The Buyer’s Quest: A guide to buying websites

By British Expat, 30 May 2015

Many expats are interested in online business. For some it’s a means to provide a full-time income to enable them to live abroad. Others seek to earn some extra cash online while they’re a trailing spouse, just travelling, or otherwise unable to find suitable employment. Some people even get started in this because they enjoy it and what was originally a hobby can sometimes turn into an interesting way to make some extra money.

One way of getting involved in online business is to own a website (or more, if you are so inclined). It can be hard work but also a lot of fun too. It’s what I’ve been doing for almost 15 years now. But it’s not always easy, and for those who look for easy ways to make (so-called) passive income, there are many pitfalls. This book attempts to steer a course through the dangers and help you win the game.

Out now!

Presented as a quest, this comprehensive guide to buying websites leads the reader through a series of challenges on the journey to claim the prize—to successfully buy a website without losing an arm and a leg on the way.

The book goes step­-by­-step through the whole process of buying a website: deciding whether a website is needed in the first place and, if so, whether to buy or build from scratch; considering what the website is intended to achieve, and what sort of website is best suited to achieving it; examining where to look, what to look for, and what dangers to look out for along the way; establishing the value of the website; subjecting it to close scrutiny; negotiating and completing the deal.

As you progress through the book, you’ll read about:

Part I: Accepting the challenge (Chapters 1-3)	The business purposes of a website Assessing your own strengths Matching the website to the individual Respective merits of buying and building from scratch The nature of the marketplace Typical seller promises and the vested interests behind them Business risk Building a website ‘empire’ The pros and cons of niche-based website portfolios Partnerships and their pros and cons
Part II: Targeting your quest (Chapters 4-7)	Characteristically poor buys Untrustworthy seller behaviour ‘Sanity checks’ to identify unfeasible claims Different types of website and their various benefits The four ages of a website and when best to buy Where to find websites for sale How to approach a seller direct What a broker can and cannot do for you Marketplaces and the benefits and problems of using them Website ‘flipping’ and why it’s no longer an easy earner Flippa, the ‘#1 website marketplace’ ‘Made for Flippa’ websites and their flaws
Part III: Claiming the prize(Chapters 8-11)	Basics of website valuation The difference between revenue, profit and Owner’s Benefit The drawbacks of confrontational negotiation The ‘win-win’ model and its refinements Increasing the size of the pie The principles behind due diligence Conducting proper due diligence Common sources of misinformation Drawing up a secure sales agreement Managing the transaction: the exchange of funds and assets

The Buyer’s Quest shows you how to tackle as much as possible on your own, so that you can save money on professional fees by only getting professional help when necessary, rather than being hand­held and spoon­fed by an expensive nanny every step of the way.

Buy now in the Kindle Store!

You can buy The Buyer’s Quest through any local version of the Kindle Store. For your convenience, we’ve linked to the .com and .co.uk versions, but there are also Kindle Stores for Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, India, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Brazil. Just search for the Amazon ID number B00NGUGWA8 and you’ll find it!

2 Responses to “The Buyer’s Quest: A guide to buying websites”

1. Theodore Koukouvitis 31 May 2015

   This is one of the most authoritative resources on the subject of buying websites, and it’s fun to read too! The book is full of unbiased advice and the unique narrative makes it a fun to read. Thanks for making this happen, Kay.

2. Kay McMahon 2 June 2015

   Hi Theo,

   Thanks for the recommendation! We had quite a few people taking advantage of the special promotion we had over the weekend. It’s good to spread the word. 🙂

   Kay