How do I research a website?

If you’re considering purchasing a website on SecondWind Marketplace, we recommend doing a little research before placing a bid or Buy Now offer. Here are a few helpful best practices, a little due diligence on your part can go a long way and increase your confidence in a seller by using a few free tools and techniques.

Remember… research, research, research!

On-site Research

  • Read the listing very carefully and check out
  • Ask public questions you have about the listing data in the Comments section of the listing.
  • Request proof that they own the domain.
  • Confirm every claim they make revenue, copyright, and PageRank is valid.
  • Send the seller a private message. You may want to ask the seller how much time they’ve put into the site, how much maintenance or ongoing expense it requires.



Off-site Research

  • Google the domain. If the search doesn’t return the site, it may have been banned.
  • Skype the seller to obtain proof of their ownership of the property.
  • WHOIS provides domain information. Send an email to the contact listed for the domain in WHOIS, explaining that you’ve seen the site for sale at SecondWind Marketplace and you want to confirm some information.
  • RipOffReport should reveal the website or business if it has been mentioned in any scams.
  • SEMRush will help you confirm the rank and keyword data supplied in the property listing. You should be able to find out more about the site’s search competitiveness.
  • SpyderMate lets you ascertain the site’s SEO effectiveness.
  • Nibbler can give you an estimation of the site’s build quality, popularity, layout, etc.
  • YoMeta.com ranks your site on Google, Yahoo, and Bing all at the same time.
  • The Wayback Machine is a great way to review the site’s history. If the site’s purpose has changed dramatically in recent times, discuss this with the seller, to ensure the current traffic, search rankings, and so on are sustainable.
  • Pacer.gov will reveal details of any legal action taken against the site or business.
  • Ask for access to the site’s Google Analytics, AWStats or StatCounter reports, not just the main page.
  • Verify the seller’s AdSense revenue reflect the income for only the site you’re considering—not from other sites on which they publish AdSense ads. Again, ask for more than the first page of the report.

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