How-to guide for buying an established website or web business.
22/05/10 | Kentucky Business Network
We have had a few people write in an ask: “Where can I go to buy an existing website?” or “Where can I buy a ready made website business?”. So, we decided to write a short guide and list a few decent places to help our users purchase existing websites or web businesses.
This article will help:
- Business owners understand the benefits of purchasing an established website
- Signs to identify bad investments in ready-made websites (or web businesses)
- Where to buy an established website or web business
Why would I want to buy an existing website rather than just build my own?
Some business owners might prefer to start from scratch and build a new website by hiring a web design company or freelance web designer. However, there can be a few draw backs to building a website from scratch. One is cost. Depending on the type of website that you want to build and the quality of coding and design, it can turn into a relatively costly process. Granted the cost of building a website will vary between companies, quality, timeframe, experience of the designer, and reputation. In many cases, a lower cost website may not be better for your small business–as a website can be one of the most important marketing devices a small business owns and uses. Another downside of creating a brand new website is timing. It can take quite a bit of time to build a quality website. For example, it took one of our members about three weeks to build a static website, because they decided to purchase extra time to refine their design (look and feel) and get the messaging right. Most web design companies will charge for extra rounds of revisions during the design process.
Purchasing a ready made website can be a quick way to enter the market.
Purchasing a ready-made website or web business can allow you to speed up the process of “going to market.” Granted, you may need to clean up a few things or add new content to the purchased website. Also, you will need to ensure that the website that you are purchasing is quality. (See below for quality assurance testing of ready made websites). In many cases, when you purchase a website, you will have a chance to view the design of the site, wade through the site content and get some facts about it. In this way, you will know what you are buying and can select a site or web business that will give you a head start. Many companies struggle with starting a new website because writing content can take a lot of time–and content production can cause web projects to miss their deadlines. The editing process can be tough, at times. Also, some websites that are for sale may already have traffic, search engine prominence or even revenue… which will give you a leg up from other start-ups.
What are some common signs that a website is poor quality or a bad investment?
- Double check to see if the website is committing gross copyright violations
- Too many links? Make sure the website isn’t over linking, which can cause penalties in Google and other search engines.
- Make sure the site has quality content!
- Click through the site and look for broken pages, elements and links
- Make sure the website accurately reflects the market you wish to enter
Background checks and quality assurance for purchasing a website
Hiring a web strategy company can help you identify whether a website is quality by doing an SEO and website audit before finalizing the purchase. Spending a few hundred dollars to hire a web strategy company can save you a lot of time and money down the road.
What are some factors that may demonstrate high quality within a for sale website?
- Content, content, content: Good content goes a long way!
- Page ranking: Google uses a ranking system to measure the strength of a page within search engines. You may not need a ready high page rank, but it certainly can help.
- Good design: clear and interesting (or just simple) design can really make or break a website. Bad design can certainly contribute to a website’s failure.
Where can I purchase a ready made website?
- eBay: search for “websites for sale”
- flippa.com – an online marketplace for buying and selling websites
- marketplace.sitepoint.com/ — a marketplace for established websites and existing web businesses.
