Rent A Site - Simple, Easy Offline Residuals Any One Can Do Right Now $$$

[GoGetta]

Hi Warriors,


Hope you are all well on this fine Monday! I thought I would throw one out there for FREE that would give you an insight into another little money maker I have been carrying out for the past few months that creates easy money, residuals to be precise in the offline niche! ; )

I call this the RENT A SITE MODEL!

The name really probably speaks for itself but what I have tested over the past few months is a business model to actually rent out ready made websites that already sit nicely on the search engines! Some of you may have already thought of doing this and maybe doing this, but for the ones that aren't, this is an easy sell with minimal work!

Ok so how does this work,

Well, its quite simple. Rather than trying to sell a potential website to a business owner, what I have been doing is setting up a simple HTML search engine friendly site, optimizing it and renting it out!

The site in question I actually set up with Xsitepro but you can use wordpress. I pick a niche, so for example Hypnotherapists and pick an area, whether it be your local area or another area of the country. I then register a keyword rich domain name so if I was going to target hypnotherapists I would get hypnotherapistyourarea.com or hypnotherapyyourarea.com

Something along those lines! I would then set the site up around 5 profitable searched for keywords and with generic keyword rich content, relevant graphics and upload the site. I would then optimize it and wait until it has hit top page for a few keywords and then market it. I would also add the site to the local google listings as well to add more exposure and selling points.

But sometimes this can take a while to go live so I dont wait!

When I market it I would call hypnotherapists locally and show them the ready made site and post classifieds showing it off as a ready made optimized solution on CL or other free classified sites. Then for the best part!

I have been selling 2 packages for the ready made site:

1. Content Change and Contact Details Change - Around $100-$150 a month! No setup fees! Great selling point!

2. Content and Image Changes - Around $100 - $150 a month but with an added setup fee. This I have flexibilty with depending on the amount of graphical changes I need to make but usually nothing lower than $500!

This is the most popular package becasue every business wants to put there own stamp on the site and this is the one package I sell more heavily! But for businesses strapped for cash, the 1st package is ample.

The beauty of this though is that the site remains mine including the domain name and I just pick up easy RENTAL residuals. If you bring in 12 or 24 month contracts the money only becomes better. I haven’t done this yet but intend to!

Business owners can see what they are buying in to and also have the added bonus of being live the very same day!

Now, if a business owner doesn’t want it anymore, all you do is rent it to someone else! SIMPLE, EASY RESIDUAL CASH! But if the site is in prime position for targeted searched for keywords, who would want to give the site up?

I have tried and tested this on 3 different niches now and have rented all sites out very quickly, as it is an easy sell. It’s there and in full view! If one business owner doesn’t take it, his or her competitor will. I just cold call businesses and post classifieds, show my site off and collect the check!
Simple and easy!

The only costing I have is the domain, hosting and phone bill for contacting clients! ; ) NOTHING REALLY!

You see, the offline niche is bursting with many ways you can do this, so give it a go and you may just get a few clients! ; )


Now Go Get ‘Em!

GoGetta

[mormel]

Hi,

Good idea. The last few months I talked to several local business owners about setting up a site. That means having meeting after meeting with lots of talk and hardly any money. This way you solved that problem beautifully! Kudos for that!

Yours, warriorly, Ed

[billionareHuman]

but do you actually make more by renting it rather than putting up affiliate links? If you're ranking nicely that should be some nice affiliate money for you, I guess you could do both! maximizing profits!

[MichaelHiles]

This has been my business model for many years GoGetta. I serve the SMB market and have price ranges in the $99 a month to $999 a month range, depending on the level of services and requirements. We've got a really tight package and the maintenance is done by outsourced developers using our standard framework.

We target local markets by first establishing a regional hub website portal that acts as the traffic aggregator. Advertising on this portal becomes part of the value-add deal.

[ploked]

do you sell the site based on its "rankings"? or the fact the site is set up and ready to go? if based on rankings, what happens should your page one rankings drop? do the clients complain?

[Jon Alexander]

nice idea. I guess that you could effectively 'sell' the same site again and again and again! A bit like the 'leasehold' property system in the United kingdom...

[GoGetta]

Ed - This does make the sale relatively easy as they can see the working site!

Michael - Awesome, I knew other guys would be doing this and profiting. It really is simple!

Ploked - You can do either but Rankings are the selling point I find. A business owner can have a ready made optimized top page solution! I never guarantee the site will stay on the top page and work hard to keep it up there. At the moment I have no contracts so if the business owner isn't happy they give a months notice and move on!

I have yet to lose a customer though and all are extremely happy, I am also yet to lose rankings. But nothing is guaranteed!

GoGetta

[GoGetta]

Originally Posted by Jon Alexander

nice idea. I guess that you could effectively 'sell' the same site again and again and again! A bit like the 'leasehold' property system in the United kingdom...

You could certainly do this!

GoGetta

[MichaelHiles]

It opens up a lot more accessibility to small businesses who can't fork $2K - $3K upfront. "Renting" the site to them keeps the actual asset under your control, which is important if they stop paying you. You can shut off the service under a rental agreement - but if they are buying it on terms, they have a legal claim to the property. This means that in most US states, even if they stop paying you for the site on terms, you cannot arbitrarily seize the asset, and could even be held criminally liable if you do so. Yes, you have a financial interest in the securitized asset, which is used as collateral, but UCC laws are very specific.

So renting is a better route. No pay, no play. Too bad you've printed your website and email address on 10,000 business cards. Not my problem.

[ploked]

Originally Posted by GoGetta

Ploked - You can do either but Rankings are the selling point I find. A business owner can have a ready made optimized top page solution! I never guarantee the site will stay on the top page and work hard to keep it up there. At the moment I have no contracts so if the business owner isn't happy they give a months notice and move on!

I have yet to lose a customer though and all are extremely happy, I am also yet to lose rankings. But nothing is guaranteed!

GoGetta

ok cool. that makes sense...thanks for the clarification

[Vince Runza Online]

This is very sharp, Jamie! Depending upon the niche, you could be getting much more per month, if the competition is strong -- and you outrank them.

BTW, do you guarantee search engine placement? How about offering backlinks as an upsell?

[GoGetta]

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

It opens up a lot more accessibility to small businesses who can't fork $2K - $3K upfront. "Renting" the site to them keeps the actual asset under your control, which is important if they stop paying you. You can shut off the service under a rental agreement - but if they are buying it on terms, they have a legal claim to the property. This means that in most US states, even if they stop paying you for the site on terms, you cannot arbitrarily seize the asset, and could even be held criminally liable if you do so. Yes, you have a financial interest in the securitized asset, which is used as collateral, but UCC laws are very specific.

So renting is a better route. No pay, no play. Too bad you've printed your website and email address on 10,000 business cards. Not my problem.

Precisely, Michael you hit the nail on the head as they say!

GoGetta

[iw433]

Yep that is one of the ways to do the off line thing, but it does not have to be the only thing in your arsenal. I have a site like that for "Medical malpractice lawyers" getting ready to market it. It is on the first page of Google in the local market for a few good keywords.

[Frank Bruno]

Gogetta I just started doing this and have 2 clients on a 30 day free trial ($197 month after) with my leased "lead capture system" as the service. The SEO is the "bonus".

If they don't want the site after 30 days I tell them I will give it to their competitors. (Kinda makes them want to keep the site)

I've been focused on the lead capture system But this gives me food for thought to get them in the loop quicker with a site already setup like you suggest.

When I saw how fast the 2 sites I put up hit upper to middle first page Google my idea was to create several of these sites in various niches and lease them out.

I agree this is freakin too easy...lol

Frank Bruno

[Chris Lagarde]

<generic keyword rich content>

Jamie - are you using PLR, or do you have some original articles written, or a combination of the two?

[Robert Matthew]

Great One GoGetta!

Been doing this for several years...mostly targeting legal professionals and cosmetic surgeons. If you go after larger markets such as Houston, NYC or Chicago you can command much higher monthly fees. Well this also depends on the type of business as well.

In Houston for example, a personal injury attorney doesn't even blink at $7K per month.

This is a great strategy and the sky is truly the limit with this one!

[Frank Bruno]

Originally Posted by Robert Matthew

In Houston for example, a personal injury attorney doesn't even blink at $7K per month.

This is a great strategy and the sky is truly the limit with this one!

Is this based on your experience? I think targeting those that can afford to pay big dollars for leads this could be very doable.

Frank Bruno

[GoGetta]

Bill - I agree, the more avenues to market the better and this is only one system I have been running and testing recently!

Chris - I don't use PLR, I write original content for each site I set up. By "Generic" I meant that I would type out the usual to get the top page positions.

This is certainly a model anyone can do and it is an easier sale once you got a site there!

HTH

GoGetta

[gg282]

I like this idea alot! Now I'm even more confused than I was 2 weeks ago. There are so many ways to make money in the offline niche. The weird thing is I always had a thought in the back of my mind that just renting websites would probably be a good way to get started in this business. Now that I see people actually using this "renting" model, I must really consider it. Seems like it would be an easier sell too.

The fact that I will always retain ownership of the website really appeals to me as well. Trying to figure out what to charge and how to write up a rental agreement is something I'll have to research.

I have about 7 local niche websites active right now, a few of them are producing leads already, and I feel bad for these people who submitted their info and nobody is calling them! I have not sold or rented those websites yet. Ive really go to consider renting them out asap.

Thanks GoGetta for starting this thread.

I really like the idea of selling websites and online marketing services to small businesses, but I really love residual income opportunities and this may be it.

[Robert Matthew]

Originally Posted by Frank Bruno

Is this based on your experience? I think targeting those that can afford to pay big dollars for leads this could be very doable.
Frank Bruno

Hey Frank,

Yes...currently have 3 rentals rolling right now...sorry but I'm not up for passing out URLs...too many smart marketers around.

But, Yes...I originally was doing this in smaller areas but the value wasn't there. Then I took a referral from an attorney in Seattle, for a guy in Houston (Malpractice) and I ran with it from there.

Really, even charging $7K per month, you can still get somewhat hosed. I mean, a malpractice attorney could potentially land a suit that is worth 6 to 7 figures...with that in mind, my fees are a drop in the bucket.

I find attorneys to be fantastic for this model. It's hands off for them, they see results quickly...and they tend to stick with you for quite awhile, due to the fact that if they decide drop the rental it could end up in their competitors hands. Really this model is fantastic.

Starting to open up the scale now on the rentals and go for basically a targeted in house network. Then see, check out the traffic and price it accordingly.

Try it out Frank! Good Luck to you.

P.S. Stay out of Houston LOL

[xlfutur1]

This is a very interesting thread.

Couple questions...do you show them traffic stats or guarantee any kind of traffic or leads to the site for their monthly fee?

I have a site that I resurrected recently (Top Chicago Attorneys | Top Chicago Lawyers) with the idea of selling or renting it once it got ranked. Its been on the first page of Google now for awhile for the term: chicago attorneys, or: best chicago attorneys

Right now I am basically giving the leads away to any attorney listed on the "profiles" page who answer questions at the site. But even these guys are lax and don't answer all the questions that come in. Almost everyone who asks a question checks the box saying "yes" that they want an attorney to contact them. Are they just stupid?

My other question is: would this site be rentable if I can't even get the attorneys that are involved with the site now to participate? I designed the site as a two step process to get people to ask a question, then have an attorney follow up with them. But amazingly enough, the attorneys on the site don't seem to want these leads.

[RenaissanceMan]

Great idea

[Rob Whisonant]

I wonder if this would work with a silo approach?

I have several sites like citynamedirectory.com citynameportal.com etc.

I wonder if business owners would rent sites like the following once ranked well in the search engines?

florists.citynamedirectory.com
bestusedcardealers.citynameportal.com
etc...

Re's
Rob Whisonant

[GoGetta]

As far as showing traffic, I have never needed to do this at all! All I do is show them the keywords that I have top page for and the amount of searches these keywords recieve via Googles Keyword Tool!

This is always enough!

GoGetta

[zoro]

GoGetta, Thanks for sharing. Residule income is always a great way to build a permanent business with permanent income.

John

[GoGetta]

No Problem Zoro,

GoGetta

[GoGetta]

Originally Posted by Vince Runza Online

This is very sharp, Jamie! Depending upon the niche, you could be getting much more per month, if the competition is strong -- and you outrank them.

BTW, do you guarantee search engine placement? How about offering backlinks as an upsell?

Hi Vince,

I don't gurantee search engine placement as I can't and I haven't tried the upsell yet! This is a new model I have tried and tested, its now time to scale it up some! ; )

GoGetta

[Chris Lagarde]

Robert - every state has different rules about attorney referrals. Have you confirmed your websites are in compliance with these laws? Maybe what we're talking about here is not the legal definition of a referral but rather a lead. Are there any legal opinions that someone can post a link to? I just tried Googling "attorney referral" advertising and didn't have any luck.

[dbarnum]

Neat idea! Just added it to my To Do list


Gracias, dude

[MichaelHiles]

Originally Posted by Rob Whisonant

I wonder if this would work with a silo approach?

I have several sites like citynamedirectory.com citynameportal.com etc.

I wonder if business owners would rent sites like the following once ranked well in the search engines?

florists.citynamedirectory.com
bestusedcardealers.citynameportal.com
etc...

Re's
Rob Whisonant

Ding. Winner.

We do www.citynameportal.com/businessowner for seo purposes

In many instances, they may already have a website, so this becomes a doorway site...

We have the root portal as the city area. Then we create either a child portal, which is the www.citynameportal.com/businessname or a parent portal, which is actually their domain URL. The parent portal is still driven by a single codebase (the same ASPX .net pages), it simply uses the host header as the key index to load all the unique data, skin, etc... from the database for whatever portal you're trying to run. So we have one set of code that runs literally unlimited websites.

For instance, I have a single code base running a 1400 small business websites in a single IP in a single host account. The main portal is a local discussion forum that covers whatever the membership wants to discuss... politics, etc... There's a banner ad management engine that not only manages ads on the host portal, but distributes ads throughout all the subscriber business websites. If you go to a site that has a direct, unique URL www.businessname.com aside from the required banner ad being served from the central portal, there will literally be no indication that it's running on the same code that runs all the other websites or the central portal.

There's simply some things that PHP cannot, and will not do running in an Apache/xNIX environment.

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by xlfutur1

Right now I am basically giving the leads away to any attorney listed on the "profiles" page who answer questions at the site. But even these guys are lax and don't answer all the questions that come in. Almost everyone who asks a question checks the box saying "yes" that they want an attorney to contact them. Are they just stupid?

Not answering all the questions may be a function of time or a function of questions outside their specialty. If I'm a busy malpractice lawyer, I'm probably not going to invest a lot of time trying to answer questions about writing a will, for example. It doesn't help build my "brand".

Are they stupid? I doubt it. Probably more like "selective." I'm guessing that some of the questions would indicate that the asker doesn't have the means to hire the attorney. And some of them are for unwinnable or otherwise undesirable cases.

Since the attorneys on your roster really have no skin in the game, they can cherry-pick for questions that show them in the best light and contact the people who promise to be the most profitable; they can safely ignore the rest, since it costs them nothing.

[Robert Matthew]

Originally Posted by Chris Lagarde

Robert - every state has different rules about attorney referrals. Have you confirmed your websites are in compliance with these laws? Maybe what we're talking about here is not the legal definition of a referral but rather a lead. Are there any legal opinions that someone can post a link to? I just tried Googling "attorney referral" advertising and didn't have any luck.

Hey Chris,
Yes...I am compliant. The referral I received initially was, hey I have a friend whose an attorney in Houston, he may be interested in the service, etc. etc.

And then as far as the rental of the site...I'm really not selling leads, as their information is the only info on the site...everything goes directly to them. So I'm really just like the maintenance man at this point. I update the site, grow the content and rankings. That's about it.

As far a lead gen for attorneys, meaning capturing the lead yourself and then passing it on to the attorney, that is a bit different and does require some compliance issues per state.

[Chris Lagarde]

And then as far as the rental of the site...I'm really not selling leads, as their information is the only info on the site...everything goes directly to them. So I'm really just like the maintenance man at this point. I update the site, grow the content and rankings. That's about it.

Ahh...I thought that's what you were doing but I wasn't sure. You know a great area of legal expertise to target right now...bankruptcy attorneys.

[GoGetta]

Chris your right! But I prefer targeting businesses where it is easy to get hold of the owner and no gatekeepers. Every niche has money in it! Just look at the YP, there are big adverts in every category!

GoGetta

[Rob Whisonant]

Anyone want to share what types of businesses seem best to market these sites to?

Re's
Rob Whisonant

[Chris Lagarde]

Originally Posted by GoGetta

Chris your right! But I prefer targeting businesses where it is easy to get hold of the owner and no gatekeepers. Every niche has money in it! Just look at the YP, there are big adverts in every category!

GoGetta

You are correct GoGetta. With your encouragement, via your phone guide (it's free folks), I've been contacting Offline businesses who have been advertising in the local greensheet, the daily paper, and Valpak. I've got an appt today w/ a local furniture company and one tomorrow with my auto mechanic. Selling them a "lead capture system" also known as an autoresponder.

Still having challenges with the gatekeeper (when there is one). I do really like the rent-a-site model you've presented.

[billionareHuman]

I would love all of your thoughts on this.

I have a cell phone site that can be rented out immediately, currently I get about $250 a month from affiliate sales from 5000 unique visitors (cell phones don't convert well), I have top 1-3 rankings for some very generic terms which I will show as proof. I have targeted the offline cell phones businesses that this traffic can help.

So I have a rent price in mind based on the fact that i make can make $250 from commissions, I miss out on sales done over the phone to the merchant, the affiliate network gets a cut too, the merchant gets more exposure and can do repeat sales to all vistors sent through so surely that is worth something too.

My question is should I mention the fact that I am currently getting $250 from affiliate commissions and put thoughts in the offline Marketers head about setting up an affiliate program? Or should I just say that some store is currently paying me $250 but how is that price justified?

Another option is to take the affiliate ads off and let them know that other merchants are interested and I will take the highest bidder. What would 5000 uniques be worth to them? But what if they ask my price expectations, how can I justify it to them without explaining the affiliate stuff. Or am I thinking to much?

Would love some feedback. I once a decision is made I will try it out and let everyone know of my results,

thanks all!

[coreytucker]

so im just curious, if you can rent these sites for perhaps $200 a month you could sale some for say $1,000 or more right? Create a 10 page information site and target some good keywords that are easy to rank for and email the businesses in the area right?

Sounds good in theory but how easy is this to really pull off. Im having troubles with domain flipping so maybe I should give this a try also.

[Chris_L]

Hey GoGetta,

Great Idea! Thanks for sharing.

What are your plans for maintaining high ranking on Google with your keywords? This has always been a problem for me -- maintaining high ranking continually.

Thanks.

Chris

[Vince Runza Online]

Originally Posted by Rob Whisonant

Anyone want to share what types of businesses seem best to market these sites to?

Businesses that have high lifetime value clients or customers.

[spriyada]

Hey thanks for sharing this. I have a quick question. Where do you get the site template? Do you make a unique one or just get a free one from online. Also, I know that you rent the site but say if you want to sell it, you can't really say that the site is unique right? Cause you got a free template... anyway thanks in advance for answering my question. And again great post, thanks for that

[Dexx]

Great thread guys,

Question on the naming of niche folders / pages...

If I create a site:

www.cityfitness.com/information.com

Let's say I could get #1 Google rankings for "City Personal Fitness Trainer" and "City Fitness Trainer"

Would it make sense to create:
www.cityfitness.com/citypersonalfitnesstrainer
www.cityfitness.com/cityfitnesstrainer

and rent out both pages separately?

Or would that make a person a business discouraged to be promoted in one part of the city, and not in the other?

or perhaps I could expand my promotion to offer a discount on multiple listings/ranking?

Thoughts?

Same would go for something like /cityusedcarsales and /citybestusedcars

etc.

[Dexx]

**JUST HAD AN INTERESTING EXPANSION IDEA***

Now what do you guys think of this...

Create the niche site: www.cityrestaurantreviews.com/[local company name]

and then get #1 search engine ranking FOR THAT COMPANY'S NAME!
(assuming they aren't very well SEO'd)

Would it then be legal to approach that company and say "Hey...I have the #1 ranking for your name if you'd like to rent it from me...if not I'll offer it to your competition"

Would that be legal? Or would that border on extortion / trademark infringement?

If they said no, could I then sell the page to their competition and title the page:

"I Didn't Have a Good Experience with [Local Company Name]...Here's Why"

and then go on to state that I found the "competitor" company to offer better service, prices, etc. and that's why I'm recommending my friends go to them?


Could I be sued for my own personal thoughts on a business? (assuming it's not outright defamation / slander to their business) such as saying "I didnt enjoy their business" while also selling off the promotional space?


I'd be curious to know if anyone has done something similar

[Micheal Perkins]

Great thread!

Reading this made me think of the "apartments myarea" listings. That term is searched according to Google an average of 8,000 times a month (84K people in this city). So I thought about another possible way to use this.

Instead of renting it to just 1, unless they want to pay several thousand for exclusive use, I could rent spots on my site for a few hundred for each apartment complex wanting a spot. Now instead of maybe $250 for 1 listing, I could get $2,500 for 10. I could tell anyone interested in being exclusive they would have to invest at least $3,000 a month to keep their listing.

The numbers are just examples, I know I could get more. There is a free throw away that runs $500/month minimum here for these companies to run a listing in.

I checked for the domain name www.apartmentsinlocalarea.com and it's available. I'm going to grab it an start working on this.

Here is another idea I thought of.

All the businesses that run ads promoting their discounts. www.discountslocalarea.com is available for me. I'm going to grab that one also. Charge local merchants a fee to place their discount ads on my website. The visitors can come to the site and print off the coupon for the discounts. The local throw away charges a minimum of $25 for a listing on theirs.

Now throw in email marketing to this. Get customers to pay a small fee to sign up for an autoresponder to receive "special" discounts only available to "VIP" members. Segment the list into groups of interest, restaraunt discounts, clothing discounts, automotive service discounts, etc.

The business owners can submit a request to send a special to that list, and pay extra for it.

Just some ideas I've had from reading this thread.

It's late here so I'm off the bed now. But tomorrow I'll be registering at least the 2 domains I listed above, if not more, to build site's around these ideas.

Thanks for the idea GoGetta.

[Dexx]

How can you determine how much the ad space would be worth to a business?

For instance the #1 ranking for "plastic surgeon [city]" is probably worth more to the business than ranking #1 for "pizza delivery [city]" (or maybe it isn't heh)

Is it better to just have two flat fees and let the business decide if it's worth it to them to pay more, or is it better to do it on a "quote" basis where businesses get quoted on the rental amount?

I'm thinking to myself that the flat fee is better as there is less research and complaining to deal with over businesses being mad they have to pay more than say their buddy who paid less...

Thoughts?

[KenSilver]

Great concept GoGetta!

My question: What about content changes? If you get a number of sites up - say 100 or so which is a good starting income - you are going to be spending a heap of time making changes.

I've made a simple 5-page site for my son-in-law, and every week he has another request for several hour's work.

I realize this time can be outsourced and charged for in the commercial model, but it seems people want a custom site with ongoing input. That quickly gets expensive and time consuming on a large scale.

Has that happened to you yet?

[elirainc]

do you get site seekers easily ? its a long process contacting them and persuading them to rent your site.
how many have you rented like this so far ?

[Stray201]

Interesting model. Definitely would work better in some niches than others, though. You've got me interested, thanks!

[Jon Alexander]

Dexx, I think you'd be on VERY dangerous ground. Unless you could show you had a legit reason for using their name in that way.

[madison_avenue]

Originally Posted by Dexx

How can you determine how much the ad space would be worth to a business?

For instance the #1 ranking for "plastic surgeon [city]" is probably worth more to the business than ranking #1 for "pizza delivery [city]" (or maybe it isn't heh)

Is it better to just have two flat fees and let the business decide if it's worth it to them to pay more, or is it better to do it on a "quote" basis where businesses get quoted on the rental amount?

I'm thinking to myself that the flat fee is better as there is less research and complaining to deal with over businesses being mad they have to pay more than say their buddy who paid less...

Thoughts?

I think you could charge higher prices for certain industries. It may be harder to rank for attorneys than for Pizza's( I'm guessing) so there is more work involved. Also it will be harder to create good content for attorneys than for Pizza'a. I think your service is going to be individual for each business so you will need to have different prices because the amount of analysis and work involved is going to be vary for each business.