Whether you’re buying a website or selling one, clearly specifying what’s included in the sale will save complications during sale completion. For higher value sites, we recommend a contract of sale, but for lower priced sites, clarifying what’s included in the auction listing will often suffice.

Let’s consider what you’re buying when you buy a website. Think of all the pieces that contribute to a website’s value. There are a number of elements that can contribute aside from regular ongoing revenue or profits. Consider these:

Content

Unique content forms the basis of many websites. Content may be in the form of written copy, audio or video, and may include user generated content such as forum posts or even blog comments.  Make sure the owner of the website you are buying has the authority to sell the content of the site.

For example, we’ve seen movie trailer websites starting to appear here on Flippa. Movie trailer sites generally republish videos taken from YouTube onto a niche website, such as movie-genre-category.com. Although in principle this may seem OK, often the website owner does not have the authority to re-publish this content. Always look closely at who actually owns the copyright on content.

Products

Is the site selling a product and is the ownership of this product going to be transferred to you? This includes digital documents that can be downloaded through the site such as e-books, software and scripts. If the sale includes a digital product, find out if the seller has the authority to transfer the ownership of this product to you and give you exclusive rights to distribute the product.

If you are buying a website that includes the rights to sell digital product, ask the seller if he/she intends to sell the product again elsewhere.

Members and Subscribers

The famous catch-cry of many an Internet Marketer: “the money’s in the list!” If a site’s revenue is being generated via a membership area or email marketing list, then make sure this list is included in the sale. It’s also worth inquiring about the attrition rate of this list.

In the case of email marketing lists, make sure the seller can export a list of users from their email marketing application. Even more importantly, make sure the email marketing application you’re going to use doesn’t require imported users to re-opt-in to the list.

PPC Campaigns

A well researched Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign, such as on Google AdWords, may contribute significantly to a website’s traffic and revenue. Reviewing a site’s traffic statistics should give you an indication of the amount of traffic being generated by PPC campaigns. If PPC is a significant contributor, make sure the website owner intends to hand over the campaign in full. Also ask if the seller intends to re-use the campaign after he’s sold it to you, as if they do, you’ll be competing for clicks!

KeyCompete is an excellent tool for discovering AdWords campaigns linking to a particular domain.

Backlinks

Some sellers have access to networks of websites which give them the ability to easily build links to sites they’re selling. Conversely, this also means they can easily remove links to sites after they’ve sold. Given that backlinks are a significant contributor to search rankings, the removal of links to a website can have dire consequences to rankings and traffic. Ask the owner if they can guarantee they won’t remove any backlinks they have control over.

The SEO Quake Firefox plugin is a great tool for helping with backlink analysis – among other things.

Related Web 2.0 Accounts

Some website owners register freely available Web 2.0 accounts to help build links to a site. These types of accounts might include Squidoo, WordPress.com, Blogger and Tumblr accounts, and many others. Some of these pages may in themselves have good search rankings for converting keywords, so when you do your backlink analysis, check to see what Web 2.0 accounts are pointing to the site. If these are significant to the site’s business, you’ll want to get them transferred as part of the sale.

The Domain Name

This may seem like an obvious one, however, some sellers only intend to sell a script or app instead of a website and domain name package. Make sure that the seller intends to transfer the ownership of the website to you.

(Incidentally, selling the app but not the domain is forbidden on Flippa, so let Flippa Support know if you see someone promising that.)

Content Management System (CMS)

If the website is running on a CMS, make sure that the sale includes the license to own and operate the CMS. Most sites sold on Flippa operate on open source platforms such as WordPress, in which case this isn’t an issue, however, it pays to check with the owner prior to bidding.

With every potential website investment, we encourage you to do your due diligence before placing on offer on a Flippa listing. Forewarned is forearmed! Clarifying exactly what’s included in your purchase will save any disappointment or misunderstanding.