5000 Dollars In 45 Days - My IM Voyage

Hello readers, today I have a special treat for you. While we’re waiting for the results of the auction, I have a guest article from a fellow warrior by the name of George Knoechel. He has graciously agreed to share with us how he made $4,000 by flipping websites. Exciting stuff indeed, thanks George! Without further ado, here’s the article:

The easiest $4,000 I ever made: How to bring in the money with website flipping

I firmly believe that website flipping is the easiest and perhaps fastest way to make a consistent and sizable income. Like many of you perhaps, I was intimidated by the idea of putting a website up on Sitepoint.com and having others tear it apart until there was nothing left of it and worse yet – no one to buy my website.

The reality is that it was a very smooth process and one in which you too can make big money. I am going to avoid the fluff and get right to the specifics of how and why I was able to make $4,000 selling ten sites in a short period of time.

1. Pick the right niche. I had experience in some of the niches already but most of them were picked through niche research. If you do not pick a good converting niche then the rest is pointless so spend your time doing it right.

2. Build a review site with good copy. I have used Don Davis from the Warrior Forum. He has a limited number of review sites that he sells as PLR on the WSO section of the WF. These have worked very well for me. The copy is effective and converts nicely. There are others on the Forum that also do this but it is something that you may be able to do for yourself. I usually spend between $25 - $50 for the site and getting it uploaded, etc….

3. Get some decent backlinks. I spend about 1-2 hours getting backlinks from creating a free press release, Digg, Yahoo, Blogs, Squidoo, and others. I do this so the site has more of an air of legitimacy to it. Buyers often become suspicious if a site is making money without any links. Don’t spend too much time on this. You will also gain some backlinks from article marketing.

4. Write articles pointing to review sites. This is my bread and butter and the key to making the money. If I am flipping a site, I do not have time to work on SEO … I want quick money and well written articles can bring it in. I have written over 500 articles on ezinearticles.com. As a result, I have learned how to write quick and effective articles that convert. If you are not an article marketer then you can always find a good writer for a real good price. I usually write about 1 – 2 articles per day for a 60 day period. This may sound like a lot but I am able to write an article in about 15 minutes. I average about 1 sale per 3-5 articles. Most of the niches I work in bring in about $40 per sale or more. If I am selling my site for 10 month revenue then that $40 sale really is worth $400. So, writing 5 articles (75 minutes) nets a $400 profit! I will gladly take that return.

I have a WSO on the WF right now that outlines how I “Max. out” on each article and talk specifically on how this is done. You can find that at:

George’s WSO on Maxing out article effectiveness!

George K.

On day three of the challenge.  We are going to use a technique called site flipping.  Site flipping involves creating a website after doing research on the topic that you think people are interested in and selling it for a quick profit on a site selling forum.

As mentioned in a previous post, site flipping will become part of the core 45 day challenge strategy.  We will use various methods of keyword research in order to create a website quickly and profitably.  We will then list the website for sale at sitepoint.com.

It is worth mentioning that according to some members over at the warrior forum that site flipping is rapidly becoming non-profitable.  They say that their profits have declined over time, and that flipping websites is not as profitable as it was even six months ago.  My response to this is quality content always sells.  And if you take rewritten private label materials and mix it up into a crap website, you will make crap money.  A properly created website with nice graphics and a photo or two, which will cost you maybe a dollar or two per photo, with good content will easily get you $2-$300 if you create 15 to 20 articles and format them properly.

In order to sell websites for a high dollar amount that website, must have several components.  The first thing that people look for is traffic.  Any website that has a solid record of increasing traffic month to month will get a good price.  Also, less importantly, is the site’s revenue.  On a website selling forum, you do not have to have revenue on a website to sell it successfully.  People who are looking for websites to buy know that not all people have a good idea of how to monetize a website.  They are looking for the potential that a website has as well as a solid record of good traffic from various sources.  That means that you don’t cheat and pay for cheap clicks and try to flip the website and leave the buyer holding the bag.  Doing that will create a very bad impression, and your reputation will go down the toilet.  Webmasters are very reluctant to do business with people who don’t have a solid reputation.  Building that reputation is a core responsibility if you are to become a professional seller of websites.

Having said that, our idea of us quickly flipping a website is not dependent on our reputation or traffic statistics.  A brand-new website is not going to have traffic, and we don’t have to worry about that.  We are being paid for the website’s content, the design and also the niche that we build it around.  Okay, enough chat.  It’s time to get to work.  More updates to follow…

TomG.