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Site Averaging $46/month over two months - Flip or Keep?

by Biggy Fat
49 replies
Hello World. I'm scratching my head as to what to do with an Adsense site that I've got making some really good money. Ever since I lost my job the thought came to my head about the Adsense site that I have. I had intended to flip it come the middle of November, but there is now a time where I'm in a need of a jolt of cash.

But here is the thing - I've outsourced a lot of backlinks to it, and most of them haven't been picked up by Google yet. When they do the rankings should shoot skyward, thus bringing in much more traffic and many more clicks. But the longer I keep it, the bigger of a risk of a deindex, which would make the site worthless.

Obviously I really can't make the decision on my own, so I will like to turn to my fellow Warriors for advice. Should I go ahead and flip it and possibly undersell it but get cash in my pocket? Or should I keep it and hold out for the big four figure payday but risk the deindex? If the former, how much could I get for it? And if the latter, how can I prevent a deindex? The site already has six unique articles on there, and I had planned on adding two more.
#$46 or month #averaging #flip #months #site
  • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
    When you flip a site that is generating passive income, it no longer generates passive income for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dylan K
    well put it this way, you hold on to it, your earrnings will most likely go up assuming there is no deindexing. So you will earn the $6 plus prolly around another $60 then the sale fee.

    If you flip it for less then its worth your doing yourself a disservice.

    If you are that desperate for money it may be what you need to do.

    If I dont make sense its because Im on percocets
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    • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
      Originally Posted by hoot33 View Post

      If you are that desperate for money it may be what you need to do.
      If you keep flipping sites that create passive income when you are desperate for money, then you will likely be desperate for money again in the future.
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  • Profile picture of the author bhuff85
    Yeah - Don't make the mistake of flipping sites that create passive income. I did it to one site a couple years back and regret (although I DID need the money at the time and had to sell it). I always imagine what could've been. Now all of my passive income sites I hold on to. As long as you keep adding content and building on it, they will continue to grow.
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelRay
    $50 (almost) a month on adsense is good. I'd say keep it.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Personally, I'd flip it but then I flip everything.
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    • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      Personally, I'd flip it but then I flip everything.
      Which means that you must keep working to keep the train rolling. That's certainly a life choice, but I prefer working hard for a while and then living off of the fruits of my labor.
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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
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        Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

        Which means that you must keep working to keep the train rolling. That's certainly a life choice, but I prefer working hard for a while and then living off of the fruits of my labor.
        It would have to be making a whole lot more than $50/mnth for me to consider keeping it. I'd prefer to make a good profit from a low earning site and create more, but then I like developing sites, so that's not really working hard to me. In a lot of cases, the backlinking and promotion are more labor intensive than building a site, getting some revenue going, flipping for a profit. I enjoy the development more than the site promotion.
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        • Profile picture of the author paulie888
          Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

          It would have to be making a whole lot more than $50/mnth for me to consider keeping it. I'd prefer to make a good profit from a low earning site and create more, but then I like developing sites, so that's not really working hard to me. In a lot of cases, the backlinking and promotion are more labor intensive than building a site, getting some revenue going, flipping for a profit. I enjoy the development more than the site promotion.
          I know exactly what you mean, in order to see a site project through and develop it to its full potential you usually have to invest a lot of additional time and labor (or outsourcing). I can see why you'd find flipping attractive, especially since it seems like people are falling hard for passive low-earning Adsense sites in Flippa and seem to be willing to pay top dollar for them.
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    • Profile picture of the author imon32red
      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      Personally, I'd flip it but then I flip everything.
      I like it! I keep everything that produces passive income. In fact, that is the major draw to IM for me. Of course there are times when I realize that I should have sold something because it is now worthless. But that is a chance I am willing to take.
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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
        Banned
        Originally Posted by imon32red View Post

        I like it! I keep everything that produces passive income. In fact, that is the major draw to IM for me. Of course there are times when I realize that I should have sold something because it is now worthless. But that is a chance I am willing to take.
        I think that's one of the reasons I like to flip them. I have no confidence that once I get a little bit of revenue going, that it will maintain that and increase over time. Some sites start off with a bang and end with a fizzle.
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        • Profile picture of the author paulie888
          Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

          I think that's one of the reasons I like to flip them. I have no confidence that once I get a little bit of revenue going, that it will maintain that and increase over time. Some sites start off with a bang and end with a fizzle.
          Exactly, and it's always nice to get a nice chunk of projected income upfront (whether or not it is actually realized in the future). It's not all that hard to get a site earning a little bit, and being able to flip these sites for at least 5X monthly income is always empowering since you can basically build them on demand.
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          • Profile picture of the author Nail Yener
            Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

            When you flip a site that is generating passive income, it no longer generates passive income for you.
            Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

            If you keep flipping sites that create passive income when you are desperate for money, then you will likely be desperate for money again in the future.
            Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

            Which means that you must keep working to keep the train rolling. That's certainly a life choice, but I prefer working hard for a while and then living off of the fruits of my labor.
            Brian, that's a good lesson for many of us.

            I want to add to that, for example, you could sell a site that brings $50 a month for about $500(less or more depending on your ability and the site). On the other hand, if you kept the site and maintained it with some content and backlinks(you can spend some of its earnings for that) you will have a $50+ a month site for years to come. In 3 years, this site may bring you at least $1800, considering the income increase and promotion expenses.

            If you are worried about deindexing, spend some of the income that site brings into improving the site so that deindexation chance will decrease.

            So, if you can live without that $500 now, you will be happy after 3 years that you didn't sell it.
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  • Profile picture of the author paulie888
    As mentioned above, it's all going to depend on your financial situation. If you're not desperate for the money and can comfortably deal with the fact that your site could get de-indexed, then I'd say keep it. If you need the money and it is an urgent need (don't make this into a habit though), then flip it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Mayo
    Depends on your situation?

    If you have a comfortable amount of passive income sites then I say "YES"
    sell it and take a trip. If you are struggling from month to month then keep it
    if you can and in a few months if you can hold onto enough of them then you
    may not need to struggle anymore. Just a thought.

    Have a Great Day!
    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author ajkkay1516
    I too would say to keep it if you are not in need of money right now. Use this to earn your passive income.

    It may earn you more in future. Nothing to lose to keep it as you are already earning money. Cheers!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    Originally Posted by Biggy Fat View Post

    Hello World. I'm scratching my head as to what to do with an Adsense site that I've got making some really good money. Ever since I lost my job the thought came to my head about the Adsense site that I have. I had intended to flip it come the middle of November, but there is now a time where I'm in a need of a jolt of cash.

    But here is the thing - I've outsourced a lot of backlinks to it, and most of them haven't been picked up by Google yet. When they do the rankings should shoot skyward, thus bringing in much more traffic and many more clicks. But the longer I keep it, the bigger of a risk of a deindex, which would make the site worthless.

    Obviously I really can't make the decision on my own, so I will like to turn to my fellow Warriors for advice. Should I go ahead and flip it and possibly undersell it but get cash in my pocket? Or should I keep it and hold out for the big four figure payday but risk the deindex? If the former, how much could I get for it? And if the latter, how can I prevent a deindex? The site already has six unique articles on there, and I had planned on adding two more.
    Why do you think that it would be deindexed? I had an adsense site for three years that never got deindexed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nathan Hangen
    I'm wondering the same thing with 4 or 5 sites that I own. They tend to drop in earnings over time, so I have to get more content to them, and it becomes a bigger hassle than it's worth.

    $50 is passive, but it's hardly passive, and to be honest, I think passive is overrated in this case. I'd much rather have a site earning $500/month than 10 earning $50...and that's why I'd sell and scale up.
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  • Profile picture of the author cma01
    I say keep it and start building your next mini site that will bring in $50 a month.

    As ademmeda said, sites usually sell for 10x monthly revenue on Flippa.com. It just doesn't make sense to me to sell something that is a passive earner for that little return.

    If you need money right now, have a garage sale. Keep your money maker.
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    • Profile picture of the author Hamida Harland
      Just wondering why you think the site might be deindexed? I've had hundreds of sites over the last 3 years & I don't think I've ever had a site deindexed.

      Personally I'm all for flipping low income sites, but I'd make sure I had at least 6 months of income proof before selling. Alot of Adsense sites sell for up to 24x monthly income but only when they're established. My advice would be to keep it a while longer, show a gradual monthly increase in earnings and add some more unique content to the site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Biggy Fat
    Thanks for all the insights, you guys. As far as the fear of deindexing, I've read too many horror stories here on the forum as well as elsewhere that Adsense sites have been getting the deindex hammer. I've even had Adsense sites of mine deindexed, but those were mainly one pagers. This one has six pages and I plan on adding two more, though the lingering worry is that Google will deindex the site, making it worthless.
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  • Profile picture of the author garyv
    There's really no such thing as passive income when it comes to these sites. Google's algorithms change constantly. So you could be on top for months, and then drop to nothing.

    I would say that maintaining a stable of adsense sites is like spinning plates (have you ever seen the guy spin the plates at the circus?) You have to constantly be going back to give that first plate a spin. So there's only so many of these that you can successfully maintain.

    If you want to get the most bang, you'll figure out where your saturation point is, work up to that number of sites, and then start flipping the sites instead of going back to give them a spin. Or you'll give them one last spin, right before flipping them.
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  • Profile picture of the author dremora
    I would wait a while until the back links start showing up and if the traffic doesn't go up as you expected, just flip it. Now, you gave very little info about the site othr than its income, is the domain aged? Did you build it around esy to rank, low competition long tail keywords? How hot is the niche? Is it going to be around for a long time? Can it be monetized with clickbank and other affiliate stuff? If there is original content on it and the income is going up, sit on it for a few weeks and wait for the backlinks to show up.

    If you are desperate for money, I suggest picking up jobs from craigslist, getafreelancer etc than hastily flipping a site too early and underselling it.

    When you decide to flip it I would be more than happy to help.
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  • Profile picture of the author kentaiwan98
    The only question is the one that hasn't been asked: why would Google de-index your site? If your site is above board, then de-indexing shouldn't happen, should it?

    So, if your only reason is that you fear things going south, then that makes no sense without a legitimate reason. I'd say keep it.

    Kenneth
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  • Profile picture of the author Cash37
    Keep it. I always regret selling my sites :/
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    I would try to push my monthly profit to $100/mo for psychological reasons. Then sell it for $2,000 after I hit my max.
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  • Profile picture of the author Biggy Fat
    Once again, thanks for all the replies, guys! I'm now leaning towards keeping it, but if situations arise I'll go ahead and flip it, take the possible $400-$500, and move on.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Murphy
    I would lean toward keeping it. Are there other ways you can monetize the site? Do you have an affiliate product on there?

    Get it selling 1 or 2 copies per day of an ebook that pays you $25 commission and they scale it up from there. In the meantime, create other niche sites and get 100 sites doing $50 per day.

    Hoping for a 4 figure flip would be pretty optimistic at this point.

    Good luck,

    Mike
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    Is it possible that the reason that your others sites got de-indexed was because of improper backlinking techniques?

    As for my personal recommendation - if you could sell the site for $500 and put the money into developing new sites, I'd say go for it. I sold my adsense site, and I've never regretted it. Now I'm creating new ones.
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  • Profile picture of the author vandlelay
    if you need the money, just sell it. but the best is really trying to optimize your monetization of the site and of course increase traffic.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      The site already has six unique articles on there, and I had planned on adding two more.
      You are thinking small and short term.

      If you can make $46 a month with 6 articles on a site - why aren't you writing like crazy to get the site to 100+ pages of content.

      kay
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      • Profile picture of the author Biggy Fat
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        You are thinking small and short term.

        If you can make $46 a month with 6 articles on a site - why aren't you writing like crazy to get the site to 100+ pages of content.

        kay
        Because I outsourced the content, and I obviously don't have the money to outsource 100 articles haha.

        My intent was to flip it in the middle of November anyway, though because I lost my job I need to bail out. But then there is this lingering thought of deindexing, and that would make it all worthless. I was also asking how can I prevent the deindexing as well and that would lean me towards keeping it.
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        • Profile picture of the author paulie888
          Originally Posted by Biggy Fat View Post

          Because I outsourced the content, and I obviously don't have the money to outsource 100 articles haha.

          My intent was to flip it in the middle of November anyway, though because I lost my job I need to bail out. But then there is this lingering thought of deindexing, and that would make it all worthless. I was also asking how can I prevent the deindexing as well and that would lean me towards keeping it.
          As I've mentioned above, if you've lost your job and you have money issues, I'd definitely recommend selling it. You don't have the luxury of time and you neither have the ability nor resources to develop it further at this point, and in addition to that you need the money. I think your choice is very clear in this case.
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        • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
          Originally Posted by Biggy Fat View Post

          Because I outsourced the content, and I obviously don't have the money to outsource 100 articles haha.
          Write them yourself. Build the backlinks yourself.

          Make the site quality and you won't have to worry about being deindexed.

          If you are in dire straits you have to bust your rrrs and get yourself out of it.

          Writing content doesn't take long. Write it for keywords that won't require many backlinks and you will get pretty quick results.

          You should be able to double the size of the site it only 1 day if you were in desparate need of money. It won't take long to turn a $45/month site into $100/day.
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          • Profile picture of the author Kay King
            Because I outsourced the content, and I obviously don't have the money to outsource 100 articles haha.
            OK - but you've written posts here that are easy to read and understand. You don't have a job so you have time - you don't have to outsource. You just have to work and write. Why can't you write your own articles now?

            Yes - some people with adsense sites were de-indexed - and the more than a dozen I looked at were one page sites with general or badly written content. You cannot simply slap up a page on a domain and then backlink like crazy and expect to do well.

            Perhaps I'm not clear on what you want to do. If your aim is to quit or if your goal is flip sites for income - sell it. Just saying - if you add content for a month or two (weekly) and get the income moving upward, the site will sell for more.

            kay
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  • Profile picture of the author igrowyourbiz
    if you are making $46 with adsense you can make 10x that with a better revenue model.

    keep it, and monetize it with something other than affiliate based commission sources.
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  • Profile picture of the author unbrokenspirit
    keep it, as you provide some technics to earn more.
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  • Profile picture of the author igrowyourbiz
    PM me the site URL, depending on the niche, I might buy it from you
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  • Profile picture of the author onlineleben
    keep it and create a second one
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    • Profile picture of the author ScottTrimble
      Keep it. Develop it forward. In a few months see if it still brings in that passive income. If it does, do another one in the same niche.

      Rinse and repeat until you have 10 such sites. Keep the ones that work and flip the rest.

      Do the same thing for another niche. After a year, write an ebook about how you made your first million online
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelParsons
    KEEP IT

    One of the keys to anything is repeating success. Sounds like you've got some success, now build on it. Lather, Rinse, Repeat
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  • Profile picture of the author paulie888
    He has mentioned that he is experiencing financial troubles, and it sounds like he needs the cash badly. I don't think he has the luxury of time to develop and grow this website to its full potential.
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  • Profile picture of the author Biggy Fat
    I simply can't write articles to save my life, which is pretty much why I must outsource. That is just a skill that I don't have time to learn. I do have the money to outsource two more articles before I do eventually flip it come the middle of November. (that is, if I decide to keep it). I'll just have to hope there is no deindexing.

    I'll make a decision for sure by Sunday. There is one more person I have to ask, and whatever he wants me to do, I'll do it.
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  • Profile picture of the author robbby
    In an ideal world a site like this I would myself keep But if, as here is the case, financial difficulties overide and you need the $$$ flipping might be your only choice.

    However I agree with Michael Parsons above, there is nothing stopping you from rinsing and repeating what you have done. Maybe decide to sell this site to solve your current situation and then resolve to build more using the same strategies and even Niche.

    Writing articles is not a problem, for unique cotent all you need to do is grab the desired info from the net and basically rewrite it in your own words. So long as your articles supply good relevant info and are unique, they don't have to be booker prize winners . It's obvious you can write and explain yourself since you have shown that abitlity here in your posts.
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  • Profile picture of the author garyv
    What kind of traffic are you getting? And are you willing to put paid advertising on your site? I'd be willing to pay $30 for a 1 month trial ad on your website. If it goes over good, I'll be willing to continue.

    If you're interested, PM me.
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  • Profile picture of the author JRCarson
    You can sell it for like $300, right? That's what I think. So sell it!

    That's 7 months worth of "passive" income up-front. Why wait 7 months for $300?

    Take $100 and make 10 more sites.

    If just 2 of those new sites make $46/month in 7 months (which is doable, right?), then you have doubled your potential earnings in 7 months.

    Sell it while it's hot. You might be stuck with a dud in no time.
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  • Profile picture of the author Biggy Fat
    Well, I've come to a decision, folks - I'm letting it go. Wasn't an easy decision to make, but I just need the cash. I'm hoping I will get no less than $500 for it, though I'll be asking for $700.

    Debating on whether I should go the $1 No Reserve route to get people interested and have a huge bidding war (but also risk letting it go for $1) or go ahead and put a reserve on it to get a sale if it goes over the reserve.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jacob Martus
      Originally Posted by Biggy Fat View Post

      Well, I've come to a decision, folks - I'm letting it go. Wasn't an easy decision to make, but I just need the cash. I'm hoping I will get no less than $500 for it, though I'll be asking for $700.

      Debating on whether I should go the $1 No Reserve route to get people interested and have a huge bidding war (but also risk letting it go for $1) or go ahead and put a reserve on it to get a sale if it goes over the reserve.
      If you want to make the sale as painless and safe as possible, set your buy it now somewhere around $550 or $600 and require the buyer to pay the full amount via Paypal to end the auction.

      If you set a reasonable buy it now, the site will sell quickly in most cases. I usually do a 5 day auction with a buy it now of 10x the monthly income. So in your case my buy it now would be $500. And if you require the buyer to use paypal to end the auction, you're guaranteed no funny business and your money immediately.

      I'd start the auction at about $150 first bird with a $300 reserve. Make sure you provide as much information as you can about traffic/revenue/and potential for growth.

      I would also include some bonuses. Also, offer to help the buyer with anything they need after the sale and offer to host the site for a month as well.

      If you need an example of a Flippa sales letter that sells the first day of the auction every time for me, send me a pm.
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