Flipping websites involves a lot of work, and if you know what you’re doing and you work very hard you can make a decent income. After all it’s just like working as a web site designer, SEO consultant and internet marketer. In fact it’s a fusion of the three jobs, and if you can do them reasonably well, you can be assured that you have an opportunity to make a consistent income from buying poorly designed / optimized / marketed websites, improving them and then re-selling them for a profit.

The secret to website flipping is knowing exactly what a sites worth and more importantly, how long it will take to get a return on your initial investment. Remember that the investment you make is both a financial one and it is also time based.

When you’re thinking of turning website flipping into a full time income, the first thing you should do is work on it as a part time hobby. Build up a collection of short-term flips, longer-term flips and also sites to keep because they generate a good passive income. There is no reason to flip a good passive income website is there?

The golden rule of online business and Internet Marketing is passive income. As a site flipper you will get the opportunity to buy and sell sites that have this as the primary goal. Spend the time to build your own personal portfolio of the best performing earners so that there is always something making you money.

Getting good at site flipping isn’t difficult and after a while you will start to realize how much time it takes to get a site into shape, and most importantly you’ll know if a site is worthwhile. Remember, $30 an hour for 30 hours a week is a lot better than $15 an hour for 60; so don’t fall under the spell of online business, keep track of your hours and treat it like a real brick and mortar enterprise.

If you can make a success out of flipping websites then you can also market your services and experience to other people. Internet marketer’s long for the abilities of someone that has the skills of a good site flipper and as time goes on, those high ticket-price websites won’t look so scary. Whilst a $10,000 dollar website sounds like an insane prospect at first, you could soon be turning that into a $50,000 website.

Can you make money flipping websites? The answer really depends on the person. It’s like anything really.

If you can commit yourself, show passion and enthusiasm and exhibit creativity in your work, then you can certainly start to make a regular income from flipping websites.

As flipping websites has become infinitely more profitable, more and more people have joined in on the bandwagon. Sadly, not all of them are selling legitimate web sites. Some may simply be stolen, others may be completely fraudulent. Simply paying money for a website may not even guarantee that it’s yours! So to ensure your absolute safety whilst buying or selling flipped sites, make sure to follow our guidelines below.

Google is Your Friend – The golden rule when conducting any sort of online transaction is to check the person out online first. This could involve searching for their name or e-mail address on Google; it’s surprising how much it can reveal. Make sure to do your research so that you know the person you’re selling to or buying from is legitimate.

Check WHOIS Information Thoroughly – If you’re buying the site make sure to get the URL off of the seller before you go through with the transaction. Visit a site such as http://www.who.is and double check that the registrant is the person who is selling. If it’s not then you may be buying nothing but thin air.

Always Use an Escrow Service – When it comes down to the final transaction, if you sell without an escrow service you always run risk of being stolen from. Whether it’s your site or your money that gets stolen, PayPal do little to help, and in the case of bank transfer it’s next to impossible to get them reversed, so use a reputable online escrow service to give both parties piece of mind.

Traffic Can Lie – A common scam that happens just before a sale is that visitor figures are artificially inflated by sellers who purchase traffic at a very cheap rate. As soon as they’ve sold the site, the traffic disappears and you’re effectively left with nothing but a dysfunctional site. Make sure that you have access to full statistics so you can check traffic and make sure there is a natural looking growth pattern. If there is not, chances are it’s a scam.

Check The Domain Name – Did you know that if you bought a domain name such as Microsoftsoftware.com you’d be at Microsoft’s mercy as to whether or not you’d be allowed to keep it? If you’re thinking of buying a flipped site that features a possible copyrighted or trademarked domain name, then don’t because it’s only a matter of time before it could be subpoenaed and subsequently deleted, along with the website.

Sign a Contract – Before completing the transaction make sure to have some form of written contract which states what’s been transferred and what you’re giving or receiving. That way both parties are protected and you can rest assured knowing that whatever’s been agreed on is also in writing.

Flipping websites is filled with all sorts of problems to be aware of, but given appropriate care, this is a highly lucrative industry where you can make fortunes in just a short period of time. However, the golden rule of life is always if it seems too good to be true, it ordinarily is!

Don’t ever believe anything on faith, and especially when it comes to online transactions, make sure you know exactly what’s happening at all times. The Internet really can be the Wild West, so be careful out there!