Are You Flipping Websites or Flipping Burgers?

[tonybhachu]

Hi All,

I've been thinking about this for a while and felt it was an appropriate time to post ...

There seems to be a misconception amongst a large number of people on this forum that flipping websites is a quick way to get rich.

Let me tell you that this is not the case in reality and flipping websites involves a significant amount of work in most cases...

Gone are the days when you could pick up a cheap site on DP and sell it on SitePoint in a matter of days for several times what you originally paid for it. Similarly, a lot of other quick flip strategies have come and gone such as the ebay and Amazon store sites that were so popular a few months back.

The recent fad for Clickbank ebook sites will face a similar fate in months to come IMHO....

So what really is website flipping?

Flipping websites in my book involves building a quality site or buying an under-developed site, providing excellent content to your visitors, ensuring that the site is ranked well in search engines for specific keywords that people are searching for, making it profitable by adding and improving ways to monetize the site, and eventually selling the site for several times earnings.

These are all fundamental strategies are what we should be focusing on with all of our sites as Internet Marketers...

If you are a website flipper or possibly thinking of getting into the game, then my advice you to you is to think seriously about this business and ask yourself if you want to be flipping burgers or flipping websites?

Quality content, consistent traffic and increasing revenue is the magic formula that will help you flip your websites for a good deal of money in any market.

Focus on building a real long-term business for yourself and acquire the skills you need to do so ....

Please stop thinking of website flipping as some sort of get rich quick scheme.

All the best,
Tony

[Quilst]

I it just a hype for flipping sites right now on the WF. Many will try - most of them will fail. But I am thinking long term here - there is no easy way to make money flipping sites unless you have a good team of people who cover all the criteria areas for a successful site production.

[slashman]

Good post. I didn't really know so many people thought it was a get rich scheme since buying a site that will offer any kind of substantial profit requires some large initial investment.

Thanks,

George

[cashcow]

I couldn't agree with you more!

I think people that have been struggling to make money online for a while just get excited when they can "flip" a site and make $100 in a couple of days. What they don't realize is that that won't happen for every site and there can be a lot of after site support that takes up their time.

In some of the threads, I can see that people put days of work into their sites and are happy to make what amounts to $5 an hour. They aren't thinking of the hours they put in but more of the amount of money that got deposited into their bank account that day.

I'm not knocking website flipping - i do it myself - sometimes to get money for a project or if I want to buy something and sometimes even to pay a bill or two

But I do think that the time spent building these sites might be better spent on building up a foundation for your business (and heck, that business could be website flipping even) - that might not yield immediate monetary rewards but will add to your future income.

Lee

[MeTellYou]

I think that flipping sites is like every other business. You have to do your research and you have to know what's going on in the market. Everything changes, but if you watch it closely, you will be able to find out what is going to sell, what is not going to sell, and when is it time to shift your focus to maybe a different type of site.

It's not a get rich quick, and it is not a scam. It is a normal business.

Sebastian

[Slim Shady]

I agree with you MeTellYou. Justin Brookes started SiteFlipAcademy.com, which I am a member. I believe you can sell some websites quick, maybe 30-50 dollars on the low end and more if you drive traffic to it. Justin Brookes, from Boise Idaho, taught is next door neighbor, how to flip websites, she made about 150.00 dollars selling 3 websites. So it can be done. I think you can go to Wordpress.com, Get about 20 articles from article directories, ex. ezinearticles.com, put adsense themes, adsense manager plugin, clickbank.com plug in. Drive Traffic to it. Make some money.

What is your opinion?

[tonybhachu]

Quilst, slashman, cashcow, MeTellYou, Slimshady - Thank you all for contributing.

So what do you think?

Are you flipping websites to make a quick buck or is this really an online business that you're building?

Does site flipping pay the rent or are you simply better off flipping burgers?

Kind regards,
Tony

[Thomas Belknap]

I think it was on Kate Anderson's sales page that stated she made about 100,000 in 5 months. I don't know many people making that flipping burgers.


Who said you have to do the work yourself?

[tommygadget]

I advocate the quick flip with ready made templates and plr for $50-$100 each only if you can do them in 5 minutes or so like I do. Mostly, I promote and age sites. Those that are real winners stay in my portfolio. The losers get sold. BTW, I don't call a site a loser until at least 12 months. HTH.

TomG.

[tommygadget]

Originally Posted by Thomas Belknap

I think it was on Kate Anderson's sales page that stated she made about 100,000 in 5 months. I don't know many people making that flipping burgers.


Who said you have to do the work yourself?

Kate has a good thing going there. She is working a strategy well and gets $500-$700 on most sites. She also built a list that buys from her pretty regularly. So, even in auctions, the money is in the list

TomG.

[cashcow]

I'm with TomG - flip the new sites if you need the money but for a long term strategy you want to let the site get some age and promote it properly.

The great thing about his strategy is that you can get these sites earning virtually on autopilot and then check them every 3 months or so and put in a minimum of work to keep them going. Then sell off the lowest earners and build more in their place. You will be building a high earning virtual empire that will pay you for a long, long time while still making money off your "losers".

I think Kate Anderson is an exception. I'm not sure most people would be able to accomplish what she has. Have you seen her stuff? - it's top quality and while I've never purchased an ebook from here I'm willing to be they are some of the best out there.

She must be working very hard to produce as much as she does - even if she outsources a lot of the work, my guess is that she looks over everything to make sure it stands up to her quality test. That's why she has people waiting in line to buy from her, it's the attention to detail and commitment to quality. I bet she worked her butt off to get where she is.

Not that someone else can't work their butt off to get there too, but it seems like most people just want to press a button and have money come out.


Lee

[yommys01]

Great post Tony, I think I am one of those who have made the mistake of thinking it is another quick fix. Now I have realized my mistake.

I am going to have to focus on building a long term flip instead of the start up blogs that are not sure to sell at the price I want.

[Lindsay Brynn]

I tell people all the time that a long flip is where the real money is made. I started about 6 sites a few months back and don't plan on selling them for about a year depending on their growth.

And I'm still making money from them by proving that they can make an income.

[Kevin AKA Hubcap]

Originally Posted by cashcow

She must be working very hard to produce as much as she does - even if she outsources a lot of the work, my guess is that she looks over everything to make sure it stands up to her quality test. That's why she has people waiting in line to buy from her, it's the attention to detail and commitment to quality. I bet she worked her butt off to get where she is.

Lee

Making sure the work is up to standards goes for in-house or outsourced work.

[TomBond]

This is a great thread, thanks for starting it!

[cashcow]

Making sure the work is up to standards goes for in-house or outsourced work.

Exactly - so even when you outsource, you still have work to do. What I mean is no business is going to be completely "hands off".

BTW - everytime I see this thread I get hungry for a hamburger!

[tonybhachu]

Hi Thomas Belknap, TomG, Lee, Yommy, Lindsay, Kevin and D_Digital ....
Thank you all for making some excellent points.

The concensus seems to be that taking a mid to long-term strategy for flipping websites is where the real GOLD is ...

Cheers,
Tony

[urbt]

Just like anything, you get what you put in. If you spend lots of time and energy on a site and promote it carefully, you can get a great return on it, but if you just expect to throw up a quick site and make $100s you are in the wrong business.

That's where newbies fail - thinking this is a short term strategy which you can spend minimal time on.

That's my opinion at least.

Ed

[Thomas Belknap]

Originally Posted by tonybhachu

Hi Thomas Belknap, TomG, Lee, Yommy, Lindsay, Kevin and D_Digital ....
Thank you all for making some excellent points.

The concensus seems to be that taking a mid to long-term strategy for flipping websites is where the real GOLD is ...

Cheers,
Tony

Hi Tony,

I think your OP is correct in the way a lot of people get into Flipping websites. They don't consider it a business and scale it like Kate does.

[Desmond Ong]

Okay, I have read some of the posts here and it's great to have people pour in opinions etc.

However, I don't agree with long term flips are where the real money is at. Yeah, the money is huge -- but is it worth it? Just like start-up sites, long term sites value has deteriorate as well.

The true beauty of start-up site is that there's no marketing effort involved. If you want to build a long term flip, why not keep the site and monetize it instead of selling it at such a low current market price?

I don't deny long term flips are profitable, but it is not the best way to start especially for newbies. You need to establish credibility before you go out and sell a long term site.

[Terryr]

IMHO, Flip your websites slowly. If you have the expertise to choose the right niche, create an attractive proposition and market it well in the search engines you will have an excellent asset that you may or may not wish to sell. If its profitable the only reason to sell would be that you have other assets that produce more profit and are less problematic with the most difficult factor of all. Time.

Terry

[alpalino]

I used to Flip Burgers. But i am sure i will also start flipping sites as I left my job recently.

[Chris Egan]

I guess my own experience is that you really need to research the niche well, I mean its true you can make a quick buck, but you can also lose money quickly too.

Far better to know alot about the niche and then you evaluate the true cost and the potential.