Why Buy an Existing Internet Business?
By: Richard Parker: President of The Business For Sale Buyer Resource Center and author of How To Buy A Good Online Business At A Great Price ©
With so many options available to you, the question will become which online business should you pursue? Between existing websites, and start-ups, it does become a bit overwhelming. When reviewing all of the possibilities you have to decide what will work best for you however, your chances of success are clearly best when you buy an existing online business or franchise resale (there are some Internet franchises available) for many of reasons. With any new online business you have three challenges: developing the business model, getting people to your website, and then seeing if people are willing to buy from your website.
Regardless of the past performance of a business, an existing online business will, at the very least, have a history from which you will be able to make certain decisions. Even if the website for sale was not profitable in the past, your strengths may lend themselves perfectly to turning it into a viable venture. Furthermore, you have the ability to verify what the website did in the past that resulted in the current status of the operation.
Ease of Investigation
In order to buy the right Internet business, you will be required to do a thorough investigation of its past activities, its operations, its current status, the competition, the industry and its future potential. You will accumulate this information and then you will have to determine how it measures up with you at the helm. Clearly, this information gathering will be substantially more accurate and easier to obtain when dealing with an existing online business, as you will have the resources available from which to get the details.
Infrastructure
You will have the benefit of purchasing an online business that has an infrastructure including customers, suppliers, backend platform and systems. This will allow you to focus on building the business as opposed to a start up where everything begins at ground zero.
Purchase Price Differences
Buying an existing online business does not mean that it will cost you more. In fact, many times it's less expensive than building and launching a start-up website. Even in those cases where it may require a premium, at least you know what you are getting if you investigate it properly. With a new website business the failure rates are awful. Actually, they usually don't fail. Rather, they get started, no revenues are generated, and the owners just let them languish. In fact, these can represent a real opportunity as well. You buy one of these where the website and backend are done already. The key of course is to know how to market them. And, you can pick these up for next to nothing!
Flexibility in Negotiating
You will have far more flexibility when negotiating the purchase of an existing Internet business versus any other options available; it's not even close! Everything from the purchase price to financing is open to negotiation. Doesn't it make more sense to put yourself into an environment where you have the greatest number of options available?
This article represents a fraction of what you’ll cover on this topic in How To Buy A Good Online Business At A Great Price© - the most widely used reference resource and strategy guide for anyone thinking about buying an Internet business. Read a detailed listing of what you'll learn.
