Most marketers spend a significant amount of time online managing their business. When looking to expand a business, or break into a new area, it can be very smart to purchase an existing site so you don’t have to go through the hassle of building one from scratch. One of the biggest places to find and buy websites is on Flippa.com.
Flippa opened in 2009, and has sense become the most popular marketplace for buying and selling sites. It is easy to use, secure, and has a constant stream of sites ranging in price from a few dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. With so many sites to choose from, it can be difficult to find the gems hidden among the junk.
Weeding Out the Bad Sites
The vast majority of sites that are sold on Flippa are junk, and you shouldn’t buy them. They are either overpriced, under developed, or have major problems which will take a lot of work to fix. In these cases, it would make more sense to just buy a new site and build it yourself. There are, however, quite a few good sites to be found, if you can eliminate the bad ones. Here are some tips for filtering through the bad sites:
- Only Trust Verified Data – Most sites will have a variety of statistics listed about their site.
This type of information is generally verified by Flippa through a variety of methods, and can be trusted. Keep in mind, however, that things like the links in Google may be high-quality links, or poor quality links. Be careful about just going by the numbers. - Check the Due-Diligence Section – There is typically an option to check on additional statistics about a site. This section contains a lot of great information, make sure to go through it completely.
This type of information can help you to decide whether or not you think it is worth the investment.- Is the Site Making Money – Many sites for sale will already be earning money. These sites will cost more, but they can be worth it. Just make sure to verify the income claims as much as possible. Flippa does a good job at trying to verify income from things like Google Adsense, but it is not 100% foolproof so do your own research too.
- Rely on Other People’s Experience – If you’re new to Flippa, or new to buying websites in general, see what other people say about a particular seller before you buy a site. If the person offering the site is brand new, you might want to be careful. If they have sold lots of sites, and received all positive feedback, you can have a little more confidence in your purchase.
- Know what You’re Getting – When you buy a website you will typically get the domain as well as all the files. Sometimes, however, you are only bidding on a domain name. Make sure you know exactly what you’ll get before you bid.
- Don’t be afraid to low-ball bid – If you see a site that looks good, and doesn’t have any bids yet. Throw in a small bid and see what happens. Sometimes sites can sneak through without getting many views, and you can snatch it up for very cheap. Of course, some sites have a reserve price which must be met, but not all of them!
When looking through sites, you need to be extremely picky. If even one small thing doesn’t seem legit, pass on to another site. There are 25-50 sites listed per day, and if you’re doing your research properly it will be very difficult to look through them all. Take your time and make sure you are confident in what you are buying. Start out buying one or two small sites to get used to the process, and then if you find it is something you enjoy and are good at, you can ramp it up and start buying great sites which will earn you money for years to come.
