The property market is always a hot topic in the world of investment, but also subject to turmoil when interest rates change.
The property market is always a hot topic in the world of investment, but also subject to turmoil when interest rates change.
With an estimated 2 billion active websites according to internetlivestats.com up on the world wide web marketplace, I ask you: isn’t it time to check the potential of a website as an investment?
Just think about the big names in the web marketplace such as Google, Facebook, or Amazon. They started out with a domain name and web hosting many years ago. And look where they are today, having built multi-billion-dollar businesses worldwide via a website as their main “shop front”.
Tech entrepreneur and website strategist and consultant Fernando Raymond has written numerous guides about investing in expired domains, domaining and PBNs and how to generate an income from web properties.
His goal is to support anyone with their website investment and strategy for their online success as he believes anyone can turn a website into a thriving business just as he did.
Why invest in a Website as a Web Property?
Fernando explains:
“As a business owner myself, I understand the importance and potential of a website in the 21st century. Just think about Amazon, one of the world’s most successful websites and its content presentation and web marketing strategy alone and how that has led to its an incredible success as an online marketplace and business.”
“This obviously didn’t happen overnight, and I also see the barriers for setting up a website and growing it such as time and lack in technical support. Any entrepreneur should conduct adequate research and a SWOT analysis before launching a website so the whole process requires as much strategy and investment as any other business process. The modern-day rise of the digital economy makes a website the most important asset to pay attention to in my view.”
Fernando speaks from experience as he built his first business with a simple SEO blog, which then grew into the digital marketing agency ClickDo Ltd. as more future clients found his blog posts on Google.
Fernando: “Putting together adomain namewith a few web pages is not sufficient when you want to ensure the success of your website. Your success journey already starts with the choice of the domain name. I picked “clickdo.co.uk” because my services focus on the UK market and are online services. It’s important to get an easy to remember and spell domain name that is immediately recognisable and can relate to your business. So, if your business has a name, register that as a domain, if available. For a personal blog you can register your blogger name. You get the idea. You need to envision establishing a presence on the web that accomplishes much more and has a future.”
“Before you set up your website, carefully think about its purpose and format as that will determine its specifications. In the case of a business website, the purpose is to generate more revenue, aid in the expansion of sales channels, broadcast information, and receive feedback in general. However, every business is different, and their website should reflect that in the design.”
“That’s why with my agency ClickDo Ltd. we started to also offer tailored web design services, because I know how difficult it is for business owners to get that right as many customers now find a business via a mobile phone or tablet for example, so every website design must be mobile responsive too.”
“As you can see, through my initial website, my agency expanded and now offers a wide variety of digital marketing services such as PPC and Facebook Ads, content marketing and more. And from this business emerged my second start-up: Web Host SeekaHost Ltd. So, investing a mere £100 to buy the domain, the hosting and get a basic website design to start with was absolutely worth the investment and has provided me with a solid ROI. Anyone can afford this with enough dedication.”
What are the Advantages of a Web Property?
Fernando: “First of all, a web property is much more affordable than a real estate property. You can buy a domain name for just $3 at SeekaHost and create a basic website with web hosting starting from just $2 per month and even a free theme via WordPress for example. Along the way you will have to invest in the web design and content creation of course, and on average it is estimated that running a basic website can cost around $1000 per year, but this can of course be in the thousand’s region for more complex websites. Comparing that to a real estate property, it’s still quite affordable though, considering what it can bring in as a return.”
“The most profitable types of websites such as e-commerce or business websites, blogs, or membership websites, can generate various income streams through advertising, sponsorships, paid product and service sales and more. A web property therefore offers a far wider opportunity for monetisation than a real estate property. Plus, the website owner can be extremely creative and expand what they offer via their platform. There is almost no limit in that sense with a web property. And an online property can be managed on autopilot with managed WordPress hosting services for example, which we offer at SeekaHost. Backups, technical maintenance, and all of that will be taken care of.”
What is important to know before investing in a Web Property?
Fernando: “A website is only as good as the technology it employs. Essentially, there are two parts to a site the frontend (which is displayed on a browser) and a backend (that resides on a server).”
“The frontend is created with the help of code such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The backend depends on Python, PHP, and databases such as MySQL.”
“The most popular software platform to build websites is WordPress and WordPress hosting must be purchased separately.”
“If you are setting up an online store, the most popular platforms are WooCommerce with WordPress, Squarespace. Wix, Shopify and Magento.”
“The biggest factors to consider are:
- Cost related to design, hosting, maintenance, recurring costs such as SSL.
- Availability of developers. It is quite easy to find a WooCommerce developer because of its popularity. Far less easy to find someone who knows how to make Magento jump through the hoops.
- Ease of customisation is critical. A website needs to have a unique and attractive look. This is the task of a theme. Some vendors have more themes and allow a greater degree of customisation.
- Availability of plugins that enhance the functionality of a site. Plugins help with analytics, SEO, and many other functions, such as cart management, email management and CRM.”
“Many businessowners struggle dealing with the technicalities of choosing the right software and features, so at SeekaHost and ClickDo we offer web consultation services and web design services and with the SeekaHost App we try to make the web hosting control panel, SeekaPanel, as easily accessible as possible with a straightforward interface.”
“SEO is a key aspect of making any website a success online. SeekaHost additional features like the knowledgebase and the SeekaHost University integrations which provide background information about WordPress, web hosting, blogging, and SEO/marketing to give website owners a head start from the get-go.”
“As an SEO consultant I know how important it is to optimise business operations such as identifying the buyer persona from analytics for example. Analytics is a broad term that encompasses all the activities that seek to identify and collate user behaviour on a website. We have integrated Google Analytics and Clicky analytics as the easiest way to track site visitors and how they navigate and behave. You can use both in the SeekaHost.app portal if you connect them with your accounts.”
“I use it to analyse and strategize the website strategy for my personal blog for example:”
“Google Analytics offers a comprehensive set of datafor visitors originating from its search page being the most used search engine to date.”
image Source: www.monsterinsights.com
Last Words for future Web Property Owners
Fernando: “With a website there is no actual endpoint. An endpoint would mean that the website is everything it could possibly be. Since it is technology that continues to evolve, that is impossible, and your business evolves with that.”
“So, invest in the initial set up of your website, work at it every day and your site will mature. It will evolve as your business grows hence why it will require constant attention, maintenance, and input to remain competitive. It’s a virtual asset that is becoming increasingly profitable in a world where financial markets are volatile.”
Press Release Distributed by The Express Wire
To view the original version on The Express Wire visit Meet Tech Entrepreneur Fernando Raymond highlighting alternative Investments in Web Properties in Times of Financial Turmoil
