Site Flipping Tips: $3000 - $6000 For Every Site I Flip - Here's How

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Hi Warriors,

Thought I might post something to help out the site flippers here on the forum. Site flipping was all the rage last year but seems to have lost its popularity in recent times. Why? I think it's mainly because people were building small content sites and selling them on straight away for just a few dollars - the market just got too saturated.

When I first started flipping brand new sites I was able to get up to $150 for a 10 page content site - now I'd be lucky to get $60 for the same site. That's only $6 per article (not to mention the time it actually took to put the site together). Because of this many would be site flippers have just given up.

Anyway, I've had some success flipping sites so I thought I'd post a few tips. Plenty of people are doing this already, but for those who don't it's a nice little cash earner - and very easy to do (as long as you have a few basic skills).

What people want (and will pay good money for) is sites that have traffic and are already earning money. They don't have to be earning a lot, and they don't even have to be that old, but flipping brand new, no traffic, no earnings sites just doesn't cut it anymore.

By the way this is what I do myself, so I'm not just talking out of my hat!

Here goes:

Step 1 - Find a niche


Generally I just go to Clickbank and look at the top 5 products in each category - if they have a high gravity then they're obviously selling well so I might choose one and base a site around a particular product. I also take a look at CBTrends and take a look at the top 100 most researched/requested products.

For instance if I chose Fat Loss 4 Idiots my niche site would be based around fat loss (fat loss as opposed to weight loss as I want to keep it as targeted as possible).

Step 2 - Keyword research

I used to use Free Keyword Suggestion Tool From Wordtracker but nowadays I prefer the Google Adwords keyword tool at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal - both are good though.

Look for keywords that correspond to the product you've chosen.
E.g. if I chose the product 'Reverse Phone Detective' I could use keywords such as:

"reverse phone number look up" - according to the Google keyword tool that exact phrase was searched for 40,500 times in August. Our competition on Google is only 64,000 so this keyword should be easy to rank for.

I choose 10 - 15 long tail keywords that I can base my sites articles around.

Step 3 - Choosing a domain

I would choose a domain name with the keyword in it - for instance if reversephonenumberlookup.com (or .net) was available (it's not) I could use that. 90% of the time I can rank on page 1 of Google for the phrase included in the domain name so it is important to choose carefully.

Step 4 - Create your site

I generally either get a free template from Open Source Web Design. and use NVU, or I use wordpress (I like the templates at Wordpress Themes and Wordpress Themes and create it like a html site (using a static page). I start by writing and adding 10-15 articles to the site - all of them based around a particular searched for keyword.

Next add in your affiliate program. One of your articles should be a good review of this product and I always have a short presell on the main site page as well.


Step 5 - Promote your site

The first thing I do is submit some articles - I usually start with about 10. I submit the majority to Ezinearticles and the rest I submit using Article Post Robot to the top 15-20 directories. Submitting GOOD articles to Ezinearticles will get you traffic and sales from the first week. Use appropriate anchor text and link to both the home page and internal pages.

The next thing I do is social bookmark the site with Social bookmarking service. Fast tagging and posting to all major social websites - SocialMarker.com

Depending on the niche I might also do some forum posting with a link to my site in my sig. I find topic related forums at The largest Message Boards and Forums on the web!

Step 6 - Using Web 2.0 sites


I build a Squidoo lens, a Hubpage and a wiki at Wikidot - Free Wiki Hosting to provide more backlinks (and some extra traffic) for my site. When selling my site I always include the Squidoo lens but I don't think you can transfer a hubpage or wiki.

Step 7 - Site maintenance


I always monitor each site closely to see how traffic and earnings are progressing. If they're not, I submit more articles to Ezinearticles, do more forum posting, blog commenting etc. However if you've chosen a niche with little optimized competition you shouldn't have to do too much to rank your site well. I also keep my Squidoo lens updated as well, because a high-ranking lens with lots of good unique content will add value to the sale. Generally I might only spend 30 minutes a week on maintaining the site.

Step 8 - Sell your site

I only sell on Digitalpoint and Sitepoint - maybe I'm only limiting myself because I haven't tried any others but they work for me. If I've had a steady income for 3 months in a row (or a steadily increasing income) then my site is ready to sell. Generally I get 6-10 times monthly income (a lot more for Adsense though), which may not seem like a lot, but because the site is still quite new it's probably reasonable.

If you wanted to keep the site longer then you would probably earn more, but I like to sell my sites in between 4-6 months.

The whole setting up the site process should only take you a day or two at most - much less if you outsource. Plus you'll get quicker every time you do it.

Although this is basically what I do written out in the simplest of steps, it's still necessary to have some marketing skills - good article marketing and preselling being the main ones, plus of course the ability to create a simple website.

It actually isn't that hard though - this is all information that you probably knew, it's just a matter of putting it into practice. If instant cash is what you're looking for this may not be the method for you, because although you'll have earnings from your sites you won't get the big sale payout for at least 4 months.

Just think though - if you built one site per week or more (and kept it up week after week), in a few months time you could be earning a 6 figure income from site flipping!

All the best,
Martin

P.S. Why not try setting up a site now and try selling it in a few months for a bit of extra cash for Christmas!
#flip #flipping #site #tips
  • Profile picture of the author TOPGUN08
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  • Profile picture of the author Kat Bartone
    Martin,

    Thanks for the informative post. I have a quick question...

    What's involved in transferring the HOSTING of the flipped site?

    And do you ever use addon domains for this? Seems like it could get pretty pricey paying for hosting, esp if you want to flip a lot of sites.

    Thanks,

    Kat Bartone
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    • Profile picture of the author martinp
      Originally Posted by Kat Bartone View Post

      Martin,

      Thanks for the informative post. I have a quick question...

      What's involved in transferring the HOSTING of the flipped site?

      And do you ever use addon domains for this? Seems like it could get pretty pricey paying for hosting, esp if you want to flip a lot of sites.

      Thanks,

      Kat Bartone
      Hi, I use Hostgator reseller hosting at $24.95 per month. I've had up to 100 sites at one time hosted with them for that price. All I do to transfer the site is send the site files and push the domain (I use Namecheap) to the new owner. They just set it up on their own hosting themselves afterwards. It's very straightforward. Wordpress is a different matter though and isn't quite so straightforward.
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      • Profile picture of the author Paul Buckley
        Well that's too bad. I like building WP sites
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    • Profile picture of the author Tuzic
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      Hi,

      yes thats a good way to make money, but you have to know exactly what your doing as you do since youve clearly outlined how you could make money online by site flipping & for others it may not be that easy.
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      • Profile picture of the author clare1982
        Hiya

        It is a great post Martin however......

        I currently make and sell brand new sites and they usualy go for between $150-$299. I know that is not much but it's more than the $60 you mentioned. Although you are definately right about keeping the site for longer and people wanting and willing to pay more for a site that has traffic and is earnings. This is something that I am working on now, but whilst I am waiting for a few of my sites to grow, I am also still selling the turnkey sites for the extra boost of income.

        Also I didn't think you were able to promote a site you were planning to sell by writing articles for ezine articles. There was a post a few months ago on the old forum where a guy sold his website that he had promoted by writing articles for ezine articles. Once ezine found out the site no longer belonged to him they suspended his account.

        I don't mean to bash your post at all, because it does give some excellent advice, I just wanted to point those two things out.

        Thanks
        Clare
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        • Profile picture of the author Nicholas Ho
          Are there anyone who flip a site that earns and have traffic under few days?
          I saw a guy did it before.

          -Nicholas Ho
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        • Profile picture of the author martinp
          I currently make and sell brand new sites and they usualy go for between $150-$299. I know that is not much but it's more than the $60 you mentioned.
          Thanks for your comments. It's probably nearly a year since I last tried to sell a new site so maybe the market's improved a bit - I don't know. I was talking about the 10 - 15 page basic sites that were popular here on the forum about a year or so ago (JD Swanson type sites). How much work do you actually have to put into a site to earn that much though eg what would your hour rate be? I'd be interested to know.


          Also I didn't think you were able to promote a site you were planning to sell by writing articles for ezine articles. There was a post a few months ago on the old forum where a guy sold his website that he had promoted by writing articles for ezine articles. Once ezine found out the site no longer belonged to him they suspended his account.
          I know the post you're talking about but I've never had any problems. Plus there are hundreds of sites sold there every week with links from Ezinearticles. It's not something I advertise in my listings (links from EZA) but maybe it's something I should discuss with them as I wouldn't want to lose my account.
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          • Profile picture of the author Anup Mahajan
            Martin you have shared some very good information.

            One point I would like to mention here is you can also submit your site to lots of directories to increase backlinks.. It involves some work but the rewards would be fabulous.. One way links from high PR directories would help while you are selling your site as well.. I know lots of people are vary of this kind of hard work but they don't see the potential rewards...

            Cheers,
            Anup
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          • Profile picture of the author clare1982
            Thanks for your reply Martin

            The type of site I make is a wordpress site. I usually make it using a static front page, so it works and looks like a normal website. It can take me 1-2 days to set it up with about 10 PLR articles, product pages with products from amazon, and sometimes a forum attached, and a few other types of pages.

            I have listed a few and some of them did not even get a bid, but majority sold for in between $150-$299. Sometimes I think it all depends on what niche the site is in also, as to wether it sells or not.

            I would also like to mention that the sites that sold for the higher prices were sold on sitepoint and not on didgital point, I have tried to sell brand new sites on digital point for the higher price and it just wasn't happening lol.

            In regards to the ezine articles I bet there are hundreds of sites selling on digital point and sitepoint that have links going to them from ezine, and they go unnoticed. I wonder how ezine articles would even know anyway.

            But I would check that out anyway.

            Thanks
            Clare
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        • Profile picture of the author remodeler
          Really good post.

          One of the biggest reasons for selling the sites instead of holding onto them is because money upfront is always better than "possible" future earnings. This is the Internet and you never know what may happen tomorrow to affect the site. Google may make one small adjustment and your site tumbles in the rankings, or something happens with the affiliate product, etc. There are lots of different things that can easily happen. When you can get that kind of money upfront for a site it's a good business decision to sell.

          I've been on both sides of this. I've sold sites for 20X earnings...and I've also held onto sites thinking they would really be massive earners, only to have Google change its algo's and the site went down.

          It's definitely a fun and exciting business model. There's nothing like getting a deposit from escrow.com for several thousands of dollars.
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  • Profile picture of the author Amy Bass
    Wow thanks for sharing! Some great advice here.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nixter
      Nice one, thank you for that. Just a question, if someone buys a site like this how long will the traffic stay at current levels without doing more promotion (i.e. writing new articles/content etc.)?
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      • Profile picture of the author macchiavelli
        This post is filled with great information and could easily be made into a report to be sold!
        But my main thing always is: if my website earns me good money, why sell it?

        But then again, a bunch of cash upfront is always sweet.

        I never got any successfull sales out of DP forum, I did with sitepoint.
        I sold 1 site with no revenue just a great ebook on there for $1900...I was so happy!
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        • Profile picture of the author k0zm0zs0ul
          Great post, thanks for that. I use hostgators baby hosting so I would probably need to upgrade in order to do this, correct? Also, why is wp more difficult..any tips on what makes transferring wp different, and how to go about it? That is primarily what I use.
          Thanks
          Cori

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          • Profile picture of the author Chris Hunter
            Yeah, I'd like to know more about transferring WP blogs to a buyer.

            I guess a lot of problems happen because of the MySql database, huh?
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            Ok, sure. You can follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.com/Chris_Hunter ;)

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            • Profile picture of the author Chris Hunter
              Originally Posted by Jeff Hope View Post

              Mainly because WP uses a database to store both content and settings. The database must be created on the buyer's server, and the tables & data restored.

              Chris - not necessarily problems. It's not difficult, but is more involved than transferring plain HTML pages.
              Jeff,

              Thanks for the explanation.

              So if you make a database backup before transfer, the buyer should be able to simply import the database and be off and running with the site, right?
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              Ok, sure. You can follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.com/Chris_Hunter ;)

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  • Profile picture of the author bmac
    Hi Martin, I am doing this, but I'm using the ireporter tool. It's costing me $10 bucks a month to have this blog and I still don't have complete control of all the space, I have a question...Once I have chosen a domain name is there a FREE blogging service that I could host my domain on.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael D
      Originally Posted by bmac View Post

      Hi Martin, I am doing this, but I'm using the ireporter tool. It's costing me $10 bucks a month to have this blog and I still don't have complete control of all the space, I have a question...Once I have chosen a domain name is there a FREE blogging service that I could host my domain on.
      Yes there is a free blogging script and it is widely used called Wordpress. For less then 10 dollars a month you will have complete control over your blog. There are thousands of free themes and plugins that you can choose from. Your initial investment will be a domain name (you can find coupons for GoDaddy and Namecheap to get a domain for about 7 bucks. After that your hosting will be the only cost which would be cheaper then 10 dollars a month. The biggest benefit is the full control over your blog.
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      • Profile picture of the author motivated
        Another solution if you don't know how to move a Wordpress blog is to include hosting in the sale. I do this and use a hosting company that provides end-user support - i.e. they provide hosting support to your customers as if it was coming from you.

        It's a solution for the short term if you don't want to learn the technical Wordpress stuff. With ebay you can charge monthly hosting fees too but saying that it's getting a bit more difficult to sell sites these days on Ebay. However I'm hoping it's just the summer slowdown and it may pick up towards winter.
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      • Profile picture of the author TheToolWiz
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        • Profile picture of the author Mark Riddle
          When creating a site to flip, make sure that you are creating a site that has long term potential.

          Especially if you are wanting to build a business building and selling sites.

          an Olympics site will have a longer term value than a China 2008 site.

          Mark
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          • Profile picture of the author napoleonfirst
            A good service to get cheap domains with much traffic is Domainersedge.com. What you can do is buying domain names that are related to your topic, and add the traffic to your main site using redirection. Also you can sell the domain in the aftermarket of godaddy.
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          • Profile picture of the author Ephrils
            Post Favorited. I'm looking into Site Flipping and will definitely use this outline later. Thanks
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            • Profile picture of the author Ricky Ticky Toc
              hey read the part about the reseller hosting account you have and pay $24.95 per month im currently in the process of flipping sites, i have only done 4 so far but i make extra money from the hosting telling the people that buy them from me that i will also offer them hosting for just $8 a month with unlimited everything, and i only pay £2.50 about $5 for my reseller account.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
    Great post Martin.. Thanks! We need more like these..

    I had one question if you don't mind. Did I understand you right, sites running Adsense ads are usually worth more?
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    • Profile picture of the author Chuck Underwood
      Martin,
      Thank you so much for sharing.

      This type of info is what I love about this place.

      Chuck
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    • Profile picture of the author ibringjoy
      Thanks, Martin!

      Step-by-step instructions like this are so very useful!

      I really appreciate it.

      Kathryn
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      • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
        Thanks for the info.

        "If I’ve had a steady income for 3 months in a row (or a steadily increasing income) then my site is ready to sell. Generally I get 6-10 times monthly income"

        This is the problem, why would you want to sell a site for a seemlingly knockdown price? Unless you have reasonable expectation that the earnings of the site will go down quickly over time. Of course this happens all the time with new sites and I have been had before. But this will affect your reputation in the long run if your sites perform poorly in the long run.

        -Derek
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        • Profile picture of the author terryd
          You mentioned that you would earn more for a adsense site, how much more?
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  • Profile picture of the author williamtan
    Hi Martin,

    Just wondering if you will be earning more, in the long run, if you hold on to your sites?

    Regards, William
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    • Profile picture of the author braver55b
      Thanks Martin,

      When I first began reading this post, I was about to dismiss it as something I already knew, boy was I wrong especially step 6.

      Well done
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      • Profile picture of the author martinp
        Thanks everyone for the positive feedback, I really appreciate it. Here's a few answers to the questions I came across.

        Just a question, if someone buys a site like this how long will the traffic stay at current levels without doing more promotion (i.e. writing new articles/content etc.)?
        If someone buys a site like this I always advise them to give the site a blast of promotion the first week - submit a round of articles etc and I give them a list of things they can do, plus I give them advice on what they could do over the next 3 months (with a disclaimer) - often my sites tend to be bought by newbies who unfortunately don't know much about SEO.

        I use hostgators baby hosting so I would probably need to upgrade in order to do this, correct? Also, why is wp more difficult..any tips on what makes transferring wp different, and how to go about it?
        I'm not familiar with the baby hosting so I'm not sure, but from what I've heard reseller is best for doing this type of thing. I always have to look for instructions every time I transfer wp (I just Google something like 'transfer wordpress blog'). Plus I never set it up on the new owners server (and I stipulate this in the listing) because I'm afraid something would go wrong.

        Another solution if you don't know how to move a Wordpress blog is to include hosting in the sale. I do this and use a hosting company that provides end-user support - i.e. they provide hosting support to your customers as if it was coming from you.
        That's something I must consider - although from what I've seen of my buyers (even though they're often quite new to SEO and IM) I've never come across one without hosting. The guys that pay money generally tend to be webmasters already. When I used to flip brand new sites they did need hosting.

        But just think about how much money you would be making if you held on to all those sites long-term? Then one day you can sell all of them in one giant bundle in your portfolio for huge amount of money. LOL
        Probably, but I don't build them for my own long term use so there's no attachment. My main business model is actually product creation, I flip sites for a bit of discretionary money.

        I had one question if you don't mind. Did I understand you right, sites running Adsense ads are usually worth more?
        I don't make as much on Adsense sites (usually $1000 - $1500) because it's much easier to build fast affiliate earnings than Adsense (which I find takes a lot more work). However in my experience of selling sites, buyers are willing to pay a lot more times monthly income for Adsense.
        Here's an example of two sites I recently sold:
        Adsense site earning $60 per month sold for $1300 (21x monthly income)
        Affiliate site earning $900 per month sold for $6000 (6 ½ x monthly income)
        Both were about the same age so affiliate sites are still a lot more profitable for me.

        This is the problem, why would you want to sell a site for a seemlingly knockdown price? Unless you have reasonable expectation that the earnings of the site will go down quickly over time. Of course this happens all the time with new sites and I have been had before. But this will affect your reputation in the long run if your sites perform poorly in the long run.
        Whether or not sites perform poorly in the long run will be nothing to do with me - it's the new owners responsibility. The earnings would only drop if the new owner did absolutely nothing with the site. I build very good quality sites that are there to be developed, and this is only spending money for me, it's not my primary business model. It's not a knockdown price for a reasonably new site - sites only gain value with age.

        Just wondering if you will be earning more, in the long run, if you hold on to your sites?
        Sure, if I held onto them for a year or two I'd probably earn a lot more. For a few days work though this suits me fine and gives me plenty of spare time to get on with other projects.
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  • Profile picture of the author moneymentor
    Is it pretty easy to sell new sites REGULARLY at SitePoint or is it a lot of "hit and miss"? For example, out of every 10 blogs you put sale on SitePoint, how many just won't sell at all?

    I am really wondering if I can make a full time income flipping new blogs that take a day or two to create?
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  • Profile picture of the author damenchoy
    Hi Martin,

    I was late to see this good post. Can you give us some examples of the sites you have made and sold so that we can really understand the techniques you deployed.

    Sometimes I think a few good examples is worth more than a thousand words...

    Thanks

    Hope we can learn more from you!

    Damen
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  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    This is a great post Martin - I've also found that selling brand new sites is not as profitable as it used to be. Back in 2007, I had a 100% sell rate for 10 page unique content sites at $150 - today it's about 50% and the sites are better than the ones I sold back then!

    So, I too, am moving towards a model of selling sites that earn income. But I'm looking at mine a little differently. I am building them up for about 6 months at which time I will evaluate how they are doing and what i think future earnings will be.

    The ones that don't meet my "criteria" I will sell off and the others I will keep for my "virtual empire". Eventually I will have a stock of profit pulling websites that take little time to maintain. That's when I am planning on sitting on the beach for most of the day and watching the money roll in. Need more money? No problem - just sell another site!

    This is a vast improvement over my previous model of blasting up sites and then simply abandoning the ones that didn't earn as much as I wanted (or that I got bored with) because now every site will bring me in some money - even the ones that aren't good earners.

    Lee
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    Gone Fishing
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  • Profile picture of the author vvv12
    Martin, great post.

    I see that you are focusing on niches with quite a lot of searches and quite a lot of competition too. For blogs in the start up category, what would be the rule of thumb for the number of searches and competition? I see different numbers everywhere, from 300 a month to whatever. Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author Lindsay Brynn
    this is a great revived post. Basically you just need to prove the site makes money and you can make much more. Too many people put work into start up sites that make very little money. But I suppose if you've figured out a way to churn them out quickly that can be profitable too.
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  • Profile picture of the author jmac1031
    Great post Martin. Do you have an example of one of your own or one from someone else that we could look at?
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    • Profile picture of the author damenchoy
      Hi Martin,

      One more question. When you said in step 2:

      "I choose 10 - 15 long tail keywords that I can base my sites articles around",

      how do you blend this long tail keywords into your article?

      I have difficulty to do this as you know, long tail keywords are usually keywords with at least 5 or 6 words.

      Just like your example, your keywords "reverse phone number look up" is a 5-word phrase. It is sometimes quite difficult to write an article that contains these words esp. if you want to repeat them a number of times..

      Any clues?

      Damen

      Damen
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  • Profile picture of the author ArthurRose
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    • Profile picture of the author Hamida Harland
      Originally Posted by ArthurRose View Post

      Okay, and you really sell sites so simple for 3k-6k$? During economic crisis? Numbers seem way too big. Could you give an example of a site you have sold?
      The post was made back in September of last year so obviously the sites were sold before the economic crisis. I've sold sites using this exact method for similar prices - it doesn't matter if a site is simple if it's making alot of money. Last summer I sold a site for $7000 with less than 10 posts (it was making over $1000 a month).
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      • Profile picture of the author damenchoy
        Originally Posted by Hamida Harland View Post

        The post was made back in September of last year so obviously the sites were sold before the economic crisis. I've sold sites using this exact method for similar prices - it doesn't matter if a site is simple if it's making alot of money. Last summer I sold a site for $7000 with less than 10 posts (it was making over $1000 a month).
        That is a very good record. So do you mean now the price for a similar site drops a lot because of economic crisis? If you have a site making over $1000 per month, at what price do you think you can sell it now?
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        • Profile picture of the author Hamida Harland
          Originally Posted by damenchoy View Post

          That is a very good record. So do you mean now the price for a similar site drops a lot because of economic crisis? If you have a site making over $1000 per month, at what price do you think you can sell it now?
          I don't think the economic crisis affects sales of established sites at all. Chances are that those who could afford a site in the high four to five figure range last year probably still can. Newbies generally buy start up sites, whereas I've found my established sites have always been bought by fairly experienced marketers who are already making money (but want to make more ). I wouldn't sell a site right now for any less than I did last year or the year before.
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      • Profile picture of the author JakeDaly
        Wow, thank you so much for the information, it's inspirational once you see how easy it actually is.

        One question -- are the 10 articles you submit to Ezinearticles different than the 10-15 hosted on the site?

        Thanks,

        Jake
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven W Johnson
        I've been tempted to try site flipping, but never been able to delegate the work. Even at the above numbers, it's simply too much work. There are less labor-intensive models to follow (oh, and they are lots of fun as well!)
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      • Profile picture of the author bthurman
        Martin,

        Thanks so much for the great post. It really does help a newbie like me when someone takes the time and effort to post information like this.
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  • Profile picture of the author ArthurRose
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    • Profile picture of the author Hamida Harland
      Originally Posted by ArthurRose View Post

      Hamida, that is really impressive, but another thing I don't get is why would anyone sell a site which is already making money? Maybe just if quick cash is needed for something.
      Well I have alot of sites already so I don't mind selling one here and there - that particular one along with a few others was to increase my deposit for a new apartment, so yeah the quick cash is useful sometimes
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    • Profile picture of the author Desmond Ong
      Originally Posted by ArthurRose View Post

      Hamida, that is really impressive, but another thing I don't get is why would anyone sell a site which is already making money? Maybe just if quick cash is needed for something.
      That's because site flipping is addicting.

      And it eliminates many other risks like managing the sites risk, hacking risk, traffic drop risk and many more. It all depends on which kind of flips you are talking about.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lindsay Brynn
    People sell sites that are already making money because they can get a whole lot of money at once and invest that money back into more sites if necessary. Also there is no way to tell how long your site will be bringing in those consistent sales. Some niches and sites may not be great sellers in the long run.

    If you could build up just one site and bring in a few thousand a month then selling it could bring you in something like 35-50K. You could then purchase or start several sites and keep making larger and larger flips.

    I can see the advantages to holding onto sites too though - everyone likes to be getting a consistent income.
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  • Profile picture of the author ConnieMuller
    Martin, Hamida ( and everyone else ). Please bear with me and hear me out. I will try to keep this short as possible.

    Over the past 2 years I have acquired the basic skills that Martin speaks of in his steps. I also follow basically the same procedure. I do research on relative high traffic with low competition keywords before building a site. I promote with articles etc etc.
    I have started recently to build high PR dofollow backlinks.
    You will see in my membership site in my signature that I teach the aforegoing principles to newcomers to the internet.

    Yet I fail to rank on first page of Google ( where Martin gets 90% success ), but more importantly, I have failed to make more than one sale with with a site. Bottom line - my sites are not making money.
    I am unsure if posting a domain link here as an example of my site is against the rules, so please PM me or something if you want to look at what I am doing wrong.

    I know mentorship does not come cheap, and I am very strapped for cash right now, but I am past the point of desperation. I can offer services or potential profits in lieu of help.

    I have no words to express what I would give in this world for someone to take me by the hand through this process with a site or two so that I can just see where I am going wrong.

    There are so many success stories out there, I simply cannot believe or accept that I cannot overcome this last hurdle.

    Anyone ?
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  • Profile picture of the author ConnieMuller
    The kind person who PM'd me. I am unable to PM you back since I have to make 15 posts first.
    Please bear with me while I try to get my post count up .....
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  • Profile picture of the author misterlmno
    nice post, I was looking at site flipping myself, just need to put a bit of work into it but you have set out some good guidelines.

    i know someone who makes a good income from domaining and has sold just domains for 3000+.

    thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Lindsay Brynn
    I agree that I haven't seen the sales of established sites affected all that much. I mean if they have a proven income and it is still there it is likely to continue. I could see how start ups and sites that are less established would have some trouble. I think they are still selling though.
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  • Profile picture of the author ladyjane
    I just tried site flipping last week for the first time, and was impressed with the results. So far, it seems to be as good as everyone says it is.

    I've been building custom sites for customers for a while, but had never tried to flip any of my own. So, I took 4 niche sites I already owned, each between 2 and 3 months old, and put them up for sale on SitePoint with $10 minimum starting bids, $50 reserves, and $100 BINs. One of the sites had generated two affiliate sales, one had generated one affiliate sale, and all 4 of the sites had at least a few dollars in Adsense income (though the most any one site had was $10 in Adsense). Every single one of those 4 sites sold for the $100 BIN price within just a couple of days or less! So, I made $400 in less than a week on site flipping on my first try.

    Needless to say, I'm pleased, and will be doing some more site flipping very soon!
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  • Profile picture of the author John Atkins
    Very good & informative post. (Bookmarked this page) I will try website flipping some time.
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  • Profile picture of the author ConnieMuller
    LadyJane, I find your post very encouraging !

    I have a niche site of a few months old which has made one affiliate sale, and a bit in adsense. I was wondering if it is worth the $10 to advertise it in Sitepoint, but I think your post has pushed me in the right direction !
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    • Profile picture of the author ladyjane
      Originally Posted by ConnieMuller View Post

      LadyJane, I find your post very encouraging !

      I have a niche site of a few months old which has made one affiliate sale, and a bit in adsense. I was wondering if it is worth the $10 to advertise it in Sitepoint, but I think your post has pushed me in the right direction !

      Glad to be of service! I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was.

      I offered to install the websites for my buyers for free. Two took me up on it, while the other two preferred to do it themselves. In addition, I offered to send a free email with traffic generation tips to each buyer. That was about half a page of 6 tips I personally use for getting traffic. That was it in terms of bonuses I offered. The main attraction in each auction was the website itself....and all 4 websites I sold were WordPress sites.


      Oh, and Jake--I've sent you a PM to answer your question.
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  • Profile picture of the author AlanS2323
    Rather than getting 5-10x monthly income at once, why don't you keep the sites and build up a huge stream of monthly income for yourself?
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    • Profile picture of the author tonybhachu
      Hi Martin,
      Great post - you've shared some excellent information here.

      Originally Posted by AlanS2323 View Post

      Rather than getting 5-10x monthly income at once, why don't you keep the sites and build up a huge stream of monthly income for yourself?
      Good question ...

      Personally, I'd rather have several months worth of future earnings right now in one lump sum. As they say a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

      Heck, I've sold sites for 37 times monthly earnings in the past. Now that was a nice pay day but it shows just how much money you can make flipping websites.

      Besides, you then have an opportunity to take that money and re-invest it into your online business, or buy another under-valued site for improving and flipping. Why wait several months to make that kind of money when you can get paid today!

      Yes, you could keep the sites and settle for the monthly income, but even then, there are no guarantees when it comes to future earnings.

      Take search engine rankings for example - sites on page one of Google are are chopping and changing all the time. If you want to maintain your SERPs you'll need to constantly keep working on the site. Don't assume that a site generates $100 today will make you the same amount of money without any work.

      All the best,
      Tony
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  • Profile picture of the author hotlinkz
    Martin,

    Thank you for the excellent step-by-step. Are you still actively flipping sites; if so, how are you doing? I will be flipping a couple of sites within the next week or so and interested in how the market fares.

    Kind regards,

    Calvin
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  • Profile picture of the author Samuel Lee
    A nice post Martin! I've just started to investigate the site flipping process, and appreciate the step by step guide, this will help tremendously! Thank you!
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  • Profile picture of the author msalada
    Great information. About how much will your site make prior to selling it?
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  • Profile picture of the author Nathan Denton
    This is a great post with a lot of great tips for many contributors. Thanks to you all. I'll be using this as motivation to continue my flipping.
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    Online marketing, offline marketing and various other things.
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  • Profile picture of the author viking
    This info and comments are very helpful to me , my next product is to sell sites with a product to sell including articles etc.
    Thank you very much.
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  • Profile picture of the author wfspinner
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    • Profile picture of the author lovegen
      Thanks for the great post. I checked ebay marketplace for the website on sale, and most of them are garbage sites for $0.99!! Is the sitepoint the only place to flip for good and steady profit?
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  • Profile picture of the author bwall
    Thanks for the helpful info.
    I am interested in getting into website flipping and I appreciate tips and information on the subject.

    Ben
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