Website Flipping - Can It Make You Some Extra Cash?

byPaulWatson

3.8K followers

Updated 2 years ago

Hey guys, recently I wrote a blog here about my experiences purchasing a website from a flipper. Well after that experience I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole as I considered it as another means to which we may be able to earn some cash online.

I spent a good deal of time looking at the websites and what was on offer for the price and found that I could actually be a good way to make a little money on the side as you build your affiliate marketing business.

Let's check it all out.

What is website flipping?

So in short, website flipping is the process of creating a website, adding some content (if you see fit) and then selling it off - i.e. flipping it. These are generally set up as affiliate marketing or e-commerce sites that the purchaser takes from you and builds up to an income earning business.

The sale price you could get for your site will depend on a number of things such as:

• Traffic - this is the big one - the more traffic it gets, the more you can ask for the site.
• Number of posts - in most cases you will need some content in there.
• Attraction of niche and/or URL - they must make sense.

In general, a brand new, well built website with around 20 odd posts but no traffic will sell for around $USD50 - $300.

What would I need to build?

Ok, so if this is something that interests you, I have found in my research that there are a number of critical factors that will make your website attractive to potential buyers. These are:

1. Pick popular niches - Like anything, if you stick to what is popular, then you will have more chance of selling. Areas such as weightloss/fitness, hobbies, travel and making money are always popular. You can setup something in a more specific niche (dog grooming for example), which may allow you to charge more, but may take a little longer to sell.

2. Purchase a good URL - this needs to be something that is both relevant to the website niche and make sense. This has to be owned by you and you must also set it up in a place that makes it easy to transfer to the new owner as well.

3. Use WordPress and a good theme - In my experience, non WordPress sites are harder to sell and choose a good theme with plenty of customization options. If you can afford it - a premium theme will give you more sales leverage as well. Also try to avoid fancy editors - keep it simple.

4. Write good posts - If you are adding content to your site, make them informative and relevant to the website and niche. Many use an ai bot for this sort of thing which is fine, just make sure it is well written and free of grammatical or spelling errors. And if you can show you have thought about keywords, then you will be better off as well.

5. Don't stress about plugins - If you know they are good, or needed for your theme, then load them. Otherwise that is probably something to leave to the purchaser. If you have open access to a premium option, then maybe load it as a selling point otherwise my opinion is to leave them be.

6. Other options - Other things to consider are:

• Logos
• Legal pages (Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, T&C)
• Analytics connections - if you have traffic, the buyer will want to see this information
• Income statements - if your site earns income, then you will need to show proof here as well.

The above is what I looked at when I recently purchased a site and the things that stood out to me on the higher prices sites on the platform.

When do I sell?

Short answer - it depends on two things:

1. How quickly you want to get paid
2. How much you want to get paid

If you want to get paid straight away, and have completed all of the my recommendations above, then you can market your sight as soon as you are ready. As above, in my research, sites like this will generally fetch anywhere from USD$50 - $300 depending on the niche and quality of the build.

But as it is with any website, traffic is key. The more traffic your site gets, the more money you can ask. An example here is I sold a site last year for $USD1200.

It met all of the criteria above, made no sales but generated around 50 views a day - I worked at it for around 6 months (85 posts) and then let it 'sit' for 6 more months.

So again, it depends on what your payment needs are as above.

What will it cost?

If you shop around for a good cheap host then it shouldn't cost you much at all - around $10 (WA includes 50 posts with memberships of course) but regardless of where you are, make sure you can export it out simply.

A domain will cost you around USD$14.

If you choose to use an ai. bot for your writing then you are probably looking at around USD$80 - $100 per month. This is of course something you can look at once you make your first sale.

What are the pros?

We all know that building an income earning affiliate website takes time. Flipping therefore can indeed earn you a good income in quicker time so if you are good at building websites and creating a little content but don't want to work at building it up.

There are plenty of marketplace sites (such as flippa.com) that will allow you to post your sites for a small percentage of the sales cost. These sites protect your payment assist you in managing the process as well.

What are the Cons?

The problem you may face from the beginning is that like many things in the online world, you may struggle to sell sites without previous history (chicken meet egg) meaning your first couple may take a little longer to sell.

The other problem here is that the market at the lower end can be flooded with shonky creators who create a base site, fill it with rubbish or stolen posts and then try and make a quick buck. Standing out from these can be difficult some times.

And finally, the main con here is that you will not make passive income. This can be ok but unlike affiliate marketing, you will not make money unless you are continuously building.

Conclusion

So to answer our question, absolutely you can make money from flipping websites. of course there is nothing to stop you from purchasing an established website, rebuilding it and flipping it again either.

I hope this was helpful and as always, let me know of any questions or experiences below.

Until then

Have fun

Paul