Buying a website that makes a profit is better than starting from scratch. Today, you will learn how to buy a profitable blog.
I know you’re surprised to find that buying a blog is possible. I was too!
And if you don’t like building a blog from scratch and growing it to make money then buying an already established blog is a great option for you.
But is it really a good option? If so, then how can you buy a profitable website?
Keep reading this post as you will learn everything you need to know to buy a profitable blog.
Save this pin and let’s get started.
This post may contain some affiliate links that is I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you that I would use to maintain this blog. Thanks for understanding.
Why Buy a Blog?
There are many reasons why buying a blog is a better investment than starting a new blog.
Existing Content
The best part is that you don’t have to write blog posts and build your blog from scratch. Buying an already existing blog has blog content.
You will not have to wait for Google to pick your content to rank.
However, while buying a blog make sure to check out the content pages. Are they quality pieces? Are they ranking online?
Existing Target Audience
An old blog will have a predefined target audience – that is hopefully engaging with the blog content.
This way, you don’t have to work on building a target audience. You can work on your goals straight away.
Also, check if the blog you’re buying has an email list or not. If so, then are there enough subscribers? How engaging is the email list?
Well Established Brand Image
If you’re buying a well-researched blog then you don’t have to worry about establishing your brand authority.
You will get defined social profiles too. Make sure you check out the social media profiles of the blog you’re buying.
Figure out if the audience you are targeting is engaging with these social media profiles.
Blog Traffic
You will not have to worry about building blog traffic in an already established blog. Because getting traffic to a new blog is a bit of a task.
However, make sure you check if there are multiple sources of traffic? What are major sources? Are posts ranking online?
Pro tip – Check Google Analytics or Semrush report to see proof of stats of the blog you’re planning to buy.
Income
Lastly, buying an old blog is beneficial because you will be making an income from the first day.
You will not have to build trust with your audience, gain traffic or add income sources. You can easily make money from it.
Also, make sure you check and verify the income sources. Are these legit sources? Can you add more sources?
So these were the benefits of buying an existing blog. It helps in saving both time and money.
Now, let’s see where to buy a website.
2 Common Ways To Buy a Blog
Once you have performed due diligence, done your research, and made sure of other things you can buy a blog using 2 ways.
Buy Using Websites Like Flippa
Flippa is the biggest marketplace for buying and selling websites, businesses, apps, and more.
Flippa is a good option especially if you are buying for the first time. Because it’s easy to use and has various affordable options.
Here’s Flippa’s guide for first-time buyers to learn how to buy a website on Flippa.
Buying From Someone Else
The next option is to buy from someone else. It’s likely that bloggers lose interest over time or get involved in other things. So they want to sell their blogs.
In such a case, you can contact the owner directly and buy the website permanently.
But how to buy a website from someone else? Follow these steps:
- Check the WHOIS service to see if the site is owned by someone.
- Determine a price by browsing through sites like Flippa.
- Find the owner’s contact details.
- Send an email and confirm the deal.
- Transfer funds safely through Escrow. Escrow is a safe method to transfer funds. It allows you some time to ensure the credibility of the source.
However, this process is very tiring.
Luckily, you don’t have to do all of this by yourself when you use Flippa to buy a blog. Because they do everything for you. You just have to follow some steps and you can buy a good website.
How to Buy a Website on Flippa?
Here’s a step-by-step process of buying a website on Flippa.
1: Create your Flippa account.
2: On your dashboard, scroll down to view the listing and choose from the category.
3: Pick a website and click ‘View Listing’ to through the details, and scroll down to see Semrush and Google Analytics reports.
4: You can contact the seller to ask for other proof if you need them.
5: If everything looks fine, then make your offer using Flippa’s Escrow services.
I also recommend you watch this video tutorial to understand how to do it.
But before buying a website using either of these ways you must do your research.
Crucial Things To Consider When Buying a Blog
Buying blogs is not an easy task but can be risky if you do not pay attention to some factors. You must check out that the website is legit before investing in it.
Unfortunately, in both ways, you have to do your research and be absolutely sure that you are buying a profitable blog from a genuine buyer.
Remember that sites like Flippa list websites, but making sure that it’s legit or not is your job. However, here is a list of things scams to stay away from scams on Flippa.
But here are some things that you must be sure of to buy a genuine blog.
Blog Traffic
Before trusting the number in the monthly traffic column make sure you are sure about it.
If possible then ask for view-only access to the Google Analytics account of the website. This way, you can figure out important information such as:
- Monthly page views
- Sessions
- Traffic sources
- Top pages
- Bounce rate
- Average time duration
- And more
If you can’t get access to the GA account then analyze the website on Semrush or Ubersuggest. This will give you an idea of the website’s performance.
Flippa has Semrush and Google Analytics integration such that you can see real reports on your Flippa dashboard.
Blog Content
Before buying any blog, always check if the site has quality content or not. Are these thin pages? Duplicate content? Pages with too many spammy links? Plagiarised content?
You can use tools like Copyscape to check for plagiarism.
Income
Always verify the income mentioned in the blog sale listing. Ask the seller to show real screenshots. Make sure you know these things.
- What are its monthly expenses?
- Revenue sources
- Is the income consistent?
- What’s the main source of income?
In short, invest only if you verify the monthly income promised by the seller.
Niche
If you are a first-time buyer then never invest in a blog that’s not the niche you want.
If you haven’t already, then set your goals with this new blog (more on this below) and choose a profitable blog niche that you know can be grown.
Backlink Profile
Always check the website backlink profile. Is this site linked to authority sites? Or spammy sites? Are the backlink growth steady and natural? Or overnight backlink explosion?
Flippa has Semrush integration so you can see the full report there.
Or you can use the Semrush backlink audit tool to find all of these things. Plus, it gives an overall backlink toxicity score.
This will help you judge the site based on backlinks.
Email List & Subscribers
Always remember to check if the site has an email list. If it has then see if the subscribers are engaging with the emails? How often do they receive emails? Is the open rate decent? Are enough people clicking through the links?
Ask the site owner to let you see the email reports. Then analyze everything.
Website History
You can also check the website history to make sure that there’s nothing shady about the site. By shady, I mean penalties by Google.
Because if it has then you will have to do a lot of hard work to regain Google’s trust.
You can use tools like Archives to check out the website’s history.
Ideally, you want a site that has been around for a while so you don’t have to wait for Google to pick it up.
SEO Profile
Also, check how well it is performing organically. It should rank online, especially if you want to monetize it with ads or affiliate links.
So check on Semrush what keywords is the site ranking for? Is it getting organic clicks?
You can also do a quick ‘site:sitedomain’ Google search to see what pages show up. These are pages that are ranking on Google.
If nothing shows up and the seller promised something else then it’s a red flag.
If possible, ask the site owner to give you view-only access to the Search Console. There you can see how the site is performing organically.
Social Media Profiles
It’s also good to check out if the site has established social media profiles? Do you get access to them also? What social media platforms do they give you?
Make things clear so you know if you need to build new profiles from scratch or not.
Trust Your Instincts
Lastly, trust your instincts. If you feel like the site is legit and can be beneficial for your business then go ahead and buy it.
But do so only after you have done your research. Only when you are sure that it is a genuine site.
So, these were some points to begin your research with. But before buying a website, be crystal clear about exactly what you want.
That is to set your goals.
Set Your Goals
Setting goals is like determining how you want your new site to be. For example, what niche would it be? Monetization methods?
So here are some things that you must figure out before setting your goals.
- What niche do you want?
- Is it going to be extremely niched? Or general?
- Monetization methods? Ads? Affiliate links? Sponsored? And so on.
- What’s your budget?
- How much money is it making?
- Does it have a nice engaging email list?
- Is this what you are looking for?
After you have set your goals with your new blog, done your research, and found a good blog then contact the owner to continue the buying process.
Luckily, Flippa makes it easy to buy a blog.
Conclusion: How to buy a profitable blog?
So this is how to buy a profitable blog. Buying a blog is a fast way to build a profit-earning blog. You can also double your income if you know how to do it.
Buying sites on Flippa is simple because they have made it for you. You should, however, do your research before investing in any property.
On Flippa, you can find really great sites. Unfortunately, some offers are too good to be true. Avoid them.
Do your research, then buy it confidently.
Now, go ahead and browse Flippa’s marketplace filled with so many amazing websites.
Have questions? Drop them in the comments below.
More posts to check out:
- It is worth starting a blog in 2022?
- How to start a Bluehost blog with WordPress?
- How much does it cost to start a blog?
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Very useful content. Thank you! I think that, in general, today is much easier and profitable to buy a website, than to create one from scratch.
Yes, now that I know about it I can see so many benefits of buying a website than building one from scratch. It saves time.