Blazing Minds

Flipping is the term used to describe the practice of buying something and then reselling that something for profit. In this case websites, but the term is most commonly associated with real estate.

Profits, when flipping real estate, are often achieved after buying property for a low price, fixing it up and then reselling it. This is the popular fix and flip cycle wherein the purchaser will often get a good deal by finding property that is in need of renovation or repair and negotiating a knock down purchase price. They then add value to the property by carrying out the necessary repairs and renovations before selling it for a tidy profit.

The same process can be applied to websites. While it may be profitable to buy websites and then simply wait for the value to increase it is often more profitable to quickly add a little value to the site before reselling it for profit and then repeating the process.

Flipping websites takes four key steps. Firstly, locating a website that you want to purchase; secondly, negotiating the sale; thirdly adding some value to the site and finally, finding a buyer for the site.

Finding sites to purchase is made simple by a few well known website marketplaces, flippa.com being one of the best known. Before parting with any money its worthwhile monitoring the buying and selling activity at this marketplace and others. You will see some sites sold and then quickly re-appearing in the marketplace as a website flipper attempts to make a quick profit.

When considering a site for purchase its worth thinking about the next stage in the process which is adding value to a site. For example, you may be an expert in a particular topic so if you can find an existing website that relates to your area of expertise you may be able to add value by introducing some fresh, unique content. Or if you have some SEO (search engine optimization) experience you may be able to add value by carrying out some onsite and offsite SEO to promote the site before reselling it.

There are many additional factors to investigate before purchasing a website. You will want to ask the current site owner for details of the site traffic and how much money the site is currently making, if any. You will also need to investigate the site history, when the domain was first registered and who the current domain registrant is. A great site for researching website history is: www.archive.org and pay a visit to who.is for site registrant details. You will also want to know about the backlinks to the site, its Google page rank and Alexa rank. While it may be tempting to grab what you think is a bargain it is generally good practice to carry out some thorough research before parting with any money.

I’ve already touched upon ways in which you may be able to enhance a website by adding some fresh, valuable, unique content or promoting the site using SEO. But you may have the skills or resources to go a whole lot further by completely re-designing the website or maybe turning a static site into a dynamic blog. The work you carry out at this stage can turn a site that cost just a few dollars into a site that’s potentially worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Once you are ready to ‘flip’ its time to revisit the marketplace, or perhaps try an alternative outlet such as forums.digitalpoint.com. its very important to have kept an accurate record of all the costs incurred throughout the process of buying and enhancing the website as you need to be certain that you are selling for a profit and not at a loss. If you decide to sell through an auction site (such as ebay.com) be certain to set a reserve that you are happy with. Don’t be despondent if your site doesn’t initially attract any potential buyers. Take another look at your site and consider what else you can do to make it appealing. Take a look at any feedback you may have received as this may provide ideas for further enhancement that’s likely to make your site more appealing.

Be warned, website flipping is addictive. When you’ve done it once, successfully, you will definitely want to do it again.

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 7th, 2010 at 11:33 am and is filed under Guests Posts, Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.