Domain flipping, the practice of buying cheap domains and selling them for a profit, has become much more common over the years. But many people misunderstand what it takes to generate revenue by domain flipping. When done correctly it can be a great way to make passive income, with some domain flippers making the practice their full-time job. But to say it’s easy couldn’t be further from the truth. It takes knowledge, dedication, and grit to make domain flipping into a profitable business venture for yourself. If you’re interested in making the jump into domain flipping, below we discuss 5 tips you need to know to ensure your venture is profitable.

Get A Domain Appraisal

Understanding the true value of the domain you’re selling is pivotal. It’s the only way to ensure you get the most profit out of the deal. That’s why getting a domain appraisal can be a game changer. Domain appraisals give you insight into the value of your domain. You can partner with a domain appraisal firm or domain broker, who will typically use machine learning programs to depict the accurate value of your domain name.

These programs amass large quantities of data, taking into account work tokenization and other important domain attributes to help assess the value. When looking for a domain appraisal firm or consultant, be sure to do your research. You want to ensure you trust who you’re working with. Also talk to your team about how much you’re willing to spend on a domain appraisal, as they can get pricey for higher-quality service.

Think Local

People tend to think too big when they first get into domain flipping. We all wish that 20 years ago we had known that amazon.com or google.com would be as popular as they are today, but the reality is that you can’t predict the future. What you can predict, however, is that local businesses will need to embrace the online world sooner than later.

Looking into local domain names is a smart way to make a profit within domain flipping. They contain words that are highly recognizable when search engine optimization tactics are in play, making them more search engine friendly than other domain options.

Improve The Website

No one wants to buy a piece of junk, that applies to the online domain world as well. While the name of your domain is important, the way the website looks can be equally as important when browsers are marking their final decisions. While fixing up a website can be done after a purchase, it costs time and money.

When selling your domain, the way you’ll make the most profit is by helping to ensure the person(s) who are purchasing it will have as little work to do as possible. Think of it as a fixer-upper versus a house that is turn-key ready, you’ll get more for a house with the bells and whistles already installed.

Work On Link Building

Believe it or not, link building is essential to making a profit in domain flipping. These links are known as inbound links, but can also be identified as links, backlinks, and inbound marketing. Your inbound link will direct users to websites that have content related to your own. While your inbound links will send traffic to external sites, it’s an essential SEO tactic because search engines recognize websites with external links as more trustworthy than those without them. The quality of the links you include on your website matters as well. You want to ensure your domain’s credibility is solidified through who you link with. When choosing what domains you want to link to, look for domains with higher traffic rates and a positive presence in your niche market. 

Scrape High Ranking Expired Domains

Some people will strongly insist that page ranking doesn’t matter when selling a domain name, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Search engines such as Google participate in a diligent page ranking system that has dictated the success of thousands of domains. When looking for profitable domains for your domain flipping needs, think about web scraping search engine result pages to find the domains that are highly ranked but expired.

You typically can purchase these expired websites on the cheaper side and easily flip them with a few tweaks because of their search engine optimization. A good web scraper can amass thousands of highly-ranking expired domains within minutes, making it well worth the effort.