How I Bought a Profitable Website on Empire Flippers
A complete report on purchasing, improving, and the lessons learned
I've spent most of my journey as an entrepreneur building profitable websites, whether it's sites monetized by Amazon affiliate links or by selling digital products like eBooks and video courses. However, there is another way to create passive income from profitable websites: instead of building sites yourself, you can actually buy websites on online marketplaces.
I discovered the Empire Flippers marketplace some years ago, but didn't have the capital to buy a website. Then last year, I sold a piece of real estate in Germany and decided to reinvest all the money in digital assets. At the beginning of 2016, I made the jump and purchased a website on Empire Flippers.
The appeal of buying an established website is clear: you skip the painful early stages of building traffic and authority from scratch, which can take years. Instead, you're acquiring a business that's already generating revenue. It's similar to buying a rental property that already has tenants—you get cash flow from day one.
This article is a complete case study of that purchase: what I looked for, how the buying process worked, the improvements I made, and most importantly, the lessons I learned when things didn't go as planned. Whether you're considering buying a website yourself or just curious about this alternative investment, I hope my experience provides valuable insights.
Selecting a Profitable Website to Buy
Setting My Budget
Once I had the money available, I set myself a limit of $30,000. I wanted to invest the rest in my other favorite investments like dividend-paying stocks and crowdfunded real estate.
The Website I Chose
I found "Snorkeling Vacation Guide"—an Amazon affiliate site dedicated to snorkeling vacation destinations and equipment. The site was growing nearly constantly since creation, which was a great sign.
As I already had Amazon affiliate sites, buying another one would boost my overall earnings since Amazon gives better commission rates the more items you sell.
Improvement Opportunities I Identified
Just like with real estate, I always look for what can be improved. Here were the three main opportunities:
- 1.No social media presence — Easy to set up and drive additional traffic
- 2.Dated design — Could be modernized to improve user experience
- 3.All links to Amazon.com only — Missing revenue from UK, Canada, and other visitors
The Buying Process on Empire Flippers
Make a 5% Deposit
The first step is making a deposit of 5% of the total price via PayPal. This unlocks the URL, additional data, and the ability to talk directly with the seller.
Negotiate the Price
The site was listed at 23x monthly earnings. I offered 21x, the seller countered at 22x, and we agreed on that—a small but meaningful discount.
Transfer Payment
I used TransferWise (now Wise) to avoid huge bank fees. One hiccup: my bank had a $5,000/day transfer limit I didn't know about, so it took 2 weeks to complete the transfer.
Site Migration
Once payment was received, their team migrated the site to my SiteGround account. The process was fast and flawless—I'd definitely recommend Empire Flippers for buying or selling websites.
Improvements Made in the First 3 Months
Quick wins that boosted the site's performance
Amazon Link Localization
Installed Amazon Link Engine plugin to redirect visitors to their local Amazon store (UK, Canada, etc.). This alone resulted in a 15% earnings boost.
Social Media Presence
Created Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube accounts to diversify traffic sources.
Facebook Pixel
Installed tracking to understand visitor demographics for future digital product sales.
Why Amazon Link Localization Matters
When I bought the site, all links pointed to Amazon.com—but only 68% of visitors were from the US. That meant 30% of potential revenue was left on the table! Using the Amazon Link Engine plugin, visitors from the UK now go to Amazon UK, Canadians to Amazon CA, and so on. This single change resulted in a 15% earnings boost.
The Full Journey Timeline
Here's how the investment played out over 31 months—from the initial purchase to the eventual shutdown.
Financial Outcome
Let's look at the hard numbers. I kept detailed records throughout the investment period.
Over 31 months, that's a yearly yield of around 8%. Not great for a website investment, but also not terrible for a site that ultimately failed.
What Happened to the Revenue?
The site performed well in the first year, generating consistent monthly income around $800-900. The 15% boost from Amazon link localization helped push this higher initially. However, starting in mid-2018, traffic began declining as some of the site's key backlinks became broken or were removed.
Then came Amazon's commission rate cuts in 2017 and 2020, which significantly reduced earnings even from the remaining traffic. By 2019, the site was generating only a fraction of its original income, and I made the decision to stop investing in recovery efforts.
Lessons Learned
If I could go back and do things differently, here are the three biggest mistakes I made—and what I'd change if I were buying a website today.
Diversify Traffic Sources
The site relied solely on organic Google traffic. When rankings dropped, so did everything. Always buy sites with at least two traffic sources (e.g., organic + Facebook ads).
Diversify Income Streams
All income came from Amazon's affiliate program. When they cut commissions by 30%, it was devastating. Multiple affiliate programs or income types reduce this risk.
Invest Properly in Growth
I only paid for content creation and visual tweaks. Should have implemented a real content strategy and regular link building to maintain rankings.
Would I Buy a Website Again?
Absolutely. Despite this site not working out as planned, I learned invaluable lessons about online business that I couldn't have gotten any other way. The Empire Flippers platform itself was excellent— professional, transparent, and smooth throughout the entire process.
Next time, I'd look for a site with multiple traffic sources (not just organic search), diversified income streams beyond Amazon, and I'd budget properly for ongoing content and link building. The fundamentals of website investing are sound—it's all about buying the right asset and treating it like a real business that needs ongoing investment.
Final Thoughts
This was my first website investment, and while it didn't turn out as well as I hoped, I learned invaluable lessons about diversification, proper investment in growth, and the risks of relying on a single traffic or income source. The Empire Flippers buying process itself was excellent—I'd recommend them for anyone looking to buy or sell websites.
Despite the site eventually failing, I still made an 8% yearly return on my investment. For a learning experience that taught me so much about website investing, that's not a bad outcome at all.
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