Have you considered building or buying a website for profit? As most people know, it’s much easier to start with a foundation than from scratch. If you’re not a baker, how much easier is it to buy a plain sheet cake to place your design? Outsourcing works for Virtual Real Estate, too.
Be the bank, not the banker. If you want to become a successful business owner, you have more important things to do than design or write content. You must know your strengths and surround yourself with experts to compensate for your weaknesses. Remember, it’s not what you know but who you know.
There are so many “non-producing” established websites that are just ripe for the picking. Virtual Real Estate gives you the opportunity to turn an underused website into a site with growth potential. If you follow this blueprint, you should be able to receive a good return on your investment with minimal risk.
Other People’s Time
Why buy instead of doing it your way–OPT (Other People’s Time). Someone else already does much of the hard work. When you purchase an already built website, you don’t have to do any of the designing or coding. You already have your target audience picked out and you may only need a good flow of unique visitors to generate a profit. Your only job now is to do what you do well, bring the right people together to attract your buyers.
Since you can’t be an expert in every field, learn a little about every aspect and hire experts in each area. For example, if you buy a PLR (Private Label Rights) website with duplicate content, hire a ghostwriter. Then hire someone else to market your website. Remember, the secret is in the system. Hire the right people and the cash will flow.
Several websites that are not being used properly may already have unique visitors. Perhaps the marketing is missing your target audience by as little as three feet from “gold”–consistent traffic in net speak. This is where you can come in and use your talents. Open the floodgates by finding the source of those visitors and why they are coming to you. They may come from social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn or from past marketing campaigns. Search engines like Google, Bing, and even the Wayback Machine may offer some indications.
Plan Before You Buy
Make your investment wisely. Check the numbers. See if the website already has existing revenue and is making a profit. It is far easier in business to make a successful business more successful than to start an uphill battle from a losing position. The website may already have a customer base and a list of those loyal customers. Make sure when you are purchasing the website you are also purchasing exclusive rights to the customer list. This will return your investment many times over in the form of both big dividends and far less effort.
Remember, you make a profit when you buy your property, not when you sell it, so have a plan and the right people lined up before making your purchase. All good business owners realize, when you purchase a new business, you need to complete a competitive analysis. Look at the pros and cons of purchasing an existing website versus one built from scratch.
Is It Really worth the Price
If you create a site from scratch, you must hire a web designer, decide what type of product selection you want to offer, and still have to generate traffic yourself. Purchasing a “non-producing” website is a much better way to invest your money. The website is already up and running. Your only job is to turn it around and have it go from a “non-producing” site to a “top-producing” site.
Time is money! To maximize your profit and minimize your chance of loss, purchase an existing website. While you may first believe the upfront cost is higher, once you factor in all the significant expenses in creating a website, you will see the established website is a much better prospect. The chance for significant revenue and growth potential is also much higher with an established website.
The only concern now is how to buy your first website.
*Originally published on WorldStart March 10, 2010
