There is a lot of talk these days about “digital real estate.” So, what does that mean, and why should you care?
In short, digital real estate is the collection of online assets that you own and control. This includes your website, email list, social media profiles, and more. If done correctly, you can use your digital real estate to grow your business and increase profits.
In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of digital real estate and how you can start building it today!
What Is Digital Real Estate?
Digital real estate is the online equivalent of physical real estate. It's a piece of property that you own and control, such as your website or email list.
You can use your digital real estate to grow your business in many ways. For example, you can use it to generate leads, build relationships, and increase sales.
Digital real estate is important because it gives you a way to grow your business online. If you have a website or email list, you can use it to reach more customers and make more sales.
Plus, if you build up a large enough digital portfolio, you can even dabble in selling digital real estate for a profit.
This investment has fewer limitations than physical real estate. For example, you can reach a global audience with your digital real estate, whereas physical real estate is limited to a specific location.
You can also scale your digital real estate more easily than physical real estate.
For instance, if you have a website, you can add more content or products without having to build another store or carry more inventory.
This makes digital real estate more accessible for entrepreneurs who are just starting out and don't have a lot of capital.
Can You Make Money With Digital Real Estate?
Yes, you can make money with digital real estate. In the digital world, there are endless opportunities to make money. Some methods are popular and there are thousands of people doing it. Other methods are more unique and you'll be one of the only people in the world doing it.
The best way to make money with digital real estate is to find a method that suits your skills and interests. There are many ways to make money online, so there's sure to be something that's a good fit for you.
Just like physical real estate, when you build or purchase digital real estate, it will take time for your digital property to earn profits. This value can increase when you attract visitors to the platform, grow a following, or add new content. The harder you work, the more quickly your digital real estate will appreciate.
However, unlike physical real estate, there are no limits to how much your digital property can appreciate. In other words, your earning potential is unlimited!
Over time, as your digital real estate portfolio grows, you will have more assets that are generating income for you. You can then sell some of these assets for a profit or use the extra income to reinvest in other digital properties.
7 Great Digital Real Estate Investments
If you're ready to start building a digital asset and are curious about how to make money from it, here are seven popular methods:
1. Buy and Sell Domains
Wouldn't it be nice to own the domain www.food.com or www.tech.com? These domain names are so popular and sought after that they can cost up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Of course, you don't need to spend that much money to get started in the domain-flipping business. You can find domains for less than $100 and sell them for a profit. The key is to find domains that are popular and in demand but don't have an owner yet.
This process is called domain speculation and it's a popular way to make money with digital real estate.
To get started, you can use a domain marketplace like GoDaddy Auctions or Sedo. Spend some time browsing these websites to get an idea of what domains are selling for.
There are also appraisal tools that can help you estimate the value of a domain, such as EstiBot and GoDaddy Domain Appraisals. This is especially helpful if you're new to domain flipping and want to make sure you're not overpaying for a domain.
How to Choose a Valuable Domain
Here are some features of a valuable domain:
- It ends with “.com”: Although there are many other top-level domains (TLDs) available, .com is still the most popular and valuable.
- It's short: The shorter the domain, the easier it is to remember and type. This makes it more valuable.
- The name is unique: A domain that is easy to spell and pronounce is more desired since it's easier to memorize.
- It's relevant: A domain that is relevant to your business or industry is more valuable than a random word.
- You have an older domain: Domains that have been around for a while are generally more valuable than newer domains and may already have valuable website traffic.
Once you've found a domain you want to purchase, the next step is to negotiate with the owner and make an offer. If they accept your offer, congratulations! You're now the proud owner of a valuable digital asset.
What do you do with your domain names after you purchase them? One option is to park the domain and wait for someone to make an offer to buy it from you. You can also develop the domain into a website or blog and generate revenue from it.
Selling domain names is a great way to make money from digital real estate, but it can take some time to find the right buyer. Be ready to hold onto this online real estate for a while before you see a return on your investment.
2. Flipping Websites
In the digital world, there's a huge demand for both buying and selling blogs, eCommerce sites, and other digital businesses. You can find a buyer who is interested in taking over the business and continuing to grow it.
However, unlike flipping houses, you don't need any special skills or experience to be successful at flipping websites. All you need is a willingness to invest time and effort into growing the value of your digital property.
Websites are sold at a multiple of their monthly revenue, so the first step is to grow the revenue of the site you're trying to sell. For example, if you have an affiliate blog that earns $2,000 a month and it's sold by a multiplier of 20, you can expect to earn $40,000 from the sale.
How Can I Increase the Revenue of My Site?
To increase the revenue of your site, there are a few things you can do:
- Add more content: This will increase organic traffic and help you rank higher in search engines.
- Insert affiliate links: If you're not already using affiliate marketing, this is a great way to generate additional income.
- Add advertising: You can sell ad space on your website or blog to generate more revenue.
- Get more traffic from social media: Share your content on social media platforms and encourage others to do the same.
Once you're ready to sell, you can list your website on a marketplace like Flippa or Empire Flippers. These popular platforms are a great way to reach buyers who are interested in purchasing an existing website.
If you don't have money to purchase digital real estate, you can build your site from scratch. You can also purchase a smaller website from Motion Invest, a site that specializes in purchasing and selling small sites. While this isn't completely free, it's a great way to get started in the world of website flipping with minimal funds.
Creating a website from scratch will take some time and effort, but it's definitely doable. Once you've built up a decent amount of traffic and revenue, you can then list your site for sale on a marketplace.
For more information on Motion Invest, be sure to check out our guide!
3. Renting Out Ad Space
One way to generate income from your digital real estate is by renting out ad space on your website or blog. You can work with advertisers directly, or use a platform like Ezoic, Google AdSense or AdThrive.
This is a passive virtual property that earns income from displaying advertisements on your website. The more visitors you have coming to your virtual property, the more income these ads can generate for you.
Many ad networks will give you the option to set your own price for ad space, or they'll use a cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) model. In this case, you'll earn a certain amount of money for every thousand visitors who see the ad.
If you want your digital real estate to qualify for these programs, you'll need to have a certain amount of traffic coming to your site. Once you reach this threshold, you can then apply to these ad networks and start earning income from your website or blog.
You can also start selling ad space directly to businesses or individuals who are interested in promoting their products or services on your site. This is a great way to earn income from your digital real estate, and it can be done without using an ad network.
4. Creating an Online Course
Savvy investors with skills that others are willing to pay for can create an online course and sell it as digital real estate. This is a great way to generate income from your virtual property, and it's also relatively passive once the course is created.
To get started, you'll need to choose a popular topic that people are willing to pay for. Once you've selected a topic, you can create a course by recording videos, writing articles, or creating other types of content.
Once your course is created, you can then sell it on a platform like Podia, Udemy or Teachable. These platforms will handle the marketing and payment processing for you, so all you need to do is create the course and upload it to the platform.
After you create your digital real estate course, you will want to make sure it's regularly updated. This is especially important if you're selling it on a platform like Udemy, as they tend to feature courses that are regularly updated.
Learn more about Teachable and how to make a great course on Udemy in our full reviews.
How to Generate Sales In Your Course
You'll also want to promote the course on your own so that you can generate more sales. Here are some of the best ways to promote your digital course:
- Use your email list to send a teaser version: Many digital marketing funnels will give away a free teaser version of their course to entice people to buy the full version. You can use your email list to promote this teaser version and generate interest in your digital property.
- Promote it on social media: Use social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to promote your online course. You can also use paid ads on these platforms to reach a wider audience.
- Guest blog about it: If you have a blog with a decent amount of traffic, you can write a guest post about your online course and include a link to it in the post. This is a great way to generate interest and get people to visit your digital real estate.
5. Building a Membership Site
Do you want to build digital real estate around a community? These days, popular platforms such as Patreon and Substack make it easy to launch a membership site. You can use these platforms to give your members access to exclusive content, create a forum for discussion, or offer other benefits that they can't get anywhere else.
Membership sites are a great way to generate income from your digital real estate because you can charge people a monthly or annual fee to access the content or community that you've created. You can charge just a few dollars to give people access to your content, or you can charge hundreds of dollars for access to an exclusive community.
Get all of the details in our Substack review.
How to Choose a Membership Site Platform
To get started, you'll need to decide what type of content or community you want to create. Once you've decided on this, you can decide which membership platform will work best for you. Here are some features you'll want when choosing a membership platform:
- Ease of use: The platform should be easy to use so that you can focus on creating content or building the community, rather than fighting with the technology.
- Payment processing: The platform should have built-in payment processing so that you don't have to set up your own system.
- Customer support: The platform should have good customer support in case you run into any issues.
- Pricing: The platform should be affordable so that you can make a profit from your membership site.
- Password protection and a good members' area: The platform should have password protection and a good members' area so that you can keep your content or community exclusive.
There are many membership platforms out there, so it's important to choose one that will work well for you and your digital real estate. Once you've chosen a platform, you can start creating content or building your community.
6. Developing an App
In our digital world, apps are becoming more and more popular. If you have a great idea for an app, you can turn it into digital real estate investing and make money from it.
To develop an app, you'll need to choose a platform such as iOS or Android. Once you've chosen your platform, you'll need to create the app and submit it to the app store. Once it's been approved, you can start promoting it and generating income from it.
To generate income from your app, you can charge people to download it or offer in-app purchases. You can also sell advertising space within the app to companies who want to reach your audience.
If you have a great idea for an app, don't let it go to waste. Turn it into digital real estate and start making money from it today.
These days, you don't have to be a coder to create a digital real estate app. There are plenty of programs that allow you to create an app without any coding knowledge.
So if you have a great idea for an app, don't let the lack of coding knowledge stop you from turning it into digital real estate. Focus on your idea as well as the user experience and you'll be sure to create a successful app.
7. Selling Digital Items
There are many ways to sell digital items. You can sell e-books, courses, templates, graphics, spreadsheets, photos, and more. If you have a skill or knowledge that you can share in digital form, you can sell it and make money from it.
To get started, you'll need to choose what type of digital assets you want to sell. Once you've decided on this, you can create the item and list it for sale. There are many different platforms that allow you to sell digital real estate such as Podia, Etsy, and Gumroad.
Learn more in our Podia review or Gumroad review.
You can also sell digital items on your own website. To do this, you'll need to set up a payment processing system such as PayPal or Stripe. Once you've done this, you can start promoting your digital products and making sales.
Some popular digital assets you can sell in the digital world include:
- Budgeting spreadsheets
- Productivity templates
- Graphic design elements
- E-books
- Online courses
- Photography
- Commercial-use fonts
The sky is truly the limit when it comes to selling digital assets and investing in internet property. If you have a skill or knowledge that you can share in digital form, don't hesitate to turn it into digital real estate and start making money from it today.
Unlike a traditional real estate investment, you don't need a lot of money to get started with digital real estate, and you can sell it several times over. You can start small and gradually grow your portfolio as you make more sales.
Which Digital Real Estate Investment Option Is Right for Me?
Now that you know some of the most popular digital real estate investments available to you, it's time to take a moment and decide which one is right for you. Here are some helpful questions you can ask yourself to make the decision-making process easier:
What Is My Budget?
The great thing about digital real estate is that you can start with any budget. If you have a small budget, you can start with something like blogging or selling digital items. If you have a larger budget, you can invest in developing an app or purchase a website that can be optimized and sold at a profit.
Take the time to learn about any hidden costs involved with digital real estate investing. For example, when you purchase a website, it's more than a one-time expense. You'll be responsible for hosting fees, domain fees, and any other associated costs.
What Is My Time Frame?
Are you looking for a long-term or short-term investment? If you're looking for a long-term investment, digital real estate is a great option.
For example, if you develop virtual worlds through membership sites, it will take time to build up the membership base, but once you do, it can provide you with a passive income stream for years to come.
On the other hand, if you're looking for a short-term investment, developing an app or selling digital items may be a better option. These types of investments can provide you with quick and easy profits, especially if you're investing in ads to get them in front of an audience.
Do I Want to Be Hands-on or Hands-off With My Investment?
The truth is, no digital real estate endeavor is completely passive, just as the real world real estate game requires some level of involvement.
Even if you're not directly involved in the day-to-day operations, you'll still need to monitor your investment and ensure that it's running smoothly.
That said, there are some digital real estate options that require less hands-on involvement than others. For example, purchasing a domain name is a simple process. You can create passive income by leaving it “parked” for years until you have a buyer.
However, building an online business from scratch such as an affiliate website will require more of your time and attention.
Outsourcing and scaling your own business can help you to take a more hands-off approach, but it will still require some level of involvement on your part.
What Type of Income Do I Want to Generate From My Digital Real Estate?
The income you can generate from digital investments varies depending on the type of investment you make. For example, developing an app will require more up-front work but has the potential to generate a higher return on your investment.
On the other hand, investing in a blog or website may take longer to generate a return, but it can provide you with a steady stream of passive income over time.
The key is to invest in what you're passionate about and what you're good at. If you choose an investment that you're not interested in, it will be harder to stick with it and see it through to profitability.
Developing a portfolio of digital investments is another way to scale your earnings. Over time, you can reinvest your profits into new ventures and continue to grow your income.
Conclusion: How to Buy Digital Real Estate
Digital real estate investing is a great way to build wealth over time. It's important to remember that there is no “right” way to invest. The best approach is the one that works for you and fits your goals, budget, and time frame.
Digital real estate works best as a long-term investment, but there are options for those who want to generate quick profits.
Either way, make sure you focus on learning everything you can about digital real estate investing before you get started. This may look like taking a course, finding a mentor, or both. The more you know, the better your chances of success will be in this virtual world.
The post What Is Digital Real Estate and What Are Some Great Examples to Invest In? appeared first on Niche Pursuits.