Buy/Sell vs Maintaining Websites

Business
1

Just had an urge to discuss the pro’s and con’s of buying and selling websites versus maintaining websites that have an ad revenue stream.

Buy/Sell
Advantages:
Quick Cash, no waiting
Larger sums at one time
Lower inventory of websites to worry about
No managing various publisher accounts
Disadvantages:
Only a one time income per website (plus maybe a little revenue if you build that up)
Is it a bubble that will burst?
The continual search for niche’s, new content, new designs

Maintain Websites
Advantages:
Develop a revenue stream
Stable with the right content
Not constantly chasing that next big sale, focus on developing your properties
Watch money come in every day
With diversified portfolio, more reliable, dependable
Opportunity to develop a community for your niche
Disadvantages:
You could get seasonal sites (this is when to diversify)
Even one time websites, that dry up (flopped movie, 20## winter olympics, Y2k bug, etc.)
Patience required to build up

Now my personal take on this. I prefer to maintain websites as I find it rewarding to watch them grow. I don’t need cash up front constantly because I have a stable job. I personally believe that in the long run I can make more money maintaining my properties rather than constantly selling them off (this would be different for someone that needs start up cash for their next big project). I’ve bought websites that sold at 6x their monthly revenue, I personally would be devastated if my website sold for that.

What do you guys think? I personally find it a very interesting subject, I hope you do too.

2

Profitable websites are businesses, not commodities.

Despite all the hype about “site-flipping”, that occupation is pursued by relatively few individuals most of whom got into it because of some worthless Get Rick Quick ebook.

The large majority of people who buy websites treat them as businesses and buy them to hold/develop.

3

I like your pros and cons list, makes sense and I agree with it. I personally would rather maintain sites and continually earn revenue rather than a quick one time sum which may not even be that much comparably.

Besides, as you said with the stable job, websites are just extra cash as well as some fun for me. No need to do site flipping. I will though, sell a site if offered and it’s something I may have lost interest in etc. Each side has it’s various reasoning. But maintain, personally.