I’d recently interviewed Matt & Liz Raad, CEOs of eBusiness Institute. We talked about the nuances of buying and selling websites – aka website flipping (you can watch it here).
As we’ve seen in the past year, Covid-19 precipitated a rapid shift to online platforms. Chances are you (like most people) want to learn more about the online world and how you can get in on it.
And one of the key ways to take advantage of the burgeoning online marketplace is to learn about buying and selling websites.
Ever thought about buying and selling websites?
Interestingly, it works a lot like buying and selling properties. You buy a website, you renovate it and then you sell it for a profit.
So how do you go about finding the right website, renovating it, and then selling it for a profit?
In this article, we’ll help you break down the elements that you’ll need to know to make website flipping a profitable venture.
As I mentioned earlier, website flipping is much like buying a piece of real estate at minimal cost, fixing it up, and then selling it for a profit.
Once you figure out this “formula”, flipping websites can be lucrative.
Here’s the first secret.
You need to make money on the way in (when you buy the site), not only on the way out (when you sell)
This means you need to find the right website with good “renovation potential” and make simple but highly effective changes – either in content or in design, to help boost conversion and traffic.
Do your research before buying a website.
Going through the Due Diligence Checklist is a way for you to ensure the website you’re thinking of buying will be worth the effort and money to buy it and keep it running.
Keyword Research is one way to determine interest levels around a particular topic.
Some of the keyword search tools that you can use are:
You might also want to consider creating an Empathy Map (Step 3 of the 9-Step Business Growth Mind Map, found here) to visualize the buyer journey as it relates to the typical website visitor.
Personalizing content using empathy maps helps you to increase engagement, viewership, and maybe even subscription (if you do offer newsletters or flagship programs).
A good YouTube content strategy backed by data from YouTube analytics will help your website conversions soar, not to mention the value of your site.
Ok, so you’ve purchased a website that you think has the potential to grow.
Great. Meet Google Analytics — your new best friend!
Look at the numbers: page traffic, sessions, page views, and the most important – engagement (which you can measure by looking at average time on site and bounce rates — more on this in a bit).
Are your website viewers enjoying the content? Are their questions being answered?
So not only are we looking into the time they spend in a page but also their “bounce rate” or how quickly a consumer goes back off your website upon coming in.
In terms of average time on page, a good indicator is if consumers spend 4-5 minutes on a page.
When it comes to renovating websites, a good rule of thumb is to keep the design simple. This makes it easier to navigate and it loads faster too.
You also need to look into the keywords, headlines and meta descriptions. These things need to be checked in order to see how you can get people to engage longer and go deeper in your website.
How fast does your website load? 2 to 4 seconds is a minimum these days (in 2021).
Check your engagement levels on Google Analytics, find the content with high average time on page, and invest in producing more content along those lines.
Do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
So, now that you’ve done your due diligence, bought the right website, and renovated it successfully, how do you sell it for a profit?
Get clear on the KPIs and functions of the website. You have to think about how your buyer sees your website.
How does the site fit into the buyers’ business model? Does it enhance one of their existing product offerings, or services?
Maybe your site has a decent amount of visitors who happen to have dogs as pets, and the person you’re selling your site to has a business that installs dog fences. That site would be worth a lot more to them than it would be to someone who isn’t in the industry already.
Your pricing should reflect the value your site brings to your buyer (not what you think it’s worth).
Got more questions about buying and selling websites? Check out Matt & Liz Raad’s YouTube channel here.
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