Congratulations! After many hours of searching buy-sell website sites, youve finally found the perfect website. It meets all of your requirements and is definitely in alignment with your purchasing goals.
But now, youre completely stuck. You dont have a clue of how you can effectively negotiate with the seller and certainly dont want to pay more than the site is worth. In fact, you want to get the best possible price for your money. Well, sit back, relax, and get comfortable because in five simple steps, were going to teach you how to effectively negotiate and obtain the best possible deal for your new website. So, lets get started!
1. Be a detective. First and foremost, you have to act as a detective. You should be willing to roll up your sleeves and do some in-depth research into the site which will enable you to obtain answers to some important questions. Now is not the time to be shy because you future is at stake. You have to delve deep and be willing to find all the pertinent information that will help you make a great offer. Here are some questions that youll want to inquire as you become a detective:
a. Does the site have any copyright/trademark violations or pending law suits
b. Has the site ever been associated with spam or received any warnings
c. Is the site content devoid of any copyright infringement issues
d. Will you be allowed to customize the content as you see fit
e. What is your monthly bandwidth and costs if you go over this allocated amount
f. Will the existing merchant account and hosting service be transferred to you
g. Will any technical assistance be available for the transfer
h. Can you verify the sites web traffic with independent sources like Google, Alexa or other engines
i. Does the site rely heavily on pay-per-click advertising If so, how much does it cost to maintain these rankings
j. Will your designer be able to maintain graphics and current site technology
k. Are planned changes compatible with existing software
l. Will you own the domain name and when will that registration be transferred
m. What will be your initial and monthly costs with running this site
n. What is your expected monthly profit
o. Will you be allowed to add additional links or improve upon existing ones
p. Will you have access to any auto responders, interactive features, or programming, which the current owner utilizes
q. How will you update the site as time passes
r. Will you have access to website statistics including page history, existing member lists, and other pertinent information
s. When was the site last updated By whom
t. Who designed current content and site and are they still available to handle revision requests
2. Consolidate information. Once you have answered all these questions, youll have a better idea of what the site is worth. However, youre work is not done. You now have to consolidate all this information into a concrete number.
Some consultants recommend that you pay no more than five or six times the monthly earnings of the website however; weve found that each site is individualized and a simple formula doesnt work for everyone. Instead, you should take all gathered information and either hire a professional website appraisal company or do your own research to come up with an amount that factors in your sites uniqueness.
3. Decide what youre willing to pay. Now that you know what your website is worth, you have to figure out what youre willing to pay for it. That is, what is your bottom line figure What is your high figure Once you know these answers, you should be willing to walk away if you cant reach a price that youre comfortable with. After all, there are literally thousands of sites available for purchase. You simply have to be patient and hold off for the site that can meets all your needs and your budgetary constraints.
4. Feel out the site owner. Now, its time to feel out the site owner. In this step, you must find out what the site owners motivating factors are for selling the site. For instance, are they concerned with a lump sum payment or are they more concerned with security The reason being is that if they are concerned with a lump sum payment they will likely not be open to a contingency plan or wont be as interested in taking stock in lieu of cash. However, if they are more concerned with security, they may be open to a more creative type of financing arrangement. Once you know this information, you can use it in the negotiating process.
5. Make your offer. Finally, it is now time to make your offer. If possible, get the existing owner to make the first offer and then negotiate from there. If you make the first offer, make sure that you have factored in all pertinent information and that your offer is based on your budget. You should never lowball the owner (unless you dont care whether they sell you the site or not) and should always make a fair offer so that the site owner doesnt cease negotiations. If you do offer less than the current asking price, include your reasons for making the lower offer.
In conclusion, purchasing a website is not a simple process. It involves much planning, research, and careful implementation. However, if you apply the previous five steps, you can walk away with a great site, peace of mind, and immense pride in knowing that you negotiated well and paid a fair price.
About The Author
Dennis Blasius recommends you check out
The Domain Name System (DNS) enables people to navigate their way around the Internet. Every computer that is connected to the internet is identifiable by a string of numbers called an IP address (IP stands for Internet Protocol). As the internet developed so did the DNS, so that now a string of letters can correspond to a particular IP address. This means that instead of using a complicated sequence of numbers you can type www.adomianname.com, which is a lot easier to remember.
No matter what sort of site you are intending building, you should consider getting yourself a domain name. Your domain name is your personal web address and can reflect anything you desire, including your own name or the subject of your business.
There are several reasons why an internet business requires its own domain name including:
A domain name makes your site more credible and reliable
The URL of a domain name will never change even if you change you website hosting, so that customers are not needed to be informed should you change hosting.
Choosing a good domain name will make your site more memorable to your clients, so that people will recall your company easily which spells more profits.
Advertisers and sponsors are more likely to sponsor websites who have their own domain name.
Your won domain name allows you to set up various email addresses for specific uses, e.g. support@yourdomain.com and sales@yourdomain.com
The organization that is responsible for maintaining and co-ordinating the entire domain name system is called ICAAN. TO register any domain name you need to use an ICAAN accredited domain name registrar.
There are numerous domain name registrars and fees for domain registration vary from $8.95 to $35+. Some web hosting companies now offer a free domain name registration as part of their hosting packages.
Registering your domain name is essentially a four step process as follows:
Step 1: Carefully consider what domain name you would like, try to make your domain name as concise as possible and specific to the site you have in mind. Construct a list of alternative domain names, in order of preference. This is because with the huge number of websites in the Internet, some of your ideas for the ideal domain name might have already been taken already so the more names you can think of, the better.
When deciding on your domain name also consider the top level domain TLD) extension you want. The TLD is the .com part of the domain name domainname.com. There are a variety of domain extensions, and the one you wish to use may well affect the price you will have to pay.
The range of TLDs includes .com, .net, .org, .info and .name (used with a personal name e.g. JezLacey.name). None of these TLDs have specific requirements. In addition to these universal TLDs there is also .biz, which is for commercial and business use only. Finally, there are also country specific TLDs, which can only be used by persons who are citizens and residents of that country and by businesses and organizations present in that country where domain extension is applicable, example include .us (USA), .co.uk (UK) and .fr (France).
Step 2: Obtain the IP address or domain nameserver from your hosting company. A nameserver is a special type of domain that is used to identify a particular server. After registration you will need this information in order to set up your domain for use.
Step 3: Prepare for payment. The usual method of payment with domain registrars is via a credit card.
Step 4: Apply for your domain name. You can use your web hosting company to do this, or one of numerous accredited domain registrars. Good examples include enom.com, the ever popular GoDaddy.com, Dotster.com and many others.
When registering your domain name, ensure that you are the registered domain owner. This important because a web host can set themselves as the domain owner, and if they do, then you have no say in what happens to the domain name. For example, if you decide to transfer your domain to another registrar. For this reason you should also ensure both the technical and administrative contracts should be you.
When transferring a domain the new registrar will try contacting the domain owner first, then if that fails the administrative and then the technical contact. There have been cases where the web host has registered itself as the administrative and technical contact for a client. They can then make it difficult for clients to move to other registrars by pending the move or by even refusing. So, stay in better control and avoid this kind of situation.
With these guidelines, you are now well equipped to register your own domain name. As good domain names are getting more and more difficult to find, if you already have an idea for a great domain name, register them now before its too late.
Jez Lacey is co-owner of 4-packs. Check out our latest release, the incredible Ultimate CMS power builder; it helps create websites in minutes and makes site management as simple as 1-2-3