The prospect of having an online presence is exciting to some individuals and companies, whether it is to sell products or services, or just to have a place on the web to call home, although most people look to buy an existing website for money-making potential. A convenient way of making an entry into the online market is through the purchase of an already established website.
Reasons for Buying an Established Website
There are various reasons why one may opt to buy an already established website, instead of setting up a new one from scratch. This may be because a person or company urgently needs to have a website in place and are, therefore, faced with time constraints. An advantage of the established website is that it offers a good flow of existing traffic, and because the previous owner already tackled all the teething problems, the new owner should find that the website is now operating smoothly.
Moreover, the older the website is, the better its performance in terms of search engine page ranking results. As such, if the right SEO techniques have already been applied to the established website, the buyer inherits a site with a high volume of instant traffic.
Finally, an already established site is a quick solution for generating income as it already is a money-making venture, no matter how little the income generated. With some money and a little skill in the art of negotiation, one may acquire the right established website.
Auction Sites that Sell Established Websites
There are a number of online websites created specifically for the auction of established websites. One of the most reputable places to begin hunting for a suitable established website for purchase is SitePoint Marketplace. This is undoubtedly the most popular web portal for the selling and purchasing of established websites on the Internet. This website contains numerous listings of established websites for sale, thus creating a variety of options for the prospective buyer.
In an auction-setting, one is bound to run across pre-made websites that have not had ownership yet. There are many web design companies that will mock up sites for specific industries, and sell the shell to someone looking for a website in that area. These sites can be very professional looking, and contain some great information to get a new business off the ground, but keep in mind that these sites will not have previous traffic or money-making venues, such as Google Adsense, in place at the time of purchase.
Remember to have patience during the quest for an established website for purchase. This is because there are many worthless websites available for sale, and one should not impatiently rush and settle for a website for the sake of having one. It may take weeks or months to find the right website at the right price.
Conduct Background Checks Before Buying an Established Website
Before making a website purchase, it’s important to first contact the seller in order to find out as much relevant information as possible concerning the website. Such important information may include, but is not limited to:
- Monthly income of the website
- Monthly traffic statistics
- Methods used to attract traffic to the website
- Page rank of the website in big search engines, such as Google, AOL, MSN, and Bing
- What is under direct copyright of the existing owner of the website
Be sure to send the seller a private request for proof of income or sales records, which may reveal the profitability of the website. Remember to ask any and all questions one may have so as to be fully informed at the time of purchasing the website.
How to Determine the Right Price for an Established Website
Ensure that the price is right before making an established website purchase. Avoid the sellers who are asking for inflated prices. By paying the right price for the website, one will ensure that they recover the costs of purchase fast enough so as to begin making a decent profit from the website.
Websites generally sell at approximately 10 times their monthly income. For example, should one wish to purchase a website that earns $300 a month, the asking price will be around $3,000. Any website which is offered for sale at a price that is less than the total income from a few months, for instance selling a $5,000 per month income website for $2,500, may be a scam and should be avoided or at least checked into very thoroughly.
By taking into account the above basic considerations, one may then be able to make the right purchase of an established website at the best possible price and ,thereafter, watch the profits roll in. Just remember that although a person purchases an existing website, there will still need to be plenty of time and energy spent maintaining the site to keep traffic coming in.
Purchasing an established website makes sense in many ways. It is ideal for the person who does not know the nuts and bolts about building a site from scratch. It is a big decision on deciding which website to buy, but once the deal is done, it should produce a pretty good feeling inside.
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