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.