To minimize your risk, the following resources are free and could provide some helpful insight when you consider buying an established website. Any time you decide to investigate a website, be sure you utilize these third-party resources.

WHOIS Domain Database
The first thing you want to verify is if the seller is the person authorized to sell a website. By visiting a WHOIS database, you’ll be able to see who is the owner and administrator of the domain. Beware though, sometimes a domain owner may use a Proxy service to mask their identity. This is increasingly common to protect the owner from unnecessary solicitations or spam. However, any legitimate Seller will be aware of this and have their contact information in the public database so you’re able to confirm their identity. Once located, be sure to send them a message based on the Owner’s listed email address and have them reply as an extra security precaution.

Copyscape
The next thing is to check and make sure the website’s text (copy) has not been plagiarized. This service locates sites that have duplicated content, as well as those that have quoted you. According to Copyscape.com, “the free service makes it easy to find copies of your content on the Web. Simply type in the address of your web page, and Copyscape does the rest.” Copyscape also offers a paid service for more extensive search capabilities

Name/Email Address via Google Search
Although not a foolproof method, you can always do a Google search by typing the owner’s name in quotes. There is a chance you may find other individuals with the same name but if you’re able to locate information about the Seller, this may provide you greater insight into the Seller’s past online activities. If there are concerns, you can always bring this to their attention. Be sure to check with Facebook as well.

Google PageRank
PageRank is what Google uses to determine the importance of a web page in their search results. PageRank is measured on a scale of 0 to 10 and is assigned to individual pages within a website, not the entire website. To find the PageRank of a page, either download the Google Toolbar or utilize a faster option: PageChecker. You can improve your PageRank by increasing the number of “back-links” and having quality content. For some established website buyers, PageRank is very important while for others, it’s the amount of quality traffic.

Alexa Ranking
Alexa ranks websites based on visits from users of its Alexa Toolbar for Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Netscape, among other sources. The lower a website’s ranking, the more traffic it receives. For some sellers, this is a valuable determination if a website is receiving high traffic. To see a site’s ranking simply visit Alexa and enter a web address into their search box. Please keep in mind that while a site may be ranked, the site’s traffic details may not be present because Alexa only tracks the top 500,000 websites.

Search Engine Optimization

For any webmaster, having your website optimized is critical to bringing quality traffic to your website. Webconfs.com is a great spot to see if a site is fully optimized. They offer a variety of free SEO tools including a Search Engine Spider Simulator, Backlink Anchor Text Analysis, Backlink Builder, Keyword Density Cloud, Reciprocal Link Checker and more. Should you find a site poorly optimized, this may be to your advantage because you could make some minor improvements, see better traffic and increase revenue.

Way Back Machine
If the website is at least 6 months to a year old, there’s a good chance that a copy of the site is in the Way Back Machine. Located at Archive.org, they may have previous copies of the site’s appearance stored in their database. This will allow you to review how the site looked in the past. Not all websites will be listed since owners can request to be deleted from the Archive.org database but it never hurts to check.

Yahoo and DMOZ.org Directory Listings
During the beginning years of the web, it was important to be listed in both the Yahoo and DMOZ.org directories. Unlike a search engine, staff members review a website to determine if it will be listed in their directory. They don’t seem to carry as much weight as in years past but it can also be a plus if a site you wish to buy is listed in either one or both directories.

U.S.P.T.O. Trademark Search
According to AllBusiness.com, “a trademark is a distinctive name, symbol, motto, or design that legally identifies a company or its products and services. Your domain name—the word or phrase that identifies your website —may qualify as a legal trademark if you use it in commerce or notify the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that you intend to use it in commerce.” In reality, you don’t need to register a trademark but it’s still a good idea when it comes to a domain name. And while this may not be applicable to all established websites for sale (or domains for that matter), it’s always best to make sure the site you wish to purchase does not have the potential to violate an existing/pending trademark. If it’s trademarked, you want to be sure to also obtain the Trademark registration when buying an established website.

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