Think of a website as an online property. It consists of an address which is the domain name (a word or group of letters/numbers) followed by an extension. So something like Ebay followed by dot com or Make-cash followed by dot biz.

There are now a large number of extensions you can add after a domain name. Some examples are .com .net .co.uk .biz .club .me .store .earth. You can buy any domain name which hasn’t already been registered. Or you can purchase a domain name from someone selling it. To search if a domain name has been registered you need to use a domain name registrar such as Dreamhost. Finding a domain that isn’t already registered is the cheapest way to purchase a domain name. However it is hard to find a valuable one as most of the shorter ones including most words in the English dictionary have already been registered. The price will vary depending on the extension and you will have to renew it each year. The most common extensions such as .com, .net and .co.uk generally cost around $20 per year.

Once you own the domain name you have the choice to host a website at that domain. Or you could hold onto the domain name to try and sell it at a higher price in the future. While you own a domain name without a website you can make money from it by parking the domain name. The highest amount ever paid for a domain name was CarInsurance.com in 2010 for $49.7 million. Keep in mind the person that originally registered that name would have originally paid about twenty dollars!

If you want to build a website from scratch you will need to pay for website hosting. Dreamhost also offer this ability and will include a free domain if you sign up to their hosting. The easiest way to create a website is to use free open source software such as WordPress. Alternatively if you know a programming language such as HTML or javascript you can program it yourself. If you can’t do either of these you will need to hire someone to create a site for you.

If you don’t want to build a site you can purchase a website in order to sell on in the future. You will need to find someone who wants to sell their site. These websites are already set up and functioning and could already be making money. You can find websites for sell on Ebay, Flippa or Sedo. Flipping a website is when you buy a website and make improvements, much like you may do with a dilapidated property, and then sell on at a higher price.

Once you have your site you need to find a buyer. The easiest way is to advertise on one of the sites below. The price you sell for will depend on the length of the domain name, what the website does, the number of visitors, how much money it makes and the business behind it. In order to have an estimation of what your site is worth you can get an appraisal on a site such as SitePrice.

Sites to use

Ebay – Purchase and sell websites.

Flippa – Buy and sell online businesses.

Sedo – Buy, park and sell domains.

SitePrice – Find the value of any website.