When thinking about starting their own online business, many people come across niche sites as an option to earn money online. In this case two questions arise:
- Should I build the niche site myself?
- Should I buy the niche site?
These two questions need to be clarified in advance, since both variants have their advantages and disadvantages that you should be aware of. In the following article we show you, what the differences between those two options are and which variant is particularly suitable for a beginner.
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Building a Niche Site Yourself
Are you thinking about building your own niche site? If so, you should know the details of what awaits you, including the pros and cons.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Building Your Own Site
Here are the advantages and disadvantages if you want to build a niche site yourself:
Advantages
- You’ll save money because the starting costs are relatively low
- You’ll learn new skills and gain experience
- You’ll be able to design the niche site according to your wishes
- Your motivation to make the site successful will be high
- You build your online business yourself
Disadvantages
- It will take you time to build your niche site
- You have to acquire many different skills
- You’ll encounter obstacles and even might stop building your site
- You’ll invest a lot of time and effort, but may not make any money
- You’ll have to be patient until you generate traffic (website visitors)
Buying a Niche Site
Would you prefer to buy a niche site? Once again, you should have an idea of what you’re letting yourself in for. In this case too, there are advantages and disadvantages to be aware of before making a purchase.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Buying a Niche Site
Here are the advantages and disadvantages if you want to buy a niche site:
Advantages
- You don’t have to acquire any knowledge of online marketing
- You’ll get a finished niche site
- You don’t have to spend time building it up
- You make money right away
- The page can be expanded immediately
Disadvantages
- You have to invest some money
- Not easy to maintain without technical understanding
- Without knowledge of the niche, new content is difficult to create
- Not scalable without knowledge of online marketing
- If you choose the wrong niche, you won’t generate consistent income
Niche Site Purchase from an SEO Perspective
Furthermore, there’s a distinct disadvantage from an SEO perspective when buying niche sites. You don’t know what the previous owner did. Maybe he used BlackHat methods like a PBN (Private Blog Network) to improve the site’s rankings in the search engines. Not only is this method unethical, it also violates Google’s webmaster guidelines. In other words, the site will not be successful in the long term because it will most likely disappear from the search index the next time Google is updated. So, if the niche site gets mostly organic traffic from the search engines, you should do a detailed analysis of the backlink profile or the entire website before buying. Otherwise you’ll regret your investment sooner or later.
Portals Where You Can Buy Complete Niche Sites
In order not to waste too much time, you should go and look at portals where finished pages are available for purchase when buying. This also gives you a good overview of what prices are asked for on average in the various niches.
Here are a few portals where finished projects are available for sale:
- Empire Flippers is a marketplace for buying and selling online businesses, e.g. niche websites.
- Flippa is also a portal for buying and selling businesses like niche sites.
Which Variant Is More Suitable for a Beginner?
You need to answer this question all by yourself. We started with building our own niche sites at the beginning of our online marketing activities. The circumstances we were in were key, because we didn’t have the money to invest in a finished niche site. In retrospect, we can say that it was the right decision. The experience and knowledge as well as the new skills that each of us has gained are priceless.
If today, as a beginner, we had to decide whether to build or buy a niche site ourself, we’d make the same decision again. For this reason, our clear recommendation is to build your own niche site. Believe us, it will be fun and the knowledge you’ll gain will enable you to carry out other projects independently in the future.
On the other hand, as a beginner, it can also make sense to buy a niche site. We recommend this especially if you aren’t ready to invest time, learn new skills and when having the necessary money to hand.
In the end, both – the “Build it yourself” and the “Buying” – routes can be right for you. Consider your situation and become aware of your personal requirements when making your choice. But take your time to avoid rushed decisions!