The process of evaluating potential web site purchases

Hi everyone,

Over the past few months I have put together a routine that I use when I am thinking about buying a site. I was just sitting here looking at it and wondering what some of the more experienced guys do when they are researching a purchase. Below I will share my list and I ask that anyone who reads this try to add something to it so that everyone might find something new and useful here.

Like many others I keep all of my links in an .html file and I usually just start at the top and work my way down. Here's what I've got so far:

(Sorry I couldn't make the links active, I don't yet have 10 posts)
webuildpages.com/neat-o/
archive.org
whois.sc
copyscape.com
marketleap.com/publinkpop/
bad-neighborhood.com
urltrends.com
dnsstuff.com

and some questions:

How old is the domain?
How much is the domain worth?
Did the seller grab the typos? any traffic leaks?
Who is the owner? (Is he the seller?)
Is it blacklisted anywhere?
How many backlinks?
Is the number of backlinks reasonable, given the site's age?
Where are the backlinks from? (Quality or spam?)
What is the link text used in backlinks?
Does the seller own any of the sites listed as a backlink? how much for the links to stay?
Is there content?
Is the content original?
Is the content owned or licensed to the seller?
Is ALL content included? databases, scripts, users...
Are there any scripts used on the site? are they licensed? are they transferrable?
How much time is needed to admin/maintain the site?
How much technical experience is needed to admin/maintain the site?
Is the seller willing to work on the site after the sale (yes, for money)?
Is the seller banned from any programs? Adsense, YPN, CJ, etc.. why?
What can I find out about the seller through the forums and search engines?
How did previous public transactions turn out between this seller and others?
Has this site been sold previously? who owned it last? is there anything I want to ask him or her?
Is the owner going to open another site and compete directly?
What was the site and domain used for in the past?
How much revenue does the site make? get proof
Where is the revenue coming from? get proof
How much traffic is it getting? from where? get logs
What is the server load/specs?
What keywords does the site rank for? which can I improve?
How well is the site monetized? how can I do better?
What do I like about the site?
What don't I like about the site?
How am I willing to do to improve the site? how much would that cost in time and money?
How much would it cost in time and money to create and establish a similar site?
Would this site be fun to work on and maintain?
Is there any questionable practices in this site? Cloaking? Over SEO?
Are there any potential legal issues here? Trade marks? Privacy agreements?
How clean is the code?
How many pages are indexed? if not all, why not? in what engines?


I hope this helps some people out there. Please post any useful additions you may have.

Think!

 

I have a simpler approach.

- Check the PR
- How many pages in Google Index
- Check Revenue
- Check Traffic

Then the simple part, ask yourself:

- "Do I think this site will make me money?"
- "Is there an alternative use for this site in case it isn't profitable?"
- "How badly do I want it?"

By the time you do this you'll have a pretty good idea of whether you want it or not... it's not that tough.