Check Our Recommended Resources to Grow & Monetize Your Website

⤴️ We verify & approve but do not endorse any products advertised.🔥 Place your 728 x 90 banner here.🔥

How to Buy a Website
How to Buy a Website

How to Buy a Website [The Practical Guide for First Buyers]

You probably want to make money by purchasing a website, growing it, and then enjoying monthly profits or flipping it for a higher price. Awesome! In this guide, you will learn how to buy a website that will be a winner.

We’ve written this guide for first-time website buyers who are interested in five- and six-figure transactions: small blogs, eCommerce stores, SaaS companies, and affiliate marketing blogs.

By reading it from top to bottom, you will find out why you should buy a website, what kind of business you should look into, where you can find them, how to distinguish real opportunities from scams, and how to determine the fair market value of a website before you make an offer.

Besides that, we will talk about how to complete a website acquisition and your next steps to start monetizing correctly and making money.

There is plenty to do, so let’s start. You can read the guide from the beginning to the top or select the section that interests you from the table below.

Five Reasons to buy a website

There are many reasons to acquire a website. Some people do it to earn a semi-passive income (I’m afraid I have to disagree with those who say that a website is a passive income stream. If you don’t take care of it and grow, it will eventually stop making money); and others because they want to improve their digital presence.

The most experienced ones buy to skip the first year or two of the cashless hustle common for online entrepreneurs.

The list of reasons could go on…

You may think you should start a website from scratch instead of buying one. I recommend you not to do it:

Here are, in my opinion, the top 5 reasons why you should buy a website:

Skip the first year or two of cashless hustle 👌

At MediaDigi, we’ve started around 50 websites and online businesses for our clients. Trust me when I say the first two years are the most difficult.

That’s because you must perform many tests and tweaks to determine what works and what doesn’t. You don’t know if your product or service is what the market wants or if it will ultimately be profitable for you.

Semrush capture -Blog traffic growth in 3 years
Semrush capture – Blog traffic growth in 3 years

On the other hand, when you purchase a website already established, trust and authority in the niche come with confidence and control. It also comes with a product or service already tweaked and, most importantly, generating profits.

Of course, you may purchase a nonprofitable website. Still, if you choose this path, you should ensure that you have the knowledge, resources, and willingness to invest in reversing the trend and transforming it into a money-making machine.

Gives freedom 👌

Not being tied to a particular location or desk every day can be very empowering. Don’t mistake freedom for time to slack off. True entrepreneurs respect freedom and understand that hard work is worth spending more time with their families and partake in activities that most miss out on because of their jobs.

Offers incredible scalability 👌

As Thomas Smale said, scaling any business is challenging, whether a brick-and-mortar location or an online business, but a website has advantages. For instance, a brick-and-mortar retail store has a defined audience, typically a radius from the business location. This doesn’t restrict an online business; it can be marketed to a worldwide audience.

Once successful marketing and advertising strategies are identified, an online business can open up its target and increase the budget to grow quickly.

Gives access to a worldwide market 👌

A website can run 24/7 without boundaries. There are no geographical boundaries and no specific hours of operation. Also, it produces revenue around the clock, even while you sleep.

An online business can thrive with a well-thought-out social media plan, search engine optimization, and paid media strategies. You have access to the entire world right at your fingertips.

You are building an income-producing asset 👌

You should see a website as an asset. Everything you build (customers list, newsletter, blog and content, social media followers base, software, backlinks, reviews, etc.) increases the value of that asset.

Building and growing a website in these turbulent economic times has excellent benefits. Instead of seeing your hard-earned money eaten slowly (or not) by inflation, you should consider investing in a website that not only produces your revenue monthly but also increases its value.

What kind of online businesses can you buy

There are many kinds of websites nowadays, including blogs, niche authority websites, affiliate websites, Shopify stores, SaaS, courses and consultancy, etc.

Next, we will talk in detail about five of them that I consider better to be purchased by first-time buyers.

Buying blogs

Blogs are significant assets because they have an active audience that sticks with the website. So, buying a blog may be the safest way to increase your profits.

A warning: Stay away from blogs tied to a personal brand. When the previous owner leaves, the audience may leave the blog if the new owner can not engage them with the project.

Examples of blogs being sold
Examples of blogs being sold

When you consider buying a blog, there are two significant questions to consider:

  • How is the blog monetized?
  • How do readers discover it?
The Survival Mom - Prepping blog
The Survival Mom – Prepping blog.

How is a blog monetized?

There are several common ways to monetize a blog. You can use display ads, affiliate marketing, sell digital or physical products, or offer professional services.

Once you know how the blog is monetized, you can look for low-hanging fruit in the form of under-monetized aspects of the business. Maybe the former owner only used ads and never took the time to add affiliate marketing or create and sell their digital products. That could be an opportunity to increase the monthly recurring revenue.

Or maybe the current ads are under-monetized. Every ad platform compensates people differently. It may be time to renegotiate with advertisers for better rates.

Read more: How to Monetize Your Blog [ 14 Proven Methods] [Ultimate Guide]

How does the blog receive traffic?

Do most of the blog’s monthly readers come from social media? Paid ads? Search engines? A newsletter? Backlinks from other blogs? Here, again, is where you want to consider risk. If most of your traffic comes from a single source, how secure is that source?

Consider the example where most of your traffic comes from a single high-traffic blog post on another website. What happens if that blog post becomes less popular or even gets deleted?

Media and subscriptions

The media industry has historically been a target for private equity on a broad scale. Private equity firms or billionaires own most newspapers and media outlets globally. These days, many of them have been bought rather than built.

CoinPedia - Cryptocurrency Blog
CoinPedia – Cryptocurrency Blog

Private equity firms love subscription businesses and anything with a steady cash flow. Everyone thinks it’s a great idea, but it’s hard work to create content consistently. So there’s a mass graveyard of news and digital magazines with excellent backlinks and content but no longer have an audience.

 Buying SaaS Websites

A SaaS can be more involved than content-forward websites that a single person can run independently. They often require technical expertise, a sales team, and the ability to hire skilled employees or freelancers.

Examples of Saas websites being sold
Examples of Saas websites being sold

Also, SaaS companies have higher buying prices, lower margins, and require higher monthly expenses. Buying a SaaS company means solving customer problems using the software.

Factors to consider while buying SaaS companies are:

  • Knowing the industry – You need to know the industry and the customers’ pain points. Otherwise, you will spend time designing functionality your customers are not interested in.
  • Consider Essential Metrics – You should analyze P&L statements, operational costs, annual revenue, and profit margins. You can also ask for marketing metrics like LTV, CAC, and ROAS.
  • The Pricing Model—Understand the pricing model and find ways to improve it. SaaS business models offer many pricing plans, including multiple-tiered options based on customers’ needs, flat pricing, etc. The number of existing customers and customer acquisition rates can also influence this decision.
  • Source Code – Access to the source code is another essential consideration in a SaaS business. When I purchased my first SaaS program, the programmer never delivered the source code, so I had to stay with that buggy version for almost a year till I could get a team and recode it from scratch.
  • Customer Acquisition Channels – Find out the percentage of acquisitions made by each channel. A business that relies on organic, direct, and social media will likely improve its bottom lines. However, a company that relies overtly on paid advertising is unlikely to be sustainable in the long term.
  • Look At The Scalability – Can you improve customer satisfaction, enter new markets, and offer new services? Would that allow a slight increase in the pricing?

eCommerce websites

Statistics suggest that by 2040, 95% of all purchases will be via e-commerce stores. Moreover, the e-commerce industry is growing at 23% Year over Year. Buying or selling an e-commerce website can usually be pretty lucrative.

Examples of eCommerce websites being sold
Examples of eCommerce websites being sold

In my opinion, eCommerce websites are among the most lucrative websites you can purchase but require the most attention. You should analyze the figures, profit margin, and traffic sources well, or you may end up with a nonprofitable store and inventory.

Affiliate Review Blogs

Unlike personal or business blogs, affiliate review blogs are designed from scratch to make money via affiliate marketing programs like Amazon Associates or others. They are designed around a niche, like kitchen appliances, and review products people search for.

Below are several examples of affiliate review blogs that are available for sale. As you will see, the niches are diverse, and I recommend purchasing only one if you have expertise in that particular niche.

Examples of affiliate reviews websites being sold
Examples of affiliate review websites being sold.

There are affiliate marketing blogs that make more than one million in profits year after year. Replicating their success will not be easy, but with persistence and scaling your work, you can come close.

Check our guide on starting and managing affiliate marketing blogs that make $100K/year.

It’s time for a short recap. Until now, you know the advantages of online businesses and what type of online businesses you can purchase.

Let’s talk next about where you can buy websites.

Where can I purchase websites?

There are a few different routes that you can take to buy your future website:

Auction Sites for Smaller Websites

These services host auctions for sites and businesses and typically work well for small transactions (less than $100,000) as they are quick to list on and expose the sale to many buyers.

Yes, it’s fun to scroll through endless businesses, but you typically have to act quickly and expect competition if you want to buy. These websites can attract a lot of traffic, and good deals don’t last long before someone grabs them.

Here’s just a handful of auction sites to buy businesses:

  1. Motion Invest – All the websites listed on their marketplace are verified and vetted by their team. Most are Amazon affiliate websites with a monthly revenue ranging from $30 to $5000.
  2. Flippa: If you don’t mind vetting businesses alone, Flippa is a trendy business marketplace. You can browse thousands of online businesses, with purchase opportunities starting at hundreds of dollars.
  3. Exchange Marketplace: Owned by Shopify, this eCommerce marketplace exclusively buys and sells Shopify businesses. The significant benefit here is that Shopify uses its internal data about each store to verify numbers before you make a purchase.
  4. Digital Point Forum—This auction forum has many newly launched websites for sale. If you are looking for new projects at low prices, you should visit.
  5. eBay – There is an auction section for websites on eBay where you can find goodies to purchase. Like on DigitalPoint, many of the listings are projects that just started.

Business Brokerage Companies

Business brokers are agents who help shoppers find a site. These companies typically perform due diligence, evaluate the business, and negotiate the sale. Of course, they also take a cut of the sale!

Here are several website brokers I recommend:

  • Empire Flippers: This online brokerage firm vets every business to ensure that scams or poorly run businesses aren’t on the website. According to Greg Elfrink, Director of Marketing at Empire Flippers, the team turns down about 92% of the companies that try to list on their website.
  • MicroAcquire: Like Empire Flippers, MicroAcquire is respected for its vetting process. It specializes in startups. The acquisition process starts blind, with the prospective buyer and seller exchanging minimal information to determine interest.
  • FE International—Their clients are usually high-end companies, covering transactions that start from five figures and go up. They ensure that each sale through them is legit and guarantee a scam-free environment.
  • Motion Invest – This website brokerage focuses on buying and selling money-making blogs monetized through affiliate marketing.

Cold email founders for off-market deals

The best deals happen where there’s no competition. However, finding off-market deals requires a lot of creativity and drive. They’re called off-market deals for a reason. You’re reaching out to people who may have no interest in selling.

This might be done through strategic emails sent out to companies you think might be interested in selling the websites. Look especially for companies you’ve dealt with before (advertisers, partners, etc.).

Outreach email to potential sellers
Outreach email to potential sellers

The rejection rate can be enormous, and you should get used to hearing “no thanks.” But remember: you’re playing a numbers game. Send enough inquiries, and someone will eventually be interested.

Follow up outreach email for buying an website
Follow-up outreach email for buying a website

Now that you know where you can purchase businesses, find out how to evaluate them to distinguish great opportunities from online businesses that are not right for you.

Best practices for vetting a business before you buy

This is a crucial step in spotting great opportunities from a bad investment. You should analyze with cold blood and don’t skip any step. You will thank yourself later.

What’s the trend of online business?

There are four states a website income might be in at any time. Depending on your strengths and goals as a soon-to-be business owner, you’ll look at the month-over-month financial trends of the last few years in business.

1. Downtrend 📉

Different trends appeal to different buyers. Some people look at a downward-trending graph and see an opportunity to flip a website. Others, looking at the same chart, see a sinking ship just waiting to become a disaster—they’ll avoid trying to catch that falling knife.

2. Uptrend 📈

Upward trending businesses are similar. Maybe the business was riding a trend of losing appeal and suddenly crashing down. Others see an upward trend and buy in to ride the wave. It’s always a judgment call.

3. Flat 📊

Perhaps the safest investment is in businesses that produce consistent sales year over year. Yes, these are less flashy and exciting, but that’s precisely why they may go under the radar of other investors.

4. Non-monetized 💸

These are websites that have never generated income. They may be valuable for their brand, audience, or product quality, but for some reason, they were never used to generate returns. Do you know how to monetize them? Great.

Ask yourself how you can grow the website

I’ve seen many websites go downhill after the purchase. The main reason was the new owner’s lack of time or experience to grow them further.

So, before making any purchase, make sure you know how to manage, grow, and monetize the particular business you are interested in.

Beware of scams and illegitimate businesses.

There are ways to twist business metrics or give the appearance of substance without having a real business. Unfortunately, people try to scam aspiring business owners every day.

Businesses are often set up so inefficiently that a proper business transfer isn’t possible without losing customers.

Here are some of the most common you should look for when vetting a business:

Are the website traffic and sales real?

Many sellers purchase traffic and offer incentives to generate sales to get better figures before selling a business. After you buy it, they stop advertising spending, so the traffic and sales drop. Ensure the business you purchase has steady growth and that all the figures the seller presents are accurate.

Does the seller use any black hat SEO tactics to grow the website?

It is crucial to check the website’s SEO metrics and analyze the growth diligently. Some sellers use black hat SEO tactics to grow and sell the website. After several months, Google catches the website and penalizes it so that you can experience up to a 90% drop in traffic and sales. Make sure all the SEO and marketing tactics are legit.

Example of an Website Penalyzed by Google
Example of a Website Penalized  by Google

Is the website piggybacking on a trademark without authorization?

Some websites have experienced growth by piggybacking on registered brands like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, etc. However, if they don’t have the proper authorization from the brand owner, you will end up with a cease and desist letter to stop your activities. This means a total loss for you.

Is the underlying software transferable?

A common problem in small subscription businesses is PayPal accounts, which are personal to the user. To transfer a business using a PayPal account, the new owner has to request each customer to sign up for a new payment processor, which is almost sure to cause many users to lose.

Fortunately, Stripe doesn’t have such a problem.

Is it defensible against the competition?

Many affiliate stores can be set up in a day or two. They drive all their traffic through ads to the website, selling it while affiliate income is high. The problem is, nothing is stopping a dozen other people from stealing your idea—and your traffic—using the same model. It’s not easy to defend against the competition.

So, always conduct due diligence. Due diligence should include a close review of the business’s financial and operational health. Potential buyers should look for and understand the acquisition cost-to-revenue ratio, review the business’s site traffic and financials, and determine what assets are available in the sale.

 Look for businesses with competitive advantages.

To ensure your newly purchased business is not replicated by a competitor, ensure it has some competitive advantages that others can’t quickly achieve.

Potential competitive advantages of online businesses:

  • Diverse website traffic: A business with multiple strategies for gaining website traffic is hard to replicate or disrupt. Even if one traffic source dries up, they have others to lean on.
    Diverse monetization: There’s power in having multiple income streams. This moat is safer for your business, often means safer (and more) money for the stakeholders, and is more challenging for competitors to copy.
  • Strong search traffic: Not all marketing funnels are created equal. Organic search is one of the hardest (and slowest) traffic streams to disrupt. Having a solid search presence can be a moat against competitors.
  • A large (and active) email list: An email list is an audience that can become a business. Growing an engaged email list requires a lot of effort, and it’s tough for others to copy.
  • Trademarks, patents, and intellectual property: Do you own the secret formula? Or a secret algorithm? Various patents and intellectual property can differentiate your business through exclusive technology or knowledge only you have.
  • A five-star listing with hundreds of online reviews is compelling in marketplaces. Reviews are one of the highest forms of social proof. They show future buyers that you offer a popular product that delivers on what it promises.

How much should you pay for a website?

I’ve bought and sold websites and helped other website owners purchase sites. The accepted average of 25—to 35 times monthly profit leaves much room for negotiation.

You will hear most of the time that the cost of a website is determined by its annual profit.

If we were to put this into a straightforward formula, it might look like this:

[Annual profit] x [determined multiple] = Sale cost

How to evaluate the annual income of a website

Understand that many income sources are difficult or even impossible to verify. This means there’s a risk that the website owner is inflating its income to get a better price.

Steps to estimate and verify a website’s income:

  • Verify the website traffic through access to Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
  • Verify sponsored posts with the sponsor over the last three to six months.
  • Ask to see any reports from affiliate networks to verify affiliate commission.
  • Ask for a detailed list of expenses for running the blog, including the plugins used.

Even if you can verify the income reported from each source, the income source and percentage of total website income will determine the amount you should pay.

Income Sources Quality:

  • Affiliate income is generally the best and most valuable because it’s tied to search traffic to a few top posts. If nothing changes with these posts, i.e., inbound links or content, they should continue producing affiliate sales. Income multiplier: 3-5
  • Advertising is also a quality income source because it’s tied to traffic and doesn’t take active management every month to produce. Ensure you check the trend in monthly traffic from Google and other sources to see whether it’s stable or growing. Income multiplier: 3-5
  • Sponsored posts are a popular source of income but are not as valuable in sales. That’s because the orders are not constant—also, websites with too many sponsored posts that are not marked risk getting penalized by Google. I recommend staying away from websites that host many sponsored posts. Income multiplier: 1-2
  • Speaking and Consulting shouldn’t generally be used when calculating a fair price for a website. Income from these sources is almost entirely tied to the seller, so you’ll have difficulty reproducing the sales. Income multiplier: 1

So, how much is a reasonable multiple to pay for a business?

The range for this usually falls between 2x to 5x annual profits.

Here’s what that means in actual dollars:

You can buy low-profit companies earning hundreds of dollars per month for several thousand dollars into the low five figures. If you want a business bringing in $1,000 – $2,000 in monthly profits, you usually look at mid-to-high tens of thousands of dollars.

And once you start looking at businesses earning $2,500 – $6,000 in monthly profits, you’re talking about a low six-figure investment.

Here are several examples of how to do a price calculation for websites:

How much to pay for a website
How much should you pay for a website

What financing options do you have?

Most buyers looking to purchase an online business have all the funds ready.

However, if your funds are tied up in your current company or other business endeavors, there are several things you can consider:

Look for potential investors

If you have a part of the funds, you can seek potential investors to cover the rest for company shares and/or profits. This lowers your initial costs but multiplies your time and headaches trying to work with a partner. It also means you’ll have to split any profits from the business.

So, if you want to go on this path, check your business contacts and ask them if they are interested.

Get a Small Business Administration Loan

The SBA is a federal agency that helps small businesses get loans. It doesn’t issue loans itself but instead works with lenders to overcome obstacles to business lending, such as guaranteeing loans, reducing risk, and sourcing capital.

Whether you’ve been declined credit before or have a poor credit history doesn’t matter. You might still qualify for a loan with the SBA. That said, they do have specific eligibility requirements, including:

  • The business must trade in the US.
  • You must have invested in the business yourself.
  • It must be a for-profit business.
  • You must have tried but could not source funding from traditional lenders.

You can borrow up to $5 million, more than enough to acquire small or even medium-sized businesses. However, you can only borrow what you can afford to repay, which an SBA-approved lender will determine when you apply.

As a federal agency, the SBA enforces responsible lending and risk management so lenders can afford to charge lower rates and fees.

Get a Home Equity Line of Credit

If you have more than 20% equity in your home, you may qualify for a home equity line of credit (HELOC). A home equity line of credit (HELOC) taps into your home equity value and functions similarly to a credit card. Still, the interest rates are often significantly lower.

You have access to HELOC funds on a revolving basis for a defined period, after which you must pay it back with interest at a variable rather than a fixed rate.

Before you borrow, you need to know when and how much your interest rate might change. Can you afford the monthly payments if they go up later? How much of an increase can you stomach?

Remember that the equity in your home is what you use as collateral for the loan, meaning that if you cannot pay it back, you could lose your home in foreclosure.

Make an offer and do price negotiations

After reviewing the business selling prospectus, following up with Q&A, and conducting your due diligence, you should be ready to make an offer for the business. 

The most important things to factor into a competitive letter of intent are: 

  • Consideration—Make it explicit about the offer structure. What is the split between upfront consideration vs. holdback and seller financing? What are the conditions attached (if any)? 
  • Owner financing – financing is typically offered on a case-by-case business. The majority of smaller transactions are all-cash. 
  • Non-compete  most sellers will typically commit to a non-compete agreement of 2-3 years, but ensure you ask for this in any event. 
  • Speed and certainty –Often, the best offer is not the highest but with the most significant degree of speed and execution certainty. Buyers that can proceed through due diligence, legal workstreams, and into closing the fastest will be more likely to have their offer accepted from the outset. 

Below, you can see an example of a letter of intent (LOI) we received:

Letter of Intent Example
Letter of Intent Example

Complete the purchase

I recommend using an escrow process to facilitate the secure funding of the transaction and transfer of assets. The go-to solution below $500K is usually Escrow.com. Be highly cautious about transferring funds outside of an escrow service. 

Assets Transfer and Inspection

The transfer of assets usually involves (but is not limited to) the handing over of: 

  • The domain name(s)
  • Website content 
  • Branding assets. 
  • Social media accounts. 
  • Client database (email lists) 
  • Source code repository 
  • Advertising and affiliate accounts (if applicable) 
  • Physical inventory (if applicable)
  • Services accounts (e.g., OptinMonster, HelpScout, etc.)  

In the sporadic case that assets have been misrepresented or not transferred in their entirety, the buyer can notify the escrow agent during the inspection period. Escrow.com staff will reverse the transaction if there is a legitimate misrepresentation.

However, the escrow inspection period is not a “try before you buy”. Once all of the assets listed in the APA are transferred, accounted for, and operational, the buyer is expected to release funds immediately. 

Support from the seller

After the transaction has closed, there is typically a 1-3 month period of training and support during which the seller helps the buyer learn the business’s day-to-day operations. Occasionally, in transactions with contingent consideration or seller financing, the seller will maintain a high level of involvement to meet mutually agreed-upon performance or training goals. 

Make sure that the level of post-sale support is agreed upon beforehand.

What are the next steps after buying a website?

Now that you ultimately control the online business and the transition went smoothly, you should start growing it. I’ve seen many sellers try to rush to make as much as possible of their investment back and not further invest in the business.

They do this by adding more advertising or running extensive discount campaigns. In the long run, this will devaluate the business, and I don’t recommend doing it.

First, you purchased the business because you wanted to grow an asset, not because you wished to earn money fast, no?

Buying an online business FAQ

How to buy a website?

In this complete guide, we describe step by step the process of purchasing a website: what kind of business you should look into, where you can find them, how to distinguish real opportunities from scams, how to determine the fair market value of a website before you make an offer and how to complete the transaction without issues.

How much does it cost to buy a website?

Usually, most websites sell for a multiplier of 2 to 5 of annual profits. But this is not always true. There may be websites with exclusive trademarks, proprietary software, a vast customer base, or marketing deals that need to be considered separately.

Is buying an online business a good idea?

There are numerous benefits to buying an online business. To name a few:

  • Skip the first year or two of cashless hustle 👌
  • Gives freedom 👌
  • Offers incredible scalability 👌
  • Provides access to a worldwide market 👌
  • You are building an income-producing asset 👌

Tips from people who purchased websites

Emilia Gardner bought websites from both Empire Flippers and Flippa back in 2019. In the video below, she gives her unbiased opinion about buying passive income websites through both companies. She drops a few points for you to consider as you move through the website buying or selling process.

Ahrefs has a step-by-step video tutorial for finding and identifying undervalued websites.

Zach Zorn from MoneyNomad shares in a video review what he learned from spending $49,000 buying an affiliate website:

Conclusion

Buying an established website or an online business can be a great way to invest in a successful venture and start making money right away. You could even make back the money you invested in the purchase reasonably quickly and then enjoy steady monthly profits.

We hope we’ve illuminated the issue of buying a website or an online business.

Purchasing a website for five or six figures isn’t something you can do overnight. It requires an investment of both time and money.

You can hire us if you need help getting a professional website or online business evaluation.

Are you on the other side of the fence and would like to sell a website? Check out our tutorial for website sellers.

About Daniel S.

Daniel is the founder of Digital Media Intelligence digital agency and digital marketing manager here at Monetize.info. For over 14 years he has helped hundreds of customers to establish a presence online and win the digital race.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

English
2