It’s been a while since I’ve done an interview so I’m glad I finally have one to post! This interview was with one of the “original” website flippers. She was flipping websites before website flipping was cool. She has been flipping sites going back to the Sitepoint days!
Her name is Suzanne Bucciarel and no, that picture is not of her. You’ll learn more about that picture in a minute. I learned about Suzanne from the Warrior Forum. Whenever there is a question about buying and selling websites on the forum, you’ll always see Suzanne with a helpful reply. She has a lot of experience with website flipping.
She continues to flip websites today but her focus now is on selling established websites (i.e. websites that have traffic and revenue) and creating high-quality, niche blog packages that she sells on her website that she started over a year ago, NicheBloggingTreasure.com. Here is the interview I had with her just a few days ago…
FW: Suzanne, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. I know you’re busy these days so I appreciate it. Before we get started, I have to know the history behind the photo you use on all your sites and public profiles. I know it’s not a picture of you so what’s the deal…lol?
Suffice it to say that I have an odd sense of humor and love the photo. I do get a lot of comments about it and some people even ask me if it is me. I first used it for the Flip Ace product because of her head gear being typical of the Flying Ace photos, but then used it for forums and Domaining Diva as well.
FW: Well that photo has certainly served you well as people who know you online have come to recognize that photo as being tied to you and your products and websites. What a unique branding strategy. O.K., now let’s get down to business. I know back during the Sitepoint days you were a very active website flipper. Are you as active today on Flippa as you were back then before the change?
I still flip websites on Flippa, but my interest in Flippa is not as great as it was when the site was Sitepoint. When it was Sitepoint, I kept the site open all day and would keep track of new sites being listed that were undervalued … buy them, fix them up and flip them for a profit. Now I concentrate on selling older, established sites, mostly that have revenue, but I don’t list nearly as many sites as I did when it was Sitepoint.
What I’ve found since the change to Flippa is that it’s much harder for me to find sites that I want to buy. When it was Sitepoint, I bought as much as I sold and always made a profit on them. I bought some great sites at great prices and I’m just not finding sites that interest me on Flippa. I don’t have any problems selling a site on Flippa, but not very successful at finding a site that I want to buy.
FW: It’s no secret to those of us that have followed you on the Warrior Forum or your own blog, DomainingDiva.com, that you weren’t exactly thrilled about the change from Sitepoint to Flippa. A lot of people, for that matter, weren’t happy with the change.
Yeah, I was pretty vocal about the changes and as I mentioned, my enthusiasm for the site has diminished a great deal since the change. I have fewer complaints, other than the massive quantities of junk being sold on Flippa. They’ve increased the pricing, but I don’t really see a corresponding increase in value. The sales pages look crappy with the charts they added to the beginning of the sale pages and the charts aren’t really helpful in determining the assets of each site. The place is overrun with “fake” buyers, who for some reason will bid and win a site and disappear completely. It happens far too frequently. I know these things are out of Flippa’s control really, so that’s not necessarily their fault.
Another thing on Flippa that I’m not a fan of is their rating system for buyers and sellers. When it was Sitepoint, the feedback from your transactions was the main criteria for your rating score. Now they’ve changed that from the star system they had to a numerical system based on a combination of things. Two of those rating criteria are simply having a LindedIn and Facebook acct with some age. That is a false rating criteria, in my opinion. What scammer doesn’t have a Facebook and LinkedIn account? Why should you trust someone simply because they do have a Facebook or LinkedIn account? I would rather see trust ratings that are meaningful, and that is largely based on the feedback you’ve gotten from the transactions you’ve completed.
FW: I totally agree with you about the rating system – although Flippa will tell you they do have a system in place where you can leave feedback after a transaction. The problem is, the feedback you leave isn’t reflected in the rating system that most people pay attention to but I digress. As someone that has been buying and selling websites as long as you have, what changes have you seen in this business and the marketplaces themselves (specifically Flippa)?
From what I see on Flippa is a downturn in sales for startups, even though people keep listing them. I’ve seen quite a few startup sellers disappear, and rightly so. Basically, they listed on Sitepoint because it was cheap enough and the sites they sold were mostly garbage. There were many “sellers” who bought $2 PLR sites, changed the name of them and some of the wording on the sales pages and dumped them on Sitepoint for $100 and more. I felt bad for the buyers who got conned in those sales.
I was browsing the sites for sale today and without checking the actual sites out, just noting the stats on the front page, people are still trying to dump those zero traffic and zero revenue sites. They largely outnumber the sites with traffic and revenue. A Flippa guy once described the buyers at Flippa as “savvy” buyers. That hasn’t been the case with my buyers and not the case with other sellers I’ve talked to. The average Flippa buyer is a newbie wanting to get a site that will make some money, but he knows very little about determining the value and buying websites and very little about promoting it when they have it. They read the hype in the headlines, like “$4000 month Potential.” Potential means that it’s not making any money, but many buyers on Flippa fall for headlines like that.
Flippa has made some attempt at educating buyers through it’s blog, but I don’t know how successful they’ve been. I still see a lot of junk being listed and sold.
There has been a lot of sellers that I know that have good reputations that I no longer see on Flippa. Many sellers have started selling more of their sites through their lists rather than on Flippa. I used to recognize many of the sellers, but don’t anymore. There were quite a few sellers that I would buy from based on reputation alone and that’s not the case anymore. When the marketplace changed to Flippa, I too started a list and most of my sales come from my list. I highly recommend anyone who wants to get into web flipping full time to start a list. You can add a link to your list signup page on your Flippa sales pages and if you have a good reputation on Flippa, your list will grow.
I’ve never been about building a site real quick that was junk just to make a fast buck. I’ve always wanted my customers to feel like they got a good deal and are happy with the site. That’s pretty much why I sell the startups from Niche Blogging Treasure now … I’m able to give my customers a good deal and let them do the promotion and get traffic and sales. But I always have some established sites that I continue to build to flip at some point.
FW: Tell me more about your niche blog packages – how many packages do you release every month, what niches do you build blog packages for, what do they cost, etc. etc.
I don’t have a set number that I come out with, but I try to launch at least one new one each month. I choose the niches carefully. A lot of people request that I do blogs on things like colon cleansing and medical niches … I don’t really want to do those type of niches. I like to pick evergreen niches that I feel have quality products available to sell.
I’ve recently reduced the prices of the blogs to $17 each and they all include keyword research and an autoblogged plugin for those who want to give autoblogging a shot. I prefer to put unique content in the blogs I use myself rather than autoblogging, but a year ago autoblogging was a lot more popular than it is now … at least there was a lot of demand on Flippa for autoblogs.
I put a lot of work into the design of the blogs. I was a freelance graphic designer on Elance for many years and design has always been important to me. I use only premium themes for all sites that I sell and customize them myself for different color combinations.
I’ve got a programmer working on a secure ebook delivery program that I’ll be adding as an upsell at a reasonable price to my blogs in the (hopefully) near future.
These blogs are particularly great for newbies who have little technical skills and want to get started on a niche. It gives them a fast start without breaking the bank.
FW: For those of you reading this interview, Suzanne’s blog packages are definitely first class so be sure to check them out. For $17, you can’t go wrong. That’s an insane price for what you get! Let me circle back to website flipping. Is there still money to be made in flipping websites today or is that opportunity long gone?
There’s plenty of money to be made in flipping, but I really think people should think more of flipping established sites with revenue and traffic. Too many think of flipping as a quick buck … throw a blog up on a domain that has zero traffic, zero revenue and doesn’t even look that great and then try to dump it on newbie buyers who don’t know too much about buying sites. This has really turned me off of selling startups on Flippa.
FW: Amen to that! This whole blog is about flipping established websites. I’ve never been a fan of flipping startups – although there was a time when you could make good money doing it. What words of advice would you give someone new to website flipping?
Build a list, build established sites and promote them and get traffic and revenue. Build quality sites … don’t build junk just to make a fast buck. Be customer service oriented. You need to be very knowledgeable about transferring sites so that you can get those sites transferred to customers who don’t know how to do this. Help them with the setup, changing the ads to theirs and at least give them a few tips on promoting and selling.
Those are awesome words of advice and I hope my readers take them to heart! Thanks again, Suzanne, for your time. I wish you the best with your niche blog packages and your entire website flipping business. I’m sure our paths will cross again. Take care!
