I decided to write this post as a response to a lot of questions I’ve been getting asked lately about blog flipping. Selling niche blogs on Flippa.com is one way I make money on the internet. It helps bring in the money quickly and regularly, and I work on my own sites around the sites I sell. I’ve worked really hard at it and I have a 80% success rate out of 62 listings.
I’ve written about this before, so I’ll point you to these posts:
- “My Blog Flipping Journey” is a post I wrote back last October when I hadn’t been flipping for too long, but contains some tips to get started,
- I also wrote a review of Michelle Adams’ flipping course. Whether you’re thinking of buying a course or not, you might want to check out the post for some info about the earnings potential and what I’ve earned from selling purely startup sites.
And in the rest of this post I’ll just answer some of the questions I got that weren’t answered in those previous posts.
About the Sites I Flip
I sell startup sites. Sometimes I’ll only have had the domain for a week before I sell the site (I always at least make sure it’s indexed in Google). What this means is there are no earnings and no traffic stats. These sites are far lower in value than sites that have earnings/ traffic, making other features such as unique content and a good design more important.
- If you have a site with a proven track record for earnings, a “pretty” site doesn’t matter as much.
- Although people tend to say sites with earnings can get about 10x their monthly earnings as a final selling price, I’ve seen them go way higher. People often use a $1 no reserve auction to drive interest – it’s risky but I’ve seen it work very well.
- For the lower end startup sites I sell, that no reserve model doesn’t seem to have quite as much potential.
- I also believe the reason why I am very successful at selling startup sites and some sellers aren’t is because I go the extra mile for my customers and I think they can see that.
Time and Money
If you want to get into flipping then the good news is that it doesn’t cost too much. I recently found I could get domains for $6.95 from Netfirms, then the Flippa listing fee is $19, and the success fee is 5% of the final sell price. If I outsource writing, then it’ll add a little more to the cost but I either use Human Rewriter or oDesk to keep costs down. (You also need website hosting – I use a Hostgator reseller account that costs $25 per month).
- When you first start flipping, you’re probably going to get a lower return on your time. Everyone has to learn and you’ll need to setup the whole site, spend time crafting a good listing (very important) and then do the transfer and customer care afterwards.
- I save time now by using a listing that is pretty much the same for each auction just with the details changed, I’ve done so many transfers that it can take me just half an hour, and I even developed a member area for my buyers so I barely have to answer any questions any more.
- On average the whole process takes me about 3-4 hours per site and they sell for $197. I see this as a good return for my time. Then again, I worked very hard developing my systems.
Selling Other Kinds of Sites
Based on the time it takes in theory I could make blogs and flip them all day long and make a fantastic salary. But I don’t think it works like that – you don’t have unlimited ideas and you’ll get fed up if you churn out site after site. I’m working on keeping sites for a few months and selling them when they have some traffic/ earnings. I will also sell off sites that don’t work for me. I know it seems as though sites like that wouldn’t have any value but remember buyers on Flippa are all looking for different kinds of things.
Some Other Tips:
- For startup sites premium themes can make a lot of difference. I use Woothemes pretty much 100% of the time.
- Make sure you never copy anyone else’s listings. I know it seems obvious, but people do seem to copy because they see other sellers have success. This might work for a while but you’ll get reported and some buyers will notice.
- Go out of your way for the buyers – I believe this is what has made me successful on Flippa.
- Use unique content – it sells better, especially for startup sites.
- Be honest with Newbies. Some think all they have to do to make a fortune online is buy one startup site on Flippa. Of course it’s not true so I always honestly tell them that.
- Use bonuses if they buy using “Buy It Now”. I’ve had a few buyers tell me this was the reason they chose BIN rather than making a lower bid. And offer to do the transfer for them. I know this holds a lot of people back but it’s honestly not that hard! I can’t explain it all but any good site flipping guide will have it, and you’ll find it for free on websites.
- Experiment with (a) the time of day you list your sites (b) which day of the week you list your sites (c) how long you want your auction to last (I usually use 3-7 days) and (d) which prices you use. It takes time to get a feel for what works best for your sites. The time you list is important as you’ll get most views in the first few hours and last few hours of your auction.
- Don’t give up – It’s overwhelming at first, but once you get all the processes down, like the transfer, listing setup etc then it’ll be a lot easier and a lot more profitable than those first few flips.
I do recommend Michelle’s eBook: How to Build and Sell Niche Blogs. She is the one who taught me to do this in the first place, and she is a great teacher with good values.
I hope this answered the questions. This has turned into a really long post – I just wrote whatever came to me so I hope it all makes sense.
No related posts.
Very helpful indeed. Looks like you definitely have this down. How are you going about marketing the new sites you are building? Just SEO?
.-= Mike Roosa´s last blog ..The Flip And The Flop =-.
Twitter: webcareergirl
says:
Mike – Basically I don’t market them. I just use keywords for each post, for the domain name and for the categories and use the All in One SEO Pack etc too to make sure they are ready to go. If they don’t sell I’ll keep them and market them and hopefully sell them for a higher price in future.
Hi Ruth,
thanks for the site flipping info, it’s certainly something I want to investigate further down the line.
Could you explain a little more about the Hostgator reseller account? Can you not just use an affiliate account to get your customer’s hosting set up and then flip the site to that?
.-= Des @ Affiliate Progress´s last blog ..Marketing – Should You Compromise Your Values? =-.
Twitter: webcareergirl
says:
Des – Well, you don’t need a reseller account you’re right. You can even use your standard account as long as it allows addon domains – but there’d be no option to keep their site on your hosting then (you wouldn’t want them to have access to all your sites).
I do offer my affiliate link wherever possible, but most buyers already have hosting so I just transfer to their accounts.
Excellent info, thanks!
Two question:
1. Do you continue to host for them after the sale for extra cash or a free bonus…maybe 1yr or so?
2. Do you know, or know anyone that knows, about selling domain names…no site, no nuthin, just the names?
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Oops I Lied-HAHA =-.
Twitter: webcareergirl
says:
Dennis – 1) Yes that’s a possibility, though I don’t do it just to make my life simpler
I probably should! If they don’t already have hosting, I give them my hostgator affiliate link and that pays $100 commission which is good when it happens.
2) I sold a domain once, got $50. I really have no idea about doing it – I truly don’t understand it actually. But it would be nice to get a few thousand for one domain!!
Ruth,
Ah OK, talking about your reseller account led me to believe you offer them hosting as well. I too have a HG reseller account.
I dunno about thousands each, lol, but I’m definitely pretty good at picking names worth more then 10 bucks.
I have some now I’d like to let go of, but not just let them expire.
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Oops I Lied-HAHA =-.
Twitter: webcareergirl
says:
Dennis – I say go for it. Pick one that you definitely want to get rid of and then you don’t have much to lose
I bet domain flipping can be so lucrative when you figure it out.
“Domaining” as it’s called made many millionaires a decade ago, still good but much harder.
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..10 Social Share Sites Chosen – Do You Agree? =-.
Great post – as are your older ones on this topic as well. I’m interested in trying this out in the future, but I recently heard that the market on Flippa.com is starting to get really saturated with new sites, driving prices down quite a bit. Have you noticed this as a problem recently?
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..Monthly Goals – May =-.
Twitter: webcareergirl
says:
Michelle – Well I know a lot of people recently have been promoting site flipping is easy money. In some ways, it is
But it only is for me now because I built my reputation up, worked hard on the systems for creating the sites, and support afterwards etc. Anyway I am getting off the point…
There is a lot of junk on Flippa. People who expect it to be too easy and don’t put in the effort are obvious. I think my success shows there is still demand, but you’ve gotta show that you’re willing to go above and beyond for the customer. I don’t have concrete proof of that fact, of course, but that’s my feeling.
Plus – it pays to build a list. I include a signup to my notification list from my auction text and have had repeat buyers (and custom orders) to boost my income.
Great summary Ruth… I have not flipped for quite a while now!
.-= Forest´s last blog ..Welcome Clarifinancial Readers =-.
Twitter: webcareergirl
says:
Forest – I think it’s good to take a break sometimes!
Thank you for this very helpful post! I’m just getting started with flipping sites but I’ve been building niche sites for quite a while now.
I would love to hear more about the systems you’ve created for site creation and support. Do you have a product available (ebook, course, etc) where you share this info?
Thanks again Ruth! =)
Twitter: webcareergirl
says:
Wendy – If you’ve already got experience building niche sites then that really helps make flipping a lot easier.
About my systems, all I basically mean is working out a checklist of each step I need to take for new sites and just getting used to the process so I can work quickly and maximize my hourly rate. Then I took note of the questions buyers always asked me about, and wrote in detail about the answers in my member area to reduce support requests.
I don’t have an eBook or anything – I recommend Michelle’s eBook as that’s the method I use for building my sites to flip. But the main thing is that flipping gets much faster with time.
Good luck when you do your first flip!
Hi Ruth, thanks for putting this post up. It is very helpful indeed. I have an idea now on how to embark on it. Like what you had mentioned – take action and learn from there, I think is really a valuable advice. In my portfolios, I have a 1 yrs plus site that I build but stop maintaining it for a while. I think the domain name alone is really worth something for those who want to be in that niche. On top of that I have 30 plus micro niche site that I intend to let go. Have you flipped a micro site before?
.-= Tinman´s last blog ..Day 46 – Getting My New VA and Subscribe To Terry’s Backlink Package =-.
Twitter: webcareergirl
says:
Tinman – I haven’t flipped a micro niche site but I’ve seen some with very little content get A LOT of money!! Personally I think the sellers should add a little more content, but yeah there is lots of potential for you to get rid of your site. I bet you could make a nice chunk of cash if it’s a good domain and has earnings of any level. I would check out the recent selling sites on flippa to get an idea about what they sell for.
You’ve covered a lot of detail here Ruth, great info and thanks so much for the recommendation.
I believe number three, going out of your way for your customers, plays a very big part in your success. You care about the other person involved in the transaction which means you stand out for all the right reasons.
Love the new blog design.
.-= Michelle Adams´s last blog ..Getting Motivated =-.
Twitter: webcareergirl
says:
Michelle – Thanks Michelle
I still have to venture into flipping sites. I like the way that Amy Bass showed how to do it, but I am still in the process of just building.
Thanks for the tips, this will actually be a later reference for me!
.-= Kelly´s last blog ..My Niche Site Goals for Tomorrow =-.
Twitter: webcareergirl
says:
Kelly – Amy’s info is good too, I think her tips about the site listing itself are very useful. Good luck whenever you do decide to flip!
One more thing is to never sell your sites at Digital Point as you wont even get half the site’s worth.
DEN @ Dreamhost Coupon´s last [type] ..Dreamhost Coupon July 50 off 3 lifetime Domains
Twitter: webcareergirl
says:
Den – Yes I tend to only sell on Flippa, though I also say it depends what type of site you’re trying to sell as to where’s best to sell it.