An Introduction to Digital Real Estate
Simply put, digital real estate is one of the last great frontiers on the planet.
A virtual land boom is happening at your fingertips.
Digital real estate is essentially virtual property.
It comes in varying forms, from websites to domains, apps to digital products, to entire networks of digital assets.
Why should you care about virtual properties? Because it is seeing incredible growth in the investing world.
Anyone can invest in digital real estate.
But, here be dragons! Not all virtual properties are successful.
Unlike the physical real estate world, there aren't a lot of mentors or educational opportunities available.
And of course, plenty of unscrupulous folks out there are willing to take advantage of that lack of education and expertise.
What is Digital Real Estate – Some Real World Examples
Websites – The traditional example of digital real estate. Website monetization is a simple way of making money online. This can range from affiliate sites, authority sites, blogs, or eCommerce stores. Through 2025 and beyond, eCommerce retail transactions are expected to climb to 51% over physical storefront transactions.
Mobile Apps – Apple and Android smartphone applications offer excellent residual and passive income opportunities. Aside from the initial app sale, most apps now utilize an “in-game” purchases option, which further increases their value to the publisher and potential investors. The global mobile application market growth rate is forecast to grow 18.6% year-over-year for the next 6 years.
Intellectual Property, Blogs, Artists – The sheer amount of bloggers, artists, and innovators earning millions per year on the Internet is staggering. This alone should be an investment incentive. The content marketing industry is projected to grow 16% annually.
Digital products – Courses, training classes, guides, or membership programs. The digital education market is forecast to grow a whopping 22.7% year-over-year for the next 7 years.
Digital Real Estate – Be a Business Owner!
Digital Real Estate gives you the ability to own your own business and work from anywhere.
What could be more satisfying and fulfilling?
Investing in digital real estate has many benefits. Here is what makes this form of investing so enticing.
- Low Startup Cost: For as little as $10/year to register a domain and $5/month to host it, you can build a website to start getting traffic or wait and sell the domain later on.
- High Margins: With such a low cost to invest and build, you can achieve gross margins of up to 80% or more if you have an innovative idea or desirable domain name.
- Fast Appreciation: The value of a website often grows within one year; with a good name, it can grow much faster, so your asset appreciates quickly.
- Availability: Domains are never in short supply, are available worldwide, and anyone can buy them.
- Cash Flow Potential: You can earn cash flow from a website or domain before selling by placing ads on the site to earn revenue or becoming an affiliate to earn revenue by sending traffic or sales from your site to another.
- Easy to Improve: You can easily add content and improve the design.
- Future-Proof: The digital economy and digital real estate landscape are seeing massive year-over-year growth. Now is the best time to invest in digital real estate.
Digital Real Estate – 5 Ways To Monetize Your Digital Property
1. Sell Your Own Product
Perhaps this one is the most obvious. If you have your own product to sell, you can make money online by selling your products to your audience.
It is easy to build an eCommerce store without spending more than hosting costs.
You can outsource the production and logistics of your product and simply provide the storefront.
2. Subscription Service
Many content creators from YouTube have a donation or subscription-based service that gets you access to exclusive “subscriber only” content.
Establishing your audience and subscriber base usually takes a bit of time.
But, this approach will provide you with an ongoing income stream if you are willing to put in the work required to maintain your subscriber base.
3. Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is when a company or brand pays you to host their content to reach your audience.
This can be in the form of an article, a video, or social media post.
It is wise to only allow sponsored content that fits into the niche that your audience is in.
And it is always important to disclose that the content is coming from a sponsored partnership to maintain the trust of your audience.
4. Advertisements
Advertising revenue is one of the most effective ways to monetize your digital real estate investment.
By signing up with companies such as Google AdSense, Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads), Outbrain, or Taboola; you are able to make money online from people viewing the advertisements on your site.
If you drive enough traffic to your site, you can apply to direct advertising networks, maximizing your advertising revenue.
5. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a relatively easy entry point into selling products online.
It is a way for a company to sell its products through “affiliates” (ie. you), who do the marketing for them.
Affiliates make a commission when someone buys a product that they are marketing.
Closing Thoughts on Digital Real Estate
Investing in digital real estate can be an exciting pursuit.
The biggest obstacle is often not knowing where you should start or which niche to target.
Eventually, you may start making a profitable income from your digital property.
Then you can decide whether to sell your digital real estate for a profit or to continue developing to use it as an income stream.
The bottom line is that you must work to make your digital property more successful and increase its value.
So, make sure you are willing to put in the effort before investing.