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Should You Buy an Existing Online Business?

By Stephen Bucaro

Should you build your own website from scratch, or should you buy an existing online business? Buying an existing website solves several problems: 1. You don't have to build it; 2. You can learn how to operate it from its current owner; and 3. You start out with a known revenue stream. But is a particular existing online business really a wise investment? Answer the following questions before parting with your hard-earned money.

• How long has the site been in business?

• Who are the sites competitors? Is the owner selling because a major competitor is coming online?

• Is the sites owner selling because a technology the site sells or uses is becoming obsolete?

• Is the site's revenue verifiable?

• What is the annual growth in revenue?

• Do you get an existing customer base?

• What is the site's online reputation?

• Does the site have complaints at the Better Business Bureau?

• Is the sites daily unique visitors statistic verifiable?

• What is the sites rank in major search engines?

• How many sites link to this site?

• If the site sells a product, who is the supplier? Are there alternate suppliers?

• Do you get any existing inventory?

• If the site sells an information product, do you have the knowledge and expertise to operate the site?

• What are the costs of running the site?

• What marketing effort has been made and what is the cost of this marketing?

• Are the businesses taxes current?

• Is the business carrying any debt?

• If the business requires a license, when the license expire?

• If the business does online transactions, does it have a valid SSL certificate?

• How long is the site's domain name registered for?

• What type of server hosting does the site use and what is the cost?

• What is the up-time reliability of the current hosting service?

• Do you have the technical capability to maintain the site, or will you be required to pay for maintenance?

• What are the payment terms to acquire the business? How many years of profit will be absorbed by payments?

There any may places online to locate an existing online business; BuySellWebsite, Flippa, Website Broker, and Website Properties being a few. If the answers to the questions in this article related to a specific online business is satisfactory to you, then you can reduce risk and save lots of time by buying an existing online business rather than building from scratch.