Have you heard the terms Rank and Rent or digital landlord? You may not have heard of this concept yet, but it’s something you might want to know about. With digital real estate being as valuable as traditional real estate properties nowadays, if you’re looking for new avenues to generate revenue online, you might want to consider building websites and turning them into rental properties.
What is the Rank and Rent Model?
Well it’s simple. In the Rank and Rent business model, you create a lead generation website for a local business, and by using the right strategies, you get it ranking highly in the search engines, like Google, Bing, and others. Once it’s on top of the search results pages, you rent it out.
Build, rank, rent.
There are many benefits to this strategy: you can earn a living, it’s scalable, and it’s lucrative. And because of that, many people, including both beginners and local SEO veterans, are getting involved.
If So Many People Are Getting Involved, Won’t It Get Saturated?
Not at all. According to BizJournal.com, as of April 2019, there were 32.5 million businesses in the United States alone. According the Wall Street Journal, as of April 2021, the USA has seen 200,000 businesses close their doors due to the Covid virus. That still leaves a lot for us to work with!
Here are the number of small businesses in a few states (from 2020):
- California: 4.1 million
- Texas: 2.8 million
- Florida: 2.7 million
- New York: 2.2 million
- Illinois: 1.2 million
So you see, the likelihood of saturation is low, simply because there are so many businesses, many of which can profit from using a rank and rent lead gen website.
Wait! You’re Telling Me Websites Can be Rented?
Absolutely! They can, and are, being rented. Renting websites is a fairly new concept, but it has also been proven as a business model. Many local businesses are more than happy to rent these websites. That’s because while they know the importance of having an online presence, not many of them have the skills necessary to build and rank lead generating websites themselves.
Is Rank and Rent Profitable?
The truth of the matter is that ranking and renting websites is very profitable, especially if you have chosen the right niche and have your website set up right. I know several people that are collecting website rental income of $1000 a month per website. I also know people who are renting sites for a little as $100 or $250, and for as much as several thousand dollars per month.
If you can, imagine the potential earnings when those numbers get multiplied across several sites and many months. It is enough to make anyone drool.
Are You Going to Give Me the Six-Figures Hype?
I guess I am. Rank and Rent really does have the potential to become a six-figure income. I don’t want to sound like it’s a get-rich-quick business, or imply that you will make that much money, but it’s very possible. If you build just 9 Rank and Rent websites, and each one rents for $1000 a month, you’ve got a six-figure income!
So you see, instead of spending time and resources building a more complicated online business, building Rank and Rent sites is a relatively easy way to generate six-figure revenue, by renting out these 3-4 page sites.
Why Would Anyone Rent a Website?
Good question. A business owner can easily go register a domain name for $10, and hire a web designer to build them an attractive website, for way less than $1000 per month, right?
But will that website bring in new customers? Given, the web designer is going to build an attractive site. And that’s great. But what the business owner really needs is not just a pretty website, but a lead generation machine. They need new customers. And unless that web designer also knows how to optimize the site’s SEO, how to include lead gen protocols, and how to rank that website, it’s not really going to help the client’s bottom line.
Plus, business owners typically know nothing about buying the proper domain name, or SEO and ranking their site. They know all about their service or their products, but probably little about marketing them, especially online. And that means great news for your bottom line, because business owners are more than happy to pay for the privilege of having motivated buyers put in front of them at any given moment.
They’ll Pay $1000 Per Month? Really?
Seems pretty expensive, huh? Like it would probably be out of the reach of many small business owners. That’s why analyzing the profit potential of a business is a critical component in building a Rank and Rent website.
A pizza shop, for example, will only earn a few dollars profit from each pie sold. It would take an awful lot of leads to make it worth their while to pay $1000 a month.
But a roofing company can make several thousand dollar from just one roofing project. A real estate company can make even more for each home they sell. And if you can send them 10, 20, or more paying customers each month? Business with such high profit margins will gladly pay $1000 a month for results like that.
How Do I Create a Rental Site and Rank It?
I’ll go into more detail in later posts, but here are the basic steps:
- Keyword Research – First, you’ll need to find a business niche where the potential for high rankings is possible. You achieve this with keyword research.
- Domain Name – Based on your keywords, you will buy or register a domain name for your site.
- More Keyword Research – Next, you will need to find the best keywords to use to rank your website.
- Content – Once you have your keywords, it’s time to use them to make content.
- SEO – Next, you’ll need to optimize your website content for search engines.
- Web Design – You will need to design your website so that it is visually attractive.
- Tracking – Now it’s time to add tracking for the phone calls and contact form submissions the site generates.
- Find a Renter – Once your site is ranking and getting calls, you’ll want to find a client to rent it.
- Pass Go and Collect Your Rental Income – Mission accomplished!
But I Don’t Know Anything About Keyword Research, SEO Websites, Web Design and All That!
And that’s ok. With the right teacher, you can learn. The right person or right course can guide you on how to rank your website, design a website for search engines and more. I’ll let you know who that is, based on my experience, in a later post.
For now, ask yourself these questions:
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Am I a quick learner?
Ok, quick might be the wrong word. You don’t have to be quick, but you do need to be able to learn. Able to absorb new things. Able to follow directions. Able to look for answers on your own or ask others for help. If you are starting as a complete beginner, there is quite a bit to learn.
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What do I have more of, time or money?
If you have deep enough pockets, you can outsource nearly all of the work that needs to be done. You will still want to spend time learning the ropes of the business, but once you know what is needed, there are plenty of people that can do the work for you – for a fee, of course. This is also a good option for anyone that is overly intimidated by technology.
If you have more time than money, are you willing to listen, take notes, and put what you learn into action?
I DO Know Something About SEO, Content Creation, or Web Design
If you have already have skills in the following areas, you’ll be ahead of the game. You will still need to learn all the intricacies of Rank and Rent, but what you already know will shorten the learning curve, and give you a leg up – in those areas.
SEO Professionals
SEO search engine veterans, especially local SEO veterans, will have no problem understanding rank and rent SEO, the keyword research and content creation process. They may not have skills in web design, but their local search skills will help them get their sites ranked so they can be rented out.
Local SEO experts will also know that these three or four page websites are the perfect match for local businesses that need to rank well in Google.
“Amateur'” SEO Users
Maybe you’re not an expert, but you do know a little about SEO. Perhaps you have a blog or two, and have done some SEO work on them. With this knowledge, you will quickly catch on to Rank and Rent SEO, and that is to your advantage. Just know that it takes a bit more time and knowledge to learn all the nuances of local SEO.
Web Designers
Web designers will like the Rank and Rent business model. They will enjoy the freedom of not having any client responsibilities or expectations, while still getting paid for their work. In other words, they will finally be free from the clutches of their difficult customers. (If you’re a web designer, you know what I mean!) They will be able to design their sites according to their own specifications, and then rent them out to clients that need a website.
Content Writers
Do you have a way with words? Do you understand SEO writing? If so, then R&R sites could be perfect for you. It’s important to know that writing content for a business is different than the content you would normally write for a blog post, so you will want to take the time to learn about it, if you’re not already familiar.
An Extra Advantage
Another advantage for those that have these skills is that you will no longer need an endless supply of clients. In most cases, once you finish with your current client work, you need to find the next paying customer. With an R&R site, you don’t have to be looking for new clients all the time. Instead of needing a constant supply of new customers, each rank and rent website you build becomes a digital asset that you own. And renters tend to stay with lead generating sites for a long time.
In Conclusion
Ranking and renting websites is definitely a viable way to make money online. Whether you are a beginner looking for a fun and profitable online business, or someone who already possesses certain skills, the Rank and Rent business model opens up doors for everyone. Rank and Rent could be your dream business opportunity!
