We Hit The Forums To See What Questions You Have… and We Found A Good One!

In what will hopefully be the start of something new at Flipping Awesome in my ever long quest to teach you and everyone else how to start selling websites, I have trawled the numerous webmaster forums online searching for questions to answer, and have found a great question to answer for a lucky newcomer to the website flipping world.

On Digital Point forums, Kisforkarla asked the following:

Kisforkarla Asks How To Start Selling Websites

“I’m interested in website flipping. After spending hours searching the net for information, thought I would ask my fellow DP members for some advice.

Here’s what I am wondering:

Can a profit realistically be made with minimal startup and without tons of website knowledge?

I currently write content for sites. So, I understand keywords, ranking, etc.

Secondly, are there any good sites that you have found helpful?
All I run across are ebook peddlers, I’m hoping there is something more out there!”

So, the real question here is this. Can profit actually be made with minimal startup and without knowing the ins and outs of website coding, and so on and so forth, keeping in mind that Kisforkarla has experience writing content, and understands the basics of SEO. Lets start.

Is Website Flipping Affordable For Startups?

I am going to come straight out and say it. The site flipping marketplace would have to be one of the most cheap markets to get into at the moment when you look at the costs associated. Of course, there will always be the cost of hosting, plus the initial purchase price of a domain, however, if you are targeting niches that are relatively low in competition, you may find that it will take very little off page SEO to rank for keywords, so the only cost is really time value when it comes to writing articles and submitting them. If it is a more competitive niche though, then you can easily find yourself looking at more advanced methods of ranking, which could end up becoming fairly costly, so with a small startup, I would start small and work my way up.

The other costs that you may have to work with may be the cost of a custom theme for WordPress, which I recommend checking out the custom themes at Theme Forest, which has done me quite well for some time now.

Is Website Flipping On A Budget Profitable?

I do need to mention though that profit is only ever going to be earned if you create something of value that the marketplace will show an interest in. This is more than likely going to be the hardest battle for anyone who is learning how to start selling websites, there is really no tried and proven method for measuring what is hot and what is not on Flippa, however the listing tags page should give some indication about what sites are selling, and what is not. Of course, it goes without mentioning that if the site that you create is commercially viable, and has proven income, and is an evergreen opportunity for a new owner to take over, it will have a higher chance of selling for more on Flippa.

Do I Need To Be An Expert Coder?

The other thing which I will touch on is how difficult it can be to get into website flipping without tons of website coding knowledge and the such. To be honest, it is handy to know basic HTML and PHP, but it is not the end of everything. Installing WordPress on most hosts is as simple as using Fantastico to automate the installation process. The only brick wall that I can see anyone walking into is the transfer process. As much as this can be tedious, I have created a tutorial on my blog on how to clone a WordPress blog, which can easily be used to transfer a website to a new host. This does take a bit of practice, if you are uncertain about this, then I suggest that you practice a little on a test domain, as this is a service that you really should provide, even if not for free, it is always appreciated, and allows you to work more directly with your buyers.

The way that I learned to code is simple. I installed WordPress on a test domain, I killed it about 30 times by trying new code in the sidebar, on the posts pages, and so on and so forth, and although I am far from being the worlds best coder, I have a good idea now how to do basic code on WordPress. You certainly wont need to be a coding genius though, but it does come in handy. The most handy things to know are how to set up a table, div tags, the heading tags and some basic CSS. In most cases, that is all that you will ever need to know, and it will certainly save you the cost of out tasking simple tasks.

What Other Websites Can You Suggest To Me?

Last, and certainly not least, are there any sites that are helpful? Whilst I can say that you may find this site useful, and my own blog over at www.ryantmalone.com where I discuss my own adventures in the site flipping market, you may also find the following people quite useful when it comes to learning how to flip websites, domains, and so on and so forth:
Danny Batelic – Trading Websites Blog
Kenny Goodman – Kennys Blog
Yaro Starak – Entrepreneurs Journey
Travis Van Slooten – Flip Websites

So, I will cap this post off and ask the rest of the visitors who are reading this post, is there something that you need answered? As much as I regularly scout the various webmaster forums online to see what people are having trouble with, I love to receive questions in the Flipping Awesome inbox. Feel free to contact us, and if you are lucky, you may very well see your question answered, just like this one on Flipping Awesome!

Did Lynn Terry Really Get Maximum Dollar For This Great Auction?

Recently I touched base with Lynn Terry from ClickNewz about her recent and quite public auction on Flippa for her great product, 5000 Backlinks. Without beating around the bush, the auction ended up finishing with a very low bid when compared with the amount of revenue that the site has generated, so in a nutshell, I couldn’t not do a write up about why I think that this auction went for less than it actually did.

Before I go too far, I am not setting out to belittle Lynn’s work, this is done with her blessings, and with the goal to educate others about selling websites. Ready for my thoughts? Lets get into this…

First off, check out the auction for 5000 backlinks, then read below.

The first thing that struck me when looking at this auction was the headline. The headline told me that this website was an SEO product that had affiliates, plus sold a great deal in pre launch. Now, the thing here is that there are a ton of auctions on Flippa that make the same claim, so the key here would be (especially when selling a site of such high value) would be to research what similar titles are selling for. When people search for an auction on Flippa, it is the headline that brings them in, so in this case, in order for people to find out that it was an auction by Lynn Terry, that it was for a well known link building package that has a very powerful name attached to it, people had to first click on that title.

The other thing, and this is just me being really picky is that a total amount (such as selling over 30k in pre launch) doesn’t sell me. I expect that this is the same for some people as well (not all though), as to buy a site, I would like that kind of income to be recurring. If the site has been up for some 6 months, then you could assume that the total averaged amount would be some $5000 per month. I would have used that instead, rather than telling the potential buyer what it has made. There is always a difference in what a site has made, compared to what is will make. This is however more of a psychological take on things, so you can take that as you will. Years of working on the sales floor has that effect on people!

In my opinion, I would have front loaded the domain, and used some kind of persuasive language in the title. For example, “www.5000backlinks.com – This Product Makes 5K Per Month Through CB”. Again, this title was done in a rush, and there are ample different variations. The idea is to get the searchers attention, and to bring them in to that auction compared to the other auctions on the same page.

My second observation is in the income reporting. In large part, if someone is going to sell a site for a large amount, then figures need to match up as close as humanly possible. It is easy for someone to fork out $297 for a site on Flippa, but when it comes to figures not matching up, especially for sites that are selling for upwards of the $2000 threshold, trust needs to be established, and figures need to be absolutely 100% consistent, or as clear to the untrained eye as possible.

In the title, it is claimed that the site sold over 30k in pre launch, however, if we look in the body, we can see that the total amount sold through Lynn’s list is $21,110, and the total ClickBank payments are $3176. This is far under the 30k as stated in the headline, however, when looking at ClickBank sales, with that product offering a 50% cut to affiliates, we can be sure that the total amount sold would come up around the $27k mark, adding on top of that the ClickBank fees would push it slightly over the claimed amount.

So, the problem here is not in the fact that the figures do not seem to be valid, it is that they are not 100% clear to the untrained eye. Even for someone like me, I had to sit down for about 5 minutes to figure out the figures and see how they work out. In this case, they certainly do, but for the average person looking to buy a website, this can in most cases be a deterrent as people are much quicker to lack trust in people than they are to earn it, especially online.

The other thing that I do have to question is exactly how well that income will continue on when a new owner takes over the site. As the majority of the sales that were made were of the $67 special price for the product, which was marketed by Lynn through Twitter and her lists, what happens when someone purchases the site and product, without her name attached to it, with potentially a much smaller and less qualified list. I think that the buyer that would most succeed with this site is someone who has an established list of qualified buyers, much in the same fashion as Lynn does. Unfortunately, this eliminates a lot of potential buyers, as this would mean that just from ClickBank sales, they would be looking at earning around $500 per month from the site. Still, better than a poke in the eye with a stick, but certainly not worth the $10,000 opening bid that the site started with.

Next, I would like to look at how the auction started. The auction started with a $10,000 opening bid, and was also tweeted by @flippa. Now, one of the most important things about any auctions is in getting as much activity as possible on that auction. This is why starting with an opening bid of $1 is something that I recommend regardless of the value of your site. If you feel uneasy about this, then set a high reserve to start with. The key is to get as many bidders as possible on that auction so that you can gauge what the market is willing to pay for your auction.

As you get more activity as well, your site will very quickly rise up to the top of the most active auctions page, which for those who have been there, such as myself several times, the amount of attention that you get when you are at the top of that page is just insane.

My best advice is this. Start out low, gauge the response, then act accordingly. As long as you have that reserve in place, you will keep yourself safe.

Lastly, I want to talk about the site stats. Pulling the domain up in Market Samurai, the site has very little backlinks to the site, which for a product site says one of a few things. It is probably not ranking for any of its main keywords (buying phrases), and it is probably not being marketed that well by the affiliates that are on board.

Now, I know for a fact that the sales copy converts very well for the site, as I am an affiliate myself, and it is the highest selling product that I promote. But compared to the amount that has been taken in on ClckBank for the product over the time that it has been available, what I have earned from the product is actually quite a large chunk of that amount in comparison to a lot of other products that I market (You can shout me a Latte next time your in Melbourne for that Lynn by the way! ). What this says to me is that there are very little active and good affiliates marketing that product, which is not really a huge selling point.

The other thing to consider as well is that most ClickBank products cant be transferred to other accounts whilst retaining the current set of affiliates. Most of the time, the product needs to be created again, and affiliates need to be earned again. With the loss of the marketing that Lynn does from her list, plus the ClickBank affiliates, this does not mean good news for a potential buyer. That is of course, unless the account itself is going to be transferred, which I know a lot of sellers do not do.

So, at the end of all of this, what is my advice?

I would tweak the headline so that it converts more people who are searching for the auction. I would be more clear on the “take home” amounts when it comes to earnings. I would definitely start with a $1 opening bid, with a fairly average reserve that I could be somewhat happy with (website flipping is and always has been a bit of a gamble with a high risk of loss). I would have also focused on a bit more SEO, and created some kind of backend content that helps rank the sales copy for a handful of good buying phrases that bring in people looking to buy one way backlinks.

I would have also provided the monthly earnings in the headline, as I believe that recurring earnings are more lucrative. You can dissect that one however you like, some will agree some may not. I would also have been much more clear on earnings, and would have represented them in a way that absolutely anyone can understand and figure out. Rather than make claims of how much it has sold, I would have claimed the take home earnings, and would have used some persuasive language to emphasize that too.

As a side note, I would also have looked into installing a back end affiliate management system, similar to iDevaffiliate. In this case, that would mean that when the website sells, all of the affiliates come with it. What this means is that the new owner can literally install the site, and monetize it straight away. However, this is an extreme option to take, but undoubtedly would add a large amount of value to the site.

Would I settle for $3100, considering that it is below reserve? No way. The site can sell for much more, permitting that the value that the site currently has can be transferred to the new owner. As it stands, the site loses quite a bit of it, but based on the amount that it would seem likely the new owner would earn from taking over this site, I would expect that around the $6000 mark would be an acceptable price for it, as it is right now.

Now, there is a ton more that I could offer, but this is going to end up being the largest blog post that I have ever done, so I will leave it there for the moment. If anyone has any questions, or any more feedback that they would like to offer, feel free to use the comments below, or even better, shoot me a response.

Are You As Excited As Dave? Scroll Down To Watch The Podcast!

Since acquiring Flipping Awesome, things really have gone from running at 50mph to running at 150mph. So, who would have guessed that we would have started a website flipping podcast? Truth be told, we have gone ahead, and got the three of the biggest brains in Website flipping together to just talk about selling webistes, and a few other various topics.

Let me give you a quick idea how this all came about:

Danny – “So, we should create a podcast about flipping websites!”
Ryan – “Dude, that sounds like an awesome idea! What can we call it?”
Dave – “No idea, lets just do it and see what happens”

So, now, we have episode one of the “as yet nameless” website flipping podcast.

How To Buy & Sell Websites Like A Pro from david jenyns on Vimeo.

Here is just a snippet of what we talked about:

• The 5000 Backlinks podcast by Lynn Terry. Could she have improved it and got a better sell price?
• Are start up websites really dead?
• Some banter about the new Flippa auction interface
• How me and Dave bought Flipping Awesome
• How awesome a guy Ryan T Malone is, and how he is an absolute website flipping god!

…well, not really that last point, but you get the drift.

So, for the moment, I want to put the ball in your court. We have a new and exciting podcast, but we don’t have a name for it! So, we want you (everyone who watches it) to pick one for us! If you make us laugh, or even pick the winning title, who knows, you may walk away with a few goodies as well!

So get cracking! Submit your entries by commenting below, or you can contact us!

In this episode, Ryan smiles at the camera, Danny spills the beans on Ed Dale and his guitar skills, and Dave shows us his Jazz Hands!

Great news! The first podcast that me, David Jenyns and Danny Batelic created was such a hit that we decided to create a second episode! In fact, it has been such a success that we have managed to capture the eyes of Flippa themselves, and they have offered to send a few goodies our way to offer to those who watch the podcast, who want to participate.

So, apart from the usual banter this time around, me (Ryan T Malone), Danny and Dave managed to talk about a few things along the lines of:

• How The Challenge is going to affect the site flipping market
• Whether or not Flippa’s pricing is fair
• Ed Dale’s creepy “home alone antics” (no, seriously!)
• The 3D domain name craze

… and a bucket load more that I could mention here, but what would be the fun in me giving away all the good stuff?

Buying And Selling Websites Podcast – Episode Two from david jenyns on Vimeo.

It’s been 285 days since our first flip and while we’re a few weeks away from our second site flipping coaching class and our own WordPress theme club for website flippers – we thought it would be a good idea to review 4 key foundations to any website flip.  Whether your a seasoned pro or a newbie, this list is key.

While there is no magic list of things to add to your site in order to guarantee a sale however this list will lead you in the right direction.  Make sure you next site/auction has some (or all) of the following 4 foundations:

Foundation 1 – Visuals

• Customize all the ads to match your sites color schemes
• Don’t go too extreme with the colors (bright pinks and lime green)
• Graphic logos are nice, if you created one  set up a CafePress store and have t-shirt with the logo on them
• Text logos are easy to update for new site flippers
• If you’re including a Twitter account spend 10 minutes and customize it to match the site

Foundation 2 – Monetization

• People will buy a site from you because it can make money, add as many revenue streams as you can
• Keep the ads tasteful and professional
• Offer to help the new owners out by adding their ad code to the site for them (this should only take 10 minutes to do)
• Use plugins that automatically add ads to new articles without the new owner having to add them manually

Foundation 3 – Content

• If you have original content make sure that is prominently mentioned in your auction listing
• If the site is full of re-published make sure you link to the original source at the bottom of each article
• Ensure your buyers will have fresh content by creating an auto-posting blog with no plugins

Foundation 4 – Auction Sales Title & Copy

• Remember your auction title gets people to read your auction  copy
• Use action/buzz words in your title like ClickBank Ready, Traffic Generator, High End, Make Hundreds Per Day, etc…
• Break up your text with bold headlines, paragraphs, bulleted lists, colors, etc… nothing turns people off like an entire page of black text that looks like on big sentence
• People want to buy something form YOU – include some of your own personality into your listing (don’t be a robot)

Just remember that you should always be learning new techniques and trying different things with your site flipping.  For example we’ve flipped a one-page site that sells an ebook (no articles), we’re almost done with a site that autoposts for one entire year and we’ve sold everything in between.  Some sell – some don’t sell right away!

Is there something that you like to add to each and every site you flip?
We’d love to hear about it!
Type your response in the comments below.

As the new owners of Flipping Awesome (even though we still need to update photos and the such), we are privileged to bring out first “How Much Is My Site Worth” post. So, here’s the deal… Bishwajeet has contacted us about a website that he is selling on Flippa, which both myself and Dave have had the chance to look over, and we have both got estimates of what we think it will sell for.

However, before I get into that, I will allow you to make up your own mind. The auction is located here.

So, the first things that strike me when I look at this auction are the domain age (1 year old), and the total revenue that the site receives. With the total number of uniques per month being at around 500, this says to me that the quality of the traffic that arrives on site much be very very good. This is a huge value add as it stands, and has boosted what I believe the site would sell for.

Now, the site sells an e-book that helps bloggers increase their RSS subscribers and revenue. Not a bad idea for a product, one that I could see there would be a bit of demand for as well. Looking at the conversion rate based on the total copies sold to meet the total gros revenue as well, that would mean that 34 copies would need to be sold per month, which means that 6.8% of the traffic is being converted. Now, that is quite a good amount, considering that if the new owner simply promoted a little harder, increased traffic by 50 – 100%, the total revenue that this site would generate would be quite decent.

Looking at how the site is being promoted as well, it would seem that it is all done through Digital Point, plus through the marketplace where the item is actually being sold. This is great, as this means that the new owner can literally buy today and monetize tomorrow.

So, lets get down to the good stuff…

After Dave had a good idea at the auction (and about 3.6 minutes of umping and ahh’ing), he came to the conclusion that the site would sell for $950. He agreed that it is not a bad site at all, and it should sell for a good amount.

As for my estimation, I am keeping in mind that this site has a huge amount of potential, it is marketed through traditional methods that the new owner can do, and it is actually pulling in a good amount. Personally, if I were to purchase this site, I would set a limit of no more than $2000, but that is just me, however, I am going to go much higher than Dave, and risk everything by estimating that the site will sell for around the $2100 mark. As the auction currently has 3 days left, and the price is currently at $650 with bids coming in quite fast, I think that it still has a bit of life left in it.

Do you have any other ideas, or estimations? As always, make them known below, and we will see who has the best intuition when it comes to guessing the end price for an auction on Flippa!

UPDATE

Wow, how embarrassing! Looks like I am going to have to touch up on my skills! The site sold for $860 on Flippa, making Dave the winner of this round. A good price for the winner of the auction, and congrats to Bishwajeet for getting a good price!

Ever hear that song ‘We’re All In This Together’?  Well, we definitely believe that and with everyone’s help we can watch each others backs from people that are trying to rip us of. Until now, there has not been no one central place that contains a real list of fraudulent Flippa scam buyers – today that changes!

Of course you could rely on Flippa’s Trust Rating, but that only goes so far and does NOT take into consideration the Flippa buyers who:

• Take forever to pay
• Are rude to deal with
• Take forever to give you the necessary information
• Make you take extra annoying steps after the sale

How It Works

In order to make this useful to all site flippers, here’s how this is going to work:

• If you’ve been burned, jerked around and/or generally screwed with > post a reply to this article below with the FLIPPA USERNAME and details of their wrong doing
• If you received a bid on one of your Flippa auctions > search this page (use CTRL + F) and search for the FLIPPA USERNAME of the bidder to see if they have mistreated a fellow site flipper

To kick this off, we’re going to start by adding the Flippa scam buyers that have burned us and we hope never buy from us again!

NOTE: This is not a cheap shot at Flippa – ALL marketplaces have buyers
that are not-pleasant to deal with, not just Flippa.

Looking back on the first conversation that I had with David Jenyns about flipping websites, it was clear that what I would be doing, for at least quite some time, was clearly defined. We both wanted nothing more than to learn how to flip websites, and as s side bonus, learn how to be a website flipping broker (hence, me being The Original Website Flipping Broker). As time went on, we quickly learned what worked, and what didn’t, made some, lost some, and have silently been making a very large pile of notes and videos which we are in the process of compiling into the greatest site flipping course that you have ever seen.

Going back a few days ago now, I tweeted in shock about Ian and Amy’s decision to sell this website, for some time now, I had been a regular on this flipping awesome site, and really appreciated both of their points of view on flipping websites, and of course, the great work that they had done promoting this as a viable business for online entrepreneurs alike. Then I remember the Skype call that I got almost instantly after posting that tweet from David. It went something along the lines of, “Are you crazy! Dude, we should be buying that site right now!”.

So, a little after looking over the fine print, the potential that the site has, and most importantly, some due diligence, we drew up a limit, and I acted on behalf of him on Flippa as his buyer, and only a mere few hours later, we were the new owners of Flipping Awesome. It was a little strange sitting on the other side of the fence, however, we soon discovered that if we apply the same principals that we do when selling websites to those that we buy, it will always work in our favor. Something that I hope to teach you in time.

So, to tell you a little bit about the both of us. First things first, we are not a married couple (although my girlfriend tends to disagree some times!), what we are is two guys who compliment each other in the tasks that we do. We are also Australian, which I hear automatically makes us super cool (apparently…).

I am a website flipper and an SEO Expert (Subscribe to my blog here) who comes from a background of floor sales, and every single possible idea of Customer Service that is in existence (well… it would almost seem that way), and have been online since about 1997, although, have taken it up full time at the beginning of 2009. I have been selling websites for a while now, acting as a broker of websites on Flippa, and have a very unique perspective of selling sites. I run my own blog, plus a handful of other affiliate sites, and other sites that were created to flip, which are baking away nicely. I will also be making my services available to the public very soon.

Dave Jenyns (check out his bio) comes from a much broader background, from selling the MCG back in 2003, to being one of the most in demand people in the Stock Market in Australia. After taking some time to reflect on his own experiences and what he had achieved online, he fell into the persona “The Complete Entrepreneur”, and now runs Melbourne SEO Services, plus has a back catalogue of products in the Stock Market and SEO niche. David is an in demand online businessman, who regularly speaks at seminars, and also does a wide variety of webinars online with the likes of Ed Dale and a handful of others too, plus, he has also established himself as one of the leaders in the SEO niche, interviewing some of the industry heavyweights over at Podcast Interviews.

As for our plans with the site, well, first things first, there are going to need to be a few changes around here (Ian and Amy photos, etc), and the closure of the site flipping course until further notice, however, we will be launching our own course very soon, which is going to literally change the game. As we also appreciate the work that Ian and Amy have done on site (they are both great genuine people, and we both appreciate their work on this site immensely!), we will leave their names attached to those posts as a sign of respect to them, and the work that they have done.

So, now that I have told you the story about us, and how we ended up being the new faces behind Flipping Awesome, how about we hear a bit about you and your story? As always, we would love to get to know you, so feel free to comment below, or even @reply us on Twitter.

First Look At The New Flippa Auction Interface

Last night, whilst reading through my Twitter updates, and reading the questions that I am asked every day about flipping sites, an announcement was made by Flippa that they had made some pretty drastic changes on site, and after doing my own video review on the new Flippa auction interface over on my blog and sitting back and reflecting on these new changes, it is becoming apparent to me that this change is intended for one thing, and one thing only. Let me take a minute to explain.

First things first, the Flippa marketplace is evolving, and this is not just due to new rules or features that are being implemented on site, this is due to an evolving base of sellers and buyers. On the way home from my other job today, I was thinking over this alot, and even talking myself through how these changes have come about.

There has been an argument over whether or not Flippa is starting to go out of fashion, and that people just aren’t willing to shell out god money for a good website. We have all seen it, the traditional start up site that used to easily sell for 500$ and above is now selling for not even 200$ if lucky, and even less at times. The thing is that as much as I may speak about this as the death of the startup website, there is still a market for these sites, the only difference is that in the course of a few months, they have become much smarter, not only in the way that they choose a site, but in the way that they bid for a site.

Does this mean that the start up website market has died? Likely not, more so, it has evolved, and become smarter.

Now, the guys behind Flippa, their main concern is that people who are buying on the market place are getting good value, and with the costs to list and finalize a sale on Flippa being quite steep (but very well worth the cost), it is going to be of massive concern to the team behind Flippa to keep customers on board as much as possible, and not only that, but maintain the quality of their auctions. It is obvious that through these changes, that the intention is to provide a transparent and clean interface that works in keeping sellers honest, and at the same time, reducing the number of disputes on site by means of incorrectly claimed data. Always a good thing in my opinion.

Anyway, if you are not too familiar with what has changed on Flippa, check out the video at the start of this piece, and that will give you a better insight. If you have any input (positive or negative), please, feel free to either comment below, or you can @reply us on Twitter, and we will no doubt chat about it on here if it makes us think.

PS. I know, we haven’t got around to changing things around here too much just yet, it is on the cards! We are just too darn busy getting this Website Flipping course up to scratch!

Did you just say, SEO For Flippa Auctions? Your kidding right?

Just last night, myself, Dave, and Danny Batelic were having a long chat about selling websites, and the topic of SEO for Flippa auctions happened to come up. The interesting thing here is that although we use tags so that people can find the sites that we sell within a specific category, and although we optimize our titles as well, it would seem as if this information is becoming slightly irrelevant when it comes to making our auctions findable for potential buyers.

To put it bluntly, for most people, this is not good, however, the benefit of being me is that I try to look at things from a different angle. If no one else is optimizing their auctions so that they can attract buyers through a series of keywords in Flippa search, then that puts me (and anyone else that reads this) is a great spot, right?

So, I went away, I thought about things a little, and this is what I came up with.

Disclaimer: This information is provided with no endorsement from Flippa at all, and no confirmation of its validity apart from what I found from testing and research. Be aware of this if you choose to test this method on a live auction.

From my testing, I believe that the idea of (at least) On Page SEO for Flippa auctions is a viable one, and what draws me to this conclusion is that although it seems that tags and keywords in the title do not influence where the auction is placed within the results, it seems that keyword density within the description most definitely does. If you haven’t watched the above video, that will clear things up a little, in particular, what drew me to that conclusion.

So, why would we want to apply this kind of optimization to our auctions? Think about how you attract specific buyers to an auction. For example, the difference between someone who finds an auction based on the keyword “No Reserve” and “High Traffic”. One is going to pay less, the other is going to most likely pay a higher amount. The key really is going to be to step in to the avatar of the potential buyer, optimize for what it is that they are searching for, then hopefully (read the disclaimer before testing please!), this should result in some good results.

Either way, this is a fairly interesting topic, some may see it as being a little bit “out there”, however, at the end of the day, this is going to be tested, it is going to be torn apart, it is going to be talked about, so feel free to share your input. I would love to know your opinion on the notion of SEO for Flippa auctions.