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Buying a website off Flippa with Ben Weiss

Website For Sale Showcase – $1,000 per month From Water Heaters

Can you simply buy an alternative passive $1,000 per month side income?

There has been a lot of interest in people earning an alternative side income in light of the economic uncertainties caused by the global pandemic. Buying and finding profitable websites for sale can help you rapidly create a nice passive side income stream.

People are realising their jobs and incomes may not be as secure as they thought PLUS because everyone is stuck working from home and working online, people are realising that a great option is to start an online business. As we discussed in our recent online trends update, it’s a really interesting time in the website buying space, and there are some great opportunities right now to buy quality websites that can give you a nice alternative side income.

Today’s website showcase is a great example of how a simple content site in a targeted sub-niche, has quickly found it’s place online and is generating $1,000 per month passively.

CLICK ON THE VIDEO BELOW to hear about this profitable website for sale

Simple passive Website for Sale in unique micro-niche…

Matt Raad:      Hi everyone! Welcome to this week’s Website Showcase. And today I’ve got Ben Weiss from Flippa.com. Ben has an awesome website for us to have a look at, that I think is particularly relevant for our audience. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about it?

Ben Weiss:      Yes, of course, and thanks for having me. I’m excited to go over this with you. The website I want to share with you, is a content site called Water Guides.

This is something that I like a lot. I’ve worked in marketing for the majority of my career. So, one thing that I always like to look for when I’m diving on these content sites are websites that have these really specific niches. This is because I’m always thinking how are you going to grab that SEO attention?

When you’re trying to talk about broad topics such as toys, or you’re trying to talk about cars, then you’re competing with the entire planet. But when you’re talking about a really focused topic, there’s actually real ways that you can creep up the search rankings and do really well without really spending any money.

Matt:               So, in your opinion, this site’s in a really nice specific sub-niche, isn’t it?

Ben:                Exactly. Looking at their listing on Flippa, they actually say they have the number two position on Google for the keyword phrase “best tankless water heater.” So, this is a really small niche. How often in your life are you looking for that? Probably not very often, but when you do, and you’re number two on Google, then great!

This Website Makes $1,000 a Month Through Amazon Affiliates

Matt:               That’s right, this site’s going to come up. And basically, it’s not selling physical water heaters is it? They get an affiliate commission, is that right?

Ben:                Right. It’s an affiliate set up through Amazon.

Matt:               And what sort of money does it make each month?

Ben:                They are currently doing over a $1,000 a month. It says the average over the past 12 months is US$1,046.

Profitable affiliate Website For Sale on Flippa

Passive Online Income Stream Generated by using Content Strategy in a Targeted Sub-Niche

Matt:               Yes, nice. So, in a really nice tight sub-niche, we’ve got an affiliate website making $1,000 a month. How old is the site?

Ben:                Two years old. So the website is not ancient, but it does has enough time to start tracking on search.

Matt:               A good bit of age, awesome! So, I guess in light of what’s happening out there in the world right now, this site’s going to be pretty attractive I would think.

Ben:                Oh yeah, 100%. Right now, eCommerce is through the roof. Before, people would go to their local hardware store for a tankless water heater. But nowadays, you’re thinking, “all right, maybe I’ll get this online”.

That might be the future going forward for a lot of us, once you realise how easy it is to do that.

Website Makes Money by Answering Common Questions About Water Heaters

Matt:               So, for our audience who might be new to this – what Ben just said, if you’re going to buy a water heater for a tank, then you’re going to go and Google it first. You want to look up some information, and this website will come up in the search engine. And if you’re in the market to buy a water haeter, people will read through the site, click on the link, and the owner of the website gets an affiliate commission if someone buys the water heater.

Existing Website Owner Is Hands-Off After 2 Years of Posting Quality Content

So it’s quite hands-off to run this site to a degree. Do you know what work the seller does on the website?

Ben:                From what I’ve read through the listing, the owner did a lot of work to set this up. He’s written a bunch of blog posts, and now it’s running itself.

That’s why I think there’s a lot of potential here too, because he’s not putting a lot of time in at the moment. There’s a lot of work that could be done by a new owner.

Opportunity to Improve Website’s Income by Adding More Targeted Content

Matt:               So, what are you seeing as the opportunities here? What are your thoughts on this site? What could a new owner of this site do with it?

Ben:                He actually posted it here in the listing, and I’ll trust this guy because he’s built it to this point where it’s already making over a $1,000 a month.

He thinks the key is focusing on some more really tight niche keyword phrases. He mentions right here “best automatic pool cleaner,” “best above ground pool.” etc. Any of these long tail phrases that once in a while in your life, you might be shopping for it. And when you do, you’re going online and searching for it, because you have no idea where to start. If you can start ranking on Google, then you can get that sale.

Matt:               So, basically, just getting some writers to write some more content for the site.

Ben:                Exactly. Or doing the research and writing them yourself.

Great Opportunity to Buy Website Listed at 1.5 x Multiple

Matt:               And what’s he asking for the website? What do you think it will sell for?

Ben:                He’s asking US$17,000, which sounds great to me if it’s doing $1,000 a month. At that price, you’ll make your money back in a year and a half. And from then on, it’s profit. And that’s status quo – if you can build up these other keywords and start getting some other conversions, then you can make money real fast on this.

Matt:               Yes. So basically, for someone looking to actually buy this site, we would obviously recommend that you get out there and do your website buying due diligence, first and foremost.

Looking at the stats, on the surface, this looks like an awesome website and it’s why we featured it this week. It’s right in the sweet spot of what we do in our community of website investors. And as Ben said, it sounds like a great site.

Complete Your Due Diligence to see if this Website Purchase is Right for You

So, if someone was interested in starting that process with Flippa, what can they do if they want to have a closer look at this website?

Ben:                What we always tell anyone to do when buying an internet business is go through a website due diligence checklist. Flippa does a great job of supplying the basics. The Google analytics are up there, the financials are up there, and there’s some information from the seller.

But the real key is obviously signing up for Flippa if you haven’t yet. It’s very easy – you just need an email address and you’re on. Once you’re on the Flippa platform, then you can start a discussion with the seller. There’s a button on the listing where you can start a discussion. We always say pretend it’s the real world, because it is.

Don’t just be a jerk and be like, “Hey man, give me access to your site.” Say, “Hey, how are you going? I love how this looks; your numbers are great. I’ve got a couple questions for you about your website.” And then you lay them out. These website sellers are excited to get back to you if you’re excited to talk to them.

Matt:               Great! So for anyone out there’s who’s interested in checking this out for yourself, here’s the listing:

And like Ben said, if you’re interested in it then get in touch with Flippa, and you guys can take it from here, do your due diligence. But thanks so much for sharing that one, Ben!

Ben:                Thanks for having me.

If your interested in buying and selling websites you can sign up for a free account with Flippa with here.

Learn How To Do Website Buying Due Diligence

If you want to get started buying and selling websites then make sure you attend our free online training series: How To Buy Your First Passive Website. This online training will give you an introduction to what you should look for when doing website purchase due diligence.