New Feature: Website Due Diligence Page
Posted on June 28th, 2010 by Luke Moulton
We’re very excited to announce the release of the new Due Diligence page. The Due Diligence report page combines a truckload of useful data gathered from authoritative sources. The page is intended to help buyers assess opportunities in the marketplace without having to trek all over the web collecting important due diligence data from other sources.
Now every website listing page has an additional section that includes metrics from Alexa, Compete, SEOmoz and SEMrush.
Let’s take a look.
How do I find it?
You’ll notice a new link, View the Full Due Diligence Data For This Listing, located under the main stats section on the auction page. Click on it to reveal the due diligence page.
The Due Diligence Page
The first metrics you’ll see towards the top of the page are Google, Yahoo! and Bing data. If you’re unfamiliar with what these numbers mean, we’ve added a short explanation to the right. This data gives you an indication of the number of pages indexed and inbound links reported by the various search engines as well as Google PageRank.
Next, we’ve added Alexa, Compete and SEOmoz Rank data. Each of these providers use their own ranking scale to give an indication of a website’s quality and popularity, and together they provide buyers with a good cross section of information about a site.
And finally, the feature I’m most excited about, SEMrush data. SEMrush provides an estimate of the organic traffic being generated by the site as well as an indication of what it would cost to purchase that traffic based on AdWords cost per click data. You can cross check this data against website statistics provided by the seller
We’ve also included the top 5 keywords SEMrush reports is generating the most traffic to the site and the position the site is ranking for in Google. Pretty clever huh!
Please be aware that these figures are based on Google U.S. data – so if you’re analyzing a .co.uk site (for example) make sure you visit the SEMrush website for the appropriate country data and to discover more keyword data.
As always, tell us what you think in the comments below.
Comments (27)
Comments are closed.
June 28, 2010 - 5:29 pm
I’m sure this post will start the usual debate, but the key here is that it is becoming increasingly difficult for sellers to BS about the status of their sites.
It’s a great step in the right direction and buyers can now at a glance, have a fairly informed overview of a site and not just rely on seller information.
June 28, 2010 - 6:53 pm
Anything that increases the transparency to of the buying and selling of websites is a good thing – it would be great if you guys could get together wit the Market Samurai guys and add some sort of Rank Tacker Lite feature to…..
June 28, 2010 - 7:11 pm
Why not add all the data on due diligence page and let the listing page be a little clean, like it earlier was ?
June 28, 2010 - 8:39 pm
Nice move, Luke. More information is always a plus.
I’d be careful about calling it “Full” due diligence anything. You don’t want to give the wrong impression. Data is but a small part of the due diligence. 99% of DD is in interpretation of the data, coming up with the right questions, extracting what the seller is trying to hide, evaluating risks, making informed projections on the site’s future performance etc. More than all of that it’s in the analysing of the accounts, examining proof of earnings and uncovering the numerous fiddles used by Flippa sellers to drive up apparent profit and hide risk.
I don’t take on any more due diligence work but having done DD on millions of dollars worth of site purchases I can categorically say that having the right data makes for a good start.
“And finally, the feature I’m most excited about, SEMrush data. SEMrush provides an estimate of the organic traffic being generated by the site as well as an indication of what it would cost to purchase that traffic based on AdWords cost per click data.”
That’s a good example of junk information. Associating free traffic with its likely cost if it were PPC traffic is a standard con by sellers that you’ve been supporting and encouraging. I’ve explained the flaws and either you don’t understand them or you are intent on promoting the misinformation to artificially drive up prices.
June 29, 2010 - 8:46 am
Thanks for the feedback FruitMedley – and right you are – this data is intended to assist with Due Diligence, certainly not replace it. We’ll make that clearer.
Re: SEMrush – as a buyer of sites generating revenue with AdSense, you more than most should appreciate that this data is indeed valuable. Of course, it should not be used to value a site, however, it is useful data.
In the event that a seller can’t provide Google Analytics stats, SEMrush’s keyword report is also valuable as a means to cross check other less trustworthy stats.
June 30, 2010 - 12:45 am
It would be good if you did make it clearer, I suppose you realise now the potential for someone to sue you?
To add to what I said, your data doesn’t even “assist” with due diligence. It’s the data you need to START doing SOME of the due diligence.
If you do now agree that PPC costs of keywords on which a site gets traffic shouldn’t be used to value sites that seems to be a reversal of your previous position on valuation of non-earning sites.
In fact, my advice to buyers is that this SEMRush data is not even slightly useful. Without a very detailed analysis of the traffic – country of origin, their buying intentions, clicking patterns etc., – the PPC costs of some of the site’s keywords for display on SERPS, at a specific point in time, in a particular country (the US) is pretty irrelevant and worthless.
June 30, 2010 - 9:27 am
We have made it clearer.
I still maintain that SEMrush keyword data is very useful for due diligence. If I’m doing DD on a website that doesn’t have Analytics, then being able to run a report on SEMrush and find out what that site is ranking for in the US, UK, RU, FR and ES – it’s very helpful information.
In fact I’m pretty sure website buyers would LOVE to see a report on all the sites listed for sale on Flippa with (for example) page 1 Google rankings for keywords generating, say, 100 searches per day.
June 28, 2010 - 8:45 pm
Great feature added here, I think this will helps buyer to get more details especially on the auction where the seller doesn’t have the details (Google Analytics, AWstats, etc.). This also makes the seller think twice before they want to fake their details
June 29, 2010 - 8:48 am
Exactly Yurckk! Not everyone uses Google Analytics (although we wish they did), and not having GA stats shouldn’t be seen to lower the quality of a listing – it just makes due diligence more difficult.
June 30, 2010 - 12:37 am
Why do you wish they did, Luke? Because it’s one of those things you can say you “verified”?
You seem to promote GA stats as pretty reliable. They’re far from it and there are many ways a seller can fake the GA figures that appear in your “verified” pdf. By emphasising the importance of what you’re able to verify, you mislead buyers into a complacency about the easily faked Google Analytics figures.
June 30, 2010 - 9:16 am
With time and effort just about anything can be faked, but Google Analytics (when legitimate) provides better quality data than say, Aweber.
June 28, 2010 - 9:40 pm
Fantastic data. Not only does this help buyers know more about a site that is for sale – this is one of the best resources for entrepreneurs to learn how to create profitable websites. Great job!
June 28, 2010 - 11:43 pm
Great move! It is a pain to go through and check everything out bit by bit. Thank you for making it easier
June 29, 2010 - 2:03 am
A welcome move…this will help buyers during the sale process to determine legitimate sites
June 29, 2010 - 3:00 am
Looks a good change; the new page lists a lot of useful information, so it should definitely aid buyers (and sellers too, as Yurckk said)
June 29, 2010 - 4:01 am
Flippa, you’re providing data, not due diligence. There’s a difference.
June 29, 2010 - 8:50 am
Thanks 3six. Right you are, it’s data to assist with due diligence. We’ll make that clearer.
June 29, 2010 - 4:55 am
Wow, great But i will have to agree with 3Six.
I think there should be an option where the stats could be collected if the user is selling a network of sites
June 30, 2010 - 5:54 am
I think this will save many buyers a lot of time. Great results. Keep up the good work!
July 2, 2010 - 12:20 am
Luke, you’re welcome to your opinion on the usefulness of SEMRush data. The fact that all your links to SEMRush are affiliate links does somewhat detract from your recommedation.
“In fact I’m pretty sure website buyers would LOVE to see a report on all the sites listed for sale on Flippa with (for example) page 1 Google rankings for keywords generating, say, 100 searches per day. ”
Proper web businesses don’t rely on Google for the bulk of their traffic. But, yes, the junk end of the market that you’re so keen to promote may have newbie webmasters who get excited at the prospect of free SERPS traffic of potentially 100 visitors a day constituting maybe 100% of their traffic. Established web businesses – even ones that are well SEOed – tend to have less than 30% of their traffic from Google.
“In the event that a seller can’t provide Google Analytics stats, SEMrush’s keyword report is also valuable as a means to cross check other less trustworthy stats.”
A highly suspect method of estimating the value of a small percentage of an established site’s traffic doesn’t strike me as particularly valuable.
July 2, 2010 - 9:20 am
If you take a look, the SEMrush links are no longer affiliate links. We rectified this a day after the page went live and we’re currently in negotiations with SEMrush to pass on a discount to Flippa members.
SEMrush is not the be-all and end-all, it’s just another tool to add to the due diligence tool box.
While some “Proper (web) businesses” may not rely on search for most of their traffic, many of the sites here do.
July 16, 2010 - 6:15 pm
I’ve been reading this thread with interest. I’m seeing two side to a certain argument about the value of the “due diligence” information provided. On one hand, I tend to agree it is simply a little more data to look at and consider but not what I might consider to be “due diligence.” But I do agree that the information has some value when considering the potential of a website if you know what to look for. Not every website sale is because of revenue but also might be because of potential or someones dream about their own ability to turn it into a moneymaker based upon the domain name itself (theme) and the potential relevant traffic. Relevant being the keyword when it comes to possible conversions.
But there is some information made in a post in reflection of that which I simply wonder about and do not really agree with. Specifically, “Proper web businesses don’t rely on Google for the bulk of their traffic. But, yes, the junk end of the market that you’re so keen to promote may have newbie webmasters who get excited at the prospect of free SERPS traffic of potentially 100 visitors a day constituting maybe 100% of their traffic. Established web businesses – even ones that are well SEOed – tend to have less than 30% of their traffic from Google.”
Really??? Where do you get that information from FruitMedley? According to comscore, in the month of june Google accounted for 10.3 billion searches, roughly 63% of the search market. I don’t know about you but that represents alot of traffic and it is going somewhere and has relevancy to someone on the other, receiving end especially if it is a search related to someone in a buying state of mind. My company personally manages search marketing for companies that in aggregate total well over 10 million in annual sales. Granted, we deal with small businesses not mega corporations or “players” in the internet but those sales feed alot of families and in our first hand experience with real data of real “established web businesses that are well seo’d” the comscore search numbers coincide with the incoming traffic data (and conversions) in that our clients experience about 60 to 70% of all of their business outside of external marketing directly from the 3 major search engines with the bulk of it coming from google via a mixture of organics and PPC. So personally I simply cannot agree with your statement of 30% of traffic coming from Google as all of the analytics we conduct on over 650 web properties we manage don’t bear out that statistic but in fact are in alignment with the 65% or so of search traffic shown to belong to google so I wonder where you get the data to back that up from. Just my opinion based upon my own experiences here in the trenches.
July 2, 2010 - 7:46 pm
If many of the sites here rely on Google then they are not businesses, Luke, they are disasters waiting to happen. Even the world’s top SEOs have seen their sites crash out of Google rankings. It’s a very risky game to build a house on quicksand.
It’s amazing how clueless some of the newbie buyers are. I wonder why they focus so much on Google rankings. Is it because that’s what the advice is from all the turnkey sellers who can’t build age, revenue, profit etc into their offerings but can do some quick SEO?
The reliability of the rankings are even worse for sites that are less than a year old – the typical Flippa listing.
July 3, 2010 - 6:48 pm
Please put data on data page… My sales have dropped… I advertise my listings… Which advertise your site… I get nothing but complaints from would be buyers…
#1 complaint “Nice looking site the process looks complicated”
#2 complaint “To much information on one page”
#3 complaint “I don’t understand what is this?”
I advertise alot on sweeva which is all marketers looking for websites and such… I use to get nice I love it… Looks easy… I think I will buy… I went from selling sites for $120 to being lucky to get $35… If the one I have listed this time doesn’t sell… I’m finished with flippa… At least on ebay potential buyers understand it’s an auction at a glance… Buyers want to see the following…
#1 what the sites about
#2 the cost
#3 the benifits
#4 if others are interested in the offer
If above looks interesting…
#4 the bottom line… which is the stats… 50% of new website owners know nothing about stats at all… They are over whelmed see all the numbers good or bad and get confused… Scratch there head and leave… Putting all the info at the top of the page is bad… Now customers don’t even bother reading the sales pitch… Copy sells it’s basic marketing to much info at the top equals lost sales… I hope things change… You make your revenue from sellers not buyers… If a buyer doesn’t do his research thats his own fault… If you don’t make your sellers happy they will leave…
July 7, 2010 - 3:28 am
Great feature Add on to the already existing ones. This would probably give more clarity to buyers as well.
July 17, 2010 - 1:38 am
Nice feature, but currently it shows totally wrong data for my listing. Is there a way to fix that?
July 17, 2010 - 10:52 am
Konstantin, you’ll need to contact Customer Support so that we can get into the specifics of this.