An increasing interest in earning money online has provided numerous opportunities for newbies and digital marketing experts alike. Anywhere you go, you’ll find an ad selling a place, a professional selling a site, or a freelancer selling their services. Sadly, this also means that there are more bogus offers and scams circulating around the internet. Even when you’re just looking for work, there are people who try to put one over you so you have to be diligent.
So when you’re interested in buying a site, which is what we’re interested in doing, you’ll have to be extra careful. Sure, you can check legitimate online marketplaces like Flippa. But that doesn’t entirely assure you of the authenticity of the intentions of each seller. This is why you should consider getting some tools to help you as you’re looking for sites to buy within these marketplaces.
What You Need
-
Account with a site buying tool
-
Account in an online marketplace like Flippa
Setup Steps
-
Create your Flippa and FlipFilter accounts.
Run searches.
-
At FlipFilter, enter the criteria you are searching for > Click Update. You can also access this page from the bottom of your dashboard by clicking View More below Websites for Sale. Once done, click Save Search and input a name for you to be able to access that particular search in the future on the Presets tab of the same page.
-
Visit the other tabs like Listing Details, Quoted Figures, Domain Data, Search and Backlinks, Presets, and Hide Marketplaces as well as the options found in each tab to improve the quality of the listings that you get.
Do due diligence.
-
Once you pick a site, check the lister’s details, and use the many tools FlipFilter has provided at your disposal: spy on the sellers and sites related to your niche, find linked properties, check guide prices, trace the seller’s details, read about everything you can on the site and everything it relates to. Don’t forget to join community discussions and heed the advice of the experienced and the pros. You can also click Get a Professional Due Diligence Report for this listing on the Listing Details page and get help from Centurica.
Move on to Flippa.
-
Click on Buy It Now or Place Bid. Placing a bid redirects you to a page to verify your phone number. The seller will need to approve you as a bidder before your bid can be valid. When you win a site, you’ll see a link to the Sale Completion Area and you can chat with the seller privately and talk about the details of the sale.
-
There are three payment methods: Flippa Escrow, Escrow.com, and Paypal. It’s advisable to use an Escrow agent to handle transactions of high value.
-
Make a list of niches that you’d be interested in.
-
Find the tool you want to use as you buy the site you want. FlipFilter is an option that is dedicated to Flippa. Signing up for both would be a good match.
Marketing Setup
-
Use the Google Keyword Tool to find relevant words that people search for when it comes to your niche. Write content and headlines using those keywords.
-
Start and publish a blog with a constant schedule.
-
Consider guest blogging.
-
Create and connect your business’ social media accounts to your new site.
Timeframe
Time to do: 5 weeks
Time to see results: 2 months
Additional Tips
Up your FlipFilter Game – Use the Opportunity Finder to zero in on an option you’d like to explore as you search for listings with untapped potential, and Maven to get a listing of recommended sites that fit your overall goals. Play with all the features provided and get as much research as you can.
Don’t transact outside of Flippa – Despite all the research and due diligence, if something goes awry and you didn’t complete the transaction on the site, Flippa can’t help you.
Stay in contact with the seller – A month after a transaction, sellers are usually still around to help you figure out how to run the site on your own. But if that’s not the case, stay in contact with them. They can offer you a lot of advice and handy little tutorials to make life a little easier.
Understand your market – For the first few weeks of you owning the site, get stats on what’s trending both in and out of your site. Find the ones that need improvements and figure out how you can improve them.
Build up your Adsense sites – Get an affiliate program and place your discount code in a prominent area. You may need to experiment to see which area performs best. Maximize your Adsense earnings by fixing the layout of your site, and add Adsense to inner pages.
Get traffic going – Create and connect your social media accounts, make YouTube videos, work on your SEO, create more content, and sell something.
Outsource – Just because you can do everything yourself, doesn’t mean that you should. Outsource for writers, VAs, and more to speed up your progress. Having a little more breathing room will give you more time to focus on how your business can evolve.
Potential Results
An established website in the hands of a determined new owner can earn $250 to $500 per month on the first few months. Of course, this depends on the site you have and how well the turnover and communication was between you and the previous owner. It will take some time to get used to everything, but you’ll definitely expect to earn more once you do.
