Buying a ready-made website from someone else sounds like an ideal way to start working from home. The hard work of building the site and developing the business has already been done. All you have to do is step in and reap the profits.

Right?

Not exactly. Having built a few websites, and businesses, from scratch and now having purchased one, I can assure you that in some ways, yes, buying a website from someone else is easier than building your own. But in other ways, it can be even harder.

When I wanted to purchase an article directory for work-at-home-moms, I knew it was a good move for me. Here are some of the reasons why:

1. I knew the sellers. Not personally, but I knew their reputation and was confident I could trust them.

2. It was in a niche I wanted to break into. I had worked with a lot of WAHMs with my Virtual Assistant business, and discovered they were my favorite people! I wanted to use my talents to give more support to the online WAHM community, and WAHM-Articles was an ideal solution.

3. It had good backlinks and a Page Rank. One of the hardest parts of launching a new site is finding your first backlinks and waiting for your first visit from Google. That part had already been done for me.

4. It had content and authors. If I had started an article directory on my own, I would be struggling to find my first writers. This site already had writers who submitted articles regularly.

5. It didn't have a newsletter or a mailing list, but it had a membership list - people I could contact and invite to sign up for our ezine.

6. The sellers provided after-purchase support for as long as I needed it.

7. The website was a good idea, but the sellers just didn't have the time to promote it properly.

If there were so many pluses to buying a site, why would I say that it might not be a good idea?

I wouldn't recommend buying a website if:

1. You don't know how to manage a site. If you can't build or manage a website, you probably shouldn't buy one. Building and maintaining your own site - even though it can take a lot of time - is invaluable experience to have before you begin managing a ready-made one.

2. You don't know the seller. Make sure you know who you're working with and that they can be trusted.

3. You don't know why the site is being sold. Is the owner ditching it because she doesn't have time for it, or because it wasn't a good idea in the first place?

4. The seller does not provide after-purchase support. There are a lot of little details that need to be ironed out even after a site has been transferred over to you. If you're buying a site, find out how long the seller will provide after-purchase support and get everything in writing.

If buying a site still sounds like a good idea, you will need to create a business plan and a marketing plan for your new business. Even a developed website will not automatically make money without planning and work on your part. And finally, make sure everything, including the hosting and domain name, is transferred to your name before the transaction is over.

Article Source: http://www.thewahmshack.com/articledirectory/

About The Author:  Denise Willms homeschools her two children while writing press releases and articles that get targeted traffic for her clients. Subcribe to her newsletter, WAHM-Articles Ezine, and receive 105 Power Tips to Get Your Online Business Noticed and Profiting.

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