I mentioned before the holidays that I would be building several small sites to be “quick-flipped” as an example of how you can earn some extra income as a writer, especially if client work is slow.
I finally finished up the articles for the first of them–a diet and weight loss blog.
Ads are setup, there are 5 live articles, and I tried to choose relevant themes and domain names.
I still want to try to build a few links to the site, and maybe put another 2-3 articles in draft form for the buyer to release when they want. At that point, I’ll finally put the first up for sale to test the quick sale rates – more on that plan, and what I’ll do if it doesn’t bring my minimum rate the first time around, later.
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Krysha Thayer
Brie Wallace
Crystal
Lori
Lucy Smith
Hello Jennifer
Sit flipping is an excellent way to earn some quick cash.
Here are few advice..
1) Never use .info domain. They may be cheap but reduce the selling price of site. Prefer .com domain (.net will be ok too, but .com is the best)
2) Try using some magzine style wordpress theme. they make site look professional, and when you are into flipping ‘start up’ site, looks really matters.
Good Luck
Arpit
Thanks for the tips Arpit. :) I agree with your first point, but only to a certain degree. I’ve flipped several sites over the last few years (this is just the first I’m doing as a live quick flip example in a series for writers here), and haven’t had a big price difference between different domain extensions. BUT, that’s because my site flipping is based on the content rather than primarily the domain, traffic, existing income, etc. In other words, the price is for the content, and the site is just the vehicle by which it’s delivered.
For example, I charge $200 for a 300-500 word article when someone contracts unique content. So I’m able to price a quick flip site higher than someone who might charge $1 per 100 words (like you’ll see a lot on DP, since I know you’re a member there). In other words, I have a selling position others flipping sites might not have – I’m able to charge more for a site based on how much someone will save, attracting people who otherwise couldn’t afford unique content from me. It’s worked well for me in the past (sites with very little in the way of income or traffic bringing in typically $250-450 or so depending mostly on the popularity of the niche).
Because the focus of these flips are to show other writers (rather than webmasters) how they can earn extra money, that’s going to generally be their primary selling point–the value of their content. If they’re new, with no real history or portfolio to back their rates up, they should absolutely consider.com domains, and probably let the sites age a bit more, as they’ll need more well-rounded stats to command a higher price.
I’ve sold one or two using magazine style wordpress themes, but actually went back to typical blog themes a while back, simply because I found it to be too much of a chore to teach the buyer how to use the magazine-style features. Most of the buyers I’ve had have been new webmasters looking for quality startup content and an already-setup site that they can just upload to their server and start posting to. But if I were looking at putting together higher-ticket sites to sell to more experienced owners, I think you have another excellent point. :)