Three Keys to Building Value Online

By | December 23, 2011

We’ve all heard the phrase “building wealth.” But how often have we applied it to our online businesses, our websites, and our online shops? Too often, people forget about what it means to build wealth – or value – on the Internet and simply assume there’s too little wealth to be had to be worth the investment.

Of course, if you’ve been surfing WebsiteBroker.com, you know that this isn’t the case at all. Instead, building value online can mean a range of things, such as attracting more traffic, making more sales, or building a nice content management system. But let’s take a closer look at the keys to building value online in order to really understand this topic thoroughly. It could generate you a lot of profit one day.

Key #1: Traffic, Traffic, Traffic.

One of the best variables for proving that your site is valuable is establishing the fact that it has a lot of traffic. Of course, if your site doesn’t attract a lot of traffic, then that’s the top variable you’re going to need to work on. But let’s not oversimplify the importance of traffic. Traffic is such an important variable for the quality and value of your website that we should probably break it down into sections:

  • Search engine traffic – people who find your sites through Google and Yahoo!
  • Direct, type-in traffic (domain names with keywords fall in this category)
  • Repeat traffic – community, comments, forums, etc.
  • “Sticky” traffic – when people stay on your site a long time
  • Paid traffic – traffic you’ve purchased through third-party sites, advertisements, etc.

There is a lot more to the traffic puzzle, but for now it pays to know that there are a lot of ways to get it – and you should be focused on, well, all of them.

Key #2: Conversions and Profit

It’s one thing to have a lot of traffic if you host a blog that makes no sales. But what if your website is a T-shirt boutique that sells retro-style T-shirts? Then the conversion and profit that your site makes on a regular basis plays a major part in its overall value. Even if you don’t have a lot of traffic, a lot of money in annual sales can make up for that fact. That’s why you need to improve on the bottom line if you want to improve the value of your site.

Key #3: Domain Potential

Sometimes, let’s face it, the strength of your domain’s keyword(s) is so strong that people will want to buy your site just because the domain is so valuable. There’s nothing wrong with this. After all, a site named “BuyWidgets.com” is going to be valuable simply because it’s an address with more potential than “BuyYourWidgetsHereNow.com.” One is more likely to receive better attention in search engines – and by “type-in” traffic as well.

It’s hard to improve on this key if you’ve already purchased a domain name. But keep this key to value in mind for your future endeavors – you might be surprised just what a money-generating tip it is to remember.