If you are anything like me, or any other professional website investor for that matter. There are some import things you need to sit down and ask yourself before investing in a website.
Because making an investment that can change your life drastically is a big thing right! Along with that, if you are investing in something that can change your life, you really want to make sure it is going to change your life for better and not worse.
Which is why I have a list of questions I make myself answer before investing in any website I am looking to buy. So, whether you are sitting on the fence or even about to jump into buying an online business yourself. Be sure to check out these 7 SUPER IMPORTANT things you MUST ask yourself before investing in a website.
- What are my goals?
There must be a reason you are looking at investing in a website, whether it be for the money, you are passionate about the products or maybe the service that website provides and is something you would like to be apart of.You could even just simply want to have more time freedom and work from your laptop (like me :)).Which is fine, but unless you have set some goals, you are not going to know if the website you are looking at buying is going to truly take you to where you want to go. So first up ask yourself, what are my goals for investing in websites? - Does this business meet my goals?
Once you know your goals, you need to then ask yourself before investing in a website if that particular business is what will allow you to achieve your goals or not.You don’t want to go and invest your hard earned cash and realise that you have made the wrong choice. For example, it would be crushing to invest in a website thinking that you are going to be able to quit your day job, stay at home and work a lot less. Then all of a sudden you are spending 60+ hours per week running the website business because you failed to check and see if this business required much customer service and maintenance or not (which it did!). So this is an imperative question you need to really think about before parting with your money.
- What is unique about this business?
By only buying businesses that are either a niche website or one in which has an edge over your competition, your chances of success are higher. And by asking yourself before you put your money down to invest, “what is unique about this business?”. Will help you to understand if you are getting into a great big ocean full of great big sharks (the competition), or if you are entering into a new niche or way of doing business that is unique to the market. - Am I happy with my due diligence?
If the business is looking good so far and ticking many boxes, congrats. Although don’t forget there are more than just a few boxes that need to be ticked when conducting due diligence. And even though due diligence is a rigorous task especially if you don’t know what you are doing. On top of that, you still want to be confident that you have looked under every nook and cranny the business has.From there, if you are not completely confident after conducting due diligence that the website is a solid investment. Then obviously investing in that website is a big no go!And I can’t stress this one enough guys, DO NOT buy any investment you are not fully confident with! There is a great quote which explains this perfectly
“Sometimes the best investments are the ones we never make”And although I have used that quote before I will continue to do so until we all understand how important it is to walk away from investments we are not confident in.
- What are the improvements I can make to this business?
I find as an investor, most of the groundwork to building your investment should be done before the investment is even made. Which is why I like to check each website I am looking at investing in to see if there are a handful of improvements I can make to the business.This way I know I can grow my investment as soon as I take ownership and the coolest part about that is, I minimise my risk before I put my money down. So be sure to ask yourself before investing in a website if that business has some slight improvements you can make almost right away. This will help you to build your investment and gain your return back far quicker. - What is the work load required of me?
For me, I am lazy. Well not really, if you know me I love working and what I do. But I like to keep things simple, which means doing the least amount of work possible whilst still maintaining the best achievable results.Which is why I like to look for businesses with little workload required to maintain the business. But what I like may certainly not be what is best for you or what you like either. However what you should ask yourself before parting with your investment dollars is. How many hours is needed to run this website and do you have that many hours to spare to maintain or grow that business from it’s currents earnings?
- Is the seller helpful?
Last but not least, you should always want to buy a business from a seller who has your back. The worst-case scenario would be to invest in a website and then get no training or have no contact what so ever with the seller after you have handed over your cash. Having the seller simply leave you high and dry would be a nightmare, even if you knew how the business worked.So what I believe is imperative is to talk to the seller, see how honest, easy going, up front and especially helpful they are before you enter a business relationship with them. Knowing that the seller is nice and will help you out after you hand over your cash to them really is an important thing.
So there you have it, 7 SUPER IMPORTANT things you MUST ask yourself before investing in a website. And remember if cheat yourself on these questions the only person you are cheating is yourself!
I hope you found this post helpful, oh and by the way. What questions do you ask yourself before investing in a website? I would love to see them in the chat box below.
