Help buying an established website?

[tonygore]

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I really need your advice... I have discovered a 'fan' website that I wish to purchase. This website is 4 years+ old and hasn't been updated since Q1 2003. Details of website:

Domain Registered: Sept 2000
Domain Expires: Sept 2005
Last Updated: Q1 2003
Amount of backlinks: 265
Amount of Google Indexed webpages: 450
Google Search Results: Listed at top - Number One for its Keyword
Amount of keyword searches: 4000 per month on Overture alone
Google PR Value Rank: 4

The problem is I don't know if its for sale. The website hasn't been updated in 18 months and has no advertisement or revenue sources (which I plan to introduce if I can buy it). The problem is I've emailed the 'whois' owner and also the webmaster 2 weeks ago but so far not had a reply.

In my email I told him I would be prepared to pay a fee although I didn't say how much. How much should I offer this guy?

If anyone has any experience of either buying a website or alternatively, anyone who knows of ways I can convince him to sell up I would be grateful.

[justnozy]

Expires Sept 2005 - you could wait & try to snatch:

But if it's not been updated maybe it's a personal problem - ill health, divorce etc.

Would a revenue share fit your plans ?

[tonygore]

Hi justnozy,

There is no revenue generated from this website at the moment. He built the website purely for himself and other fans. I could wait for it to expire, but I'm scared that when it enters it's deletion stage, Google will drop it from the serps and I could also risk losing it from one of those sniping domain software programs.

The website doesn't look like its changed at all since it was launched way back in 2000. It's very poorly designed. There is a (free hosted) forum which was last updated by the moderator back in November 2003. He said he was sorry that it hadn't been updated and that he was too busy. He also said that he planned to do a big update in 2004, but that didn't happen.

I only want this website because it's top on google for it's keyword. If I did get it I would apply AdSense to all of its 450 pages within hours. I would then improve the quality of the site, create more back-links, and try to increase it's PR Rank so that it stays on top. I would also apply a few relevent affiliate banners like theOCshop or maybe relevant DVD's from amazon.

It's really frustrating. It's like I'm driving in to a city centre, and I can see this old run-down house in a prime location. But there is an old lady who lives there and doesn't want to redevelop, even though the land is worth a fortune. I do have his 'whois' details which means that I could send him a letter with maybe an offer to buy it???

Don't forget this is a non-profit website, the owner has no ads anywhere on his site, which means that he is funding it out of his own pocket. I'm also not bothered about the (free hosted) forum. He can keep the forum and I would be happy to keep the link to it on the website.

I just would like to know how much I should offer him and any advice on how to 'convince' him to sell?

[nkernick]

Well you've gotta start somewhere, why not make him an offer of £100 and see where that gets you. Be prepared to be told to bugga off though...

Someone offered me £200 for my domain recently , even though our turnover is £400,000 so its worth a ago....

Nick

[Mogga]

If you think you can " I would then improve the quality of the site, create more back-links, and try to increase it's PR Rank so that it stays on top. " then why on earth not just do that on a new url?

[Aquanuke]

If its only got a PR of 4 I dont see how it can be of much value. A Mogga says you can just create a new site on a new domain and easily achieve higher then PR4 in a few months.

As for the little old lady, shes probs lived their all her life and got no where else to go. Why would she want to move and why would she want money when shes happy.

[nkernick]

sorry , Aquanuke I will disagree strongly with you there....
I have lots of PR5 /4 sites the best site is the oldest !!!!!

Why register a site and spend 6-12 months getting up to the position the other site already takes.....

If the keyword is on the Fronpage of google SERPS , has been for months and you feel its worth the bucks, then buy the domain,....

Spending £1000 now could make you £10,000 in the next few months.. alternatively waiting would lose you that income !!

However, if your site is not for making money, then put your head down and follow the advice from Aquanuke !!!

Nick

[Aquanuke]

Well affiliate marketing isnt about buying your way to the top. Good old fashioned SEO never hurt and has never been easier.

I just dont see the point in spending money for something you can create yourself better for free.

Still if you cant SEO yourself then sure empty your wallet instead.

[nkernick]

I agree, if the keyword is a non competitve keyword, then dont bother spending your money.

But dont waste time on SEO on a brand new site if there is a site going cheap for the keyword you want !!!

xx

[drivetowin]

Have you tried some of the other metrics to see how much traffic the site actually gets - just because its no1 in google for a particular search term doesnt necessarily mean its getting bucketloads of traffic.

If traffic is really low could explain why the current owner has lost interest....

[Aquanuke]

"But dont waste time on SEO on a brand new site if there is a site going cheap for the keyword you want !!! "

But all of that is asumption. Their is no site for sale and if it was why would it be cheap?

[OLBG]

"Good old fashioned SEO ....has never been easier."

Seriously, for new sites??

[Mogga]

You have no guarantees that the site will continue to rank highly especially if you change things. Even leaving the site exactly the same there are NO guarantees.

[tonygore]

Yep - I don't care if the site has a PR of 1, or a PR of 8 but if its number one in Google for this keyword above the other 170,000 results then I'm interested. There are higher PR and Branded sites on the SERP page but this little 'fan' site has been on the top #1 spot for at least the last 3 months (probably longer).

If I build a new site, I would be waiting for at least 6 months for it to climb out of the Google Sandbox. Then I would need to build all the 'new' back links with other Fan sites who are likely to smell a rat. There's no way I could get my newly built 50-page site above a 450-page website that has been online since 2000.

As I said, Overture (Yahoo) had 4000 searches for this keyword last month so I expect Google to be roughly double this. There was an article about this 'keyword' in Monday's Daily Mirror newspaper and the Keyword is likely to become a UK household name by next year too. I just wanna add this website to my portfolio and would be willing to spend several hundred taking it off the 'old lady's hands'.

I was thinking... How about I send the webmaster a letter with an offer to purchase the website say for £500. He could keep the (free hosted) forum and update that part of the website, while I own and rebuild the rest? Is this cheeky of me? I just think that maybe the 2 email addresses I have are no longer in use!

[Mogga]

If you really want the domain make them an offer.

But if you really want it then you'll have to make them a good offer and the minute they get a good offer they'll think "oo why am I being offered that much and how much more can I get"

Or you could make them a poor offer and insult them.




However I suspect the status of the site you want so much in google with be messsed up the minute you make any changes meaning you've spent money on a domain which could well get sandboxed/hoovered/dusted or whatever is next on google's dull adventure through avoid SEO.

Could you live with the domain not being changed if you bought it?