Website flipping is all the rage as a new “Make Money Online” business model. New membership sites have launched showing you exactly how to cash in on buying and selling virtual real estate. In fact, some internet marketing gurus are even calling it an art. The art is really in finding a site with potential that you can improve and then selling it for a profit. What gets complicated are the mechanics of transferring the domain and website pages to the new owner.

Squidoo lens flipping is a newcomer to this art. On Squidoo you don’t actually own your websites, or lenses as they are called, but you can transfer a lens to another Squidoo member. There are no fees to transfer, and it takes only a simple exchange between the seller, buyer and Squidoo to complete the transaction. For a skilled lensmaster, the Squidoo version of a webmaster, creating or buying lenses and flipping them for a profit could be a viable business model.

Already talented lensmasters have started services to build a custom lens for a fee. Ready-made lenses are gaining in popularity as well. These might be pages that are brand new on a hot niche topic, or a lens that has already proven its ability to pull traffic and make a steady income. There are even sites set up specifically for lensmasters to sell or auction their Squidoo pages.

The buyer’s market for ready-made lenses isn’t just for new Squidoo members. The same speculators who buy websites can see the potential in a quality Squidoo page. One with steady traffic and a reliable monthly income can be a profitable investment. A business owner trying to place on Google for specific keywords may buy one to target those words in the search engines. A blogger may want a spot on Squidoo to drive traffic back to his site. The value of a lens depends on the keywords, traffic, backlinks, monthly income and Google positioning,which is very similar to pricing any other website. Prices for quality sites on Squidoo vary from as little as $10 for new lenses to as much as a few hundred dollars for proven income-generating lenses.

Some innovative lensmasters are creating a series of lenses on a specific topic. Each lens in the series will target related keywords within that niche. They will design the Squidoo pages to feature and link to each other creating a ring of traffic to each lens. Then they will sell the group as a set to a prospective buyer or someone who is looking to add to their website portfolio on that niche. A set of lenses linked together within a specific niche can often demand a higher price than the same number of Squidoo pages sold separately.

While website flipping can be complicated, selling a Squidoo lens is a simple process. Even advertising your lenses for sale is as easy as building a page showcasing your available lenses. Squidoo experts have even created lens marketplaces and auction sites. Starting a Squidoo lens flipping business couldn’t be easier. There is no financial risk to this make-money-online opportunity. With no fees to build a lens or transfer one, the only investment you have is your time.