Buying, Managing & Selling Websites For Profit - Learn the Real Tricks of the Trade

Today I will be playing Devil’s Advocate and outlining a quick way I used to use to raise cash in the short-term. In last week’s article I discussed the economics behind turnkey flipping, and why it is not always as profitable as it seems (or is implied when people teach it).

When I first started with site flipping I used to play around with some very cheap sites (I would buy them for $10-20 and find ways to make them profitable WITHOUT making any improvements). Generally there are only a few variables I could change. The site obviously could not be changed, so this left me with: auction copy; up-sells and general communication. I found this was a great way to learn without risking much cash. I’ve now moved on to bigger and better things, but the fundamentals I taught myself have never changed, I just apply them on a larger scale. You can read and read and read, but ultimately it is down to you to carve out your own style, methods and business model.

This is nothing ground-breaking, nor am I encouraging you to follow what I used to do. It’s merely an example of how flipping turnkey sites (or selling turnkey sites) can be profitable without much work at all. I’m by no means the only one who does this but it combines the three variables I felt I could improve (auction copy, up-sells and communication).

As you may have realised by my previous posts on the blog and in the forum, DP is one of my favourite places to buy sites. Contrary to popular belief, you can also sell sites there too. One of the main reasons I used to use it was because it is free. I could test different ideas and see what works/not works. This would be substantially more expensive on Flippa or anywhere you have to pay for the privilege of listing your site. Don’t be afraid to test different ideas – defining what works for you will make you money.

I’ve called this method “turn $10 into $200 in an hour” (true guru speak )

So here’s what I used to do:

Bought a .com domain (don't buy anything else) relating to my niche

Built a site really quickly selling a service relating to a tool you may have (preferably free). Nothing fancy, just with a contact us, testimonials, FAQ and sales page with built in cart (I used e-junkie). So if you have a tool that does article submissions, then offer that on the site as a service. You could also buy a site to make it a “real” flip. The site itself should be something in demand (check trends, Flippa sales etc) and should look professional.

Put an auction up on DP - I wrote a nice pitch about how important *insert niche software* is and how easy it is to make money by selling this service (think selling back links), how they can add a nice income stream (sell the dream). I put NO RESERVE in the title as that always gets the bidding going. I won’t go too in depth into how to write a good auction copy for your sites – but it is essential.

Okay, so how did I make $200:

Listed site for $1 start, $100 BIN and mentioned if they hit the BIN price I would do some blog commenting for them (I use Scrapebox for quick and easy blog comments). Normally, the site would sell for about $20 on DP but because I offered an incentive to hit the BIN people are far more likely to bid.

How long did it take to sell? 5 PM's and 4 separate bidders later, it sold for the BIN of $100. This won’t always happen, but if you have picked a site in the right niche, written a good auction copy and act professionally you will be surprised how well you can do. Prompt communication is essential, as people at this end of the market often make spur of the moment decisions, so following up on leads/bidders is important.

Okay, so how did you make another $100?

Most people are too lazy to move site to a new host, so I referred them to my own hosting company. If you don't have reseller hosting, send them to a hosting affiliate (such as Hostgator) for a quick and easy $100. Offer them a month free hosting to incentivise this part or offer to move to their host for a fee (say $50).

Simple as that. Sites took me little time to buy/build, and the whole process is over in no time. Once you have a working auction copy you can use it over and over on future auctions, just with replacing key details.

I understand that many of you won't have all of the resources I mentioned, so twist it a bit. If you can't build sites yourself (I AM RUBBISH!) then outsource it for like $20.

If you don't have Scrapebox, offer them some free e-books on SEO and marketing as an incentive. Working to your strengths is important here. Make sure you offer a good service as an incentive and you will often find that the buyer will use you again and again. This is a good way to build a diversified business. Before long you may have a profitable flipping, hosting and SEO business. Diversifying your income is important (especially online) and will mean you aren’t relying entirely on one source of revenue. One of the reasons people struggle to be profitable selling turnkey sites is that they fail to see opportunities to branch off and build complimentary businesses to go with it.

The moral of the story is that it is all about the upsell. Don't just think of a sale as just the cost of the site itself, sell them other services, sell them hosting, sell them anything - you never know, sometimes you get a client for life. This is how I did it, and I think I learned a lot by starting with small sites. You quickly learn a variety of aspects of IM and skills – which I now apply elsewhere in my businesses.