TIPS OR SUGGESTION TO BUY A WEBSITE

For a would be webmaster
wading into the wonderful
world of the web, buying a
web site(s) can be a
difficult thing to do,
especially if you are not
aware of what to look for
in a quality website.
Unfortunately defining
what a good website is can
be difficult even for the
most savvy of used website
salesmen. After all, a
website hardly possesses
the requisite weight or
measure, that defines most
products we buy. So if you
are not buying something
with substance, what are
you buying and what
should you be looking for
in a "good website"?
The short answer to this
very important question is
this. You are buying a
combination of three
things; the expertise and
creativity that went into
creating the site, the effort
that has gone into
marketing that site and
finally the earning
potential of the website in
question. With this in mind,
before you drop a dime,
you should get a clear
picture of each of these
things as it relates to the
website you are interested
in.
To do this you need only
ask the person who is
selling the site the
following nine questions,
the answers to which will
give you a good idea of just
how "good" the site you
are interested in is. These
questions may seem pretty
obvious but you would be
surprised at how many
people simply buy on
impulse before
understanding what it is
they are getting. So do
yourself a favour and ask
these questions. Perhaps
you won't be able to get
answers to them all but
you should try to answer
the majority before you go
ahead and spend your hard
earned money on a website
of unknown origin.
1. Is the Website
original or turnkey
2. What does the site
sell?
3. When was the
website established?
4. Is the website
generating any
income?
5. Has the website been
mapped?
6. Are the Meta tags in
place?
7. Does the site have
any external links to
it?
8. What is the Google
PR?
9. What kind of support
will I get?
The answer to each of
these questions will
determine the value of the
site and you might be
surprised at how quickly
these answers add up. So
you know what to look for
when you get the answers
to these questions, we will
go over what to look for.
Question #1: Is the site
original or turnkey
This question is important
only to understand the
baseline price for the
website in question. A
custom site can run you in
the hundreds if not
thousands of dollars
before it even gets hosted
on a server. They are
original pieces of work and
usually made to order. A
turnkey site is a website
which is mass produced
and there is any number of
them in circulation. Both
are fully functional E
business solutions except
the turnkey costs
significantly less, selling for
fifty to one hundred
dollars. The important
thing to remember is that
both have the same
earning potential
regardless of the exclusivity
of the site.
Question # 2: What does
the website sell?
When you are looking for a
web site to buy, more than
likely you have half an idea
what you want to do with
it. Most people want to
make money but you
would be amazed at how
many people buy a website
but have no idea how
income is generated from
it. Generally speaking there
are four ways to make
money off of a website and
each involves selling either
Information, products,
services or advertising
space.
Selling information is
usually the easiest product
to schlep on the web
because it is usually in
digital format and you
simply charge a fee to
allow people to download
this information or to gain
access to your site and view
it. There is no mess no fuss
and it is virtually painless to
sell and receive payment.
The only requirement is
that you keep your
information current and in
many cases this is not all
that much of a challenge
but remember if you are
selling it, it is your
responsibility to make sure
the information is up to
date and accurate. If the
site sells information that is
mass produced and is
readily available through a
simple web search the
value of the site will
obviously be less. If the
information is something
that is unique and one of a
kind, you will pay
handsomely for the site.
Selling advertising space
is perhaps the goal of all
webmasters. It is a great
way to generate an income
from very little to
moderate effort. If you
have a website that is
popular and has many
visitors every day,
advertisers will want to
place their ads on your
home page. Web masters
will charge significant sums
of money to allow others
the privilege of advertising
on their website. This is
something you should
always aspire to and once
this happens all your
efforts will truly be
rewarded. If you are buying
a site that already
generates a significant
advertising income, you can
expect to pay a premium
price for it.
Selling products online is
the most common way
people get into online
business. Selling on Ebay is
the usual point of entry
and it is a great place to
start. Much can be learned
by selling on Ebay and I
would fully endorse this
starting point. The thing
with selling products
however, is that you need
to have stock to sell. This is
done by either using a drop
shipper to warehouse and
ship your product or
warehousing and shipping
stock yourself. For the
purposes of this article we
won't get into the details
of drop shipping, suffice to
say that this is the best way
to sell products on line but
it can be very difficult to
find a reliable drop
shipper. If you are buying a
website that has an
established drop shipper
and regular sales you will
have to pony up the
pennies to acquire the site.
If you are buying a site
where you warehouse the
goods make sure you are
prepared to purchase, store
and ship your stock. There
are benefits to both but be
aware both require time
and effort to manage.
Selling services is perhaps
the most time consuming
of all online businesses but
if you have a skill that
people want and you can
deliver it online it is a great
way to make some money.
Be sure if you buy a
website that sells a service
that you can deliver it.
People can easily bite off
more than they can chew
with this category of online
business so be sure to
investigate what you can
expect from owning a
service based web site.
Once again, if you are
buying an established
service website you will
have to pay a significant
sum to own it.
Question #3: When was
the website established?
The significance of this
question is simply that the
longer a site has been
around the more
thoroughly it has been
indexed by the search
engines. It is said that it
takes as much as a year for
search engines to
completely index a site.
This means that the search
engines are completely
aware of what the site has
to offer the average web
surfer. A site that has been
around for a while is more
valuable than one that is
right out of the box. You
can expect to pay about $
100 dollars for every year a
site has been around and
even more if it has been
managed well.
Question #4: Does the site
generate any income?
This is perhaps the most
obvious of all the questions
to be answered. We all
want to make money off
our sites and if you can get
one that is already
generating an income you
can hit the ground running.
Before purchasing a site
which is being promoted as
an income generator, make
sure you get the
information to support the
claim. Pay Pal, Adsense and
virtually all affiliate
programs have a report
feature which will prove
the financial comings and
goings of the site in
question. The seller of the
site should be happy to
provide you with this
information before you
buy. Finally, to determine
the value of an income
earning site it is not
uncommon for people to
multiply the yearly income
generated by a multiple of
10. So if a site generates an
income of $500 a year, you
could be looking at a price
tag of $5000. Although this
is not the golden rule don't
be surprised to run into
this. I personally think a
multiple of 5 would be
more appropriate but it
comes down what people
are willing to pay. Don't be
afraid to negotiate!
Question #5: Has the site
been mapped?
Site mapping is perhaps the
most overlooked and
easiest thing a webmaster
can do to improve a
websites page rank. A site
map is just as handy as a
road map for a city you
have never been to. If you
want to know where you
are going and what you
should see, a good map is
an absolute must. If you
want the search engines to
have a good trip through
your web site, a good
sitemap is essential.
Although it does not
significantly affect the
value of a site, it indicates
that the person who is
selling the site has taken
the time to make sure the
site has been indexed
properly. You can expect
an additional $20 - 40
added to the cost of a
website for a site map.
Question #6: Are the Meta
tags in place?
Meta tags are a very
contentious issue in the
world of web development
and you will find many
different schools of
thought on the issue
ranging from the Worthless
School to the Invaluable
School. At one time meta
tags were the primary
means by which search
engines like Google
determined the importance
of any given web page.
Over the years however,
things have evolved and a
number of additional
factors are taken into
account when determining
the importance of a web
site. Regardless of opinion
however, Meta tags can still
be considered an
important part of any web
site and should be in place
before the site can be
considered web worthy. As
a result, you can expect
that a good set of Meta
tags can add about $20 - $
100 to the cost of a site.
You can quickly check the
quality of the Meta tags for
any site at widexl.com they
have a nifty little tool to
do this with.
Question #7: Does the site
have any external links to
it?
Ah the eternal quest for
links, the webmasters holy
grail. Were Shakespeare
alive today, he would
undoubtedly have King
Richard the III uttering "A
link, a link, my kingdom for
a link" but alas I digress...
Without others linking to a
website, it is virtually
invisible to the average web
surfer and therefore not
much of an income
generator. If the website
you are buying has no links
to it you will have to do a
significant amount of work
of your own to get some. If
you are extremely lucky
your site will propagate
links all on its own but this
is highly unlikely. You can
expect to pay about $100
per thousand inbound links
a site has. This may seem
unreasonable to some but
remember existing inbound
links represents work the
current web master has
already done for you. If
you want to get a look at
how many links are
pointing to a web site, go
to Widexl.com again and
try out their Link Popularity
Check tool. This will give
you an idea of how many
sinks point to the site you
are interested in.
Question #8: What is the
web site's Google PR?
Google PR or page rank is
Google's way to rank the
importance of a website
and it is another one of
those contentious issues in
the world of web
development. Some web
masters say it is crap others
while others swear by it as
a measure of a web site's
significance. Regardless of
opinion however, it is safe
to say that having a page
rank is better than not
having one and the higher
the page rank the better.
As a measure of value PR is
commonly used to justify
the price being asked for a
website. If you want to get
a rough idea of what you
will pay for PR point,
simply begin at $20 for a
PR of 1 and double it for
each additional point. If
you do the math you will
see that a PR can add up
and by PR 10 you are
looking at a minimum of $
10,240 for such a website
and this is before taking
into consideration the
previously discussed items.
Question #9: What kind of
support do I get?
If you are a newbie to web
mastering this final
question is a very
important one to have
answered in your favour.
There are a ton of vendors
out there selling sites and
the prices range from
ridiculously cheap to fairly
expensive. The rule of
thumb is simply this, the
less you pay the less
support you will get from
those who sold you the
site. If you are new to this
game, you will
undoubtedly need a hand
until you get a handle on
what you are doing. Any
vendor worth their salt will
be more than happy to
accommodate your needs;
however, you have to
expect to pay for this help
and many vendors will
build this cost into their
product. The going rate is
at least $20 per hour and
as many as 3 hours may be
calculated into the cost of
a site. Be sure to ask if the
price of the website you
are interested in includes
support and if so how long
will it last.
Buying a website doesn't
have to be a daunting
experience and by
answering the questions
discussed in this article you
can minimise the chance of
getting something you
don't want. If you are
looking at a website for $
40 or less it is pretty much
guaranteed that all you are
getting is the website script.
As the price increases you
can expect that the items
as discussed in this article
are factored in. It is your
responsibility however, to
determine if the price is
justified or not. Common
sense and a little bit of
research can go a long way
toward making your foray
into the world of online
business a positive one.
Keith Rispin is the owner of
the Turnkey Shack a full
service website solution
and hosting provider.
Article Source: http://
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