Midascode | Buy & Sell Websites

Buying websites is a great way to own your very own successful web business, it is also a very fast way of doing it… however, there is one factor that a lot of people forget, and if you are not careful, it could happen to you to.

Websites are businesses, and therefore require time, effort and resources to maintain.

This sounds obvious, but many people purchase websites with the dream of sitting on a beach whilst their website keeps pumping out money.

Yes, there are a few types of websites that can be automated, but they are few and far between, and even automated sites still require some effort to improve them.

For the other 99.99% of the sites on the Internet, you will need to put aside time each day to run the site. This could be anything from answering emails, being available during server or technical issues, adding new content, creating ad deals etc…

What’s more, unless you are experienced in all of these areas, it may require a LOT of time to complete these tasks.

Of course, you could outsource and hire employees etc… but even employees need managing, and don’t forget that they can eat into your profits.

Our advice when buying a website is to ask the owner for a list of tasks that are required on a monthly basis, and a rough estimate of the time taken for each one… once you have this list, add up all the time and then double it, for a more realistic estimation. If the result is more time than you can spare, then avoid purchasing it.

Remember, what may take 5 minutes for the current owner, may take 50 minutes for you.

An area where I often see this is with blog sales. Often the owners say things like “just 5 minutes per day is required for a new post”.

The reality of course is much higher.

A blog post of any sort of quality is going to take at least 20 minutes, and then you have the process of coming up with the idea for the blog post, which for some people can be a very lengthy process.

So be warned, running websites is a time-vampire, and if you don’t treat it like a real business, it will likely fail.

Midascode

As regular website buyers know, finding good sites at a fair price is extremely hard work. Here is a unique way of getting inside information on websites available for sale and catching them before they come up for auction.

When webmasters run their sites through the awesome website valuation report at ebizvaluations, they have the option of disclosing contact details if they wish to be contacted by buyers.

Want to see the latest listings?

Here they are

Midascode

The single question that we get asked the most here at Midascode is “How do I value my website?”, it is a question that had no simple answer, and often it would take a 500+ word reply just to cover the basics.

We all secretly longed for a solution, and authorative, definitive answer that the website buying and selling industry could use as it’s very own declaration of indepence-esque guide, we waited, and we waited, and we gave out snippets of information to keep the dogs at bay.

Well, I can happily announce that our prayers have been answered, an expert has taken up the challenge, and not only achieved the desired result, but grealty exceeded it.

Now, before your spam radar starts spinning, I should point out that this was not done by one of our team, In fact, we are not connected to this at all.

It was actually developed by a guy named Clinton Lee, and you can read the full guide over at Sitepoint.

The guide, dubbed ‘The Ultimate Website Valuation Guide’ is 6-pages long, and covers every main aspect of valuing a website.

Many myths are debunked, many records are set straight… and the upshot is that finally, the website buying and selling industry has a guide, a bible, a series of guidelines etched into stone for us all to benefit from.

So how can this valuation guide benefit you?

Quite simply, it can prevent you from being ripped-off. It can also ensure that you don’t sell for less than your site’s actual value. It can save you money, as you may no longer need to go to an “expert” who will charge you for 38-pages of jargon.

Website Valuation Tool

If reading a 6-page comprehensive guide is not your thing, fortunately there is a new valuation tool that takes all those 6-pages and crams them into one shiny, new tool. What’s more, this tool is free, and for the first time EVER, it is accurate.

But wait! I hear you cry, there are already numerous free site valuation tools on the market.

No there are not!

There are site valuation gimmicks, designed to inflate your ego and trick you into linking back to them. These tools are for fools, and they are severly damaging and confusing in an already noisy industry.

In fact, I decided to test out this new tool on my personal blog… the tool asked a lot of sensible questions, such as:

Domain name,

Monthly Profit,

Cost to maintain,

Expertese required to run it,

& a lot more…

When it finished, I hit submit, and got my valuation… and you know what, for the first time ever, I found myself nodding in agreement.

Actually, it was a little lower than I had hoped, but I couldn’t disagree with the valuation at all. It seemed to know the true valuation better than I myself did.

So today is the day that the website buying and selling industry can breathe a sigh of relief… the weight has been taken off our shoulders, there is now in my opinion a definitive overview of the site valuation procedure, and hopefully the industry will use it and we can all benefit from it for years to come.

That said, it is more than likely people will stick with the stupid gimmick tools, and continue to pull valuations out of thin air… but hey, at least now we have an alternative.

Thanks Clinton for boldly going where no man has gone before, this is one giant step for Internet businesses, one giant leap for the site buying and selling industry.

Midascode

Everyone seems to think that my lifestyle and income has been hit hard with the current recession… but truth be told, if anything it is booming.

I don’t know the economical reasons, but a lot of people tell me they now use the Internet to find deals, as they need to save those extra pennies.

In fact, the only website owners I know of who are struggling, are those in the real estate industry.

So this begs the question… can owning websites be a useful acquisition during the recession?

I believe it can do.

More specifically, I think you should spread your investments around, and websites should be just one of your portfolio.

That said, if you only have the funds for one or two investments, then I would strongly consider websites.

Afterall, most websites require almost no running costs, so when times are hard, you are not paying rent, staff, bills etc…

They can often be automated, so they won’t use up a big chunk of your time.

Unlike stocks and shares, you can start earning from websites from day one, so it may be that extra cash required to get you through the months ahead.

All in all I think buying a website would be a great investment, and there has never been a better time, afterall, many people are selling their sites right now… which I think is a huge mistake, but nontheless, it is happening, and that means there are some bargains to be found.

If you want to know more, contac us via the form below.

Buying and selling websites has become a huge industry in 2008, but it can often be a confusing and scary process, so today we are going to shed some light on the top 10 things you should do to ensure you are successful.

1 – Thou Shall Buy a Business NOT a Job

If a website requires the new owner to work on it on a regular basis, then you are buying a JOB not a business.

For it to be classed as a business, it needs to be self-sufficient, it needs to be able to run without the regular input of the owner, and it needs to make a PROFIT without your input.

In other words, could you go to the beach for 6 months, return, and have a nice chunk of profit in your bank account? If not, then you are buying a job.

Additional Reading: Buying a job vs a business

2 – Thou Shall Not Neglect a Website or Blog

Neglecting a website is the worst thing you can do to it. Traffic will drop, visitors will lose interest, and the value will suffer.

3 – Thou Shall Be Realistic With Your Valuation

We have spoken to so many website owners who would be lucky to get $50 for their site, yet demand hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Additional Reading: The Webmaster Delusion

4 – Thou Shall Check The Compatibility

You would be amazed at how many websites look great in one browser, and then look like dogs backsides in another. Always check that a website works on the major browsers before you make a bid.

Additional Reading: Browser Compatibility Tools

5 – Thou Shall Do a Financial Check-up For Large Purchases

If you are buying a large and expensive site, then you may wish to do some background research on the owner. Better safe than sorry.

Additional Reading: Background Research Tools

6 – Thou Shall Not Consult Friends or Family

We all know that making business decisions based on what friends and family think is dangerous. So avoid making this mistake when buying and selling websites.

Additional Reading: Myths of Starting a Business

7 – Thou Shall Not Focus On Pagerank

There was a time where all people were interested in was the Google Pagerank of a website. I have seen awful websites sell for huge sums of money, just because they had a pr7. Luckily it seems that this virus is slowing down, but make sure you don’t make the same mistake.

Additional Reading: How Much is My Website Worth?

8 – Thou Shall Not Buy Hosted Domains

We all know someone with a website like joeblogs.blogspot.com – but if someone cannot afford the $7 to buy a proper domain name, why are you doing business with them? Remember, you don’t legally own a hosted domain name.

Additional Reading: Buying Websites On Hosted Domains

9 – Thou Shall Beware of Scams and Fraud

Like any marketplace, buying and selling websites is filled with people who are looking to make a quick buck. Here are some tips to help you avoid them:

1) Use archive.org to see the history of the website. Avoid any adult or potentially unsafe material.

2) Go to Alexa.com to get a rough idea of the site’s traffic. Compare this to the stats the buyer has published.

3) If you are buying from a forum, look at the members previous posts or sales. Also be aware of any negative feedback he/she may have had.

4) Always use Escrow for larger payments and Paypal for all others.

5) For larger purchases, ask the MidasCode.co.uk to do the due diligence on the site for you.

10 – Thou Shall Have Fun

Buying and selling websites is a serious business, but it can also be a lot of fun. You can own websites based on your passions and hobby’s, you can turn your past time into a serious money maker. The options are endless, but remember, have fun.

We have bought many websites in our time, but looking back, the sites that we got the best deals with has one thing in common… today we are going to share that magic factor with you, and perhaps you will be able to buy some great sites at low prices too.

We are not psychologists, but we are good at sales, online selling in particular, and there is one simple yet consistent formula we have noticed:

If the website owner contacts us then we often get a good (low) price, if we contact them, we often get high prices.

Like we said earlier, we are not psychological experts, but somehow we feel that the above swings the balance of power and control dramatically to one side. The fact that they contact you means that they need you, they want something from you… this is a powerful position to be in.

So this begs the question: how do you get people to contact you with websites for sale?

What we do is simply put the word out. Via our IM, by telling our friends, by telling our contacts etc… Perhaps write a blog post saying you are looking to buy a website. Once people know that you are looking for a site, they will remember you when they come to sell, even if it is years later. You are planting seeds in their head, and with time those seeds will grow.

Another reason we believe that this is the key to getting a good price on a website, is that often, if the seller has gone to the trouble of contacting you, they are most likely desperate to sell. Perhaps they need the money, perhaps they are bored of the site, perhaps they want funds for another project… so this eagerness to sell will mean they will sell cheaper just to get rid of it.

So if you have ever considered investing in a website, start sewing the seeds today, you never know what might grow.

Midascode

Today I am going to talk about the single biggest problem with the website buying and selling industry: The difference between buying a job and buying a business.

Let’s get straight to the point, if your website requires the new owner to work on it on a regular basis, then you are selling a JOB not a business.

For it to be classed as a business, it needs to be self-sufficient, it needs to be able to run without the regular input of the owner, and it needs to make a PROFIT without your input.

In other words, could you go to the beach for 6 months, return, and have a nice chunk of profit in your bank account? If not, then you are buying a job.

So what difference does this make to the value of a website?

Well, if you are buying a job, then you should deduct your time from the value of the site. e.g if your time is normally worth $20,000 per year (fulltime), and this JOB requires you to work 4 hours per day (part-time), then you should deduct $10,000 from the value of the site.

In the real business world, it is possible to get valuations of x5 years, but if you are offering a job, then don’t expect to get more than x12 months.

Remember, next time you are buying or selling a website, ask yourself, is it a job or a business?

Have you ever bought a website?

If you have, I would be keen to interview you. We are doing interviews with people who have purchased website(s).

It would be good publicity for your site.

Contact us if you are interested.

Best wishes to all over the Christmas period.

If you are planning on buying a blog then you will need to know of something called “the Digg effect”, and you will need to learn how to detect it. If you don’t, you may end up paying a LOT more for the blog than it is worth.

What is Digg.com?

Digg is a social news website that is hugely popular. Blogs and news based websites can get huge bursts of links and traffic if they get on the Digg homepage.

Why does this affect buying blogs?

There are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of blogs that have experienced the Digg effect, so if you buy blogs, then you are likely to experience this.

Why is this a bad thing?

It is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is something that can artificially raise the value and stats of a blog.

For example,

Site A gets 100 unique visitors per day, then, one day it gets on the Digg homepage and gets 50,000 uniques in 24 hours.

For the next month the site averages over 1000 per day, and then two months later it settles at around 150 per day.

If you were to buy this blog during the 1000 per day period, it is likely you would pay up to 10 times the actual value of the site.

So for example, a blog worth $2000 may be listed for $20,000

The Digg.com curve

Being on digg can have long term and even permanent effects, but it is the short term that it appears most impressive. Therefore, buying a site within 2 or 3 months of a major digg experience is likely to cost you a lot more than the blog is actually worth.

How to avoid this?

Simply check the stats for any Digg referrals. Also, check Alexa and look for any big spikes in the past 6 months. If you see one, then ask what caused the spike and check the stats to confirm.

Summary

I am not saying you should deduct all factors from the Digg effect, overall it is certainly a positive. But you have to know that you may be paying for something that has already finished. It would be like paying full price for a 2006 Superbowl final ticket.

My Favorite WHOIS service – or should I say, my NEW Favorite WHO IS SERVICE

This is a new WHOIS service to me – like most domainers and website buyers, I have developed a relatively short list for favorite WHOIS and Domain Suggestion tools over the years.

Well here is one – that appears to go some way to combining both of these options: http://who.is

This is A WORLDWIDE Whois service – it does the usual look up – including many international domains. (Searches 364 extensions)

I was doing a WHOIS on a .to domain when I found it.

In addition it also gives the ALEXA ranking and number of page views per visit (On the tests I did page views per visit looks pretty accurate – so a very useful tool when trying to evaluate a website you might buy.

It gives you a list of Available Domains – related to your search

For example on a WHOIS of NewYork.com – it suggests: NewYorkRoundup.com – which I thought a pretty decent suggestion.

GO ON – YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO: Digg this

Favorite WHOIS service – my NEW Favorite WHO IS SERVICE