What to Keep in Mind When Choosing a Web Site?

A typical website that is on sale on Flippa has tons of interesting information that is relevant on deciding whether or not to try and acquire it. The most important information is under the “Attachments ” section. This is the place where the seller typically enlists proof of the website’s traffic and earnings.

Here is what a typical Attachments part of a website listing might look like:

The attachment section of an auction

The particular attachments above show 3 things:

Traffic details to the webpage – how many people visit the website Earnings details for 1 month Earnings details for 6 previous months

Notice that the first icon has “Verified” on top of it. This is a feature that actually allows Flippa. com to post the actual Google Analytics data of the website. When you see an icon like that you can rest assured that the website has as many visitors as it says to have.

The other two icons are actually links to screenshots showing how much the website earns. Keep in mind that these are not verified by Flippa so it is up to you to decide whether this information is legitimate or not.

Other things to keep in mind when buying a website:

1. How is the Traffic Doing

When going through the data and deciding whether a website is worth buying 1 of the most important things to look is the website’s traffic.

How is the traffic doing? When you look at the numbers for the last few months – is the traffic going up or down? A steady decline in traffic might mean that the owner of the website decided to sell it because it is bringing in less and less money every month. Keep in mind that traffic = money. The more traffic a website gets the higher its earning capacity. If a website is losing traffic then it might indicate a possible problem you should investigate.

If the websites traffic has been going up steadily then it is a good indication that it will keep growing in the following months – enabling you to make even more money in the future.

Some websites rely on ads to bring in traffic. In such case the owner of the website pays money to advertise the website to generate traffic. If that is the case you should be sure that advertising is actually beneficial and that it brings in more money than it costs.

Also – if you buy a website that relies on advertising you must be sure that you can allow to pay for the first month’s ads because usually you get your check for running the website the next month. After getting the money you can already use it to pay for the following months advertising.

2. What was the Website’s Income During Last Few Months

Just like traffic a steadily rising income is a great thing when you are buying a website. If the income is declining you should think twice about buying the website.

Also be on the lookout of highly fluctuating income. Finding a blog that made 100 dollars in a single month but usually only makes $10 doesn’t mean that you can expect to get $100 in the future.

Most probably it was just a lucky occasion. I am sure that if the previous owner of the website could – he would have made it to earn that much all the time.

3. Does the Website Have Original Content

Always make sure that the website you are buying has original content. The best way to be sure is to go to copyscape. com and type in the address of the website you are thinking about buying. If the website has a lot of content that is also featured on other sites but the seller is insisting that it is original it might indicate a possible red flag.

Original content is an important factor for search engines. If Google finds an articles or some information that is also featured elsewhere it might penalize the website. This in turn can mean a smaller number of visitors from search engines.

4. Number of updates

If you buy a blog type website you should take a look of the number of articles the previous owner has made on average per week. This means that in order to keep the site going you will need to post the same amount of articles. If you are going to write the content on your own you should think whether you have the time that is needed to keep the site going.

If a website isn’t updated for a long time then it can seem abandoned and you will lose the usual returning visitors. These are the people who you don’t want to lose because they are the community and the blood of the website.

If you lack time then it is possible to hire someone to write articles for you. If the blog you are trying to buy makes 20 dollars a day then it shouldn’t be a problem to spend half of it (10 dollars) to pay for someone to write new articles.

Keep reading and I will show you where to go if you are looking for someone to write for your newly acquired blog.

If you are buying a website that is not a blog type it will still require updating. Before buying be sure how long time it takes and if you can do it or you need someone with special skills.