I’ve had a few more than the usual emails over the last week – people asking for various things ranging from advertising (see yesterday’s post), potential jobs and people that want to get started in this business but have no idea where to begin.
Now, I do try and help people as best I can, but some people need hours of guidance to explain things that are very simple – I have no problem with that, but the questions are recurring – so why not post it on TUK so that everyone can use the information?
Note that the below is for newbies; most of those that have been semi experienced will have done this before. However, everyone starts out somewhere – my first positive transaction was actually the flip of a domain name (HipHopUpdates.com, which I bought for $7.15 and sold for $60 an hour later) – and the idea can help people make their first little bit of capital online.
What you need: A domain and hosting (which allows Wordpress)
You can get the domain at GoDaddy. Use the coupon code OYH3 to get your .COM domain at only $7.15
.COM is always better – the few dollars you pay extra will add on $20 – $30 onto the final sale price.
Choose a domain about a certain topic. Hot topics include sport, medical related, science… you get the idea.
You want your domain to be short – the shorter the better. Make sure some kind of keywords are included in the domain though. Do not use hyphens – if you are, make sure your domain is only two words.
So you’ll have something like… cancerinfo.com (just an example).
You need hosting next – I recommend Hostgator. Use the coupon code wordpress to get your first month at $0.01 Hostgator is what this blog as well as Blog Premiere are hosted on and it is one of the best hosting services around.
Now what you need to do is point your nameservers at your hosting. You can find your nameservers in the email your host will send you. You can find out the area to change nameservers under your GoDaddy control panel.
Now that you have pointed your nameservers, it can typically take up to a day (usually takes a couple of minutes for me) for your domain to resolve. Try adding on your domain instantly – it should work.
Here comes the important part (sorry for writing this in a rambling style, I’ll have it broken down at the bottom of the post).
You should run this off Wordpress as that is the easiest for newbies to use, however you may also use a standard template. Search Google for “Free Wordpress Templates” (I like Prosense for niche websites) or pick up an HTML template at somewhere like OSWD.org.
Next, you need to create content.
Do not whine – it is fairly easy to do so if you practise a bit. What I’d recommend is looking at Ezine Articles for ideas (do NOT copy and paste) and then writing your own 300 word articles on related topics for the niche you’ve chosen.
If you are using Wordpress, setup your articles as pages, not posts.
Make sure that you sort out your permalink structure, as well as the other basic things – you can read more about setting up a blog in this post.
You will need a header. Now, I’m going to be quite frank – I can’t design for nuts, so either you choose a theme which uses text for it’s header, or use something like Cool Text (or Logo Pixy)
So you have your articles and your fairly decent looking website. What next?
Add value.
How can you make your niche website… different?
By adding value, of course.
For example, in a mortgage related website you could add in a free mortgage calculator (you can find examples of these all over the web), for a celebrity website you could add a picture gallery… you get the idea.
Next – monetization.
The most appealing thing about a website to most people is how much money it can potentially make. The more revenue sources you can add to your website (don’t overdo it – 3/4 is fine) the better. For example, you could put in Adsense, a couple affiliate programs…. you get idea.
After you have set these up, you can list your website for sale at the various webmaster forums (Digital Point, Sitepoint – costs a fee, Namepros etc). Try and mention the hot points about your website in your listing – the domain, the monetization potential, you get the idea. Be positive! 
Step by step, broken down.
1) Choose a related domain
2) Buy hosting
3) Set up Wordpress
4) Write 5-10 articles.
5) Add value if possible
6) Monetize
7) List for sale.
Obviously each of those steps could be broken down into a post of its own, and this post is a little basic – however, these are the bare instructions you need to create a niche website. I’ll talk tomorrow about a little idea I had to have your niche website guaranted to double their money… in a month.
I have flipped websites for anywhere between $5 – $1,500 (note, the latter was not a niche website but I will be talking about it soon) and you can do. You should generally expect anywhere between $20 – $100, which is not bad for an hours work especially if you’re a newbie (beats minimum wage, doesn’t it?).
If you have any tips or questions, post them below and I’ll try and help out 
May 17th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Hey! Thanks a lot! Just sold a plr-website on Dp after following your ebook for $42, paid only fo rthe domain myself.
Love to hear more guides from you!
KaruKalamies’s last blog post..Payment processors
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May 17th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Domain selling is a great idea. If you can earn that much with a hour of works than I just think I should try it. The only problem with me is I do not posses Credit Cards.
Agent 001’s last blog post..Updating my Blog for you
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May 17th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
What a great idea! I’m a bit more experienced than a “newbie” but the way you broke down step-by-step makes it easy to follow for anyone. Thanks!
Epiphany’s last blog post..WE can solve the climate crisis!
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May 17th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Do people actually buy these domains? I checked the Digital Point forums and noticed that a lot of the people do not get to sell their websites. People are interested in the amount of traffic it receives and other stats. How can you sell them and make a profit, since usually people can figure out that you are just reselling a site after adding a couple of pages.
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May 18th, 2008 at 4:36 am
This is a great way to start out making money online as it is labour intensive yet cheap. But I don’t think it can be long term sustainable for someone as you are not getting enough money for the time inputted.
But then again if you saved the money you made and started buying websites that are making money and make them better then I think the possibilities are endless.
Tom – StandOutBlogger.com’s last blog post..Just Start Blogging Already!
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May 18th, 2008 at 6:58 am
A good post, but instead of doing all that work, you could take the other school of though and invest it into a more “long term” project to reap the benefits of a small cash flow now and a bigger sale then….
MoneyBites’s last blog post..How To Get Started With Promoting Your Website
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May 18th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Nice post. I value the step by step process that you have outlined and it includes some great links to get started.
However I agree with the previous comments and think this takes a ton of work and only provides instant rewards. I guess this goes back to your previous post: http://theuniversitykid.com/being-greedy-or-being-patient-one-time-vs-recurring-income/ . Do you want instant gratification or long term earnings? Personally I would prefer to setup niche sites to provide a recurring income. Great advice except I would exclude step 7.
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May 18th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Awesome post. Sure has some nice info there. =)
GradeMoney.com’s last blog post..You Have Just Been Fooled into the Blogging for Money Scheme
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May 18th, 2008 at 11:43 am
@ Karu, glad to hear your success. You’ll have lots more hopefully
@ Agent, you should get one, or use a verified Paypal account. It works a lot better.
@ Epiphany, glad you liked the short guide
@ Tarif, some sell, some don’t. Most will sell for more than double registration fee though, especially if they have unique content.
@ Tom, this is a way for people with little to no money get some start up capital. As for it not being a long term possibility… well, it can but you have to think bigger, and drive traffic + earn some revenue from it. There is an entrepreneur I know that only flips blogs for income and is making $x,xxx a month
@ Max, agreed. The serious money is in really developing websites.
@ EGK, this is only talking about the short term – to allow newbies to turn $7.15 into say $50, over and over again. Once they make a couple hundred or so, they have capital which they can use to start slightly bigger minded projects
@ Grademoney, glad ya liked it
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May 18th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Putting content in as pages is an excellent idea. If you add Ryan’s Suckerfish plugin, you can create cascading menus of your page structure (I did that at an old site of mine, http://www.smartweightlossedge.com – it uses the Mimbo Magazine theme. The end result looks quite spiffy.
Thanks for sharing!
Barbara
Barbara Ling’s last blog post..Middleschooler Hacks Personal Wordpress Theme, Makes Money Online
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Jonha from Happiness (3 comments) Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 3:01 am
I still don’t understand why it should be added as page and not as post. Could you possibly elaborate on this?
Jonha @ Happiness´s last blog ..Stay Away from Philippine Prudential Life Insurance Promos as they are Scammers!!!!
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May 18th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I’ve had some ideas like this, but the only thing holding me back is the lack of time I have to do that. Hopefully during summer vacation I will have lots of free time for these kinds of projects.
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May 19th, 2008 at 5:43 am
This is great for the entrepreneur thats just starting out some decent money to be made if you have the time and inclination. Usually this sets up for bigger things such as web development. A great stepping stone.
Big Ben Patton’s last blog post..Traffic Generation part 5
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May 19th, 2008 at 7:26 am
I like these posts with certain purpose, right to the point.
Aleks’s last blog post..Joke of the day – Orgasm
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May 19th, 2008 at 8:47 am
[...] you have a little to play around with, you can move on to bigger things like flipping websites, and once you have a little more capital you can move onto things like building a list and [...]
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:44 am
I think most of the users will jump into to monetizing than to actually follow all the steps.
AJ’s last blog post..Just Want, Don’t Think about How or When
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May 26th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
[...] course, before you start building a niche website for your phrase, make sure you run it (or a variation of it, at least) through Spyfu to check what [...]
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Hi,
Lots of good info in your post. Would just like to say that anyone who wants a simple way to create unique niche websites should have a look at Quick and Easy Niche Websites.
I like wordpress and use it for my main blog but I find that making niche sites is easier with just html and css, plus the seo is easier too.
cheers
Tony Kenobi
Tony Kenobi’s last blog post..The Key Elements Of A Good Niche Adsense Website
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June 3rd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
@tony kenobi – you have my last name!
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June 3rd, 2008 at 8:16 pm
@Tony Kenobi – you have my last name! Funny!
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June 6th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Hey Nathaniel – thats cool
cheers
Tony
Tony Kenobi’s last blog post..Which Type of Niche Website Do You Use?
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June 17th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
[...] of the easiest ways to generate some quick, easy cash is to make money flipping websites… it’s not uncommon to walk away with earnings of more than $50 or $100+ for an [...]
June 19th, 2008 at 2:24 am
Although you make it look so easy and very profitable, its really harder than it seems! I’ve tried this before, and its hell for a guy like me with barely any experience. Thanks for this article mate.
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June 21st, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Nice article…
Y dont you open Marketing school ..;) for example
” Jason Marketing School ”
Latest Internet tips- SEO’s last blog post..Compress all your Images in a bulk- Resize your Images in a bulk
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June 23rd, 2008 at 8:30 am
owww, so that what flipping website is all about, thx for make it clear for me
Supermance’s last blog post..5 Tips Penghilang Stress -Muslim Version-
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July 14th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I have tried flipping websites before, and I`m still doing it, but this is just basic information, people actually want to buy profitable websites , with a lot of traffic. It`s not as easy as it seems to be.
Bro Alex’s last blog post..Digg , Digg , Digg
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July 16th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
[...] Make Money Flipping Websites – Niche Websites – talks about making money by you guessed it – flipping niche websites. Website flipping is one of the easiest ways to get started out and I have an offer for you guys that can help you out (see end of the post). [...]
July 17th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I bet it would be easy to flip porn niche sites. Not my cup of tea but theres money in it if you can pickup some good domain names.
CreatingRevenueOnline.com’s last blog post..Great Article from The University Kid
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Jonha from Happiness (3 comments) Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 2:58 am
I’ve read about that as well. Bet there are lots of people who are up to buy such niches, if you only want to make money.
Jonha @ Happiness´s last blog ..Stay Away from Philippine Prudential Life Insurance Promos as they are Scammers!!!!
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July 23rd, 2008 at 11:40 pm
[...] was reading a post last week about flipping niche websites and decided to give it a go with a few BANS websites that I [...]
August 18th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
What is your opinion about using blogger.com to kind of “park” domains that you’ve registured? What makes wordpress better? Blogger does not charge hosting fees, but is the problem that you can’t sell the site?
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August 18th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
[...] How to make money flipping niche websites. [...]
August 19th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
[...] How to make money flipping niche websites [...]
August 20th, 2008 at 4:29 am
[...] For Dummies: The Condensed Guide Make Money Flipping Websites – Niche Websites Use Your Own Products To Make Money Online Take Advantage Of Free Bloggers And Make Money Flipping [...]
August 20th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I like what im reading. Yeah they all can be broken down to different post. But if you had to do that you might as well just keep the trick to yourself and make more money.
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December 17th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I think you should do a post on how to flip blogger blogs for decent money..lots of advertising opportunities there..nice post btw
earnerburner’s last blog post..Raaz -The mystery continues – Maahi music video
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March 4th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Honestly it seems like a lot of work for just a few dollars. I can’t image that people would not look at the traffic before they buy a site even for just $20. I wouldn’t.
Rancho Murieta’s last blog post..Another set of games
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April 9th, 2009 at 4:19 am
Great post! Really love reading them, can’t wait for more.
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July 5th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
You are right, the thing is that it seems so easy, but its not. There is a lot of work involved.
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April 21st, 2010 at 1:34 am
I have a question. Why would you want to post articles as pages and not posts? wouldn’t that make the navigation menu on a blog seem flooded since you’re writing about ten articles?
d3so´s last blog ..Supposed New iPhone 4G – Leaked by Gizmodo
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June 24th, 2010 at 2:57 am
Wow, you made it sound so easy and I”m off to trying that! haha I mean what the heck, it’s way better than flipping burgers in fastfoods!
Jonha @ Happiness´s last blog ..Stay Away from Philippine Prudential Life Insurance Promos as they are Scammers!!!!
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