I just sold my first website this year…and doubled my money

9 Comments

Well, I have good news to report. I just sold a website that I bought last year. The website was in a very very competitive yet lucrative industry and based on the success I have had in other industries I decided to try my hand in this one.

I bought the website (I paid 5 figures for it which is the first time I have ever gone that high for a site) and started optimizing it. Really all I did was build links for the site since it was ranking on Google pretty well but just needed a little boost to start doing really well.

Well I got wrapped up working on other websites and never got around to changing anything on the website. The SEO on the site was not bad but conversions could have used some help. So for almost a year all that was happening on the site was link building. Now if you have ever read Prosperly before you know my take on SEO and link building.

The rankings did slowly improve (and I mean slowly) but I was patient. Well apparently that was enough to get someone interested in buying the site because in December I received an email offering to buy the site for more than I paid for it without knowing anything else about it. I countered with a much higher price and eventually we settled on a price that was more than double what I paid for it.

Not bad for a years worth of link building and nothing else. Let this be a witness to you that SEO is the key to building websites people want to buy and that there is money to be made in 2011.

9 thoughts on “I just sold my first website this year…and doubled my money”

  2. Jeff

    I’m feeling super motivated right now!

    Ever since I learned about the “Flipping Websites” philosophy you teach in your guide I’ve truly believed that you’re on to something here (as you’ve proved once again). I got the bug (and glad i did after hearing this) and about 3 months ago I dropped a little chunk of cash on a ” Diamond In The Rough” site like you teach about in your guide and I’m already seeing it move up in rankings.

    Expecting a nice offer on it any day now. lol

    Someday!

  3. Lisa @ Best Laptop Deals

    Great idea thanks for sharing… good thing you just need a
    little effort to stay on the rank or higher…

  4. Clinton

    Well done, Adam! :-)

    Personally, the better the site’s SEO and the higher the proportion of its traffic that’s coming from Google the less I pay for the site. That’s just me. My logic is this: Traffic from a range of diverse sources is more solid and reliable.

    I’ve seen the best SEOed sites sometimes drop right out of the SERPs for no explicable reason. I therefore see high reliance on a search engine as high risk. But not everybody does and if you’re looking to sell a site that’s getting a unusually high percentage of traffic from Google (more than 20%) then it’s worth targeting those buyers who are keen for “free” SE traffic.

  5. The Global Lifestyle

    Thanks for this post Adam,

    I’m just about ready to start flipping sites and news like this always brings a smile. You seem to have a patient approach about making money online and patience is key. It won’t happen overnight but it does hapen and you’re proof.

  6. Alec Difrawi

    I agree that SEO is the best marketing practice when done correctly. Creating relevant links not only look great in the eyes of search engines but it allows users that are interested in similar content to have an easy way to find your website with similar articles.

    I read somewhere that the top 3 SERP are the most important because the first takes about 60% of clicks wile the second receives around 30% and then the rest is distributed.

  7. Jeff Richecky

    Congratulations! The same thing happened to me about 18 months ago. I had a site that was active but wasn’t being properly maintained either. I never even considered selling it to anyone before but when the offer came in I was definitely excited. Just wanted to let you know that I’ve shared the same experience.

    Take care,

    Jeff

  8. Marketing tool review

    Nice post, actually i liked the idea of buying and selling websites ….i was trying to do that long time ago but i changed my mind , as it takes alot of time and work to build just one good site…also you have to do some SEO and put some good content in the site inorder to get a good selling value for it …..although i didn`t do that but i liked the idea , i knew a person who is making agood money selling sites to others

  9. Amira Beightol

    Hi Caleb, I believe the beauty of the internet in terms of free marketing is that you can create a spark, just like lighting a match.

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