Buying Websites: Beyond the Basics
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
Have you ever flipped or purchased an existing website? If you’re like many buyers in the webmaster community, you probably made your buying decision based on two primary factors:
- Traffic
- Income
Chances are also good that you negotiated a sale price based on income over a period of a certain number of months. For example, the price you paid may have been the equivalent of 10 months’ income from the site.

While that kind of strategy may be common in webmaster communities, it’s not necessarily smart business. By looking only, or predominantly, at a website’s income you neglect other significant value points and you risk passing up great opportunities for mediocre ones.
Think about buying websites more like purchasing an existing traditional business. You’ll find there’s a lot under the surface worth considering. For example, you might want to look at the site’s:
- Branding and visibility (think Twitter: poorly monetized, but major value through visibility)
- Authority status and content (authority content is worth more than generic keyword-stuffed content that would turn off real visitors)
- Staff (and whether or not any of that staff will remain on board for a period after the purchase–important if the audience draw is to the owner and not the site itself)
- Domain name (even if a site’s content isn’t particularly valuable to you, the domain name could have considerable value of its own, especially if it ties in well to your existing business and offers better branding possibilities)
- Competition and Niche (if the website is in a true gem of a niche that is just getting started but has long-term potential, the site carries more value than something in an oversaturated niche like mesothelioma)


