There is one kind of web property flipping type that people hardly talk about on the Net.
I call the one who do it a flipper-developer – simple, he/she buy an ailing, undervalued, potential websites, ‘renovate’ them, and sell them on a higher price tag. Just like the ol’ real estate guy that buy ugly houses, renovate them, and sell them to market value.
Consider this: nowadays, what happen in the physical world, can happen online. Even there are people that live in the two worlds. For budding online entrepreneur, this area of website flipping is lucrative and different.
I tell you why. Regular website flippers will buy a website and sell it as the opportunity rises – without doing much of a work in developing and improving the website. There are also web property investors that buy a website, work on it, and keep it if possible – they would sell their portfolio if and only if the right buyer at the right price comes.
Those are not the case of flipper-developers – Their job is buying, RENOVATE, and sell it. Notice the capitals – that’s what flipper-developers do best – they do search engine optimisation, search engine marketing, building rep, building back links (increasing the number of sites linking back to their sites), upgrading and redeveloping, and many other activities that can improve the value of a website.
The selling part itself is not that hard – nowadays, people look for quality and proven web properties – not much buy on potential web properties – typically those that have high price tags with little or no income. Buyers want valuable web properties, and they want them NOW – high demand.
How to buy?
Find a marketplace where people buy and sell websites – try sitepoint.com, digitalpoint.com, or webmaster-talk.com.
Research, research, research – you will soon notice that some site owners are desperate to get their sites sold, for many reasons. Probe for reasons, check the validity of their offers (beware, scammers are everywhere), and value their sites right.
This takes a lot of practice. So again, research, research, research.
How to renovate?
Similar to those of real estate developers, you need a team – unless you are an expert Internet guy yourself, you need to outsource the work to others.
You need a web developer, an internet marketer, and a web designer – don’t worry though. You don’t have to hire them – seek freelancers who, in my opinion, are as good as the company guys. Your biggest part of the job is finding one.
Contract them per project basis – so both of you can have an easy exit if something goes wrong.
The aim of renovating is to make your web properties more valuable and more profitable. Don’t neglect any one of them.
How to sell?
Just like the way you buy sites – go to online marketplace, and make the listing there.
You can actually do the selling offline – do a classified ad or the similar to market your site.
Just make sure you deal for an exit route that is comfortable for you and your web property buyer.
What is next?
Well, the best route for entrepreneur is to learn by doing. Better yet, find a mentor to help you during your learning curve. This flipping-developing thing is lucrative, so take action to capitalise on it.
Ivan Widjaya
Flipper-developer
