If you’ve been flipping startup websites in the past few months, you’ve probably realized that they just don’t sell like they used to. The days of cranking out startups and getting $200-$300 consistently for each flip are long gone. Buyers are demanding more value. They want traffic or revenue and ideally a combination of both. It hasn’t always been like that, however. Just six months ago you couldn’t crank out startup websites fast enough.
One of the guys who hopped on the startup flipping bandwagon in its prime was Danny Batelic of Melbourne, Australia. He did very well for himself during that time period having cranked out more than 100 websites. He had the whole process down to a science. He could get a site up and listed within just 3 hours! It takes me that long just to come up with a domain name…lol.
Danny was kind enough to agree to an interview the other day. Danny talks about his days selling startup websites and what he’s doing now in the website flipping industry. He provides some terrific insight in this interview so grab your favorite beverage, take some notes, and enjoy:)
FW: Dan, thanks again for the interview. I appreciate it. You were just an Internet newbie a year ago, correct? How did you ever get into it in the first place and where did you learn the practice of website flipping?
Yes, I was a total newbie to Internet marketing when I started and I thought there was some big secret to all of this. I actually fell into internet marketing as a by-product of my search for ways to market a band I was in at the time. I was about to give up on it all when I chanced upon Ed Dale and his 30 Day Challenge program. It was free and I was told I could make my first online dollar in 30 days, and I did!
Towards the end of the course, almost as an afterthought, Ed mentioned that if you no longer wanted the blog you made as part of the challenge you could sell it on this new auction site, Flippa.com. I sold my site on Flippa the next day and here I am over 100 sites later talking to you.
FW: Do you have a “regular” job or are you flipping websites full-time now?
I do have a regular and an irregular job. I’m still a musician and I also work days for a company here in Melbourne. As tempting as it has been to pack it all in and sell websites full time, it’s a pressure that I really don’t want at this point in time. You see, the minute you place yourself under the pressure of “this has to work, or I’m screwed” things change and usually for the worse. I really recommend people keep their day jobs for as long as possible. Keep working right up to the point where the job gets in the way of your online business. That’s the time you should start thinking about quitting the job.
Selling websites is still in its infancy and even the 8 months I’ve been involved in it, things have changed dramatically. If you treat it as a part time business, grow it slowly and take away the pressure of having to feed yourself with it, you’ll just make better decisions and in turn see better results.
FW: Wow. That’s some really good advice. Tell me about your very first flip.
My very first flipp was the drumming website I made as part of the 30DC learning process. It was a drumming blog built with WordPress Direct, a must for setting up new sites. I had populated it with good original content and it was in the number one spot for a couple of keywords. When I heard about this place called Flippa, I thought I’d see what would could happen. It was exciting and I’m sure like most people, the thought that you could actually sell a website that you made out of nothing was very exciting. I placed my listing one morning and when I returned from lunch that day it had sold. I think it was $150 and it sold within the hour.
FW: I’ll bet that was exciting. I remember the thrill of my first sale. It is a rush. So tell me, Danny, what’s the biggest mistake you’ve made selling websites?
The biggest mistake I have made selling sites was when I once listed a site with a misspelled domain! That was embarrassing. You know what, I sold it to someone who really wanted the content for his own blog, so it worked out ok in the end.
FW: Things always seem to work out in the end, don’t they? Aside from that “mistake” what are the most important lessons you’ve learned flipping websites?
The most important lesson I’ve learned was to be transparent with everything. Have proof of every claim you make about your site or don’t make it. If you claim to have x amount of unique visitors or income generated, show the proof. Back up every claim with documented proof or it didn’t happen. Another great lesson, and this saved me hours when I figured it out, is to be very clear in your sales letter as to what you will and won’t do as part of the sale. Let buyers know exactly what is included and conversely, not part of the sale. I found the more I answered any potential questions in my sales letter, the less time I spent answering questions posted during the auction.
FW: Up until this point you have primarily sold startup sites but now you’re switching gears and buying aged domains. Tell me a little more about this.
I’ve really moved away from startups. Earlier this year the whole market flattened out and startup site prices dropped to next to nothing. When I started, I couldn’t make enough startup sites. They would sell as fast as I could make them, both on Flippa and from people buying direct from me via my email list. That now famous $297 price was the sweet spot and it was a regular production line. It really was an arbitrage opportunity and I made the most of it, knowing it would end at anytime, and it did. The market has evolved. Buyers can now buy sites with traffic and even an income for the same price.
FW: I understand that you bought an aged domain and sold it for $3,000. That’s insane! If you can’t reveal the domain, can you reveal the niche and what sorts of things you did to make that kind of money on it?
Earlier this year I met Kenny Goodman at a seminar and he opened my eyes to buying aged and dynamite domains and the next phase of selling websites revealed itself to me. I could now buy an aged domain and apply everything I have learned making new sites and all of a sudden I have sites with traffic, lots of back links and really good PR and the returns are fantastic when it comes to sell. There are a few things I had to learn, such as 301 redirects and preserving the sites previous link quality and PR, but it works. I’m a drummer, so if I can do it, anyone can!
The very first aged domain I bought was in the Maternity Pregnancy niche. Normally a really hard market to play in, but the site was ranking high for a few keywords, so it was relatively easy to preserve it’s status. I purchased the domain for $80 and ended up selling the site to someone on my mailing list for $3,000. All I did was put a WordPress blog on the domain, recreate as much of the previous content as I could, to keep as many links as possible. It’s important here to not just go and copy the old content, as you don’t have the rights to it, only to the domain. Similar content is o.k. Then some strategic 301 redirection, some good content, a little SEO was all that was required.
I wish I could show it to your readers, but the new buyer would rather I didn’t. I’m planning to document the whole process on a future project via my blog, to show the exact process I use.
FW: I can’t wait until you release that as I’d like to learn more about buying aged domains myself. Do you ever buy websites yourself and then fix them up to flip?
I’ve never gone down that road. I thought that once the new site market died, that would be the next step, but then aged domains caught my attention.
FW: Do you manage any websites of your own or do you strictly flip websites?
My own blog takes up fair amount of my time and the sites that I’m building on aged domains require a fair amount of work to get up and running. I sometimes miss the days of buying a new domain, throwing a blog on it, going to bed and waking up to a sale.
FW: I’ll bet! However, I suspect the payouts on these “aged domain websites” will be much greater once you’re ready to sell them. So what WordPress themes do you use for your sites – and why WordPress (vs. HTML sites)?
I always start with WordPress Direct. It sets up a properly optimized SEO theme in under 2 minutes. It still is the best way I know to set up a WordPress blog. I love WordPress, because it’s easy to setup and transfer and the admin section is a breeze to navigate. It’s also a simply system to teach new owners how to run the site.
FW: Do you do all the work yourself on these websites or do you outsource anything?
Just before the startup market dropped, I started outsourcing anything that was repetitive and I could record a ScreenFlow of. Installing sites, backing them up, transferring them, etc. Anything that was nuts and bolts kind of stuff that you could measure I outsourced.
Now that I don’t make as many sites, I use outsourcing for link building, content and other projects. It really does free up your time.
FW: Given that you’ve sold so many sites on Flippa, what length of time is best for running auctions?
5 to 7 days does work best as you need to understand that people do have different surfing habits. Some folks will look for sites on their work PCs, others from home on various weeknights, and then there are people who will only access the net on weekends. You need to try and cover everyone. I always aim to cover the weekend in any selling cycle. Flippa has that 4 hour extension policy with bids in the last hour, which I like by the way, so you can’t pick an end time but as long as you get the weekend into the cycle it’s fine.
Having a BIN really works too. If you study Flippa, you’ll notice a pattern where buyers will fight it out for the first 30-40% of the bid price, then someone will appear out of nowhere and just hit the BIN button.
FW: I know that all too well. I just lost a website in that exact scenario. I was bidding on a site and someone came in overnight and exercised the BIN. Before we go, what would you advise people just getting into flipping websites today?
Work out early on what you are doing this for and have clear goals. Learn some basic SEO and build sites with traffic and some revenue. It’s not that hard, but it does take a little time to grow sites to a point where you’re fetching good returns. People don’t want to buy just a website anymore, they want a business.
You can follow Danny on his blog at: www.TradingWebsitesBlog.com
