Robert Kiyosaki’s Radio Show: How To Buy Websites for Passive Income and Get Rich
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Catherine Collins
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Chris Cluff
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Greg Arthur, a stand-in host for Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad Radio Show,” recently interviewed Matt Raad, an entrepreneur who earns an income from buying and selling websites and teaching others to do the same.
Arthur explained that Raad is a recognized authority on website investing and using websites to create passive income. In fact, Raad, along with his wife and business partner, Liz, has been buying and selling websites since 2008.
Raad said he and his wife used to buy and sell manufacturing businesses in their home country, Australia. However, the work was stressful because they were “always on the edge of bankruptcy.” Tired of being beholden to the banks and managing brick-and-mortar businesses, Raad’s wife suggested they shift to online businesses, specifically buying content websites.
Skills Required
Buying and selling websites seems like it would require a lot of technical skills and computer knowledge. However, Raad said you don’t need specific knowledge of coding thanks to the advent of blogging software like WordPress that makes it easy to publish content online without having to hard code it yourself.
While there will be a learning curve when entering a new industry and type of business, Raad said the skills you need to acquire are relatively straightforward.
Because Raad teaches his students how to grow content websites, there’s no need to store products in warehouses or learn about drop shipping as with e-commerce websites. Also, because Raad builds content websites, there are no physical products, no customer complaints and no returns to manage.
How To Make Money With Websites
There are a few ways to make passive income by owning websites.
Step 1: Look For a Website To Buy
There are platforms, like Flippa, where you can purchase websites from others. However, Raad warns that you have to have enough knowledge and experience to do due diligence on them.
Although there are marketplaces to buy websites, Raad prefers a more direct approach. He searches the internet, looking for “diamonds in the rough.” Specifically, he looks for content-based websites that haven’t been updated in a long time but still get traffic.
Raad then emails the website owners to ask whether they’ve ever considered selling the sites. His students have had success with this method as well, and he gives a few examples of this in the interview. For example, one student purchased a website from someone simply because they saw a comment in a Facebook group.
Step 2: Renovate the Website
Once you acquire a website and transfer it into your name and hosting account, it’s time to renovate the website. Raad said this is similar to renovating a house. Raad teaches his students how to go through websites, improve the content and add affiliates.
Affiliates are companies that pay website owners to recommend products. Amazon is one of the largest affiliates. Website owners can recommend anything you can buy on Amazon with an affiliate link and earn a percentage of sales for 24 hours if a reader clicks through to purchase something.
Readers don’t necessarily have to purchase the item the website owner recommends for the owner to make money, Raad said. For 24 hours, website owners get a percentage of anything the reader buys after clicking the link through to Amazon.
That means if someone clicks a link on a gardening website to look at a rake but ultimately buys a $600 robo vacuum, the website owner gets a percentage of whatever the person buys for 24 hours after the reader clicks on the link.
Amazon isn’t the only affiliate program, though. Raad explains that because of their experience they know of many affiliate programs that might have higher payouts on specific types of products.
Website owners also make money through ad networks that pay based on how much traffic a website gets. By doing keyword research, Raad said, website owners can identify search terms that readers are looking for and craft articles that answer their questions.
Step 3: Rinse and Repeat
Much like owning a portfolio of rental houses, Raad said he owns many websites. Most of them he acquires for a small amount, renovates them and grows them to create sustainable passive income over time.
Final Considerations
Raad doesn’t want his students to take on debt to buy websites. Instead, he encourages students to start by buying websites under $5,000. Because he and his wife were in debt to banks and close to bankruptcy in their previous careers buying and selling brick-and-mortar businesses, Raad doesn’t want his students to have that same stress level.
Instead, he encourages those interested in this form of passive income to purchase small websites they can afford, renovate them over time and grow a sustainable income. While the work is not passive up front due to website owners needing to learn about affiliate marketing, keyword research and updating articles, eventually content websites have the potential to produce passive income.
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