I’ve been toying with the idea recently (well, since I’ve decided to try to try to decentralize my income stream and attempt self employment in the long haul) of buying blogs that are for sale or not performing well, but in niche area, and turning them around to sell them later on for much more than I bought them for. I would more than likely not take a direct hands-on approach to producing content for the blog, so much as managing the thing into productivity.
This business model for blogs is not a common one, but it has been tried before with varying degrees of success. I’m really getting a good idea of how the internet advertising world really works now, and have begun to see some profits (albeit very small so far) from some of my blogs. I’ve still got plenty of learning and experimenting to do yet before I find out for myself what works and what doesn’t and why something works on one blog and doesn’t elsewhere. It’s alot of trial and error.
Advertising is the cheapest and easiest way of making money with blogs. Buying a blog, turning it around and flipping it is another but usually requires some kind of investment up front – probably why most people don’t do it. Too much risk.
Last night I was perusing some of the blogs I found for auction at eBay. One that caught my eye had to do with real estate. I know next to nothing about real estate but I guarantee it is a wonderful niche for advertising revenue. I’m not sure how much I really want to spend to try something I’ve never tried before (buying to flip), but as it turns out, that guy is shady and I don’t want to deal with him anyway.
But buying to flip…Thoughts?
{ 28 comments }
Aaron I think it’s a great idea. If for anything else, certainly it’s a valuable learning experience on what does and doesn’t sell. And if it churns a profit which allows your idea to grow and expand, you can’t go wrong :)
The trick of course is to find those blogs with a good niche, and a future.
:)
Aaron I think it’s a great idea. If for anything else, certainly it’s a valuable learning experience on what does and doesn’t sell. And if it churns a profit which allows your idea to grow and expand, you can’t go wrong :)
The trick of course is to find those blogs with a good niche, and a future.
:)
Aaron I think it’s a great idea. If for anything else, certainly it’s a valuable learning experience on what does and doesn’t sell. And if it churns a profit which allows your idea to grow and expand, you can’t go wrong :)
The trick of course is to find those blogs with a good niche, and a future.
:)
Aaron I think it’s a great idea. If for anything else, certainly it’s a valuable learning experience on what does and doesn’t sell. And if it churns a profit which allows your idea to grow and expand, you can’t go wrong :)
The trick of course is to find those blogs with a good niche, and a future.
:)
Buying websites in general, that are underpriced, doing some “renovating” and reselling (much the same way real estate investors ‘flip’ houses) can be very lucrative. It’s certainly not for the weak of heart, as you can easily lose your investment as well as make a killing. A good rule of thumb is to buy a site that has good traffic, but has not been “monitized” (meaning, the past owner has not done well with earning revenues from it). Give it a track record of a few months of solid earnings, and put it on the block at one of the active website selling markets (Sitepoint, Digitalpoint, etc). I’m sure you’d be successful at this Aaron.
Buying websites in general, that are underpriced, doing some “renovating” and reselling (much the same way real estate investors ‘flip’ houses) can be very lucrative. It’s certainly not for the weak of heart, as you can easily lose your investment as well as make a killing. A good rule of thumb is to buy a site that has good traffic, but has not been “monitized” (meaning, the past owner has not done well with earning revenues from it). Give it a track record of a few months of solid earnings, and put it on the block at one of the active website selling markets (Sitepoint, Digitalpoint, etc). I’m sure you’d be successful at this Aaron.
Buying websites in general, that are underpriced, doing some “renovating” and reselling (much the same way real estate investors ‘flip’ houses) can be very lucrative. It’s certainly not for the weak of heart, as you can easily lose your investment as well as make a killing. A good rule of thumb is to buy a site that has good traffic, but has not been “monitized” (meaning, the past owner has not done well with earning revenues from it). Give it a track record of a few months of solid earnings, and put it on the block at one of the active website selling markets (Sitepoint, Digitalpoint, etc). I’m sure you’d be successful at this Aaron.
Buying websites in general, that are underpriced, doing some “renovating” and reselling (much the same way real estate investors ‘flip’ houses) can be very lucrative. It’s certainly not for the weak of heart, as you can easily lose your investment as well as make a killing. A good rule of thumb is to buy a site that has good traffic, but has not been “monitized” (meaning, the past owner has not done well with earning revenues from it). Give it a track record of a few months of solid earnings, and put it on the block at one of the active website selling markets (Sitepoint, Digitalpoint, etc). I’m sure you’d be successful at this Aaron.
Flipping sure sounds like real estate to me too. As with real estate, it would probably be very lucrative with the right know how. Finding a tight, high-traffic, niche would be important. So go for it!
Things to consider…
The higher the current traffic, the higher the sale price. On the low end, you have good information and no traffic (high intrinsic value, lower price). This would be your fixer upper where you’d need to build readership. In the middle, I like Peter’s advice for a non-monetized site. It seems to be a peacefully nestled between the established mansion and the fixer-upper.
Flipping sure sounds like real estate to me too. As with real estate, it would probably be very lucrative with the right know how. Finding a tight, high-traffic, niche would be important. So go for it!
Things to consider…
The higher the current traffic, the higher the sale price. On the low end, you have good information and no traffic (high intrinsic value, lower price). This would be your fixer upper where you’d need to build readership. In the middle, I like Peter’s advice for a non-monetized site. It seems to be a peacefully nestled between the established mansion and the fixer-upper.
Flipping sure sounds like real estate to me too. As with real estate, it would probably be very lucrative with the right know how. Finding a tight, high-traffic, niche would be important. So go for it!
Things to consider…
The higher the current traffic, the higher the sale price. On the low end, you have good information and no traffic (high intrinsic value, lower price). This would be your fixer upper where you’d need to build readership. In the middle, I like Peter’s advice for a non-monetized site. It seems to be a peacefully nestled between the established mansion and the fixer-upper.
Flipping sure sounds like real estate to me too. As with real estate, it would probably be very lucrative with the right know how. Finding a tight, high-traffic, niche would be important. So go for it!
Things to consider…
The higher the current traffic, the higher the sale price. On the low end, you have good information and no traffic (high intrinsic value, lower price). This would be your fixer upper where you’d need to build readership. In the middle, I like Peter’s advice for a non-monetized site. It seems to be a peacefully nestled between the established mansion and the fixer-upper.
Thanks for the insight, Peter and Jason. It’s valuable. Since I’ve never done this sort of thing (and still might not), it will be a learning and growing experience for me. I should find someone who would let me do this for them without buying the site… Just to try my hand at successfully monetizing it. I’m doing enough experimenting on my own, but it would be an interesting process to try to do it for someone else and see how lucky I can get.
Thanks for the insight, Peter and Jason. It’s valuable. Since I’ve never done this sort of thing (and still might not), it will be a learning and growing experience for me. I should find someone who would let me do this for them without buying the site… Just to try my hand at successfully monetizing it. I’m doing enough experimenting on my own, but it would be an interesting process to try to do it for someone else and see how lucky I can get.
Thanks for the insight, Peter and Jason. It’s valuable. Since I’ve never done this sort of thing (and still might not), it will be a learning and growing experience for me. I should find someone who would let me do this for them without buying the site… Just to try my hand at successfully monetizing it. I’m doing enough experimenting on my own, but it would be an interesting process to try to do it for someone else and see how lucky I can get.
Thanks for the insight, Peter and Jason. It’s valuable. Since I’ve never done this sort of thing (and still might not), it will be a learning and growing experience for me. I should find someone who would let me do this for them without buying the site… Just to try my hand at successfully monetizing it. I’m doing enough experimenting on my own, but it would be an interesting process to try to do it for someone else and see how lucky I can get.
Yea, I’d lend you a site to practice on, not sure I have a suitable one though. Dunno if you saw this post, http://www.stuntdubl.com/2006/02/20/website-val... a few days back, it’s got some interesting points about placing value on websites.
If you do go the buy a site to flip route, I can’t emphasize enough to focus on getting a site with decent traffic (and not fake traffic either!) and don’t pay so much attention to the PageRank, content, and all that other stuff that people play up to increase the sale price.
Yea, I’d lend you a site to practice on, not sure I have a suitable one though. Dunno if you saw this post, http://www.stuntdubl.com/2006/02/20/website-valuation/ a few days back, it’s got some interesting points about placing value on websites.
If you do go the buy a site to flip route, I can’t emphasize enough to focus on getting a site with decent traffic (and not fake traffic either!) and don’t pay so much attention to the PageRank, content, and all that other stuff that people play up to increase the sale price.
Yea, I’d lend you a site to practice on, not sure I have a suitable one though. Dunno if you saw this post, http://www.stuntdubl.com/2006/02/20/website-val... a few days back, it’s got some interesting points about placing value on websites.
If you do go the buy a site to flip route, I can’t emphasize enough to focus on getting a site with decent traffic (and not fake traffic either!) and don’t pay so much attention to the PageRank, content, and all that other stuff that people play up to increase the sale price.
Yea, I’d lend you a site to practice on, not sure I have a suitable one though. Dunno if you saw this post, http://www.stuntdubl.com/2006/02/20/website-val... a few days back, it’s got some interesting points about placing value on websites.
If you do go the buy a site to flip route, I can’t emphasize enough to focus on getting a site with decent traffic (and not fake traffic either!) and don’t pay so much attention to the PageRank, content, and all that other stuff that people play up to increase the sale price.
I’ve recently been keeping my eyes out for websites or domains that I can “flip”. Blogging seems like it could work for you since its your niche.
I don’t think its a bad idea if you have a good model to follow. Just make sure your model is profitable obviously.
I’ve recently been keeping my eyes out for websites or domains that I can “flip”. Blogging seems like it could work for you since its your niche.
I don’t think its a bad idea if you have a good model to follow. Just make sure your model is profitable obviously.
I’ve recently been keeping my eyes out for websites or domains that I can “flip”. Blogging seems like it could work for you since its your niche.
I don’t think its a bad idea if you have a good model to follow. Just make sure your model is profitable obviously.
I’ve recently been keeping my eyes out for websites or domains that I can “flip”. Blogging seems like it could work for you since its your niche.
I don’t think its a bad idea if you have a good model to follow. Just make sure your model is profitable obviously.
Hey Beth! :-)
I’ve been following Darren Rowse and some of the others in this niche pretty closely. Though Darren doesn’t buy to flip, he’s obviously got the “making money from a blog” part down pat.
Hey Beth! :-)
I’ve been following Darren Rowse and some of the others in this niche pretty closely. Though Darren doesn’t buy to flip, he’s obviously got the “making money from a blog” part down pat.
Hey Beth! :-)
I’ve been following Darren Rowse and some of the others in this niche pretty closely. Though Darren doesn’t buy to flip, he’s obviously got the “making money from a blog” part down pat.
Hey Beth! :-)
I’ve been following Darren Rowse and some of the others in this niche pretty closely. Though Darren doesn’t buy to flip, he’s obviously got the “making money from a blog” part down pat.
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