If you looking to purchase a website, and feel a little frustrated or overwhelmed, we here you! These days, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype, but it’s easy to overcome with a little knowledge and best practice. We published a number of best practices for sellers to follow before listing their site, but what best practices should you follow if you’re looking to buy? We could name a few, but here are few to pay attention to before making a bid for an established site.

The Number of Hits

There are a lot of website buyers, especially new ones, who tend to get confused between unique page hits and conversions. Unless the previous website owner has converted these unique visitors into regular customers, 1 million or more hits doesn’t amount to much if your goal is to increase a loyal customer base. We suggest discussing this with the seller before making a bid. The seller should be able to provide proof of site membership if the site requires you to register and create an account.

High Page Rank

Website owners go crazy about Page Rank (PR). The notion that the higher the page rank, the better is true, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are still many factors to think about when assessing the overall value of the website.

When a buyer is presented with a page rank of 3 to 10 (which is very hard to achieve in few months’ time), it is important to ask the following questions:

1. How old is the website?
2. How many inbound links does it have?
3. Are they quality links?

Usually, there’s a good chance scripts have been used to show a higher PR for the website so it’s important to do the proper due diligence and work with the seller before placing a bid. The old adage applies here, “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”

Earnings

Found a site “earning as much as $5,000 a month.” Seriously, who wouldn’t like to cash in with just few more tweaks and an established customers base?

I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but it’s easy to make an estimate or even an outrageous claim. The truth is unless someone is really good in his or her marketing, earning this much is very hard to come by.

As a buyer we recommend you ask for certified true copies of banks statements, receipts, and invoices before making a bid or Buy Now offer.

Erik

View all posts by Erik
SecondWind Marketplace

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1. 

   Nile on Nov-17-2010

   Depending on the niche, it is hard to make a 3, but very do-able (done it plenty.)

   All of these factors are great. I do though suggest looking into things like compete and other tools to look up the site’s keywords to see if you can capitalize on what work has already been done SEO-wise.

   And yes, you are right… there are a lot of people who will fluff up their site info to get the sale and all you end up is with a domain that will need a lot of work to even try to make it worthwhile to flip to the next person.

2. 

   Andy@PowerBlog on Nov-18-2010

   Quite right to point out the difference between hits and conversions.
   There is glaring problem where site flippers can inflate the hits by buying traffic.

3. 

   Andy Beveridge on Nov-18-2010

   I sometimes wonder if there is any advantage to buying site in this way. Why not just get an idea and turn it into a blog. This way it’s fresh and new. Add your content and backlinks and at least you know that the stats are real.

4. 

   Gret on Nov-19-2010

   Thanks for a realistic article, and for dispelling the myths.

5. 

   William on Nov-19-2010

   I agree with Andy. I started with an idea and then created a blog. You can always get ideas for posts from questions that people ask relevant to your topic.

6. 

   Josh on Nov-21-2010

   Very informative article and thanks for bringing up these points.

7. 

   Teak on Nov-21-2010

   This is an excellent topic. Enjoyed reading the best practices for sellers.

8. 

   Andy@PowerBlog on Nov-23-2010

   Is it just me? or am I right. Sites that are being made for flipping are being sold way cheaper than a few years ago.