2020 has been particularly hard on most people. With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the globe, millions of people worldwide have unfortunately lost their jobs.
many have taken to trying new ways of bringing in some money and keeping food on the table.
Luckily, in the digital age, most people can turn their focus online, and hundreds of thousands of people have started to teach themselves how to make money online. From blogging to social media management, data capturing, and online education, the options are endless.
One way of making some kind of income though, which is not as popular, and is slightly overlooked in most cases, is domain flipping. Although it can be slightly controversial and might take a while to actually start bringing in the income; if you manage to master the art, you could find yourself bringing in a passive income after a few months.
So, we took a look at the concept of domain flipping. We unpack what exactly it is, what you should look out for, and the step-by-step process of buying and selling domains.
If a secondary income is what you are after, keep reading!
What Is Domain Flipping?
Let’s kick off with just what domain flipping is.
The concept is essentially similar to flipping a house. You can purchase an existing and available domain name for an affordable amount and sell it to someone who needs it for a higher price.
It seems simple enough, but you will need to be strategic about the purchase in order for you to actually sell it quickly and for a higher price. This is why you will need to look for domain names that are currently, and will be in demand.
You can either buy an available domain name or look out for names that you can put an offer on and then resell those to another buyer.
What Kind of Domains Should You Look For?
This is where you need to start thinking strategically. You need to find a domain name that you can buy for a very low price which has the possibility of making a generous profit. So, you should look out for the following:
Expired Websites
This is the first type of site that you should look for. Thousands of websites expire every single year. In fact, statistics show that almost 70% of websites are never actually renewed.
Whether the company has gone out of business, or the name is just not needed anymore, it allows an opportunity for another company to collect the discarded name and use it themselves.
The other advantage of expired websites is that they already have some traffic that goes to them and are searchable on Google. Just do some research first before putting a price on it and ascertain basics like its history, backlinks, traffic, and ranking.
Short Names
Short domain names are highly profitable as they are in high demand. Not only are they easy to type, but it is easier to match them with a brand, and are easy to remember.
They will usually cost more than expired websites, but, the ROI is greater on these types of sites. You can also be smart about searching for these sites by knowing what keywords to research. Make sure you do your research and find something which is trending and in demand.
Local
As much as .com websites are in high demand, and are more sought after than local sites, there is still a huge market for them. An international site name may already be unavailable, but a company with a similar name in a particular region will still want to use their name in the URL.
They will then opt for the local extension, and this is where you can make your profit.
New
New domain names will take a little bit more practice to find and keep than the others. With new trends and developments, there are always new opportunities for new sites. You can grab a new domain of a brand new product before anyone else does and flip it at a higher price. Sneaky, but effective.
Steps of Flipping a Site
Now that you know what to look out for, we will take you through the steps of how to actually go about it.
Find a Site
Do your research, and know what keywords are currently trending. With this knowledge in hand, you can head over to either a marketplace, directory, or domain auction site to start searching for the domains.
The key here is to be highly strategic about it and snatch up a name that will be highly sought after.
You could also try out drop catching, which is a method of buying a domain which has recently expired and selling it back to the owners if they still want to use it. Websites usually expire annually, and if it is not renewed in time, you can purchase it and sell it on.
Do Your Due Diligence
It is really important to know as much as you can about the site before you can put a price tag on and sell it to someone. What was it previously used for? How long is the name? What keywords are factored in? Is it easily branded?
It will also be important to look at the competitors to have a full scope of how much you can pay for it.
Buy and Register the Domain
This is the really easy part. Registering a domain is incredibly easy to do. You will simply need to make sure that the registrar is trustworthy and checks out.
Find a Buyer
This is the tricky part and you may do this in several ways.
- Create a buy and hold strategy which allows the interest to build on your site and create a passive income;
- Reach out yourself to potential buyers; ie. companies with similar names and offer the site to them;
- Create a landing page on the site with your basic contact details and allow potential buyers to approach you;
- List the domain on various market places or on auctions and actively sell the site there.
Sell The Site
Once again, like buying, this is incredibly simple to do, you can easily transfer the site to the new owner. One of the most important things is, and we can not stress it enough, to ensure that you use a recognized registrar.
Wrapping Up
Domain flipping, although a viable way to make extra money, should be just that at first. We highly recommend that you take some time to learn the ropes before you set off on your journey. Once you get the hang of it, however, you should be able to make a great side business from it. Good luck!