What to look for when buying a site?

[rembrandt]

I'm interested in buying sites that are making some money already. I haven't bought any sites before and was wondering what information should I be looking for to make a good decision and determine a fair price?

 

[Dave]

Usually you pay 10x monthly revenue - just make sure you can further develop the site, and have a good idea about the topic.

 

[madawgz]

Usually you pay 10x monthly revenue - just make sure you can further develop the site, and have a good idea about the topic.

plus if the domain name is good, you have to put that into the equation

 

[Rob_TID]

Do your due diligence as you would when buying any business - if ANYTHING feels wrong then don't do it as there are always other honest people looking to sell sites.

 

[$5 Submissions]

I also look for link popularity, alexa ranking (although this can be pimped), brandability, and scalability.

 

[John]

I don't really look for a site that is making a lot of money, theres a poor ROI on those types of sites. It's better to buy a site that has good traffic, backlinks, and has been online for a long time but isn't being monitized as well as it could be.

 

[JDA]

I don't really look for a site that is making a lot of money, theres a poor ROI on those types of sites. It's better to buy a site that has good traffic, backlinks, and has been online for a long time but isn't being monitized as well as it could be.

Yep, that's the number one thing in my opinion. You don't want to pay for a site that's already operating at the top of it's potential. You need to have a plan to do something different with the site (different monetization, design, content, whatever) so that it'll make more money and do better.

 

[rembrandt]

Nice tips. What methods do you use to determine if it's a good site though. For example, you ask them for what exactly to allow you to make a good decision. Some examples I've heard of are stats from awstats, affiliate payouts, etc.

 

[guysmy]

First and foremost I look for a good idea that I can bring to the next level with my skill set. Established traffic (and decent PR) is huge. When you look at the stats take into consideration that the revenue might have a seasonal pattern – people tend to sell just before the "dead season."