The site being sold is top 10 ranked for “make money online” and hundreds of other popular keywords. It gets great traffic and earns a solid income each month. You rarely find such a great site like this being sold anywhere.

Anyway, there’s a lot I could tell you about the site but I have already written it all in the listing. So, rather than post it all here again, I will just direct you to it: (Removed link due to auction ending)

There’s not much time left, so hurry!

If you have any questions I will be more than happy to answer them.

Talk to you soon,
Trent Brownrigg

1) Find a niche for the site

There are many different ways to do this but one good way for sites you are going to flip is to go to Clickbank.com and look at what’s selling there. Check out the top 5 or 10 products in each category to get an idea of what’s selling in many different niches. If they have a high gravity then it’s obvious they are selling well, so you could choose one to build a site around.

2) Research the keywords

I just use the Google keyword tool because it’s free, easy to use, and works well enough for me. You can use another tool if you want but there’s really no reason to. It’s totally up to you.

Look for keywords that relate to the niche you chose above in step one. For example, if you chose the weight loss niche because of how well the products are selling on Clickbank, you could use keywords such as:

weight loss tips
healthy weight loss
fast weight loss
quick weight loss
natural weight loss

And so on…

Choose maybe 10 to 20 keyword phrases that you can base your websites articles/posts around. You will also need to write the articles or hire someone to write them for you, so you can post them on the site as soon as you get it built.

3) Register your domain

Now it is time to register your domain name. I recommend Godaddy.com for that simply because most of your potential buyers will have an account there so it makes it much easier to transfer, and free.

You should always try to get a domain name with the main keywords in it. For example, using our sample keywords from above you would want to register something like weightlosstips.com it was available, but it’s not. You can also check .net and .org to get a good domain, but get a .com if you can. Anytime you can get an exact match domain for your keywords you should always do it. Only add extra words when necessary.

4) Build the site

I’m assuming you already have a web host if you are looking into site flipping, but if you don’t then I highly recommend HostGator.

I usually just use the wordpress.org free publishing platform to build the site/blog because they are popular, free, easy to install, have a lot of great plugins, simple to use, have tons of themes to choose from, and so much more. Basically they are perfect to use for building sites to flip. Plus, if you do use hostgator then you can easily install wordpress with just a few clicks of your mouse.

Once you have the site live you need to add the content that you wrote up in step two.

5) Promote the site

There are a few fairly quick and completely free things you can do to promote the site to start getting some traffic to it and maybe even make a little money from it. This is a very good thing to do before you flip it because it looks great to potential buyers and can really increase the value.

The first thing I recommend doing is to submit a few articles to directories. This is a good way to start getting traffic and building backlinks. You should write maybe 5 good quality original articles and submit them to ezinearticles.com as well as a handful of other top article directories. Be sure to put a link or two in the resource box to your site using the appropriate anchor text.

Another thing I recommend doing is social bookmarking the site and the articles you posted. This can be done quickly and easily with a social bookmarking service such as socialmarker.com or onlywire.com and both are free. How much traffic you get from this depends on a number of factors, it could be a lot or very little, but it’s definitely worth taking the time to do.

Finally, you should write at least one more article and submit it to free traffic system. This is another way to get several free backlinks and traffic for very little effort. And it will look good for your auction when you sell the site.

Of course, you can do as much marketing as you want. The more the better. But this should be sufficient to help increase the value for a site flip.

6) Build Web 2.0 support sites

Use Squidoo, Hubpages, Infobarrel, Wikidot, and others to build smaller support sites that link to your site for more backlinks and some extra traffic. This goes along with promoting the site in step five but it takes it a little further and looks even better to potential buyers. Plus, you can include some of these web 2.0 support sites in the sale if you want. Not all of them allow you to transfer to new owners but some do.

You can also create a Twitter account for the site to include in the sale. It’s pretty easy to build up a few hundred followers and it helps increase value for the auction. Every little bit helps to get the maximum amount possible when flipping your website.

7) Site maintenance

This is an optional step. If you plan to flip your website immediately then you can skip it. However, if you plan to continue to build several sites for selling at a later time then this step is important.

Monitor and maintain the site(s) to see if traffic and rankings are increasing, and if it starts to make money. If not, you can do more promoting of the site as outlined in steps five and six as well as using other internet marketing strategies. The more traffic, higher rankings, and earnings you can show the site has the more money it will be worth.

8) Flip it

Selling it on Flippa.com is definitely your best option but you can also sell it on Digitalpoint or eBay if you want. The amount you get for each site will vary greatly based on several factors. It’s impossible for me to tell you right now how much money you will make from each sale. It can be a lot, it can be just a little, or you might not be able to sell some of them at all.

If you really want a rough ballpark estimate, I would say you can probably get around $300 for a site you built from scratch following the steps above. But as I said, it’s hard to tell, and you will certainly get much more or much less for different site flips. Either way, it can be a great way to make money online considering the actual time and effort needed to work this simple site flipping strategy.

It’s very easy to get them. All you need to do is login to your account and click the Redeem Credit Voucher link at the top of the page. Then, there is a code you paste in. That’s it. Your account is instantly credited with $10 that you can use for Flippa transactions.

Since Flippa is the #1 place for buying and selling websites, you really should take advantage of this while you still can. They are only running this deal until 6/28/10 so get there now.

Here is the post on their blog where you can get all the details: Claim Your Flippa $10 Birthday Voucher

Whether you plan to get into blog flipping sometime soon or you are already a site flipping guru, it doesn’t matter either way, a free $10 credit shouldn’t be passed up.

Have a wonderful day and make lots of money!

It’s too easy to get away with fraudulent transactions during the sale of website if you don’t have a 3rd party such as Escrow to help protect both sides. Nothing can guarantee you won’t get scammed out of your money or site but Escrow does greatly reduce the risk. It’s probably not worth using for a small site flip transaction but when you start getting into thousands of dollars it is more than worth it.

A lot of site flippers don’t use them because they don’t know how it all works. I know I was nervous the first time I used them but honestly it’s not difficult at all.

Here is the (very easy) Escrow process so you know what it is ahead of time and you can put your fears to rest…

1) Seller or Buyer initiates the transaction

This basically just gets the ball rolling. You set the terms of the sale and other information about it. Either party can initiate it but as the seller I always like to do it. That way it’s just one more thing I am in control of to help prevent a fraudulent buyer from getting away with anything. I don’t really think it matters either way, but it does make me feel better if I am the one initiating the transaction. If you are flipping websites the choice is yours but I recommend being the one to initiate the Escrow process just in case.

2) Buyer and Seller Agree to Terms

Both parties agree to terms of the transaction set in step one above. This includes a description of the merchandise, sale price, number of days for the Buyers inspection, any shipping information, and so on.

3) Buyer Sends Payment to Escrow.com

The Buyer submits the payment by check, money order, wire transfer, credit card or Paypal. Escrow verifies the payment to ensure its validity and either approves or denies it. If they approve it then you move on to the next step.

4) Seller Transfers Domain and Site to Buyer

Upon payment verification, the seller transfers the domain name to the buyer. Escrow verifies that the domain name is transferred to the buyer then notifies both parties of the next step.

5) Buyer Receives Domain and Site

The buyer has a set number of days for inspecting the website and is given the option to accept it or reject it if they find the seller misleading them or whatever. The number of days for inspection is set in the terms of the transaction when it is initiated. Usually it’s set at around 3-5 days. If the buyer accepts it then you are pretty much done.

6) Escrow Pays Seller

Escrow.com pays the Seller by check, ACH or wire transfer and the transaction is complete.

As you can see, it’s fairly simple and straightforward. Also, I have pasted the exact Escrow history of a recent site flip I did below so you can see exactly how it went and how long it took.

* Apr 30 – 7:40PM PDT
Seller initiates the transaction

* Apr 30 – 7:46PM PDT
Both parties have accepted the offer, awaiting buyer payment.

* May 1 – 5:29AM PDT
Buyer selected option to pay by wire transfer, Escrow.com waiting for payment to arrive.

* May 1 – 9:44AM PDT
Escrow.com approves payment.

* May 1 – 2:13PM PDT
Seller submitted transfer for domain.

* May 2 – 5:12AM PDT
Buyer received merchandise. Inspection period starts.

* May 2 – 5:12AM PDT
Buyer accepts merchandise, transaction complete.

* May 4 – 8:33AM PDT
Funds disbursed. Final closing statements sent to both parties.

That’s it. The process took five days from start to finish and there were no problems. This was for a very well-established and highly profitable website so using this service definitely helped me sleep at night, even though I was still nervous until the money was safely in my bank account.

Using the Escrow service isn’t free because they do take a percentage of the sale but it can be more than worth it to save you from losing a lot more money, or a site you worked very hard on, to a scam artist. As I said above, if you’re only dealing with a fairly small site flipping transaction that you wouldn’t necessarily be crushed over if you got scammed then it might not be worth the time or the fee of using Escrow. But when you start getting into the thousands of dollars range, you really should use them!

There’s no doubt that search engine rankings, great content, domain age, existing traffic, etc… Are all great and will help increase the value of your site. However, most potential buyers are really going to look at the monthly earnings and how much effort is needed to achieve that income each month. Passive residual income is definitely the best.

Therefore, if you want to dramatically increase the value of your blog/site before you put it up for sale then you need to get it bringing in some money. So, how do you do that? It’s really not as difficult as you might think.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to make money from your blog or even a static website is to sell advertising on it. Even if it doesn’t have the best stats as far as traffic and rankings are concerned, you can still usually find people willing to at least pay something in order to get a link or banner on your site. Even a little advertising revenue can go a long way for increasing the value of your website before you flip it.

You can typically find advertisers simply by contacting other website owners in your niche to let them know you have opened your site up to advertising. There are also plenty of forums with sections on them where you can post to let people know you have advertising spots open. And there are several popular websites that exist for the sole purpose of connecting people looking for advertisers with people who are looking to advertise.

Basically it all boils down to getting the word out there by any means available to let as many people as you can know that they can advertise on your site. Keep the prices low enough to attract people but not so low that you aren’t really increasing the value of your site. Every little bit that you can increase the monthly earnings will make the site much more valuable in the eyes of potential buyers.

That’s pretty much all there is to it. Increase the monthly earnings of your website by getting a few advertisers and you will certainly increase the value of it. And blog flipping is all about getting the maximum amount of money possible from your sale.