Website Investing
Why buy websites? Websites are assets that can return income and profit over time and can be one of the strongest passive income investments you can make, even more so than real estate in many ways.
Websites earn their investment back faster than real estate due to the cost in relation to value, they also don’t have property taxes or as much in maintenance costs.
This makes websites a great way to diversify your investments, start building assets and start making passive income.
**Hint: Buy websites and other investments that build your assets so you can have views like the one above in the middle of any workday instead of being trapped inside a cubicle inside a dark building.
I was sitting at my 9-5, completely drained, exhausted from sitting all day, cortisol coursing through my blood, feeing stressed.
Unhappiness stemming from feeling chained to my desk with barely enough autonomy to get up and walk periodically to get coffee throughout the day.
I would talk to myself thinking, if only I were making $1,000/mo through another income channel and if I knew I could build on that then I wouldn’t have to be chained here.
I could build indefinitely on that wherever I wanted to.
I could get up and walk throughout the day without feeling guilty, I could even go on a run whenever I felt like it, something that would be completely unacceptable at my 9-5.
Now I can go on a run in the middle of the day whenever I feel like it
I could also begin to build a savings and asset portfolio that would have an astronomical ROI compared to any regular stock or uneducated investment.
At this point I understood the importance of assets, and building a passive to semi-passive income portfolio, and I was beginning to wrap my head around what was possible.
This is when I started learning everything I could about passive income and investments and when I started investing in buying websites for myself.
My Website Buying Investment Journey
Fast forward to today where my investments return themselves in 10-20 months, and even my first purchase “mistake” sites continue to bring in revenue.
The sites bring in monthly revenue right away which I increase with ad optimization and organic traffic.
Buying online businesses is one of the best investments you can ever make, since once the initial investment is made back each month is pure profit, not something you can say for many other investments other than real estate.
Real estate however, has a much longer period until you make back your original investment, and you’ll always be paying a huge percentage in taxes and upkeep fees, plus the risk of running an empty house and taking time to find tenants, that will always be hurting your profit margin.
I currently have one site returning $1,200 pure profit each month already having paid back the initial investment from 10 months ago, and my total portfolio is returning over $3,000 pure passive profit each month.
Here is my investment journey, including my mistake sites, that are still returning revenue, and my successful sites that are possible due to the lessons I learned from my initial investments, now returning their full investment in <10 months.
| Date Purchased | Monthly Valuation Purchased For | Amount Started Making/Month | Amount Ended Making/Month | % Of Purchase Price Made (So Far) | Made Investment Back In X Months | Lesson Learned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site #1 - 2016 - 2 Years Ago | 65X in actuality, was told 4X | $20/month, was told $350 | $20/month | 25% | Est 65 months | 🙁 Always verify revenue |
| Site #2 - 2017 - 1 Year Ago | 20X | $500/month | $1,000/month decreased to $200/month | 75% | Est 27 months | 🙁 Don't invest in trends or short term fad sites |
| Site #3 - 10 Months Ago | 20X | $370/month | $1,200/month | 126% | 10 months | This is the type of site to invest in! I'll take an extra $1,200/month 🙂 |
| Site #4 - 1 Month Ago | 10X | $1,800/month | $1,800/month, expected to increase | Purchased 1 month ago, will update in 10 months | Est 10 months | Great deal, looking to keep increasing traffic & revenue in coming months 🙂 |
I have learned a lot, and have some very successful sites, which I will keep investing in and improving.
Many people do not understand the value of wealth-building assets that keep returning a profit over time.
Websites that make back their investment in 1-2 years and then continue to return pure profit for months to years afterward are an investment that will continue to pay off for years to come and be an incredible asset in any investment portfolio.
Sound like something you’re interested in having? Cool. Keep reading.
I have my own portfolio of sites that I look to sell occasionally and I vet sites to sell and send out to my list.
NOTE:
This is for anyone with considerable savings who wants to add a cash-generating asset to their investment portfolio.
This is not a last ditch effort or for people who want to go into debt.
I take the time to find amazing rare gem websites, ie those with the potential to return your full investment in 25 or fewer months, then start to be pure profit.
These sites are not common. For example, I may have to sift through 200 or more potential sites to find a single profitable gem at a good ROI price.
A few good fit sites may come along in a week, or it can be months between sites.
Not only do I look for rare gem great deal, profitable, high ROI potential sites, I also use my online marketing experience to drive the ROI way up by increasing revenue per visitor and increasing visitors where applicable.
So a site you could buy and make back the revenue in 25 months all of a sudden becomes one you can make back in 10 or 15 months.
I have experiences with ad placements, conversion testing, affiliate networks, relationships with ad network providers and experience combining all of these things to optimize ad revenue and increase monthly profit once a site is acquired.
Optimizing the sites in this way allows me to not only find great deal sites, but to increase revenue, thereby decreasing the time it takes to earn an investment back.
My Website Buying & Investing Story In Detail
My story is not 100% smooth sailing, and it has been a huge learning and growing process for me.
My first website purchase I went in blind and did not even attempt to verify claimed revenue.
Obviously, this was a huge mistake and I always not only verify revenue, but run common sense checks based on Google Analytics pageviews and industry RPMs.
When I purchased my first site (for a very small amount of money, luckily), the website creator lied about how much the site was making.
Due to my lack of experience, I unfortunately took him at his word instead of doing my due diligence and double checking the traffic and checking traffic vs revenue reasonability.
Luckily this site was very low in cost and although I have only made back 25% of that investment with little to no hope of making back the rest, it was a great learning experience.
I now double check all revenue claims, only buy sites with verified revenue, and use my knowledge of RPM and affiliate earnings to double check all revenue claims, even verified revenue, against Google Analytics traffic and industry RPMs.
My second website purchase was based on a popular iPhone game. My game app answer website was making $500/month through passive ad income when I bought it.
I changed ad networks and created an app to run additional ads on.
The first few months monthly income more than doubled to over $1K passive ad income/month.
Even though the ad network change was extremely positive, I made a huge mistake purchasing the site because it was based on an application.
Applications have an average half life of 6 months, and in a few months as the application declined in popularity it began to drastically decline in traffic.
I made that purchase a year ago, and so far even though it ended up being a mistake, I have currently made back 75% of that investment and continue to earn money back.
It will take another few years to earn the full investment back at the current rate, which is much slower than I would like.
I have learned a lot from my investments and continue to learn and avoid making the same mistakes.
My third and fourth website purchases have built upon the experience and knowledge I gained through the first two purchases.
Even though neither of my first two purchases were ideal and included being lied to as well as not considering the full picture of a timetable of a trendy game application, I still ended up making most of my investment back.
Building on this knowledge, the third and fourth purchases have both been very profitable.
My third website is a two website combo set, which I purchased at a 20X monthly valuation.
That was 10 months ago and as of today I’ve made back 100% of the purchase price already plus an additional $1,600 and continue to earn $1,000 /month passive income pure profit.
I was able to earn back my investment so quickly, in only 10 months vs 20, by increasing monthly revenue over 4X for the sites.
The two sites were making combined $370/month, once purchased I have been able to slowly increase the monthly revenue by 4X to around $1,200 as of this current month.
These sites are in much more stable niches with user-generated content, making them much more passive and reliable.
I also thoroughly checked into site traffic, verified revenue and ad network options before purchasing this site, a lesson I learned the hard way from site #1.
I originally paid $6,400 for the website, and was able to increase the revenue to quickly outpace my initial investment within the first 10 months as illustrated below.
| Month | Income |
|---|---|
| Month 1 Income | $370 |
| Month 2 Income | $600 |
| Month 3 Income | $600 |
| Month 4 Income | $600 |
| Month 5 Income | $600 |
| Month 6 Income | $800 |
| Month 7 Income | $800 |
| Month 8 Income | $1,200 |
| Month 9 Income | $1,300 |
| Month 10 Income | $1,200 |
| Total Income | $8,070 |
Not only has the site in the above example earned back 100% of the initial investment in 10 months, it also continues to make $1,200 in pure profit a month.
2019 UPDATE: Site #3 has now made a total of $24,288.54 over the course of less than 2 years, and cost $6,400, making a nice 379% return on investment.
Many sites are not hands-off but this site was 99% hands-off and I didn’t touch it, due to the user-generated content model.
Here is a profit update:
NOTE: You have to click ‘Next’ a few times at the bottom right corner of the table to see the more recent revenue dates.
Website Revenue and Profit over time:
| Month | Ad Network 1 | Ad Network 2 | Ad Network 3 | Ad Network 4 | Ad Partnership | Total Revenue | Additional Site Revenue | Net Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17-May | $145.48 | $ - | $ - | $ - | $ - | $145.48 | $127.99 | |
| 17-Jun | $282.78 | $ - | $ - | $249.37 | $ - | $532.15 | $514.66 | |
| 17-Jul | $76.04 | $164.81 | $ - | $271.92 | $ - | $512.77 | $495.28 | |
| 17-Aug | $36.85 | $424.42 | $ - | $194.87 | $ - | $656.14 | $638.65 | |
| 17-Sep | $39.31 | $563.81 | $ - | $453.58 | $ - | $1,056.70 | $1,039.21 | |
| 17-Oct | $27.07 | $511.44 | $ - | $100.97 | $ - | $639.48 | $621.99 | |
| 17-Nov | $6.59 | $591.66 | $ - | $149.83 | $ - | $748.08 | $730.59 | |
| 17-Dec | $25.97 | $637.00 | $ - | $125.00 | $ - | $787.97 | $770.48 | |
| 18-Jan | $19.98 | $449.26 | $ - | $106.45 | $500.00 | $1,075.69 | $1,058.20 | |
| 18-Feb | $33.87 | $410.10 | $ - | $111.16 | $500.00 | $1,055.13 | $1,037.64 | |
| 18-Mar | $32.67 | $635.25 | $ - | $500.00 | $1,167.92 | $1,150.43 | ||
| 18-Apr | $21.00 | $438.29 | $ - | $141.97 | $564.00 | $1,165.26 | $1,147.77 | |
| 18-May | $34.27 | $421.27 | $ - | $ - | $455.54 | $438.05 | ||
| 18-Jun | $46.43 | $589.47 | $ - | $161.90 | $ - | $797.80 | $780.31 | |
| 18-Jul | $36.61 | $425.78 | $42.88 | $ - | $505.27 | $487.78 | ||
| 18-Aug | $44.15 | $417.95 | $112.43 | $157.40 | $ - | $731.93 | $714.44 | |
| 18-Sep | $38.82 | $533.75 | $99.87 | $ - | $672.44 | $654.95 | ||
| 18-Oct | $47.55 | $624.90 | $169.36 | $160.78 | $ - | $1,002.59 | $985.10 | |
| 18-Nov | $52.67 | $684.62 | $94.04 | $ - | $831.33 | $813.84 | ||
| 18-Dec | $48.55 | $639.82 | $107.02 | $173.28 | $ - | $968.67 | $951.18 | |
| 19-Jan | $23.04 | $264.59 | $23.87 | $ - | $ - | $311.50 | $8,836.00 | $294.01 |
| 19-Feb | Total Site Profit | $24,288.54 |
Website Cost over time:
| Month | Site Acquisition | Hosting/Domain | Domain | Total Expenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17-May | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 17-Jun | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 17-Jul | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 17-Aug | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 17-Sep | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 17-Oct | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 17-Nov | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 17-Dec | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 18-Jan | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 18-Feb | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 18-Mar | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 18-Apr | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 18-May | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 18-Jun | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 18-Jul | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 18-Aug | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 18-Sep | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 18-Oct | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 18-Nov | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 18-Dec | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 19-Jan | $14.99 | $2.50 | $17.49 | |
| 19-Feb | $8,836.00 |
My fourth website I purchased 1 month ago. I was able to purchase this site at a steal, a 10X monthly valuation.
My focus now is on increasing organic traffic/seo and keeping ad revenue RPM constant. Even making back this investment in the expected 10 months then continuing to get $1,800+ pure profit is perfect. My goal is to double traffic in the next 2 months.
This is doable, and would increase revenue to earn back the site purchase in only 6 or so months, an incredible deal.
Interested in building your own website passive income portfolio or learning more?
If you are ready to invest in a site or would like to learn, sign up for the website investing waitlist where I occasionally send out vetted website deals using this form:
Sign up For the Her.CEO Website Investing Waitlist here:
You can also message me stacycaprio@gmail.com if you have any specific questions.
If the fit is right, we will pick your price point and you will be added to the waiting list.
As I come across these rare gem great deal ROI sites, I match them with names at the top of the waiting list and price point.
When you’re at the top of the waiting list and a match for a site at your price point or lower, I will reach out with the details and you can choose to take the deal or wait for another one.
At this point I will handle everything for you.
Finding the site, the negotiation, the site transfer process, optimizing ads and ad networks and tweaking SEO, then seamlessly handing off the site to you.
Why am I doing this?
Well, I don’t have unlimited capital to invest in hundreds of sites on my own, although as my own investments return cash I continue to reinvest that into new sites for myself, as this is the most profitable, passive, asset building income I know, understand and am comfortable with.
This is something I’m good at, and I’m able to make money for myself and others while giving people an incredible asset that has the potential to provide them with possibly their first taste of semi-passive income.
Anyone read rich Dad poor Dad?
A good book I recently finished. A website that makes revenue monthly is an example of the positive “asset” column that most Americans are missing in their financial lives and investments.
A website that returns monthly revenue is a huge asset and a great way to not only diversify your investments but to add pure monthly profit as opposed to percentages up and down in the stock market.
Important: This is for people who have saved money they want to invest. I am not looking for people who will go into debt. Only contact me if this is something you currently have the money saved to invest in.
Disclaimer: All investments are risky, and there is no guarantee.
I am fully transparent and give all available past revenue and traffic information and project that into the future as is and based on our ad network and SEO tweaks.
No one can control the future 100% or google etc. I want to make it clear that this is not a guarantee. It’s also not a lottery ticket.
I would never buy one of those.
It is a carefully selected, knowledge and experience backed investment, as the more the investor knows and understands before investing, the less of a risk it is.
Additionally, if you have a website you’re looking to sell, and you want to tap into my network of people looking to buy sites, feel free to email me at stacycaprio@gmail.com or go to the sell website page for more informatinon. I’ll personally respond to all inquiries.
42 thoughts on “Website Investing | How To Buy Sites That Earn $1K/Profit Mo”
You have peaked my interest. Do you have a training course or coaching? How do I get started?
I bought all of my sites on Flippa.com, so you can start looking there. I don’t have a course, but feel free to email me stacycaprio@gmail.com to be added to the investing waitlist where I sometimes send deals.
Stacy,
I’d be interested in seeing that podcast. This article was very helpful btw
Thanks Dominic! You can listen to the Side Hustle Nation podcast www.sidehustlenation.com/stacy ~
Hi Stacy
I shot you an email per your request on your recent podcast interview. Look forward to talking.
Brandon
Great, glad you enjoyed the podcast, will get back to you soon!
Where can I listen to the podcast interview? Thanks!
Congrats on your success so far!
Thanks! You can listen here: http://sidehustlenation.com/stacy
Also curious how’d you hear of the podcast if you hadn’t listened to it already?
Ouch, that’s a great question. I wrote the comment six months ago, so I don’t remember. Maybe on Niche Pursuits?
Haha – no I was actually genuinely curious! I think you are right and simply read my article on Niche Pursuits first, then heard about the podcast later. Sorry about the confusion!
Haha, I just realized! The comment above was in February (mine was in March), and it mentions your interview! Mistery solved!
🙂 !
What a small world! I’m impressed with Stacy’s her.ceo website and contributions to our Logo.com/blog and just read through this great story about website investing. Delving into the comments, I see a convo between Goran and Stacy! Hi Goran — great guy. Did you know that you have both been on the Logo.com blog in 2020? It’s a small, small world!
Thanks Richard! I have very much enjoyed contributing to the Logo blog and enjoy reading the site’s articles as well. What a small world! How cool that you also know Goran and have featured him on the Logo blog! Goran also published a post on Her.CEO with some of his online business buying experiences too – loved working with him on the piece.
Love learning about those small connections!
Hi Stacy, I just sent you an email also so I may be added to the waiting list.
Thanks,
Great, glad to have you on the list!
Hi Stacy
Glad I can across the podcast. Very excited. I have this website on Flipp I looked at. Would like to use you expertise and advice
Feel free to ask a question!
Stacy,
I listened to your episode of the side hustle show podcast, I found your journey so fascinating. I actually looked into this business model last year and spent some time on Flippa and quickly recognized I have no idea how to valuate this type of businesses. I would love the opportunity to work with you/ invest . I’m sending you an email now to get on your waitlist and hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you, very happy you enjoyed the podcast and I hope to be sending some good deals to the list soon, will keep you updated!
Stacy, have you ever looked at ecommerce websites to purchase?
I personally have not, but I have purchased affiliate click to purchase sites before.
Hi Stacy, I just finished listening to your interview in the side hustle nation podcast. Congratulations on your success!
Thank you!
Hi, Stacey! your blog is very inspiring. I am interested in learning more about working/investing with you.
Hi Jocelyn! Thank you:) Have you signed up for the website investing waitlist or the her.ceo email list? Those are the two places I will be sending out website deals and communications.
Hi Stacy,
Just sent over an email, hopefully we can speak soon.
Many thanks,
Tobias
Hi Stacy, I just sent you an email also so I may be added to the waiting list.
Thanks,
Hi Tobias,
Thank you and adding you to the waitlist now!
Stacy
Stacy, I stumbled upon your podcast on Sidehustle nation, where I then heard about your website. I’m curious, could you give any insights into the type of websites you purchased that were successful (website #3 and website #4)? Perhaps the niche? I’m curious specifically how you generate revenue from them (if its on products, ads, etc). Thank you!!
Hi Heather, I’m happy you found me via Sidehustle nation, that was a fun podcast!
I’m curious, what do you hope to gain by knowing the niche? Maybe I can help answer a more relevant question.
I generate most of my revenue from ads and affiliate links and don’t sell any products at this time, however I may consider it in the future.
I also don’t share niches to avoid similar sites popping up which I think tends to happen when people share specifics ~
I own hundreds of domains that are parked, not websites. I have never known how to monetize them. So I am curious are you placing the ADS and AFFILIATE links on individual websites you have purchased? Are you HOSTING all these sites? Or are you just parking these at the registrar and earning from visits to the parked sites. If the later is the case please explain how you are doing that… Thanks.
I personally own zero parked domains and have all my sites hosted. I place ads on many sites, simply testing different spots and seeing what works. Try starting with header ads, footer ads and sidebar ads. I put affiliate links where it makes sense based on context and product.
I’ve never owned a parked domain so I don’t know how you’d go about monetizing that, good luck.
Didn’t know about the side hustle show podcast – thanks for including the link in the comments. Do you have your own podcast or youtube page yet? Would love to hear you speak more of your experiences and site buying/selling advice on the reg. Truly inspirational story to those young, female entrepreneurs stuck in the toxic, status quo corporate life. Thank you!!
Thanks Kasey, love your support and encouragement! I’ve been wanting to interview other successful CEO’s on a podcast / YouTube channel as well as go on a few more podcasts and interviews. Maybe I will start one or the other sometime in the New Year. Thank you for taking the time to read my post and for your kind feedback.
In addition, please put me on your list of websites to buy.
Thank you,
Steve
Thank you for your interest in the site waitlist as well Steve! You can sign up by entering your email into the green email subscribe box on this page: https://her.ceo/about-her-ceo/. It’s better if you add yourself this way so you can click to confirm the ‘double opt-in’ in your email inbox, otherwise if I add you and the emails go into your spam you’ll never get to see them.
Hi Stacy. I came across the Side Histle Nation pod episode. You have a great scalable business model, and I have a online site I am interested in exploring. Would you consider 1:1 paid coaching to support me in the evaluation process?
I also signed up for your deal list too. Thanks in advance.
Hi Natalie,
Thank you – I enjoyed our call & am looking forward to updates on the deal you’re in process with.
Keep me updated and am looking forward to staying in touch!
🙂 Stacy
Note: For anyone reading & interested in 1:1 coaching or help vetting a deal, you can also book a call with me on Clarity.fm/stacycaprio
Hi Stacy,
Thanks for all the info you’re Sharig for free right here on your website. Can I ask you to elaborate on something? You said your third website I think, was based on user generated content, so you didn’t have to write posts or anything. Can you explain this a little more? What does this look like?
Thanks,
Jesse
Hi Jesse,
Great question!
Yes, my user-generated content website was 99% hands-off and I only logged in a handful of times to check on things.
The site was a forum-based site, run on the free, popular PHP-bb forum platform. Quora is one example of a popular forum-based site, not run on PHP-bb however, where users produce all of the content.
Forum sites can be great because you don’t need to produce your own content. I was also lucky to have a strong group of dedicated admins who approved content and truly loved the site enough to keep it going for free.
The downside is someone has to moderate so if you don’t have others who volunteer you will need to moderate and make sure all content complies with your site guidelines & any copyright guidelines.
Hope that is helpful!
Stacy
Loved your podcast interview on Side hustle nation. Really enjoyed reading this article too. Just signed up for your investing websites list. I’m keen to buy a website and would love your opinion of a good one. Looking forward to bingeing on all your other blog posts ad checking out Brian Dean too. Thank you so much! 🙏🏽🙏🏽
Thank you Anita, appreciate your kind words so much! 🙂