How to buy an Existing Blog and how to Make Sure you Don't get Scammed?

[Jasz]

Buying an existing blog is a great way to expand your web presence and attract more customers. You can buy a blog on a platform like Flippa, but you will want to be very careful about it. Before you buy, make sure the blog's metrics are real and verifiable. A site that has been up for a year but only gets 1 view per week is not worth buying.

But how do you know that the seller isn't just looking to scam you?

Here are 7 tips for making sure that your money is well spent:

1. Check the site's traffic using analytics tools.

2. Find out if the site has any recurring revenue sources, like ads or subscriptions.

3. Ask to see the site's domain registration history and make sure it matches up with what you were told by the seller.

4. Look up their contact information and verify that they're a real person or company, not just a phony email address.

5. Request access to their social media sites so you can check on their followers/likes/etc.; if they refuse, ask for screenshots of those pages instead (but keep in mind that these could easily be faked).

6. Use Google Alerts to track mentions of the website after purchase; if something looks fishy, you'll know about it right away!

7. Be sure they have organic traffic this way google will recognize your website.

 

[Mika]

Are you giving this information based on your own experience or just pulling information from Google and pasting here? If you had signed up with flippa you would have known a lot of things on how things work on flippa.
For example, flippa has an option of Google Adsense and Google Analytics integration. The seller will have an option to link his or her Google adsense account to prove his or her adsense earning for the past one year. The seller can also link Google Analytics and display the month by month traffic data, and also display traffic source (referral, organic, direct). The genuine seller will always share adsense and analytics data. Furthermore, before you go into the payment process, flippa will ask you to verify your account (this is a requirement for the seller as well as the buyer). You need real documents and a selfie to verify your identity and location. If you are not satisfied with the traffic data that is being shown on the website listing page, you can ask the seller to give you read only access to google analytics accounts. While flippa is the most known website marketplace, there are other platforms as well, you can ty web master forums to buy and sell websites.

 

[Jasz]

Hi! @Mika
I mentioned Flippa because it's obviously one of the safest platforms to buy a blog. However, you should be aware that there are so many platforms online to buy a website, some that are not as reliable as one mentioned above, also you should be aware that so many buy blogs from hand to hand, probably from a friend or based on recommendations. Now this is the point you would want to consider my points above.

Regarding your question, so many pull information from google, which I believe is not bad. Obviously, I'm not a dogmatic individual, to have relied on my experience alone.


Thanks for replying.

 

[Mika]

I know half a dozen platforms where you can buy and sell websites, however, there is a lot of issue with these platforms, for example, some website selling platforms demand you to make at least $1000 per month from your website before you can list it on their platform; some website marketplace wants you to have 100k monthly traffic before you can list for sale. Some website marketplaces do not have any traffic and revenue requirements, yet there are no buyers (their recent sale happened many months ago).
You can obviously do research and write a post based on your research but your research needs to be complete. If you have used flippa, you would know you also need to pay at least $29 to list your website (basic listing fee) and give a 10 percent sale commission if your website is sold. You can receive payment through paypal and escrow. Paypal deducts transaction fees where as escrow charges a disbursement fee, which is $20.
Webmaster forums are also a good place to buy and sell your sites, and if you use escrow service, it is comparatively safe. I don't think you know about how escrow service can help in buying and selling digital goods.

 

[Jasz]

Hi! @Mika You are totally drifting from the scope of my thread. One research will always point to another research, that is why there are so many threads or ideas on digital space.
You did state that some websites require you to have made about $1000 from your website before you can list it. While some do not have any listing requirements, whatsoever, the latter is where my thread is applicable.

We could keep elaborating on this issue till you're satisfied, but I feel you are saturated already.

I made a short thread as required, you don't expect me to fill all the gaps, that's why there are rooms for more research and contributions. You can drop your view or better still, complement my thread.You don't have to condemn my post, please.