Wow, what a nice catchy title for you. As you can tell, this post is going to be about the established online businesses that we have bought this year. I absolutely love the process of buying new domain names and making them profitable in just 90 days (in fact I wrote a whole ebook about it) but I also enjoy taking an already established online business and putting my own spin on it. Please forgive me for not disclosing everything like the prices we paid or the exact websites. This will be quite the chatty post, and only SOME of the businesses we have bought this year. If you are interested in getting to buy established websites then I hope this post gives you an idea of our thought processes and results we have had.
Why we buy established websites
Buying established websites can be a really great investment, especially if they are already making some money.
Websites tend to sell for 30-40x their monthly revenue, meaning that in 30-40 months you should have made back your investment and then be seeing pure profit.
If we manage to pay less than the 30-40x monthly revenue then fantastic, we see a profit much sooner!
This gives us a much better return on investment than say, property, which is why it is something that we love to do.
We also like to buy established websites so that we can inject our own creativity into them without having to start a whole website from scratch.
Where to find buy established websites from
If you are looking into buying established online businesses it can be hard knowing where to start.
Flippa is a great place to start if you are looking for starter websites or established businesses. Websites are listed on Flippa and you can find anything from Dropshipping Stores to blogs to online shops that actually have stock.
To buy established websites you can also try some other places, like Facebook groups – I have seen some bloggers get bored of their blogs or have other commitments and want to free up some time.
I have even been able to go about buying established websites from Facebook Marketplace!
I have also been approached directly from bloggers who have sold directly to us.
Business: Christmas Shop Holt
Who wouldn’t want to own a Christmas Shop? It is actually a dream of mine come true. Getting to buy established websites like this is really exciting for me!
Where did we buy Christmas Shop Holt from?
Facebook selling group/Facebook Marketplace
When did we open the store?
1st September 2020
How much did we pay?
Low 4-figures
What did the sale include?
Domain name with a Domain Authority of 8; lots of stock
How the website makes money?
e-commerce
What we have done to improve the website so far
We started off by transferring the website hosting to our own host (we usually use Siteground but for some reason I can’t remember I used a different web host this time and the site is slow!) and installing a new theme.
Then we took all the products off the website and slowly added them back, checking the physical products and amending the quantity; removing damaged stock and getting an accurate quantity of stock.
We placed a couple of wholesale orders and put that new stock on the website, introduced our mystery boxes and started a blog using keyword research.
We have also done some influencer marketing, experimented for a week with Facebook ads and set up social media channels.
Plans for the future
Since the website is really slow we would like to transfer it to another host, but at this time of year the downtime could impact our sales so we are still undecided when would be best to do this.
We plan to close the shop to sales for a few months next year and sort of ‘shelve’ it until the festive season.
Was it worth buying?
100%!
I love packaging up parcels, and choosing the mystery boxes for our customers is my absolute favourite thing to do.
Financially we haven’t yet got back our initial investment since we opened just over 2 months ago. Based on sales projections we hope to break even this Christmas season.
Business: Established blog 1
Buying an established blog that is already making money is really exciting!
Even if we do no work on the blog we should still generate an income, especially if the blog is on an advertising platform like Mediavine, which this blog was.
Where did we buy this Established Blog from?
A private sale
When did we buy the website?
Around April/May 2020
How much did we pay when buying established websites?
We paid roughly 10.5 months of the website’s revenue over the past year. This was over £12,000.
What did the sale include?
Website with content, search engine traffic, Facebook group members and social media accounts
How the website makes money?
Adverts, sponsored posts and affiliate marketing.
What we have done to improve the website so far
Not much! We tweaked the theme, then did keyword research and got our writer to publish blog posts regularly.
Quite a few posts appear on the first page of Google already thanks to the due diligence of the previous owner.
Plans for the future
Our plans for the future are just to grow the traffic to the website, therefore increasing the advertising revenue.
Was it worth buying an established website?
Definitely!
The initial investment will be recouped in less than 12 months, meaning everything after that is pure profit for us.
Business: Established blog 2
This is an established blog that I bought with my heart and not with my business mind.
The blog is not making much money at the moment, and isn’t receiving much traffic. However I love the blog and really, really wanted it.
Where did we buy this Established Blog from?
A private sale
When did we buy this established website?
November 2020
How much did we pay?
We paid mid-4 figures for this blog. That was not based on the revenue but rather the existing blog posts.
What did the sale include?
Website with content and social media accounts
How the website makes money?
Sponsored posts and adverts.
What we have done to improve the website so far
Nothing – this is a brand new purchase.
Plans for the future
Our first goal is to increase the traffic to the blog, and we will be doing this initially by doing keyword research and updating the older posts.
We also need to add some relevant affiliate links to blog posts to generate a passive income, and we would love to get the website onto the Mediavine advertising network.
We are undecided what to do with the social media accounts.
Was it worth buying?
Time will tell!
Business: Starter Blog
A starter blog is an already created blog with content and a theme, but no revenue.
Where did we buy this Starter Blog from?
When did we buy the website?
November 2020
How much did we pay?
Less than $100
What did the sale include?
Domain Authority 5 website with content, domain name for a year and hosting if we want it.
How the website makes money?
It does not make money yet.
What we have done to improve the website so far
Nothing – this is a brand new purchase.
Plans for the future
Our first goal is to increase the traffic to the blog, and we will be doing this initially by doing keyword research and updating the existing posts.
We do not plan on spending much time (if any) on creating new content.
We plan to make money from this blog by using affiliate marketing. The website has a store area set up, which we will use affiliate links to Amazon to generate an income.
Was it worth buying?
Time will tell!
Business: Deals Social Media account
An established ‘deals’ social media account.
Where did we buy this Established Blog from?
Private sale
When did we buy the website?
January 2020
How much did we pay?
Low 4-figures
What did the sale include?
Instagram account with over 10k followers.
How the website makes money?
Affiliate marketing by sharing deals.
What we have done to improve the website so far
Grew the followers and posted more deals.
Plans for the future
Just to continue growing the following and posting deals.
Was it worth buying?
Definitely! We repaid our initial investment in just 4 months, meaning we have been making a profit since May 2020.
Business: Starter YouTube channel
A starter blog YouTube channel with videos to create a passive income. No subscribers, just videos.
Where did we buy this Starter YouTube channel from?
An online advert
When did we buy it?
August 2020
How much did we pay?
Less than $500
What did the sale include?
YouTube channel with 20 videos
How the website makes money?
It did not make money initially; once it hit 1k subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time we were able to apply to Adsense.
What we have done to improve the website so far
Growing the subscribers and view time
Plans for the future
Increasing the views to get more advertising revenue
Was it worth buying?
The jury is still out on this one. We have not recouped our initial investment, but we haven’t put much time into this one.
Would I recommend that you look to buy established websites?
Don’t go running off to Flippa and buying all the blogs and businesses you see.
Before you buy an established website you need to consider how it will make money, how much time you have to dedicate to the project and any additional costs you might incur.
I have really enjoyed getting to buy established websites and work on them.
My favourite purchase has definitely been the Christmas Shop, and the most financially beneficial purchases have been the Established Blog 1 and Deals Instagram Account.
Let us buy your established websites
If you are thinking about selling your blog or business for whatever reason then feel free to get in touch! We are always looking to buy established websites.
