Thinking of buying a website...

The Dagda

Hi,

I'm thinking of buying a website. It's not particularly successful but, I believe, that's down to the current owners not putting much work into it as they built it to sell. It's got a perfect .ie domain for it's main sales item so I believe it could be turned into a reasonable business. I've been looking for an opportunity to get into an online business and I believe this offers that opportunity at a not too great a cost and will give me a relatively easy way to learn about online business.

I'm currently speaking with suppliers to get an idea of the financials but I'm asking here for any advice you guys might have, like what questions I should ask the seller and what info I need to make an informed decision about a prospective purchase of a website/online business.

Thanks in advance

stephenpalmer

Hi there,

Sounds like a great idea. A few things you should check is how well optimized it is. If the site has virtually no SEO than you will have a lot of work to do.

If they are not getting any visits from search engines, or any visits at all you are looking to a lot of work.

Its like buying a restaurant thats down a street with no signs on it.. :pac: Not fun. If its just the actual website itself then i'd suggest checking out Flippa.com they sell fully put together websites with all the proof you need including revenue generated etc.

Anyways best of luck with it.:)

Axwell

- Whats its current unique hits per month
- Whats its current ranking in Google for search terms relating to the business or the product, not generic ones like searching for the business or domain name but actual keywords
- What are the current sales figures through the website
- Is the site fully working
- Does the backend ecommerce section fully work and is it easy to use
- What system is it built on, an off the shelf one or a custom built one. If its custom it could be awkward trying to get it updated down the line if its not coded well to begin with
- Why did they build it to sell?

Whats the competition like for the product, if you do a search in Google how many other sites are selling the product. The fact they built it to sell doesnt really show anything, its not a case of build it and they will come.

The Dagda

stephenpalmer wrote: »

Hi there,

Sounds like a great idea. A few things you should check is how well optimized it is. If the site has virtually no SEO than you will have a lot of work to do.

If they are not getting any visits from search engines, or any visits at all you are looking to a lot of work.

Its like buying a restaurant thats down a street with no signs on it.. :pac: Not fun. If its just the actual website itself then i'd suggest checking out Flippa.com they sell fully put together websites with all the proof you need including revenue generated etc.

Anyways best of luck with it.:)

Thanks for the reply.

I'm told the website has been designed with SEO in mind and it shows up on the first page of a google search, if you type the main sales item, without any adwords spend. To be honest, this is where I need the advice, I don't have any knowledge in the whole area of SEO and adwords so I'm blind! Can you give me a brief intro to this area?

If you type in the specific term it shows up on the first page, but if you are more generic and type "item" ireland or cheap "item" it doesn't show up. Is it easy to fix that? Is it just a matter of including these terms on the website?

The Dagda

Axwell wrote: »

- Whats its current unique hits per month
- Whats its current ranking in Google for search terms relating to the business or the product, not generic ones like searching for the business or domain name but actual keywords
- What are the current sales figures through the website
- Is the site fully working
- Does the backend ecommerce section fully work and is it easy to use
- What system is it built on, an off the shelf one or a custom built one. If its custom it could be awkward trying to get it updated down the line if its not coded well to begin with
- Why did they build it to sell?

Whats the competition like for the product, if you do a search in Google how many other sites are selling the product. The fact they built it to sell doesnt really show anything, its not a case of build it and they will come.

Thanks for replying.

I will ask them about the unique hits, and I think I've answered the google ranking question above.

The site is fully working but the sales figures are low due to, I believe, lack of attention to the sales side.

The back end is, I'm told, very good and simple to use.

The shopping cart is a "top one" that cost around €1000 and again I'm told that it works really well and is very straight forward.

They built it to sell because the got lucky and found the domain when it was out of contract.

There is a lot of competition but the domain is great and I really believe a bit of work on the sales side could turn the business into a reasonable one but my motivation to buy is not purely to make a huge success, I want to learn about online business and I think this offers the perfect opportunity to learn.

Again, thanks for replying and keep the suggestions and advice coming...

Bandara

The Dagda wrote: »

Thanks for replying.

I will ask them about the unique hits, and I think I've answered the google ranking question above.

The site is fully working but the sales figures are low due to, I believe, lack of attention to the sales side.

The back end is, I'm told, very good and simple to use.

The shopping cart is a "top one" that cost around €1000 and again I'm told that it works really well and is very straight forward.

They built it to sell because the got lucky and found the domain when it was out of contract.

There is a lot of competition but the domain is great and I really believe a bit of work on the sales side could turn the business into a reasonable one but my motivation to buy is not purely to make a huge success, I want to learn about online business and I think this offers the perfect opportunity to learn.

Again, thanks for replying and keep the suggestions and advice coming...

Hi there

I mean this really constructively but you need to stop selling the idea to yourself and convincing yourself everything is good. Start being critical and picking holes in it, your no benefit to yourself if your all gung-ho and dying to buy it.

Focus on the negatives and the shortfalls of the site and the overall project, because that's what your going to spend the first 6 moths sorting out. And don't believe anything that the current owners tell you, they are selling you something, they'll say anything to get a sale.

Good luck with it, sounds like an interesting venture.

Kinetic^

The Dagda wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

I'm told the website has been designed with SEO in mind and it shows up on the first page of a google search, if you type the main sales item, without any adwords spend. To be honest, this is where I need the advice, I don't have any knowledge in the whole area of SEO and adwords so I'm blind! Can you give me a brief intro to this area?

If you type in the specific term it shows up on the first page, but if you are more generic and type "item" ireland or cheap "item" it doesn't show up. Is it easy to fix that? Is it just a matter of including these terms on the website?

If you're planning on buying a website without any knowledge of SEO or adwords then I'd ask you to seek professional help (not psychological but from an online marketing perspective) as you'll see a good hefty chunk of you traffic from both if done correctly. A brief intro won't bring you up to speed.

The Dagda

Hammertime wrote: »

Hi there

I mean this really constructively but you need to stop selling the idea to yourself and convincing yourself everything is good. Start being critical and picking holes in it, your no benefit to yourself if your all gung-ho and dying to buy it.

Focus on the negatives and the shortfalls of the site and the overall project, because that's what your going to spend the first 6 moths sorting out. And don't believe anything that the current owners tell you, they are selling you something, they'll say anything to get a sale.

Good luck with it, sounds like an interesting venture.

Hi,

I'm glad you replied coz I'm a long time lurker on the site and I like your posts. To be honest, I'm already pretty much sold on the idea and I'm here looking for advice on things I don't fully understand i.e. the SEO and adwords because I'm of the opinion that these can make or break a website.

I don't know how it works fully but as I understand it, small changes to a site can make a big difference, I'm confident these changes can be made relatively easily but again I'm here for some guidence on it.

I have been critical of the site but those criticisms are positives in my eyes i.e. the range of items is poor (i can change that) and the price of the items is wrong (i can change that) but the things I don't fully understand and I feel need changing I need guidence on i.e. getting the site to show up on searches like "item" cheap or irish "item" which is why I'm here

I'm very wary of what the seller says but I'm just relaying what I've been told in the hope in triggers someone to mention something I may have missed.

Again, thanks for the reply

The Dagda

Kinetic^ wrote: »

If you're planning on buying a website without any knowledge of SEO or adwords then I'd ask you to seek professional help (not psychological but from an online marketing perspective) as you'll see a good hefty chunk of you traffic from both if done correctly. A brief intro won't bring you up to speed.

I will seek professional help but I'd appreciate a brief synopsis on it if someone would be so kind...

As I currently understand it, a website needs to be designed well, with the correct terms on it to show up on the searches. I'm confident it does that as typing the exact term into the search brings it up on the first page. What doesn't happen is when someone searches for "item" cheap or irish "item" it doesn't show up, what I need to know is, is it just a matter of tweaking the site to include these phrases?

The adwords is something I'm confident I could pick up pretty quickly, again as I understand it, this involves purchasing the correct terms...?

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

The Dagda wrote: »

I'm here looking for advice on things I don't fully understand i.e. the SEO and adwords because I'm of the opinion that these can make or break a website.

It's an interesting thread. Usually when someone buys small a web business in my experience, they tend to re-do the site. The reason for this is that their could be security holes left in the previous program and in general sites architecture go out of date pretty quickly.

Whats the value add you are bring to the business other than your obvious enthusiasm and willingness to work hard?

As Axwell said you need to find out the core platform the site developed on and then find an expert in that platform to advise you how you'd add value. It's worthwhile spending a few months becoming obsessed in learning CRO, SEO and SEM as outsourcing the grunt work on these is expensive.

Best of luck with it.

The Dagda

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan wrote: »

It's an interesting thread. Usually when someone buys small a web business in my experience, they tend to re-do the site. The reason for this is that their could be security holes left in the previous program and in general sites architecture go out of date pretty quickly.

Whats the value add you are bring to the business other than your obvious enthusiasm and willingness to work hard?

As Axwell said you need to find out the core platform the site developed on and then find an expert in that platform to advise you how you'd add value. It's worthwhile spending a few months becoming obsessed in learning CRO, SEO and SEM as outsourcing the grunt work on these is expensive.

Best of luck with it.

Thanks for replying.

The re-doing the website because of security issues is not something I'd condsidered, thanks for mentioning that.

The added value I'm planning on bringing is that in another business I've capacity to handle the stock and shipping of the merchandise. Currently that's done by a dropshipper so I'm confident I can make savings and improve service.

I'm planning on getting very familiar with the intricacies of the website/online business, no better way to learn, than by doing...

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Sounds like your on to a winner then mate. Congrats.

Cianos

Have you used the google keywords tool to check how many people are actually searching for the main sales item?

Go here, enter your term in "words or phrases" and leave "website" empty - the Local Searches are the amount of people searching for those terms in Ireland.

This is a very good indicator of the demand that is currently out there.

Be sure to untick the "broad" box and tick "[exact]" so you don't get overlapping numbers.

The Dagda

Cianos wrote: »

Have you used the google keywords tool to check how many people are actually searching for the main sales item?

Go here, enter your term in "words or phrases" and leave "website" empty - the Local Searches are the amount of people searching for those terms in Ireland.

This is a very good indicator of the demand that is currently out there.

Be sure to untick the "broad" box and tick "[exact]" so you don't get overlapping numbers.

thank you so much for this advice, I just used it and my worries about not showing up in searches like "item" ireland and cheap "item" were completely unfounded. The main search, which is the domain name, has over 15000 local searches per month compared to less than 1000 local searches for the other 2, this is great news, yes?

what would a generally accepted good number of local searches per month?

Cianos

The Dagda wrote: »

thank you so much for this advice, I just used it and my worries about not showing up in searches like "item" ireland and cheap "item" were completely unfounded. The main search, which is the domain name, has over 15000 local searches per month compared to less than 1000 local searches for the other 2, this is great news, yes?

what would a generally accepted good number of local searches per month?

So, the domain name is "shoes.ie", and there are 15,000 searches being done for "shoes"?

Are you definite that it's 15,000 local searches done on this exact phrase? (ticking the correct parameters on the side bar)

This does sound like a very good amount of searches in that case. Providing the product is specific to the term and vice versa.

Cianos

Should also mention that if you do go ahead with the sale, post up the site in the website reviews forum for some good feedback on design/usability etc

The Dagda

Cianos wrote: »

Should also mention that if you do go ahead with the sale, post up the site in the website reviews forum for some good feedback on design/usability etc

Thanks Cianos you've been very helpful here. If I do go ahead I certainly will post it up

blue4ever

I think Hammertime was correct - dont sell it to yourself. Go through it logically and if it fits your current scheme, then go for it.

On the rigours of web/ adwords/seo - seriously don't be too expectant. We have websites that have thousands of pages and other that 'specialise' and have few.

A great word of advice given to me was that not maintaining a site, was like leaving your child unwashed.

It's true, and when I went in to the web side, I didn't have a small person around to visually remind me of that fact.

Honest, pm me if you want and I'll show you one site (service as opposed to ecomm), I will gladly tell you the ins and outs.

C

tricky D

There's some good info on valuing sites here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056338647 which might help you.

When you say it shows up on the first page, where is that on the first page? Clickthroughs drop dramatically after the first 4/5 listings.

As for redesigning sites after buying, much of the reason is to do with the new owners feeling they need to take possession of the site. This isn't a good reason for redesigning a site. Tweak, yes, redesign, not usually good as it throws out existing equity in SEO, branding and other areas. Plugging security holes rarely requires a site to be redone.

Do not skimp on 3rd party advice and help.

gl