Justin is a very well know website flipper as well as an amazing teacher, he is responsible for tons of people learning how to flip websites – check out some of his great website flipping training products.

Website Flipping Start Up Kit
21 Week Coaching Program (Trial)
Website Flipping Masters (Home Study Course)
Thanks Justin Brooke for the great vid! Check out Justin’s website at SiteFling.com

When evaluating whether you want to flip a particular website, you want to look for certain qualities that will make it a potential hit. Many times, you’ll come across sites with one or more of these factors going for it, with its owners simply unable to capitalize on them.

1. Backlinks

Despite all the  pages upon pages of SEO advice written across many books and blogs, nothing still helps a site up the search rankings better than solid backlinks.  When evaluating a site for a possible flip, check its backlink profile.

If it has many links from social media, adding an authority link from two or three popular and respected sources in its industry will probably be enough to turn it into a goldmine.  The more natural and authoritative links that it already has, the more valuable it should be to you as a potential site for flipping.

2. Pagerank

While many now discount the importance of pagerank, there are few metrics as easy to see that will give you good indication of where a site is at in Google’s graces.   People still pay good money for pagerank too.

3. Community/Users/Subscribers

An existing audience makes a property extremely valuable for any site flipper.  Whether it is a blog with RSS subscribers, a forum with members or an ebook sales website with a mailing list, having built-in users you can leverage right from the get-go makes a site brimming full of potential.

4. Professional Work

Check the layout, the design, the backend, the scripts and other tangible components that comprise the actual website.  Are they professional-grade or low quality patchwork?  Do the articles and databases look like they can be worth a decent amount?  Is it running some custom scripts or CMS that can be worth a good amount on its own?

5. Domain Name

How valuable will the site’s domain name be on today’s market?  Is it brandable and memorable?  You might recognize a site’s name to be related to a popular brand, for instance, on a totally different niche.  If you can buy the site, you can easily overhaul it to  serve that market and sell it for much more based on the name’s value alone.

If you are interested or want to learn more about website flipping check out Site Flip Academy

Most people involved in website flipping take an under-performing site, put some development work into it and seek to maximize its potential before deciding to sell it.  A few, however, may not have the same desire to spend as much time on the properties they buy, looking instead to put it back into the market immediately.

Quick Sale

Some sites sold around the web simply go for less than what they’re worth.  Whether it’s due to plain ignorance of their properties’ actual value or a quick need for liquid funds, the owners are putting it up at a price that makes it a veritable steal.  Knowledgeable website flippers can identify these opportunities, sweep them up and list them up for resale at their actual value, earning a profit with absolutely no work.

Adding Value

While it’s always nice to make a quick buck from directly arbitraging a website without any work, adding a little more value to the property can raise its stock in considerable ways.   In fact, that’s how most seasoned website flippers will approach this same situation.

A few tweaks in some key areas like on-site SEO, backlinks and flagship content can easily double a cheaply-acquired site’s resale value.  If you can quickly implement these changes before the market renders it obsolete, you can be looking at a hefty revenue.

A Challenge

While that may all sound easy, the reality is that quickly flipping a website at a considerable gain is one of the hardest things to master.  The web, after all, is one of the fastest-changing industries in the world.  Unlike the stock market or real estate, your hot new acquisition may only stay that way for the next two months.  If the buzz fizzles out before you can capitalize, you can end up with just another loser in your portfolio.

-Brett

ps. if you need help getting started in website flipping I use and recommend siteflipacademy.