With the ever increasing number of online businesses listed for sale what should any prospective buyers be researching?

How old is the site?
Search engines are the major drivers of traffic to online businesses, the older the domain name the better. Preferably look for a domain name that has been registered for over 3 years.

Is the site profitable?
To determine if an online business is worth adding to your shortlist then you have to look at how much profit the business is making. Remember the more profit a company is making, the more value will be placed on it.

What rating does the business have?
A site can be rated in many ways, Alexa ratings, Googles Page Ranking, and Search Engine placement. One thing to be aware of is that these ratings can easily be modified to give inaccurate misleading figures. Software is available that will raise Alexa ratings by simply pressing button. Page ranking can be modified by using linking software, simply look on EBay at the amount of PR7 businesses for sale at £200. An average page rank for a business is around 3 to 5. Finally search engine placement can be easily increased by spamming techniques. My advice would be to view businesses ratings as a guide but not the main factor in your decision to buy a business.

What sector is the business in?
The main thing to consider here is, if a business is in a competitive sector it will be difficult to achieve a high placement. Simply look at the amount of web design businesses there are springing up. However a business that has a high Search Engine placement in a competitive sector is likely to be expensive.

What price is the business listed at?
Generally speaking if a business is listed at a price that seems too good to be true, it more often than not will mean that something is not right, avoid it.

Should I get advice?
I would recommend anyone purchasing a business gets some degree of legal advice. Kaltons of London are listed at www.bizseller4u.com and specialise in online businesses, they will carry out all the necessary due diligence and assist you in developing your new site if required, this is generally by amending Terms and Conditions.

In conclusion there are many genuine online businesses for sale, a high percentage of these are not worth a second look, however there are a few out there that with work will turn out to be gold mines. The problem is which ones are genuine. I hope this article has provided a little information for you to ponder.

Peter Arkwright
www.bizseller4u.com