Why you probably SHOULDN'T buy adsense sites on Flippa

[Jeremy Banks]

I know it seems like the easy way out, just buy a made for Adsense website on Flippa that makes $200 a month, make your money back in a year and then the rest is gravy. I looked into this method and unfortunately it isn't that easy

• People who sell those sites build them, sell them, and then build more, the sites are usually very poor quality for content and just thrown up quickly
• New sites typically rank well in google, after you buy it you will probably see a sharp drop in traffic and earnings
• It is very easy to fake earnings - Name a channel "Website 3" now put the adsense code and website 1 that is making good money for 3 months, it now appears website 3 is making good money!
  • I think some people partially inflate their earnings this way so beware
• The website you are buying that makes $200 a month will cost you $2000. Think about it could you make a better site in every way shape and form with $2000. In most cases the answer is yes, register a similar domain, pay $200 for content creation, $500 on link building and keep the rest (in most cases you could build a better site for $250)
• BEWARE OF THE COMPETITION - There are stalkers on flippa (hundreds of them) who use the details of the auction to sniff out good paying niches to enter. I saw it myself, one website sold for $8000 with NO competition, 2 months later there were 3+ pages of domains competing for one keyword. It was ridiculous, they took the main keyword and added letters, numbers, hyphens, basically any combination you could think of. I can guarantee you that would eat away at the earnings BIG TIME

If you buy off Flippa stay away from the BIG Adsense earners, it might not be as easy as you think to continue earning the reported income (if it is even accurate) after hundreds of bloodhounds catch the scent of a new juicy keyword to target.

[rajivkumar900]

Thanks for this information it really helped.
Rajiv

[TryBPO]

Jeremy,

While some of your points are valid, I think if you do your homework there is gold to be found on Flippa. A lot of people (our customers included) have more money than time -- they look at purchasing AdSense sites as an investment strategy.

Here's why our sites are different:

1) Our process is well researched, tested, and proven. Plus we give it away for free on our site. No "man behind the curtain" strategy here.

2) Our sites typically come aged 6-8 months with a proven stable track record of earnings in the last 3 months. These sites are not going anywhere. Plus we give you a full network, so you have back should one of the niches change.

3) It harder than it seems to provide fake earnings. If the correct proof is provided in the form of AdSense screenshots and verified Google Analytics, a seller can be deemed trustworthy. Plus look at their history of Flippa sales. Fake screenshots are easily recognizable by their fuzzy appearance and lack of supporting documents (i.e. Google Analytics).

4) If you know the process well you could create more sites for your investment dollars and therefore build more passive income. However, if you are new or don't have the time, buying a network of sites is a good way to get started and have reliable income every month.

5) Here's the thing about competition -- if you are there first with a true EMD, lots of content that rank for other related secondary keywords and a strong back linking process, it will be difficult for the competition to out rank you. That's what we do with out sites and that's why the competition has come in behind us. Usually you're better off just finding new niches than stealing someone else. There are plenty out there!

Finally we provide bonus material in the form of content and keywords to all our auction winners. We also do a live phone consultation to answer any questions about improving the sites. Look for sellers that do these types of "extras" when using Flippa. You won't be disappointed.

[Jeremy Banks]

Originally Posted by TryBPO

Jeremy,

While some of your points are valid, I think if you do your homework there is gold to be found on Flippa. A lot of people (our customers included) have more money than time -- they look at purchasing AdSense sites as an investment strategy.

Here's why our sites are different:

1) Our process is well researched, tested, and proven. Plus we give it away for free on our site. No "man behind the curtain" strategy here.

2) Our sites typically come aged 6-8 months with a proven stable track record of earnings in the last 3 months. These sites are not going anywhere. Plus we give you a full network, so you have back should one of the niches change.

3) It harder than it seems to provide fake earnings. If the correct proof is provided in the form of AdSense screenshots and verified Google Analytics, a seller can be deemed trustworthy. Plus look at their history of Flippa sales. Fake screenshots are easily recognizable by their fuzzy appearance and lack of supporting documents (i.e. Google Analytics).

4) If you know the process well you could create more sites for your investment dollars and therefore build more passive income. However, if you are new or don't have the time, buying a network of sites is a good way to get started and have reliable income every month.

5) Here's the thing about competition -- if you are there first with a true EMD, lots of content that rank for other related secondary keywords and a strong back linking process, it will be difficult for the competition to out rank you. That's what we do with out sites and that's why the competition has come in behind us. Usually you're better off just finding new niches than stealing someone else. There are plenty out there!

Finally we provide bonus material in the form of content and keywords to all our auction winners. We also do a live phone consultation to answer any questions about improving the sites. Look for sellers that do these types of "extras" when using Flippa. You won't be disappointed.

Hey Justin, thanks for the reply and it is great that you added this. I visit your blog a few times a month and really like what you are doing! You are the other side of the spectrum and yes I would feel very comfortable buying a website from you on flippa for a few reasons

• You are a seller that can be trusted as this is your business, and you wouldn't waste your time cooking up fake adsense earnings
• Your sites are small enough and earn just enough to not get picked up by the competition
• Your sites also don't leave much room for competition, an easy to rank for keyword that brings $1000 a month leaves A LOT of room for competition, while a site that makes about $10 - $100 a month isn't really worth trying to out rank.
• You create your sites with a system, and once others purchase the site they can build the sites out and continue to bring in more money

The one thing I just hate about flippa is that all the information someone needs to start competing with you / the site you just bought was just displayed to thousands of people.

It would be cool if you guys offered private sales for the higher earning sites, that way it would protect the person who purchases it. If you get a real gem just keep it and offer it for sale privately to your list.

Jeremy

[TryBPO]

Hey Jeremy,

Thanks for the kind words. You're right in that our sites, in general, are such small earners that people are better off coming up with their OWN keywords and not copying us for our average sites. Still...that doesn't keep people from copying us...happens quite a bit! The funny thing is when we see people copying us on our $3.00 per month sites and they're ranked like 5 spots below us...what were they thinking? They would have been better coming up with sites on their own. I know the reason, though...it's scary out there on your own...it feels safer copying someone else.

You're right about protecting our better earners. Those sites that are making in excess of $50/month on Flippa are RIPE for copycats and almost as soon as you list you'll find them springing up all over the place. Private sales would help with that for sure, but we like the additional exposure we get from placing auctions online. One strategy would be to not sell the better earners on Flippa...we're considering that.

[warriorkay]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Banks

• BEWARE OF THE COMPETITION - There are stalkers on flippa (hundreds of them) who use the details of the auction to sniff out good paying niches to enter. I saw it myself, one website sold for $8000 with NO competition, 2 months later there were 3+ pages of domains competing for one keyword. It was ridiculous, they took the main keyword and added letters, numbers, hyphens, basically any combination you could think of. I can guarantee you that would eat away at the earnings BIG TIME

Damn right there are stalkers. There's even a series of free
PDFs showing exactly how to do that,

So, yes, Jeremy is right on that one. If you buy a high ranking
site on Flippa with no competition and do nothing afterwards...
the competition will roast you. That's for sure!

Kingsley

.

[andhin4ngel]

it's ok to buy if there is a good web

[timpears]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Banks

If you buy off Flippa stay away from the BIG Adsense earners, it might not be as easy as you think to continue earning the reported income (if it is even accurate) after hundreds of bloodhounds catch the scent of a new juicy keyword to target.

I think that is where you make your mistake, '..it might not be as easy as you think to continue the earnings...

Other than in the sales pitches from guru's selling their programs, who said it was easy? This is a business and as such you are going to have to work for your income. A already built web site may get you a quick start, but it is going to involve work to keep it earning in most cases.

[Oranges]

BEWARE OF THE COMPETITION - There are stalkers on flippa (hundreds of them) who use the details of the auction to sniff out good paying niches to enter. I saw it myself, one website sold for $8000 with NO competition, 2 months later there were 3+ pages of domains competing for one keyword. It was ridiculous, they took the main keyword and added letters, numbers, hyphens, basically any combination you could think of. I can guarantee you that would eat away at the earnings BIG TIME

LOL! that is the reason why they recently added a feature to hide the URL, but still it's almost like serving your business's information on a silver platter to the whole world, and that sucks big time.

[bigwillstyle]

Thanks Jermey Man! I was thinking about buying a couple of sites on flippa just for the quick earnings but, your right it's better to invest your time and effort into building your own and crank them out like doughnuts at Krispy Kremes.

[lovboa]

Originally Posted by timpears

I think that is where you make your mistake, '..it might not be as easy as you think to continue the earnings...

Other than in the sales pitches from guru's selling their programs, who said it was easy? This is a business and as such you are going to have to work for your income. A already built web site may get you a quick start, but it is going to involve work to keep it earning in most cases.

Very true.. But sadly...a large percentage of people on Flippa go in looking to buy a site, never touch it again, and just receive a Google cheque every month.

[DonMecca]

Yeah..lotta people use flippa as a research tool, and often times going after a niche that you know for certain that someone else is earning from gives people that more confidence to do so. But yes it's pointless and a waste of effort because if you took the extra 10-20mins of keyword research you would land on untouched niche with more potential...there is just Sooo much out there!

[yukon]

Originally Posted by lovboa

Very true.. But sadly...a large percentage of people on Flippa go in looking to buy a site, never touch it again, and just receive a Google cheque every month.

That's exactly the reason it's so easy most times to dominate a keyword/niche/domain sold on flippa.

Most buyers think they can buy the domain & kick back doing nothing, which is open season for anyone that didn't buy the domain.

From what I've read above, folks are trying to dis people that don't buy the site & still out rank the sold domain on flippa.

Why should the non-buyers be looked down on when they are the only people doing real work to out rank a flippa sold domain.

If others (not you lovboa) wanna dis, dis on the lazy people that buy flippa sites & do nothing with them.

[InTheMaking]

Originally Posted by yukon

That's exactly the reason it's so easy most times to dominate a keyword/niche/domain sold on flippa.

Most buyers think they can buy the domain & kick back doing nothing, which is open season for anyone that didn't buy the domain.

From what I've read above, folks are trying to dis people that don't buy the site & still out rank the sold domain on flippa.

Why should the non-buyers be looked down on when they are the only people doing real work to out rank a flippa sold domain.

If others (not you lovboa) wanna dis, dis on the lazy people that buy flippa sites & do nothing with them.

^ what this man said..

For a $100/month site I'd rather spend $100 to outrank the website than spend over a grand buying it and not knowing the links thrown at it or how the sites going to rank a few months down the road.

[outwest]

Most Adsense flipper guys sites dont make more than 10 bucks a day according to the stats I read on their site
so I doubt people are going to be going crazy copying their keywords, but its a possibility

[yukon]

Originally Posted by outwest

Most Adsense flipper guys sites dont make more than 10 bucks a day according to the stats I read on their site
so I doubt people are going to be going crazy copying their keywords, but its a possibility

I've found good keywords on flippa, with very little competition.

A site that sold on flippa for $10+K is #9 for it's EMD keyword (.org).

Another EMD didn't reach the reserve on flippa & is #1 (.biz) for same keyword. Running BMR style backlinks, with 4 pages of content.

The 10+k guy could have easily ranked #1 with less than $1.5K (content + external backlinks + VA). They could have 100% outsourced the whole site.

[MNC3333]

Most sites are poorly made sites, but I agree that there are some sites that you can make a fortune on if you find the right one and do your due diligence.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Banks

I know it seems like the easy way out, just buy a made for Adsense website on Flippa that makes $200 a month, make your money back in a year and then the rest is gravy.

Any person who is experienced in web development and online business can tell with one glance that 95% of the sites for sale on Flippa are an intentionally-crafted scam.

[JSProjects]

BEWARE OF THE COMPETITION - There are stalkers on flippa (hundreds of them) who use the details of the auction to sniff out good paying niches to enter. I saw it myself, one website sold for $8000 with NO competition, 2 months later there were 3+ pages of domains competing for one keyword. It was ridiculous, they took the main keyword and added letters, numbers, hyphens, basically any combination you could think of. I can guarantee you that would eat away at the earnings BIG TIME

Now why haven't I thought of that?!? Just kidding. But I'm surprised that I've never thought of checking out Flippa to do a little niche research.

[discustipated]

When i see an adsense site up for sale, i go an research the keyword(s) their sup. ranking for and usualy there not even in the top 100 in google.so that right there is enough to show that there bs, or most likely got dump by a panda update so they think they can get it off there hands by putting it up on flippa.