Fancy doing some due diligence for pay?

[Clinton]

When it comes to doing due diligence on websites, it takes a special kind of skill - the skill you've developed as a buyer and/or as the owner of a website. No big accountancy or legal firm has the skills to do the operational due diligence on websites and blogs. They don't know the tricks sellers pull or the ways to spot them.

There is no training school that teaches people how to do DD on websites, blogs, forums, social networks, apps, Squidoo lenses or email lists. But you have skills in at least one of those areas!

And there is demand for it. There is demand from new webmasters testing the waters with their first $200 purchase, they could use a mentor. There is demand from up and coming webmasters who already own a website or two but are looking at making a purchase in an area they are not familiar with - like adult/dating/gambling - or a business model they've not handled before. There is demand from buyers of the multi-million dollar site who may have tech teams in-house but could still use our more specialized knowledge.

Would you be interested in such work? I could put together a resource list and interested parties would contact you directly. When I get emails or PMs elsewhere requesting me to do DD I could refer those people to the resources here.

What kind of DD do you think you can do? Would you care to be a paid mentor to someone buying their first site?

What do you think of the idea of putting together such a resource here?

[DomainMagnate]

Sounds good. I like doing DD on sites and have a ton of experience with that, so might be interested mainly on sites getting their traffic from SEO in mid sized sales figures.

[hooperman]

It does sound like a good idea. The only thing that worries me is the responsibility of doing DD for somebody else! But then, if you limit yourself to "this traffic looks suspicious, and may only be temporary", "you could increase traffic by targeting these uncompetitive terms", "most of the site's inbound links are from other sites the seller owns" type of advice - and avoid "I'd buy this if I were you" advice - maybe I'm worrying over nothing.

Clinton, I read with interest your case study DD thread and just wondered whether you give advice on the buying decision itself?

[Clinton]

hooperman, I do offer opinion on whether I think the value is fair and make a recommendation on whether the seller should proceed. But not always. And when I do it's on a best efforts basis i.e. I don't take responsibility if there's something that with my knowledge/experience I was unable to spot. We can come to contracts and stuff later. At the moment this is but a feeler to see what level of interest there is in this and who'd like to make themselves available.

I've bought a few sites and have a bit of experience, but every single DD job brings its own challenges. Most require me to get familiar with new markets and business models I've never tried myself. On the plus side, I get to see the inside of businesses I don't have the money to buy ($500K+). I see their stats, their advertising spend, the terms of contracts they have with SEO companies, their market intelligence reports and much more. Though I'm doing just the website DD, not financial or legal DD, I get a chance to analyze how they are making money and what their contractual terms are with their partners. I find it fascinating and educational. All information is treated with the utmost confidentiality - I can't sell it or profit from it, but just having it in my head (and on my hard disk) is often worth more than the fee.

In every case I've ventured some thoughts on the SEO, possible future opportunities, partners they may want to consider - that sort of thing. I give them that document at the end (if I've recommended they proceed with the purchase). In the last case I got Flippa a sale! I spotted a turnkey there for under $200. It was worthless but the domain name was an ideal fit for what my client planned to do with his business.

[hooperman]

Thanks for the additional info. I was unsure of what limits people imposed on their DD, so it's useful to hear that you do make recommendations.

At the moment this is but a feeler to see what level of interest there is in this and who'd like to make themselves available.

Count me in.

[nEquity]

Im in.

I think it needs to be structured, with a checklist of important checks to undertake. And based on what is passed and what isnt and what was able to be verified to give a recommendation.
And also based on these checks to perform other checks outside this scope and whatever else the particular situation would require

[benitez17]

I'd definitely like to participate. I probably enjoy that part of the buying process more than actually running a site, so it would be very interesting to me.

[Clinton]

nEquity, I'm not positioning myself as some sort of guru or controller of due diligence work sourced on these boards. I intend merely to create a list of willing participants, not build and maintain a list of what checks each one should do (there's your articlesbase piece for that ).

As I've explained via PM, when people approach me to do technical due diligence for them it's because they've read an informative post I've made somewhere, learnt from the post, gleaned a little nugget from that post, did a bit of digging around to read my other posts, learnt a bit more from those posts and came to an independent conclusion about what I do and don't know. That's what I'm hoping they'll do here with you guys.

Expertise will out, no member would need to "sell" their services, their posts would speak for themselves. This forum's only two weeks old yet someone browsing around will find at least a member or two whose posts make sense. If the visitor then recognizes that member's name in the DD resources list, he's already "sold".

I'm not looking for any DD work here. I want no commission. I'm looking to build a location I can send potential clients to and to encourage discussion that lets individual member's expertise and strengths shine through.

[mpcovcd]

Count me in - Like you mentioned Clinton it never hurts to gain more knowledge through doing due diligence on others websites..

[catweasel]

Sounds nifty.. I think if a service is going to be p provided it should be charged for. As to the responsibility, you'd have to make clear no liability is accepted, it's a little like a building inspection report when buying a bricks and mortar property.
Here's a paragraph from the building inspection report I commissioned when buying my house -

This report provides no guarantee or warranty and is reliant upon the professional opinion of the consultant named
within. It is prepared for the sole and exclusive use of the person, persons, or body named at the front of the report
(the customer), and cannot be used or acted on by any other party, or without express written permission of the
Consultant. This report is prepared with due diligence and care, but the report is based upon prevailing conditions
and accessibility.