Has anyone had any success buying a local domain website, getting it on first page and then selling it to a local business? I have found some good domains that this might work for but I am wondering if anybody has tried this before.

[BWoods]

I would like to buy a local domain like scottsdalepaintingcontractor.com and then seo it to first page before I sell it. Has anybody tried such strategy?

[KeriMorgret]

Thanks to David, Patrick, and EGOL for their great answers. You all help make Q&A such a great place!

[EGOL]

I know a guy who is a gem hunter.  He goes out looking for tourmaline, topaz, garnet, etc.  He found a big pocket of tourmaline crystals.  Lots of them were gem material, many of them were specimen grade.  He estimated their value at about 1/2 million.

A couple of his buddies were joking about him rolling in dough and being on Easy Street.  He told them... "Hey, it is going to take me 25 shows, 10000 miles of driving, 25 five-day road trips, 50 days of packing and unpacking, 125 days and nights on the road, about a year's worth of wages for employees to attend the shows with me, all of those meals on the road and hotel costs, another year of waves to have the specimens cleaned, labeled, weighed, identified, assessed and labled to be marketable... all of that on top of leases, excavation equipment and miner's wages to get them out of the ground,   There might be a few bucks left.

[BWoods]

I appreciate hearing from somebody that has personal experience doing this and can vouch for their results. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question.

[BWoods]

When you break it down into dollars you make a valid point that this is not worth my time whatsoever.

[EGOL]

Thanks Patrick.  Glad you liked it.

[WhiteboardCreations]

Bradley,

David is right in terms of your time vs your return if you sell. I had the same idea about buying up domains (lots of them) in hopes to build a few, rank them, generate leads for businesses, then sell them or continue to build leads. It was a mess, expensive, time consuming and something I won't do again. Our return was low, if any on most. We just sold a bunch of the domains last year. Out of sight. Out of mind.

EGOL, the way you responded to this question is amazing. I enjoyed reading it and agree wholeheartedly with you.

All the best, Bradley. - Patrick

[EGOL]

Selling an existing local website is like trying to sell used goods... or fixer-upper houses.

It ain't gonna suit.   When you find a buyer you are going to have to repaint, rebrand, and they ain't gonna like the domain that you picked out.

The guys who do painting here already have a brand.  The name that was used when they were baptized and the name that they have done biz under for the past twenty years. They will not want BugtusslePainters.com.  People who search will see it and react.... WhoTF is that?   Where is TomThePainter ?

That painting contractor is not going to know the value of a website, the plumber is not going to know the value of a website.

Now, if you want to make money selling a ranked website make one in an industry where people know how much they are worth.  Get a site ranking for Texas Hold'em.  You will have people fightin' to get it.

[David-Kley]

Something wise my father once told me "Something is only worth how much someone is willing to pay for it."

It depends. First, how much of your time is going to be invested in creating, optimizing, and ranking this site? Since it sounds like this is something you are going to do with multiple domains, it could get pretty time-consuming.

Also, if you know how to get websites to page one, why are you not marketing that to potential clients and consumers? Trying to get a keyword driven domain to rank high and sell it off for a quick buck doesn't really seem like a good investment, either time wise, or for the success of your company. I would use sites that you have ranked high as an example of what you can do for clients, and sign them up for a monthly fee, rather than trying to sell them a "get rich quick" domain.

Why do I think this way? Here's the theoretical math:

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Option 1:
Optimize keyword-driven site to rank in Google: approx 30 hours @ $50 hour labor cost (not sure what you charge for time, so using $50 as an example) = $1500

Time cold-calling and email blasting potential buyers to purchase said domain: approx 8 hours = $400

Most likely cost for selling said site: approx $2000 max ($800-1500 most likely)

Gained vs Invested = $2000-1900=$100. Also this negates the fact that you can make additional money from this client again, unless you start the process over again.

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Option 2:
Demonstrate SEO prowess to potential client using existing sites as proof of results
Sign up client for basic SEO services at $500 per month.
Invest 20-30 hours making client's site soar in results.
Client is happy. Refers friends and other business owners your way.
You make more money, and gain a positive reputation for being a quality seo provider.