Instead of starting from scratch, you can just start your online business by buying an existing website. There are a lot of advantages to buying a website that is already making lots of money.
Why Buy an Established Website
If you are new to the blogosphere and thinking to start your own blog you might want to consider buying a website that is already making tons of money. Buying an existing blog with high traffic is much easier rather than building a website and expecting people to visit your blog.
This is what most experienced bloggers would do. Some companies even pay thousands of dollars to acquire an online business or blog that are already profitable and has huge growth potential.
But there are a lot of factors you should consider before buying an online business or blog.
Buying an online business is very similar to buying a physical store. You need to do a lot of background checks before you decide to buy a website or blog.
Is it Easier to Buy a High Authority Blog?
Buying an existing website can be tough and will cost a serious amount of money. If you are new to blogging ad SEO buying an existing website might come with a lot of potential risks.
But if you know how to do it properly it can save you months of work and a lot of money.
But as you know high risk comes with high reward. There are a lot of advantages to buying a well-established website that is profitable.
Not only you can get a website that has a good off-page, on-page SEO, and high domain authority, these websites will have existing traffic and a passive income source.
It takes a long time to increase website traffic, especially if it is a new website. So an established website with keywords ranking on top of search results will have much more traffic than a new website.
Before we dive deeper, make sure you don’t rush into buying a website or a domain. Do your own research and due diligence about the website you are interested in. If everything seems fine buy the website and start making some money online.
Here I will discuss the advantages of buying a website and all the hurdles involved in this whole process. You will get to know all the fundamentals of buying a website.
Where Can I Buy an Established Website
There are a lot of ways you can buy a website:
- Marketplace
There are a lot of marketplaces online where you can find established high-authority websites with some great content. Website flipping is a billion-dollar business. There are thousands of websites that are being sold every day. - Website Broker
You can also use a website broker to help you find a high-value website. Yes, there are brokers who constantly look for high-authority websites and help people with a purchase in exchange for a commission. But this is a bit risky as you might not get the expected result in terms of value. - Purchase a Website Directly
If you see a website that has potential for future growth or already making money, you can directly approach the owner of the website and see if they will be interested in selling. If you make a generous offer they might think of selling the website or blog. - Facebook Groups
There are a lot of Facebook groups where you can sell and buy a website. The admins of the group work as a mediator and help people with the purchase. You will have to pay a commission once the purchase is complete.
There are also blogging communities on Facebook. You can ask there if anyone is interested in selling their websites.
Best Marketplaces To Buy High Authority Established Websites
There are a lot of online marketplaces where you can buy high-authority domains, establish websites, and sell your website. If you are looking for an existing website that already has revenue, you can go through these marketplaces to buy a website.
You can avoid building a website from scratch and just start at the top. Here you will find content-ready websites in every niche. Most of these websites have a good amount of monthly traffic and already making money.
These online website marketplaces work as online intermediator who will easily help you to buy and sell a website. These flipping websites do all the background checks and research for you before you buy a website. They will assist you to find the best possible website in your niche at the best possible price.
Here are some best marketplaces for flipping websites
Flippa
Flippa is currently the most trusted online marketplace to buy and sell websites and blogs. It is one of the fastest-growing online marketplaces for buying and selling websites. Flippa made the whole process of buying and selling a website a lot easier and more reliable.
There are over thousands of websites with different niches listed on Flippa. Here you can find blogs, online businesses, Amazon FBA, e-commerce stores, and many more products. It is really easy and convenient to use Flippa to buy and sell websites.
Flippa offers you an option to bid on a website online or just make an offer on a site that is listed for private sale. It is really simple. All you have to do is bid the price you are willing to pay to buy that website. If someone outbid your offer the automatic bidding system updates your offer in increments.
Sometimes a seller can ask for a private sale. Private sale offers are listed similarly as classified ads. Anyone can make an offer on Flippa and the offers are seen only by the seller.
The seller might accept or reject any offer they choose and once they accept a price, they commit to selling the website to that buyer.
There is also an option for immediate purchase for the seller who doesn’t want to waste any time and just sells their website quickly. There will be a fixed price given and if you like the valuation you can buy that website immediately.
Most websites like Flippa vet their sellers and do a background check on their websites and data before they list their websites. This makes the job easier for the buyer. Also, they handle the transition of the website from the seller to the buyer.
Empire Flippers
Another best place to buy a website from is Empire Flipper. This website broker is an Inc. 500 company and is considered the goliath in the business of buying and selling websites. Empire Flippers is one of the Fastest growing eCommerce businesses in the United States.
They make the process of buying and selling websites a lot easier. This company does all the research and due diligence on the seller’s website. They do all the hard work for you to make the whole process much easier and faster.
You will only find the tier 1 websites and blogs on Empire Flippers. They don’t sell sites that are making less than 5 figures in profit.
Most of the websites listed on Empire Flippers are valued in the five to seven-figure range. They have a track record of selling 80% of the websites listed on their site which is astonishing.
Empire Flippers have sold sites that had a valuation of millions of dollars. They are the most trusted online brokers. If you are looking for a high authority site you can get the best deals on Empire Flippers.
FE International
FE International was named as the Deal Maker of the Year by IBBA for 2015 and 2016. Not only they have established themselves as a trusted broker, but they also managed to grow their company in revenue and size. They have a success rate of 85%. Most websites that are sold on FE International are vetted and they do background checks on all websites listed there.
Most of the websites listed on FE International are sold within 2 months. They have a great marketing team that helps the seller to reach out to potential buyers easily.
FE International provides a safe and secure transaction among sellers and buyers. They also provide after-sale service to all of their buyers.
Buy Website Directly From Owner
Another possible way to buy a website is by approaching the website owner. Although it is a fairly difficult way of buying an established website. But if you can end up with a deal, chances are you will make a good profit from it.
It will be really hard to find an owner who is looking to sell their sites. As most of the website owners are not ready for an exit they end up declining most offers. But if someone agrees to sell their site they probably don’t know the actual valuation of the website.
To buy a website directly from the owner you need to find a niche you are interested in. Then make a list of potential websites in that niche. Find their contact information from their contact page and reach out to them.
If you can’t find a contact page, use hunter.io to find an email related to that website.
You can send them an email and start a conversation. Here is an email format that I’ve been using personally to reach out to clients and businesses.
Hello There. My name’s Azucar and I’m a the Editor For Daccanomics. I have been in the blogosphere for over 6 years and have owned some industry leading blogs. I've been following your work for sometimes. You have really made an impression with your blog and your writing style. You surely made a lot of effort establishing this blog. I've been looking to expand my portfolio and acquire a blog within your niche. That being said, I’d like to know if you’d consider selling your site to me? I can offer you a fair price up to 3x your annual earnings. Hopefully you will be interested in this offer. It would be great if we can discuss further! Best regards, Azucar
Make sure to keep your email short and to the point. Also, send a follow-up email after 3 days. Once they start a conversation, you can further negotiate the price.
Make sure you see all the reports of their annual revenue. Another important thing to check is if the site is ranking for your selected keywords.
When you reach out to site owners and make a conventional offer you have a 90% chance of getting refused. There is no guarantee that the website owner is open to a sale.
But if they are interested in selling their site, you will get a better deal and price compared to the marketplaces. But buying a website from a renowned marketplace is much safer.
Finding Website For Sale
Another interesting trick that I use to buy an established website is to go through the flipping sites and search websites that are listed for sale.
Once I find the right website with the perfect niche, I contact the website directly and offer them a price. This makes the whole process much easier as I already know that those websites are for sale. If you can offer them a good price they might end up selling the website directly to you.
This will save you the processing fees and all the hassle. Make sure to check all their stats and monetization methods. Take a look at the site’s traffic and earnings before a purchase.
Facebook Groups
There are several Facebook groups where people are buying and selling websites. You can find some deals starting from $100 to $4000. But usually, most websites selling through Facebook groups are spammy websites or websites with low authority.
You need to do a lot of due diligence on your own, but, generally, the cost of acquisition will be much lower than buying websites from marketplaces or from a broker. Make sure you do your own research before you buy a website from Facebook groups.
Types Of Websites You Can Buy
Before you start searching for the perfect website you need to think about the type of online business you want to buy. There are different types of online businesses to choose from.
So, which type of online business is suitable for you. Well, it actually depends on the type of business you are trying to build.
You can invest in a well-established website that is generating good revenue. Or buy a blog with some good content and posts that attract thousands of visitors monthly. A blog can be a good passive income source.
Here are some of the common business models of websites you’ll come across when buying an already running website.
E-commerce Store
You can buy a well-established eCommerce store that is already making revenue. If you are interested in selling products or services online you can buy an eCommerce store.
E-commerce is a billion dollars industry. You can buy an eCommerce store and enlist products you are interested in selling. There is a huge growth potential for the eCommerce store.
Dropshipping Website
Dropshipping is just like an e-commerce store without any inventory.
The idea is pretty simple. Dropshipping websites only market products, and supplies those products directly through a vendor when an order is placed.
Most dropshipping sites are built using Shopify integrated with Oberlo – an app for automating order processing and fulfillment.
Niche Blog
Blogging has always been an ideal way of making money online. You can find a blog related to a niche that you are interested in and start making money with monetization and affiliate programs.
If you want to monetize your blog and place ads all you have to do is produce quality articles and make money through ad placements.
You can also try affiliate marketing where you can review a product for some brands and place a link for people to buy that product. Once they buy a product or service you get a commission from each purchase.
Member Only Site
You can purchase a member-only site and create contents for your premium users who will pay a monthly subscription to read or see your content.
Review Sites
Review sites are very simple. All you have to do is endorse some brands and talk about their products and services. You will get paid for writing about their brands and products.
Service-based Site
Service-based sites are just agency businesses offering services to regular clients. You can find service-based sites in many niches.
Streaming Sites
Streaming websites are a big hit nowadays. People love to see movies and videos online. You can create your own original content and charge a subscription fee for viewers.
Directory & Listing Website
Business directory websites are always helpful. You can monetize those websites. Also, you can make money by promoting some businesses.
Course Website
You can find many websites selling courses online. It is very easy to start a website to sell courses. If you are looking to buy a website-selling course make sure it already has some traffic and a ready-made course.