Site flipping is much like house flipping or stock flipping. You buy a website that has potential for a cheap price, fix it up so it is worth more, and re-sell it to make a profit. There are many ways to make a site worth more money to those who would want to buy it from you once fixed up. Similar to the myriad of things you can do to a house to make its re-sell value go up. Just as with a house, the value goes up just by living in it and keeping it current and up to date.
However, before you get into the nitty-gritty of how to flip websites, there are some basic internet marketing fundamentals that you need to know. Knowing these will ensure that when you start flipping websites, you are not going to get in over your head. In fact, you will probably start flipping websites for profit right away. It is essential to know what you are getting into. You do not want to be overwhelmed by the idea of flipping websites once it is already bought.
Niche Research is Essential
Unfortunately, many people who try to flip websites are very new to it. They will go in search of the best deal and go from there. While it is very important to get a great deal on your first site to minimize risk and maximize profit when learning how to flip websites, you also need to research the niche the site is in to get a feel for several things. First, what is the competition like? Second, how big is the market? A simple Google search can show you how many sites are out there that are similar to the one you will be buying. You can see how they look in comparison to your target site. A search of site buying websites can tell you how many sites similar to your target have sold for once they are ready for site flipping. This will help you estimate the profit you may be able to get from flipping websites in this niche.
How Sites Make Money
Websites make money in many different ways. You may be holding onto them for a while as you flip websites. You need to know how this happens for the sites that are being considered for purchasing. Those sites that make most of their revenue through advertising may not make much money at first. However, you should see an increase in this as traffic to the site increases. Referral sites, those that use programs such as Amazon Associates to earn money, should also see an increase in revenue that matches the increased traffic as the site is upgraded. Sites that sell a product or service will not be impacted as much by the increased traffic. You will see an increase, as they will, by the more sales-driven copy on the pages or easier-to-navigate the online store.
You may end up deciding that you want to keep this site once you put your time and effort into upgrading it instead of site flipping. That is if keeping it will yield you a higher income in the long run. You do not want to purchase a site that makes money in a way that you are unsure of how to maintain or do not have an interest in maintaining, even if it is lucrative. You do not want a site that you do not know how to make money on while you are in the process of flipping websites for profit.
Organic Vs Inorganic SEO
Organic SEO is anything that you do to a web page to optimize it for search engines that does not cost any money. Inorganic SEO, on the other hand, is anything that you pay for. This can include paying for premium space on a search engine’s results, advertising on other sites through banner ads, or paying for plugs in blogs and forums. This type of SEO usually nets in very small long-term growth. However, it can lead to short-term spikes in views, referrals, or purchases of services and goods.
However, organic SEO will lead to your web page being seen by an increasing amount of people, which means more growth for the website overall. This is very important when learning how to flip websites. Organic SEO for site flipping can include adding keyword rich page titles, meta tags and descriptions, and alt text to the HTML code of every web page for your site. It also includes writing web content that is keyword optimized for keywords that have been researched to be the best out there for the niche you are in. Back links with great keyword anchor text are also very important. They can show that your site is important, or at least knows where to find other great content to link to.
Social Media Presence
Flipping websites for profit is a lot easier when you know how to use social media to your advantage. By setting up pages for your site or business on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, and others. Use them regularly to keep loyal fans updated with current news and other things that may be happening in the industry that might interest them. You can build a fan-base that will continue to grow even after you have sold the site. If you can flip websites that have a social media presence like this, you have got a huge advantage in the marketplace and it will raise the overall value when site flipping.
Email Marketing Basics
Knowing how to effectively market a website through email is vital to flipping websites for profit. If your target site does not already have an email address list from a sign-up form somewhere on the site, then you need to add one. You also need to determine what kind of marketing to send out to get the most out of your effort when the end result is to flip websites. For sites that sell product, this is usually a sales flyer. For other sites that rely on ad or referral revenue, a newsletter with subtle ads and referrals works best. Next, choose whether it will be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Time to get to work!
Know these five basic internet marketing fundamentals before you start on your new adventure of flipping websites for profit. You can guarantee that your experience with site flipping is not only fun, but lucrative, for all those involved.