Investing in websites
The investing world has been moving online faster and faster over the past 15 years, and with it the focus of many up-and-coming entrepreneurs has shifted too.
There are plenty of investment opportunities on the net, from social media management to cyber security, specialist marketing and many more. Yet one of the most obvious ones you may consider is investing in the websites and domain names that make up the worldwide web itself.
Such investments are popular across the globe, but it remains an attractive investment, with plenty of options. However, there are a few things you need to bear in mind before taking the plunge, and we are going to run through some of the most important now.
Long term strategy
It is tempting to imagine making large profits from day one and picture quick returns on your investment. Technically, you could – if you are very lucky. But most likely you will spend years improving, learning and gradually building before reaching anything close to a decent salary.
On top of that, many websites take a long time to re-build, re-market and sell on at a decent profit – a turnaround time of 18 to 24 months is not unusual, and that is for experts. As for ones you build from scratch yourself, the process will likely take even longer.
This is due to the fact that you need to be prepared to work hard on every website you buy, even the ones that are already very well-developed. You may opt for a total re-design, a change in content focus, a new audience to target and other changes. All of these require planning, building and testing. Be prepared for the long haul.
Build your own sites
Firstly, let us clarify that buying existing websites is often a more sustainable approach than building your own. This is because they already have an existing customer base that can be used as a starting point to grow from, as well as all or most of the groundwork having been done for you, both of which will cut down on the turnaround time.
On top of that, if you see potential in said site then it is likely it has a formula that works, minimizing the risk of taking a punt on a new idea. So, why do we suggest building your own sites from scratch?
The benefit of doing so is not in the immediate investment sense, but in terms of gaining knowledge over time. If you learn how to create everything on a website from the bottom up, then you will not only be fully able to make any adaptations you desire to an existing site, but you will also have the sort of deeper understanding that makes coming up with new innovations and ideas easier.
Improve all your skills
Following on from the previous point about building your skill base, you have got to make sure that you are continuously improving your talents across a wide range of areas.
The issue here is that people may spend large amounts of time learning how to spot websites with good potential – a key asset, obviously – yet neglect other skills such as web optimization and internet marketing, otherwise known as the things they need to do in order to improve the site itself. Ultimately, there is no point being able to find potential if you cannot realize it, so make sure you have all bases covered.