I thought I would give you a weekly review of some of the happenings in the world of flipping websites. One of the bigger sites to sell this week was atkinsonlab.net, which sold for $106,000. When I first looked that the domain I thought it was a diet website which would explain the price tag.
But as I looked into the site I realized that what they were selling is a network of websites that they have used to sell link building and SEO services. In other words they have hundreds of websites that they will use to promote your website for a fee.
They claimed to be making almost $25k per month on the site and yet it sold for $100k. Four months of revenue? Really? Let me be the first to tell you that if a deal seems too good to be true than it is too good to be true.
Why would a seller be willing to sell a $25k a month website for $100k? Why not just keep it and in 4 months you have your money? What this business is, is 100% against Google’s terms of service. The seller realizes how risky it is to have a network like this. What’s more is now they have displayed it to the world by putting the site/network of sites up for sale.
How hard will it be for Google to go sign up for their service and see where the links start coming in from? That entire network could be shut down in no time. I assume the buyer doesn’t really realize this. Those kinds of businesses have no staying power.
I hope for the website buyers sake they make it at least 5 months before the carpet is taken out from underneath them.
Lesson To Prosperly Readers
When you are looking at established websites and internet businesses to buy, always look at long term potential. Reality is that you may never be able to sell a website that you own. Just like Warren Buffett says, don’t invest for a quick profit. You have to have a long term money making plan. Selling a website is just a result of having an awesome long term internet business.
7 comments On The weekly review of website flipping
“How hard will it be for Google to go sign up for their service and see where the links start coming in from?”
With the recent demise of BuildmyRank and many other similar services, it seems that it isn’t that unlikely!
With many sites as is the case in business, when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.
Justin
Hey Adam, I’m a new reader. First off, wanted to say that your website is great and you have a beautiful family! But I’ve voraciously read through your free e-mail course, and while it is quite more useful than other courses I’ve read on this topic, I wish you would go to in even more explicit detail about your methods and stuff. I would certainly pay for that knowledge if you decided to make it a product!
The product is in production as we speak. More detail than you would ever want or need. :-)
All right! Looking forward to forking over my hard-earned money to someone who’s actually walked the walk!
I agree with you Shawn. I have already stopped using link network to promote my site. My advice is to build a site without depending too much on Google because once Google decides to take you down your whole business collapses overnight.
The key is to ensure your site is well optimized and then start getting leads from other sources to it. Once you start generating leads from other sources, Google will begin paying attention to your site. Build natural links from authority websites without depending on link networks.
You don’t need thousands of links to get your site rank. Just make sure you have optimized your page properly and then get natural links to it through other forms of lead generation.
If you don’t know how to generate leads you can download my “40 Ways To Get Leads” video training course for free. This will educate you more on how to get leads and do build successful business without relying too much on Google. But guess what, once you start getting leads/traffic from other sources, Google will reward you by ranking your site well. You can get the videos here if you want: nbmuk(dot)com
Hey Adam, my buddy and I recently set up a small business buying websites. When I asked him about selling websites, he told me some sage advice. ‘Don’t have an exit strategy’ He’s big into sun tzu, and that struck me as profound. Therefore, we don’t have plans to sell websites we acquire. That means we are forced to keep the websites we buy up and operational for the duration. How long is the duration? Well… hypothetically indefinatly.
Thanks for your work on this topic. It really does help those of us out who are just starting, and I see you address all levels of ability here.
-Ken
PS – This is one place I would be tempted to part with my hard earned money too.
Ken, that is a risky way to go for sure. I have lost a lot of money holding onto a website someone wanted to buy from me. My advice is when someone gives you a fair offer you take it.
Im glad you like the site.