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

In recent months there have been numerous articles talking about the so-called decline of site flipping. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t believe this is true, I feel the goal posts have just shifted. While I was at University I ran my business part time and found that sticking to one or two revenue streams was more manageable and gave me enough time to “study” (drink). Now I’ve graduated I decided it was time to step up a gear and take my businesses and income to a new, higher level. I’ve started reading more, working more and setting up new LLCs and LTDs.

My business of buying and selling sites has so many options that it’s a case of trying a bit of everything and seeing what works. I started out on DP (see last week’s post) and did alright there. I then moved on to Flippa and previous clients and did (and do) very well there. Now I’m expanding further into selling offline businesses. I thought it was about time I applied my knowledge online to a relatively untapped offline market. I still run my old businesses; I have just diversified into new revenue streams. It’s going to be an interesting journey and I hope to update via my blog posts on Experienced People to share my experience.

One thing I’d like to make a clear distinction between is running a web design/SEO firm and offline “flipping”. I’ve had past experience with web design, and found it: time consuming; not overly profitable and generally not for me. I will be buying established sites and reselling for (hopefully) a profit.

There seems to be a current trend with “offline” marketing, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I’m not a SEO expert, so I didn’t want to offer SEO; I’m not a designer, so I didn’t want to offer web design. But I am good at buying sites that can bring in a steady number of leads for an offline business. It’s crazy the amount of money some of them spend in traditional forms of advertising, but I’ve been surprised how many would happily spend five figures on a site – especially if you bundle it in with consulting services. I’ll help the client get the most out of the site and use it for their own business to aid growth and mainly as a lead generation tool. You can make sites from scratch, but I’m far too lazy to do that so I’d rather buy a ready established site and sell it in a few days.

I’m going to keep it short this week as I’m busy with my first few clients. I’ve already smashed my biggest month ever so hoping I can sustain the current workload and continue to deliver value. It’s a big learning curve for me as I’m used to dealing with all of my clients online, and whilst I’m not shy, selling face-to-face is a whole new kettle of fish to my usual way of working.

My verdict so far: a ton of potential and a ton of fun!