I possibly found my first purchase

[glideinyostride]

I think I may have found a site I feel fairly comfortable with. I don't want to disclose the domain just yet but there are certain caveats that I would like to run by you. A little background info: it is a 4 yo. PR 3 website with around 5k uniques that used to be between 30-50k but they haven't done anything in several months. One reason was they were looking for a study job

1)It is an entertainment type blog/magazine that discusses music mainly, but also some movie reviews, food, culture, etc. It is a panacea really.

The entertainment bit scares me a little because the market is notoriously fickle, but I happen to know a bit about the genres they cover and actually enjoy them. I also have a background in the other topics they cover and have an idea as to a particular magazine model I would like to "copy".

2)The person is really quite a novice with the business side of the site. This means I am not privy to as much information as I normally have been looking for and will probably have to transfer the site from one host to another.

This is actually one of the main reasons I feel so attracted to this purchase because they don't give off that desperate/swindle you type vibe that is ubiquitous in the market. They even live fairly close to me. I am supposed to talk with the person responsible for the back end of the site to try and get more info on the site. Is there anything in particular I should ask for like the ability to log into their Google analytics, etc? I have no experience transferring a site from one host to another (GoDaddy to HostGator).

3) They asked if they were to accept my offer (about 7 mo. revenues) how should we do the payment and what kind/if any paper work should we file.

Their apparent eagerness at my first offer a)means I offered too much b)they really have been in a financial slump. Also, they haven't done much, if anything, to promote it (like the recent example on here of the one site selling for around half its estimated value and the newer site selling for far more). So I may be getting a steal.

I am thinking escrow should still be used because it gives both of us a bit of a safety net and it probably charges a little less than Paypal anyway.

They have expressed that they will give me all of their business/writer contacts and want to be able to contribute further articles in the future.

This site is really quite nice and they have obviously put a lot of time into it because it is a subject that they really cared for and it appears that this was a labor of love with monetary considerations second.

The site is so nice and detailed that I doubt I could do all that they have done because a) I doubt i really have that much time to put into it b)I don't even know how to do all of the stuff they did. However, a lot of the stuff I don't know how to do appears extraneous and merely bonus material. The writers they had on board worked for free essentially, they received perks that came along with the site's advertisors/promotors. These perks include tickets to music events, ability to interview bands, free music downloads/albums, shirts, etc.

I am definately getting nervous with this being my first purchase and I was hoping the seller would be more experienced so they could take the reins. I am, so far, basing a good bit on "gut feeling/intuition" which has served me well in things like poker which I relied on heavily as well as real life. However, I had experience in poker, but when I first started I was more empiracle and relied on statistics/data more. I am a novice in this arena and don't wish to strike out on my first purchase. I hope I am not being hasty and throwing out hard earned money.

[bwelford]

I can certainly relate to how you feel, glideinyostride, since I am new to these issues.

On the issue of payment, I notice some use electronic banking transfers, which cuts down on the fees and the delays somewhat. If both parties are honourable, then I feel the following arrangement is probably fair: 2/3 prior to transfer of all properties and the remaining 1/3 within 7 days following transfer of all properties.

However I'm sure that will not fit everyone.

[grynge]

One of the hardest things to do is look at something you feel is nice with unbiased eyes. You seem to have gone past a business perusal of the website and into a personal stakeholder mode.

On the other hand you say you quite enjoy the niche the site is in which is always a good thing. I have never lost money on a website, mind you some have taken me years to get into profit.

Because its a blog ask what plugins they use, are any paid plugins?

Before handing over cash ask them to write the cover email that will be sent to all their contractors, why get this before hand, so you can modify it if you think it is necessary, and it is much easier to say ok send that email now. If they don't put in it something like, "even though I am the new owner of the site I really want to keep the existing theme and jive of the whole site and with your(the contractos) help, I can achieve that"
Very few if any old owners will help out on a continual basis (for free) there is a reason they want to sell and that normally includes more time.

Ask them to list a daily chore list of everything they do to the site. Get all this done before handing over cash, you will be amazed how helpful people are up until the point that you pay the money.

There was a thread on transferring sites by clinton you should take a look at and a post I made with some details that you need to take into account as well check out both of those posts and write a list of stuff you want handed over before you pay the money.

[benitez17]

My 2 cents:

1. Entertainment/music is not a very lucrative niche.
2. It sounds like the site needs regular updates to be successful, which will make it harder to earn a good return on your investment and make future investments.
3. Your offer was probably quite a bit higher than the minimum price they would have been willing to accept, but there's nothing you can do about that now, and 7 months revenue is probably a good deal if it is based on current revenue and not peak revenue.
4. Use escrow.com or another similar site to transfer everything if you'd be upset about losing the purchase price to a scam.
5. I'll second the suggestion to read the thread on transferring sites mentioned above and get detailed descriptions of everything needed to manage the site.
6. Keep asking for advice here. There are a lot of people happy to help.

Good luck!

[glideinyostride]

@grynge I sent an email asking for a copy of an email to send out to previous writers/advertisers and am readding up on the suggested posts. As well as, asking for more proof and details about what the site takes to run before I lock myself in/make payment

@benitez17 those are my real issues with the site. I know/have read how difficult it is to monetize those sites and how much time is spent updating. I am looking at previously won auctions that are doing better so I can try and see any ways of improving profits while decreasing time on it. Since I work 9 hr days it would be a drag to then write an article or two each day and upload pics/whatever for a few more hours (that would seriously cut into my cooking/scotch/cigar wind down) and it would, as you astutely pointed out, probably interefere with my goal of slowly building up real estate to cover my daily expenses goal. I am willing to work hard and do what it takes to see results, but I definately don't want to bog myself down with inadequate sites making meeger wages when I could build a stable up of "passive" income earners. The problem I'm finding with the passive income role is that I am not finding any "real" passive earners ie. discussed in the "Anyone else feel apathetic about searching Flippa on a regular basis?" thread, although, people still seem to be finding sites to purchase just in fewer numbers. This is really one of the only ones that I have seen that seems to be legit and is in my price range. ***hope I'm not jumping the gun because of this

With how it is structured, though, I am thinking I could combine my "wind down habits" into the site and maybe raise the demographic a bit. The site is already a mix of music, food, and culture anyway so I could just expand on the issues that I like more. The music and other articles are directed to the twenty something and up crowd anyway (at least it appears so to me) as it doesn't really cover pop/hip-hop, etc. In fact, is there a webservice that gives approximate demographics? It would be nice to know

[benitez17]

@benitez17 those are my real issues with the site. I know/have read how difficult it is to monetize those sites and how much time is spent updating. I am looking at previously won auctions that are doing better so I can try and see any ways of improving profits while decreasing time on it. Since I work 9 hr days it would be a drag to then write an article or two each day and upload pics/whatever for a few more hours (that would seriously cut into my cooking/scotch/cigar wind down) and it would, as you astutely pointed out, probably interefere with my goal of slowly building up real estate to cover my daily expenses goal. I am willing to work hard and do what it takes to see results, but I definately don't want to bog myself down with inadequate sites making meeger wages when I could build a stable up of "passive" income earners. The problem I'm finding with the passive income role is that I am not finding any "real" passive earners ie. discussed in the "Anyone else feel apathetic about searching Flippa on a regular basis?" thread, although, people still seem to be finding sites to purchase just in fewer numbers. This is really one of the only ones that I have seen that seems to be legit and is in my price range. ***hope I'm not jumping the gun because of this

Quality passive sites don't come up for sale very often, because there is no reason to sell them. I've had my best luck buying them by finding castaways where the current owner has given up on them, and then automating as much as possible. This could be one of those.

I'm of the opinion that any site can be a good passive earner in your portfolio, as long as you get it at the right price.

[glideinyostride]

Haven't made any headway with this one. I feel like it is gonna be one of those Seller Won't Sell scenarios. She just seems too attached to the site.

In other news, I have been looking at this listing: https://flippa.com/2714190-over-19-5...ordpress-blogs and it is another one that is confusing to me.

Why would she be willing to let it go for so low? and why aren't more people bidding it up?

She has giving traffic details (for the last month) and earnings proof for a year+. It was dropping in earnings for a while but is now heading back up.

There are a few other products on Clickbank promoting similar items so there doesn't appear to be any fear of that product disappearing.

The website looks nice and the articles are well written and interesting.

The site is ranking well in the SERPS as well.

The only real thing I could see as a problem is that one would have to spend some time writing articles doing backlinks to keep it in the top position.

Other than that it looks like one could easily make the cost back in a few months.

(ps I hope I can find something that I can contribute on sometime soon, maybe when the sites merge there will be some stuff.)

[MTUser]

Well someone bought it within 40 mins of your post for the BIN. Was it you? I gave it a quick once over and didn't see any obvious problems. I'd agree it did seem like a good deal. The seller had only sold 1.69K of sites on Flippa before if I read it correctly. Maybe her inexperience made her offer this at a low price?

[glideinyostride]

No it wasn't me. Although, I could have tipped someone off to it from posting. Honestly when I was looking at it it was at 2k and I felt like a buy it now was needed to purchase and that is nearing the top of my "comfort zone". She was aware of it being priced low according to her Private messages. Maybe that new job is THAT good that she didn't care although I find that hard to believe. Are Clickbank products that fickle? Do the sites sell for fractions of their yearly earnings? There is another site that appears to be doing really well (to my standards) but isn't getting any attention about colloidal silver.

I don't know its kinda frustrating. It seems like there will be a drought of crap on the marketplaces then all of a sudden several will pop up around the same time. I guess I shouldn't get too dismayed as I still have my money and hopefully am gaining more knowledge for the next opportunity.

[Makeit]

Just wanted to add, that keep in mind when you opt for Escrow.com as Clinton had mentioned that they only cover the biz transaction part. Not the domain. You can get the domain included in the sales contract or get a separate transaction done for the domain name.
Good luck.