One of the things I look for when buying a website is a distinguishable feature. It’s a term I have created which essentially means a feature of the website that gives it a competitive advantage. One of the rules I have created for my website flipping system is to buy sites that have two or more distinguishable features. I thought I would share some things I look for when finding distinguishable features.

Search Engine Rankings

First thing I do when checking a site is do a quick search on Google for its most obvious keywords to see if it ranks well (actually I use my own script but Google will do just fine). Search Engine Optimization is possibly the hardest aspect that takes the longest time when flipping a website, or building a website for that matter. So a site that ranks well saves you a lot of time and money in the long run, as well as providing a good source of targeted visitors. This is probably my favorite feature because in website flipping there is not enough time to effectively achieve high rankings.

Back Links

Quantity as well as quality is important here. Some SEO software allows you to find out the average Page Rank of the sites linking back to you. If you don’t have that a quick browse through the links to see the sources would be sufficient. You are looking for natural links so any links that are not from directories, blog comments or forums are a plus. If a site has some of these “natural” links that is a big plus as you know people must enjoy the content of the site to link naturally. 

Page Rank (PR)

Oh I can hear it now, the PR bashing crew saying that PR does not matter. Well yes they are half right PR doesn’t mean you will rank well, doesn’t mean you will have lots of traffic and doe not mean you will make good money. However some people place value on it and therefore it does matter. After all is a $100 bill really worth $100? Of course not but the value we place on that piece of paper is what really matters. Now as far as I see it PR has 2 direct values. Firstly it is a simple representation of the quantity and quality of back links the site has and secondly it is the currency of use when selling text links on a site. A site with a high PR by its very nature appears to be an authority site, which will definitely raise the selling price. 

Unique Content

Content is King. Content is King. Content is King. Sound familiar? Well I will echo the other 100 million people who will tell you this very simple fact. When you break down the Internet, why do people spend so much time and money on it? Well they are looking for some type of content. Whether it is social content to keep in touch with friends or search content to guide them to a site they want it all comes down to content. Now I started this paragraph by repeating something that would be found on countless of blogs, articles and websites. I did this deliberately to show how much of the Internet is essentially duplicated. It may be another view or spin but it is still the same topic. That is why unique content is a distinguishable feature. This blog is an example as there are probably only 2 or 3 website flipping blogs around and none of the competition have anything similar to the content I produce. Wow that made me sound conceited, but I wanted to give you an example of unique content and emphasize that there are still untapped niches that are perfect for website flipping.

Traffic

If content is King than traffic is Queen. I promise that is my last poor excuse for a quote, but traffic is another important aspect of a successful website. I probably should make that quality traffic is an important aspect of a successful website. Recently I have come to the realization that the best traffic is via word of mouth. Search engines, PPC and advertising traffic are still incredibly important and useful when done correctly but the conversion rates from word of mouth are incredible. So a website that already has traffic from any of these methods are incredibly useful for website flipping. Once you buy the site you leverage this traffic by encouraging (and giving something to talk about) word-of-mouth. Opposed to starting a new site where you have no traffic and no word of mouth to help build your site. Also it is prudent of me to mention a site with no traffic makes no money and therefore the more traffic you have the higher potential to make revenue and increase your selling price.

Unique Products Or Services

Similar to content but here it is the uniqueness that is most important. If you come across a site that has a unique product or service (that is useful to a market), than that is about as distinguishable as you can get. A unique product or service is exponentially easier to market, promote and sell.

Member Base

A site with members particular committed members is definitely a better proposition for website flipping. Before doing any work at all you have an email list of interested people that you can use (poor choice of words) to gain traffic, increase revenue, create content and collect research data. If the site has some really committed members, they may even write articles, moderate forums and actively promote the site which makes your job that much easier whilst flipping.

Domain Name

Domain names and extensions are becoming less important as the average web user is becoming more Internet savvy but that does not mean they have lost all importance. If you have two websites that are exactly the same apart from their domain name what would the average user find easier to remember and prefer to visit? www.domain.com or www.thisisalongdomain.info? A small, keyword inclusive, concise domain name still has market appeal and can provide a competitive advantage in your niche, and is also a lot easier to sell. 

Untapped Potential

Now I will only scratch the surface of this area and I will look to do a detailed article of this in the future. But for the benefit of this post a website that has something that has something so obviously missing, that if included it would improve the site greatly, is an example of a distinguishable feature. A site with loads of traffic but absolutely no advertising, adwords or affiliate marketing is one such example. Simply adding adwords to a site like this and creating some revenue would add value to its sale price.

Great Design

This is a distinguishable feature on two counts. The first being that a site with an excellent design will not need any design work done to it when flipping which can be a costly and time consuming activity. Secondly a well designed website has several visitor benefits. They are more likely to purchase something, stay longer on the website, revisit and recommend to other people. A great design is fast becoming a must on the Internet, as old designs just don’t cut it anymore.

Now I am sure I have forgotten some other features that people regularly look for. If you have any I have not mentioned please let me know in the comment section below. When you are looking for websites to buy don’t forget to look for some distinguishable features that make your flipping job easier and create a higher sale price for you.

Good Luck in your business

 Adam Diver.

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