Eric Porat’s Expert Tips for Website Flipping: Part 5

How to get started making money from digital investments, the easy way.

Here at EricPorat.com, our goal is to share Eric Porat’s Expert tips from nearly two decades of successful digital investment. The mistakes he’s made, the successes he’s achieved, and most importantly, what he’s learned from all of it along the way.

As you may know, Eric Porat went from starting a website from scratch in 2005 to selling it three years later with over 70,000 monthly visitors. Since then, he’s bought and sold over 70 websites for over half a million dollars.

Long story short, there’s something we can learn from Eric Porat, especially when it comes to digital investment. Here is Part 5, the final part of his guide to website flipping, Expert Tips for Website Flipping.

In our last edition, Part 4, we covered the SKILLS you need to invest in websites and some good places to SELL and BUY websites, as well as a bit about the MENTALITY needed. 

We left off just as we were about to start talking in-depth about the skills you need to buy and sell websites, and more importantly the key process of the most important step in website investment…

 

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE

The obvious reason why you’ve bought a site and think you can get more from a sale of it after a period of improvement is that something is wrong with the site. Maybe several things are wrong with the site. The concept might be good, but everything else might be awful. 

So let’s talk about how to improve it.

 

Eric Porat’s Expert for website flipping

 

  1. Clean Up Your Website

Certain elements on your website will harm your site’s traffic and monetization potential. These things include, long, boring content, complex animations, stock photos, and more.

With the average Internet browser possessing an 8-second attention span, first impressions are CRITICAL. 90% of viewers will decide whether to click away or stay on your site in the first 30 seconds.

So, use short, powerful sections of content and relevant photographs/icons that are sectioned off and separated by clear and concise headers. Also, make sure your copy doesn’t use jargon or ambiguous terminology (unless you’re targeting a relevant niche). If not, it only serves to confuse your users.

 

  1. Social Share and Follow Buttons

Producing great content doesn’t mean much if you aren’t allowing your readers to share that content with the world. If your website lacks social share buttons, you’re missing out on a lot of social media traffic generated from people who are already reading your blog.

Essentially, social sharing buttons are small buttons usually positioned around the top or bottom of blog posts. These buttons have icons featuring various social media websites, and they allow you to share the post (or other content) with the social media channel of your choice. This way, readers who like your content can share with other readers in their social circles (likely within the same target demographic), and your following will grow exponentially. 

 

  1. Calls To Action (CTAs)

Once visitors come to your site, do they know what to do or where to go? Call-to-action buttons are buttons and links that indicate where a user should go on a page. Most people know that, but if you don’t use them properly, you can fail to guide your visitors through your website, and all your hard-earned optimization is for naught. 

Be careful. It’s easy to post a ton of “bottom-of-the-funnel” (BOFU) call-to-action links without properly nurturing your visitors with more nuanced and targeted CTAs that are more top/middle of the funnel. This is a huge mistake that will waste your site’s potential.

It’s pretty easy to realize if you’re doing this or not.  Just read through the pages on your website. Are you finding most pages, even blog articles, with only a call-to-action for a demo/trial/consultation? If so, you need to update them immediately.

Take this time to add-in in call-to-actions that give people materials to educate themselves and help solve their problems. Once they identify your company as one provides this sort of material, they will feel more comfortable researching your services to see if you can personally make these solutions a reality.

 

  1. Use the Right Images

Not all images are created equal, and not every image is going to fit with the type of message you’re trying to show your audience. There are tons of free photos out there, but you run into a second hazard when you stuff your website with extremely stocky photos. 

Most stock images are… well…. stock images. By that we mean, you can tell at first glance that they’re stock, and if that’s the case then they’re bad news. You want images that are genuine and will evoke trust in your site. Ideally, you want to use photos that portray images of the real people that work for you or real customers using your products, or at least just real people in general and not stock photo actors. 

Not all stock photos are obviously stock images though. There are techniques you can use to help pick out the right type of stock photo if real photos aren’t available. This brings more realism to your brand and makes sure the images match who you are and what your content is all about. There’s info around the internet about this, and we’ll do an in-depth guide on that soon, but for now let’s move along.

 

  1. Navigation 

When designing your website, navigation is key. Your navigation technique is basically how you craft the map that shows where users can visit. There’s nothing worse than a site that has a disorganized or confusing interface. When it comes to navigation, landing pages are the cornerstone.

If your visitor lands on your homepage and can’t figure where to go or what to do, then most likely they’ll click away. It’s that simple. When improving your website’s navigation, it’s important to ensure that your visitors can easily find what they’re looking for. 

 

A lean navigation bar is critical to this. You want:

  • streamlined content
  • navigation hierarchy
  • responsive design

 

If users can’t find what they’re looking for when they land, they have no reason to stay on your site. Instead, they will definitely leave and find a competitor that offers a better UX (user experience). So make sure your site is optimized for visitors. 

A great thing to do is to test it out on friends and family. Ask them to visit your site and see if they can navigate easily! If not, ask them what they’d do to improve it. A second hand opinion always helps!

 

  1. Mobile Optimization

Don’t forget about optimizing your site for mobile. 80% of internet users own a smartphone, and Google says 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing. Meanwhile, 40% will visit a competitor’s site instead. Just because a site looks good on desktop doesn’t mean it looks good on mobile! It often doesn’t by default, you have to make modifications and optimize it specifically for mobile.

It’s a necessity to tailor your site to fit the needs and wants of your visitors. You might want to ask yourself, why would someone access my site on mobile? What things would they look for? Does my experience currently allow them to do those things easily?

 

  1. Unleash the Scroll

Static website landing pages are tired and boring. Instead, try using a seamless, infinity scroll-style site, where visitors can scroll down to access different sections. Including 3-5 sections that help direct new and recurring users to proper areas of your site will make visiting your site a seamless experience.

But what should these sections be?

Here are some of the crucial elements:

  • Value proposition
  • Intro Video
  • Overview of Services
  • Product Catalog
  • Testimonials
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Contact Us

 

And that’s all for now folks! 

Stay tuned for more website optimization tips in more articles from the Eric Porat’s Expert team here at EricPorat.com.

 

We hope you enjoyed Eric Porat’s Expert Tips for Website Flipping. 

At EricPorat.com our goal is to continue producing more content to help you make the most out of your digital investments, so stay tuned for more!

 

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Eric Porat’s Expert Tips for Website Flipping: Part 4

Here at EricPorat.com, our goal is to share Eric Porat’s experiences and tips from nearly two decades of successful digital investment. The mistakes he’s made, the successes he’s achieved, and most importantly, what he’s learned from all of it along the way.

 

As you may know, Eric Porat went from starting a website from scratch in 2005 to selling it three years later with over 70,000 monthly visitors. Since then, he’s bought and sold over 70 websites for over half a million dollars.

 

Long story short, there’s something we can learn from Eric Porat’s experiences, especially when it comes to digital investment. Here is Part 4 of his guide to website flipping, Expert Tips for Website Flipping.

 

In our last edition, Part 3, we left off just as we were about to start talking in-depth about the skills you need to buy and sell websites, and more importantly the key process of the most important step in website investment.

 

IMPROVING YOUR WEBSITE!

 

Eric Porat’s experiencesBefore we talk about IMPROVING YOUR WEBSITE once you buy it, let’s dive right in and begin to talk about the skills and resources you need to buy and sell websites and make a reasonable profit. 

If you aren’t set up with these skills, there’s no point getting started!

Keep in mind, if you’re doing everything yourself, these skills are critical. As an investor though, you can always outsource the management part to a team or agency of professionals, if you have the financial means to do so. That requires some level of research though because there are tons of poorly-run teams waiting to take your hard-earned cash.

It’s best if you can do all the work yourself, or at least have the knowledge to oversee it and make sure things are all adding up properly!

 

THE SKILLS YOU NEED

 

Lead Generation 

 

Attracting customers to your site and getting them through the sales funnel (if that’s your site’s goal) is entirely separate from SEO (which we’ll talk about next). It requires a mix of organic and paid marketing methods. Lead generation is all about creating leads to maximize the chances of securing a person as a customer going forward. The aim of lead generation is to stoke the fire, to draw the viewers in, step by step by step by step. Like we mentioned, it’s something that occurs as a mixture of organic and paid marketing, a hybrid of the two techniques is required. This is a more site-specific skill, so it may not be necessary for you.

.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

 

You need SEO to drive organic traffic from Google and other search engines. SEO means ranking highly on Google, typically for various keywords relevant to your niche. For example, if you’re running a site that focuses on tech and gadgets and makes income via affiliate sales, keyphrases you might want to target could be “new cellphone tech” or “best home gadgets,” for example. If you were writing a post about a specific product, say a wireless phone charger, maybe “wireless charger” would be a great keyword. 

 

The two things to remember with SEO keyword research is you want a low KD (keyword difficulty) and a high search volume (the number of people searching for that keyword per month). KD, meanwhile, refers to how difficult it is to rank for a given keyword. So you want keywords that don’t have a ton of competition but that do have a ton of people searching for them. We’ll go more in-depth into SEO in Part 5.

 

Long story short, focus on SEO. Without SEO, it’s basically impossible to establish a profitable online business that earns passive income and has reliable and diverse traffic.

 

Content Marketing

 

Establishing oneself as an expert in the industry is critical to growing an online business, and part of that is publishing content that’s relevant, professional, and organic. This ties into SEO as well, but content marketing is its own arm in and of itself. 

 

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

 

Turning your visitors into customers, which then gets you more clicks on your affiliate links or more purchases of your product, is the key to improving your site’s profitability, at least if your model is based around sales or affiliate marketing. So it’s imperative that you can do this and do it well.

 

WHATS NEXT?

 

This isn’t really all you need to know to run a website, obviously, but it’s a start. And remember, website investment is a long-term investment that pays off big time, overtime. So don’t be afraid to learn as you go, both on your own and from others. Once you own the site and start building it, it’s like making a pyramid, brick by brick by brick. It becomes sturdier and sturdier.

 

Passive income increases and flows diversify, traffic increases, and diversifies, and everything becomes more and more stable. You’ll get there. 

 

Eric Porat’s experiences and story have a lot more to teach us. Before we get into the key stages of IMPROVEMENT, let’s talk about…

 

The Mentality

 

Website investment features fast returns, at least compared to traditional real estate investment, but it’s not an easy game. You have to work long and hard on development, and as we discussed above, there are myriad skills you need to be proficient in. 

 

None of that matters though… if you don’t have the guts to see it through. Website investment requires you to not just be technically savvy, but mentally savvy. 

 

“Until you can manage your mind, do not expect to manage money.” 

 

Warren Buffet said that, and Eric Porat agrees. To not only run successful websites but improve them, you need to be able to manage myriad avenues of profit and work. You need to run SEO, you need to run blogging, you need to run CRO, and so on. You have to be someone who is a leader and a risk-taker, but you also have to be logical and have the discipline to do the legwork to find the right site, grow your site, and hold out for a good sale.

 

For our fifth and final part of this guide PART 5, GO HERE. We’ll talk about exactly how to improve a website, so you can sell for maximum profit! 

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Eric Porat’s Expert Tips for Website Flipping: Part 3

Here at EricPorat.com, our goal is to share Eric Porat’s experiences and tips from nearly two decades of successful digital investment. The mistakes he’s made, the successes he’s achieved, and most importantly, what he’s learned from all of it along the way.

As you may know, Eric Porat went from starting a website from scratch in 2005 to selling it three years later with over 70,000 monthly visitors. Since then, he’s bought and sold over 70 websites for over half a million dollars.

Long story short, there’s something we can learn from Eric Porat, especially when it comes to digital investment. Here is Part 3 of the EricPorat.com guide to website flipping, Expert Tips for Website Flipping.

In our last edition, Part 2, we left off just as we were about to start talking in-depth about where you can sell your website, more importantly…

 

WHY you should invest in a website and WHAT SKILLS YOU NEED to do it successfully, all told by the experts here at EricPorat.com.


So, let’s dive right in. Where can you sell your website?

Obviously, you aren’t going to be heading down to the local farmers market or listing it on Craigslist. You need to use the right platform to buy and sell your website. EricPorat.com, unfortunately, while providing you with great tips to buy and sell, isn’t going to be able to give you a platform to sell your website, either.

 

Here are the places you can buy and sell websites!

 

BROKERAGE FIRMS

Brokerage firms are a great way to connect website buyers and sellers. Whether you want to buy a site or sell one, brokerage firms are there every step of the way, from finding the right site to purchase to closing the deal to finalizing the legal paperwork and fees.

 

CLOSED GROUPS AND MARKETPLACES

There are tons of private groups and communities of investors (think “clubs”) who buy and sell online websites and businesses. The tricky thing here is that these listings are mostly exclusive and not available to outsiders. So, closed groups and marketplaces are best if you’re a more serious professional investor looking for a long-term investment opportunity, or if you want the community/support that comes with a closed group. 

 

PUBLIC MARKETPLACE SITES

These are website listing platforms that are publicly available, like Craigslist but for websites. This is the alternative to closed groups or private marketplaces, where buyers and sellers interact and trade websites. The main downside here is that you don’t have the benefit of any barriers to entry. When you use a closed marketplace, you can vet the buyers and sellers you encounter based on the barriers to entry to the group. People trust each other more. No one wants to get booted off the marketplace for bad business practices, and word gets around, so the participants are more reliable. 

 

The advantage of marketplace platforms is the sheer volume of traffic they attract. They’re a good option for beginners with small budgets, and you can find tons of sites on them. However, buyers and sellers should be more cautious here, since more professional website investors are likely to be found in the private groups. Flippa is one of the most commonly used public marketplaces for website buying and selling. 

 

DIRECT CONTACT

This is the least popular method, for a variety of reasons. 

You’re basically just reaching out directly to a site owner with an offer (or waiting for someone to contact you, if you’re the seller). This can work when you have a really popular site (if you’re trying to sell) or if you’re trying to buy or sell with someone you already know. 

Otherwise, this option is pretty risky, since you really have no way to vet the site owner or the investor. Eric Porat would advise you to steer clear of direct contact as a beginner investor.

 

ericporat.com

 

So, you’re probably wondering

 

The EricPorat.com BIG QUESTION. Why should I invest in a website? 

It’s the million-dollar question. And we mean that literally. It can, quite honestly, make you a million dollars, or more, if you follow Eric Porat’s advice. EricPorat.com is all about that process. If you’ve already gotten to Part 3, you’re probably already stoked about website investing, but if not, we’ll go more in-depth here.

 

The MARKET is Booming 

Global internet penetration is supposed to reach 54% in 2021, and it’s only growing! That means hundreds of thousands of new people are getting access to the internet every day, non-stop. All these people are looking for new content, new information, new products, new resources. There are literally millions of opportunities to create the next new site, whether an affiliate sales site or an info site like EricPorat.com.

 

The INVESTMENT is Low 

At least compared to real estate, which is probably the only thing you can compare to website investing, website investment has a really low barrier to entry. 

Like we mentioned in our first guide, you only need around $10,000 to invest in a great starter website, and up to $50,000 can net you a really well-established site.

 

The RETURNS Can Be Great in a Short Time

If you buy a well-established, viable site and put decent effort into improving it… well, you can sell it in a year for as much as 3x the price you bought it for! 

There’s not really anywhere else you can find that kind of fast, large return in investment. 

 

The SELL is Easy

Profitable websites with lots of reliable, diversified traffic and monetization methods in play are easy to sell. They are a hot commodity. Seriously. If you’re done a good job preparing your site for the sale, chances are you’ll be able to sell it within a week or two.

 

There are tons of ways to MAKE MONEY

Even while you’re improving your site and optimizing all the functions, there are literally dozens of different monetization methods you can use to get extra side income. Sometimes investors don’t even end up selling their site since they make so much cash on the side! What’s more, as you make more money and add different income streams to your site (social media, blogging, affiliate marketing, ads, etc) your site becomes more and more valuable!

 

Read Part 4 HERE to understand the SKILLS YOU NEED TO INVEST IN WEBSITES and the key process of the most important step in website investment…

IMPROVING YOUR WEBSITE. 

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Eric Porat’s Expert Tips for Website Flipping: Part 2

How to get started making money from digital investments, the easy way.

Here at EricPorat.com, our goal is to share experiences and tips from Eric Porat’s two decades of successful digital investment. The mistakes he’s made, the successes he’s achieved, and most importantly, what he’s learned from all of it along the way.

As you may know, Eric Porat went from starting a website from scratch in 2005 to selling it three years later with over 70,000 monthly visitors. Since then, he’s bought and sold over 70 websites for over half a million dollars.

Long story short, there’s something we can learn from Eric Porat, especially when it comes to digital investment. Here is Part 2 of his guide to website flipping, Expert Tips for Website Flipping.

In our last edition, Part 1, we left off just as we were about to start talking in-depth about the three primary stages of website flipping. 

 

Once again, those stages are:

  • Identify and Purchase
  • Improve
  • Sell

 

So now that we’re caught up, let’s dive right in! 

(For those of you who haven’t read Part 1, click HERE to go there now).

 

Eric Porat’s Tips: IDENTIFY AND PURCHASE

 

The most important stage is finding the right investment. The right website. If you don’t do that… well, you’re probably screwed from the get-go.

But how do you know a site is ripe for investment? 

 

Here are some key indicators:

Firstly, we want to invest in sites that are in industries or sectors which are both GROWING and EVERGREEN. Places where customers actively purchase products, news actively occurs, etc. If a given site is only targeting a temporary trend (i.e. a site revolving around fidget spinners) or seasonal items (Christmas decorations, Halloween costumes, etc.) it’s probably not very viable for growth. 

 

Eric Porat’s other main suggestion is that we want to invest in sites with a relatively aged domain. These sites rank faster and higher for given keywords in Google’s search algorithm, so they’re much easier to scale. A good starting point is to only invest in sites that have been online for more than a year, at a minimum. Older is always better!

Next, Eric Porat’s tips are that we want to make sure our potential investment has been generating consistent revenue (or at least traffic, if it isn’t properly monetized) for the last 6 to 10 months

 

We also only want to invest in sites that have a clean and authentic SEO profile, in other words, sites that have strictly used whitehat search engine optimization techniques. If the site under this domain has violated Google’s search guidelines, you’ll likely be penalized and find it difficult to rank highly in the future.

Of course, the site needs to already have consistent traffic from search engines and other reliable sources. It doesn’t have to be a ton of traffic (that’s what you want to improve) but it has to be consistent, organic, and reliable. A growing email subscriber base and/or a dedicated following on social media are also great signs, although these can also avenues things you implement yourself.

 

Most importantly, we need to make sure that there’s an opportunity to diversify and grow the site’s monthly traffic and revenue sources. If a site gets most of its income via passive sources and doesn’t require a ton of overhead and maintenance, that’s always a plus, too.

Naturally, this stuff is complex, and these conditions aren’t hard and fast rules. Think of them, instead, as guidelines. 

In general…

 

If you find a site that meets all these conditions AND you can identify any problems with its growth and how to fix them, then that website is a good investment.

 

Eric Porat’s Tips: IMPROVE 

 

Eric Porat’s Tips: IMPROVE 

Here we are. Step 2. This is where the legwork comes in. Here we want to improve our site from all angles so that we can make a major profit off a sale. 

 

The ways in which each individual website needs improvement vary, but some of the main ways we can improve a website are:

  • Design
  • Branding
  • Technical Performance (mobile compatibility, UX – user experience, load speed, etc.)
  • Profit Margins [see ways to improve profit margins below] 
    • Reduce expenses and streamline site function
    • Add new revenue channels to diversify the income portfolio
    • Increase passive income sources.
    • Optimizing the conversion rate of the existing revenue channels
    • Optimizing the existing traffic channels
  • Traffic
  • Building and growing website assets (email subscribers, social media pages, etc).

 

Then we want to do a little thing called SAO… and no, it’s not Sword Art Online, for you anime fans.

SAO stands for Streamlining, Automating, Outsourcing. You want to streamline, automate, and outsource as many of your website’s operations as possible to make it more viable for sale.

 

So there you have it. The ABCs for website improvement, in the same manner Eric Porat’s made his success. This stage can be as short as a year (sometimes even shorter) or it can be several years. It depends on:

  1. How much work you are willing to put into the site
  2. How bad of shape the site was in when you found it
  3. What viable sale price you’re trying to achieve

 

Sure, you’ll have to pay for operations and such during this time, but since you’re also improving monthly income, in many cases by the time you’re ready to sell, you’ve already completely paid off the buy-in. What’s more, the monthly revenue is probably completely covering site maintenance and operations at this point!

Typically, once you’re at this level (the site is generating consistent monthly revenue above operating costs, traffic is diversified and consistent, and monetization options are varied)… 

It’s time to sell your site!

 

Eric Porat’s Tips: SELL

This is the final stage, and also the completion of the cycle because you’re now on the other side of the table. Your job is to find another investor who is looking to purchase a website (just like you were in Stage 1!)

 

The big question is… How much can you sell your website for?

 

There’s no fixed rate, of course. Eric Porat’s sites have sold for tons of different fees. A good general formula is to multiply your site’s monthly income by an integer between 20 and 50. This integer can increase based on various attributes (income diversification, optimization, traffic, etc.).

So if your site makes $2,000 per month through affiliate sales you could sell it from anywhere between $40,000 and $100,000, depending on how large the traffic is, how many different digital assets the site houses, and so on.

 

If your site has been around for longer than three years, it has the potential to sell for much, much higher, so be sure to wait until the fruit is ripe, in other words, before you pluck it.

When you’re getting ready for a sale, you want to prepare a few months in advance. Work hard to maximize profits and traffic before listing the site for sale with a brokerage or private/public marketplace. 

 

When you post your site for sale, make sure to create a detailed listing highlighting the strengths and opportunities which can benefit any potential investors. 

Then it all comes down to negotiation. Know your site’s worth, and don’t rush to sell if you think you can get more for it. You’ve likely put a TON of work into this website, so you deserve a fair payout. 

Once the deal is made, do the legal paperwork and receive payment, then hand over the site. That’s that!  

Once the sale is made, both parties do the necessary legal documentation and paperwork.

 

Standard practice in the industry is to offer a month of assistance to any new website owner so they can familiarize themselves with the site and how it runs. Be a good and fair seller, because word gets around. You want to buy and sell more sites, so you don’t want your reputation to get ruined. 

And… that’s that! You’ve sold a website!

 

But that’s not all the information you really need to know to buy and sell websites. Eric Porat’s story and experiences have a lot more to teach us.

Read Part 3 HERE to get an in-depth look at where you can sell your website and more importantly, WHY you should invest in a website. 

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Eric Porat’s Expert Tips for Website Flipping: Part 1

How to get started making money from digital investments, the easy way.

Here at EricPorat.com, our goal is to share Eric Porat’s experiences and tips from nearly two decades of successful digital investment. The mistakes he’s made, the successes he’s achieved, and most importantly, what he’s learned from all of it along the way.

As you may know, Eric Porat went from starting a website from scratch in 2005 to selling it three years later with over 70,000 monthly visitors. Since then, he’s bought and sold over 70 websites for over half a million dollars.

Long story short, there’s something we can learn from Eric Porat, especially when it comes to digital investment. Here is Part 1 of his guide to website flipping, Expert Tips for Website Flipping.

Since this is Part 1 of our Five-Part Series, we’re going to start with the basics. 

So, who should invest in a website? Should you?

 

Eric Porat - Website FlippingWebsite flipping isn’t for everyone. It’s one of the most lucrative ways to make money in the modern era, but it certainly isn’t easy.

It helps to think of buying and selling websites like we think about buying and selling real estate. Basically, instead of buying a piece of land, you’re buying a website. Then you’re farming the website or developing it, bringing forth its full potential. 

A website could be not utilizing its full potential simply because someone hasn’t tended the crops properly or built the right infrastructure on the land. (i.e. SEO, branding, design, content, etc). But it could also simply be because the land is inherently fallow or poorly located (i.e. the concept of the site itself is erroneous). So it’s important to realize that not all websites are viable investment opportunities. 

In fact, most aren’t.

That said, website investment, unlike real estate investment, has no real cap. The Internet is limitless. Even in terms of sheer users, we’re far from saturated. A recent study announced that only slightly over 50% of the planet has reliable Internet access. 

There are nearly 4 billion people out there just waiting to get online!

 

But like we said, website investment is not for everyone.  If you want to get into website investment, make sure you CAN do these things:

  • You CAN invest at least $10K as an initial investment.
  • You CAN hold onto a site for at least a year.
  • You HAVE skills or resources to run and grow a site. (Or if not you have the means to hire professional help).

 

There are investment funds operating in the website investment niche. Where a third-party team works on growing a portfolio of sites and reselling for profit (thus creating a return for any investors), but that’s not really the best route for website investment, for a lot of reasons.

The best way to go about this is, as you probably already know, buying and selling a website directly! Either manage it yourself or build a team that can manage it for you. The web is much more user-friendly than it used to be, and even non-technical people have plenty of resources to learn the skills needed to manage a website on their own or hire help to do it.

First of all, we need to start with the basics.

 

What Are Digital Assets?

 

Eric Porat - Digital Assets

In short, a digital asset is exactly what it says it is. It’s a digital holding with financial worth. Everything from domains, mobile apps, and digital products are digital assets, but the most popular form of digital assets are online platforms with regular traffic that can be monetized.

By this we mean, Facebook groups, YouTube channels, Instagram profiles, and… WEBSITES.

Websites are the most popular form of digital assets, and the most lucrative by far, for a number of reasons, but primarily this is because websites are a hub. You can run and produce myriad side assets off a successful website.

If you have the traffic to your site, you can create social media profiles, YouTube channels, sponsored digital products, and more. You can run affiliate links, sponsored content, start a podcast with advertisers and sponsors, the list goes on.

You get the idea.

A successful website can be a jumping-off point for literally dozens of different digital assets, which is why websites are worth so much money and why website flipping can make you so much money.

The business of website flipping consists of…

3 STAGES

 

  • Identify and Purchase

Here you find sites that are making a bit of money and have a bit of traffic but can be made much more profitable with a few improvements, and then buy them.

  • Improve

You improve the site’s content, branding, SEO, design, and any other factors that can lead to higher traffic and thus higher monetization potential.

  • Sell

Once the site has gone as far as you think it can under your wings (or at least as far as you’re prepared to take it), you sell it off to another investor for a much higher price tag than what you bought it for. Instead, you can also keep it for passive income.

This entire cycle takes at least a year in most cases, but typically can be done in under two years, if the site is viable and you have the technical and market savvy to properly upgrade and flip it.

You might be wondering…

 

Why do I need to buy a website when I can start one of my own for free?

 

The answer is in Eric Porat story. Remember that first site he started in 2005? That was in a much less competitive era, where website optimization was 1000x easier than it is today, and the Internet was still sparsely populated. 

It still took him three years of constant effort to grow it to 70,000 followers! 


And he got lucky even managing to do that. Plus, starting a site yourself and growing it to that level requires a fair bit of technical know-how.

While it may seem cheaper in the short run, it actually will very likely end up being more expensive, due to all the overhead and the team you’ll need to create to grow the site.

The faster and more effective route is to simply invest in a site that’s already performing well and only needs to be improved a bit!

In our next entry, Part 2 of Eric Porat Expert Tips for Website Flipping. We’ll go into detail and cover the three steps of the website flipping more extensively.

 

Click HERE for Part 2!

 

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