Interested in buying a site, What do I need to know?

**Jonn** · 02-12-2009 08:45 PM

What type of questions should I ask?

I am wondering what a site with google ad words can get $$ but how much do ad sites generate?

I know if all depends on volume but can you guys give a newbie some pointers. I don't want to get taken advantage of

If I pay x for a site how much should I expect it should generate in ad rev???

THanks!

**nmacneil** · 02-12-2009 09:24 PM

Hi John,

You should ask how much revenue the site currently brings in and the amount it costs to run the site. A general rule for selling a website is net revenue times 3. Of course, there are many exceptions to the rule and people may pay less or more than 3 times the net revenue. If the site has increasing revenue and a lot of potential you may pay more than 3 times. I had a friend sell his site for 10 times the net revenue based on increasing advertising revenue.

Ask lots of questions. At the end of the day, the price you pay will be what you feel the site is worth to you. Good luck!

**Poor Man** · 02-14-2009 10:28 PM

hey John,

It's a good thing that you're out on a venture to earn money through online marketing. But, if you are someone who is a newbie. I seriously advise against you buying any website right from the start.

Personally, I think it's a business practice to build your own website first. See how your website perform. Learn from your success and mistakes. SEO is no picnic and ecommerce is a terrible headache.

Once you have built your first website and bring it to it's peak, then maybe it's time for you to venture into website flipping or website investments.

Otherwise, forget about it for the time being and start to do more reading on the stuff you still don't know.

**CapitalistFool** · 02-14-2009 10:37 PM

I agree 100% with Poor Man. It will serve you well to take the less costly route of creating your own website and make mistakes on the cheap. Get comfortable with AdWords/AdSense click rates (or however you will make revenue) and the marketing methods that give you the most pop.

Don't drop $500 on a website producing $100 per month with no idea how to maintain that cash flow.

**nice_guy_2007** · 02-14-2009 10:39 PM

Originally Posted by Poor Man

hey John,

It's a good thing that you're out on a venture to earn money through online marketing. But, if you are someone who is a newbie. I seriously advise against you buying any website right from the start.

Personally, I think it's a business practice to build your own website first. See how your website perform. Learn from your success and mistakes. SEO is no picnic and ecommerce is a terrible headache.

Once you have built your first website and bring it to it's peak, then maybe it's time for you to venture into website flipping or website investments.

Otherwise, forget about it for the time being and start to do more reading on the stuff you still don't know.

I agree totally with poor man’s post. When I first started out I made a lot of mistakes and spent way too much money on sites that were garbage. I also didn’t have a clue what I was doing. It’s definitely a constant learning experience because the internet and the way it works changes all the time. This is why you must continue to keep yourself up-to-date. For starters by building up a starting foundation of how everything works online. Starting a website from scratch and learning how to build, promote it, and bring repeat visitors back is a great way to learn. It’s like anything the more experience you have with it the better it will make you. From the sounds of it so far you are off to a great start.

**Francis Simisim** · 02-20-2009 02:11 AM

It's best to learn the trade first without risking too much and then venturing all out for a site when you have the necessary experiences

**flnazrael** · 02-20-2009 08:53 AM

A lot of the sites you see on places like Digitalpoint are propped almost entirely by links on other sites that the seller owns. When you buy the site, you have no guarantee.

A lot other sites use 302 redirects to create fake PageRank, or, they just fake the revenues somehow.

There are some great deals out there. But don't spend money you're not prepared to lose, until you really understand this business.

**SophieM** · 02-20-2009 09:24 AM

The tips above are great.

I would also add, make sure you get access to whatever their traffic tracking system is. Screen shots can be easily faked.

**DannyKelman SoW** · 02-20-2009 11:44 AM

no no no no no, i totally disagree. sit around reading about something before jumping right into it? How is he going to learn reading book? everyone on the internet who's any good has made their mistakes so i wouldn't want to deny you yours and stop you from a powerful learning curve.

Adword advertisements on your site do OK, But your going to want to pull revenue from much larger streams such as things I do, is get involved in an affiliate program review the product and link as long as it relevant will do fine. Amazon also. Unlike a lot of people I like to drive site revenue from products, and actual sales, not just all these advertising mediums, it well overdone.

**flnazrael** · 02-20-2009 01:42 PM

It's kind of dumb to drop hundreds or especially thousands on some sites when you have no idea what kind of ripoffs to look for.

There is a difference between jumping in and getting your feet wet, and just generally not knowing what in the hell you're doing.

Agreed though - affiliate stuff generally pays far better than ad networks.

**anilpank** · 02-20-2009 01:55 PM

Jonn, I would suggest you on a different line. Get the URL of that website. There are various websites and tools that test the number of hits that the website is having daily. Then search for the website content on google, yahoo and other popular search engines. See if your website comes in top 10 or at least top 20 search list. Now consult the website owner about the revenue it is generating and also the revenue model. Normally if a website is generating good and consistent revenue why would anyone sell it. But if he can justify the selling and you can see that you can recover the cost in an year or so go for it. Even if it is a failure you'll learn a lot in the process.

**mekdawrek** · 02-20-2009 06:49 PM

I'd be interested to know...how many people have actually bought and flipped a website?

**flnazrael** · 02-20-2009 10:15 PM

I've bought and sold. But the one I bought I got only for the links... it had no revenue.

**anilpank** · 02-20-2009 10:20 PM

I won't know about deals here. But there was a guy called Avnish Bajaj. He created a website baazi eBay India - Online Shopping Mall: Free Auctions, Shop/Buy/Sell Mobiles, Cameras, Apparel, Computers, Bollywood Clothes & Indian Products . The business model was good but even after 2 years, it was running on losses. Finally ebay bought it for US$50 million and then converted it ebay India.

http://gmat.co.nr/