are very important to successfully achieve that goal.
  7. Danette says:
    Building websites from scratch can be quite a profitable exercise - especially when you do the research, snag a great domain name and set it up for someone looking to enter the online marketing world. Flippa.com is a great site to both find and sell websites for those interested in flipping.
  8. Maja says:
    Most of the people today develop a website and bring traffic and give some proof of traffic and after that they try to get good price by flipping that site.
  9. Raj says:
    I know people who buy and sell websites after optimizing them for content/ traffic in a very short term. Personally, I prefer making websites from scratch. It gives me a sense of ownership.
  10. Azhar says:
    Relative traffic is one of the cause that increase the value of site. If a site is optimized under some good keywords that will get good price at the time of sale.
    • Amanda DiSilvestro says:
      Absolutely. I think trying to flip a website works great for those who are a little bit less experienced in managing a website. It's a great place to start and then, like you said, if you want to try starting your own website, you will hopefully be able to sell the website you flipped fairly easily!