You Bought Your First Website…Now What?

Getting into the internet business world can be a daunting task. I realize there is a lot to learn in order to feel comfortable and make a good living online. As I have helped people get started by buying their first website I have realized that a step by step “things you need to do” is in order. Hence this post.

So you and the website owner have agreed on a price. Here is what you need to do to get the website transferred so you have full ownership.

1. Pay for the website. – It seems like an obvious first step but there are always worries that the person may take your money and never transfer you the site. This can be a big concern especially if you contacted them out of the blue so I would recommend that you always use Escrow.com. This is the fail safe way to buy a website without any risk. They do charge a small fee to use their service but when your shelling out a lot of money it’s better to be safe than sorry.
2. Get the domain transferred to you. After you have paid, Escrow.com takes your money and holds it. Then they contact the website owner to transfer the domain. You need to contact the seller directly to find out where they have registered the domain. If they have registered the domain through a registrar you have never used before, you need to go to that registrar and sign up for a free account. Then they can transfer you the domain. This is such a common practice that most registrars have a simple process to do this.
3. Get the files transferred to you. After you have received confirmation that the domain has been transferred, the website owner will try to get you to release the funds with Escrow.com. IMPORTANT: Do not release the money to the person until they have emailed you all of the files for the site. They need to send you a zip file that has all of the website files that way you have full control of the website. Now you can release the funds through Escrow.
4. Set up hosting. You have two options on how you want to set up hosting for the site. Some website owners were hosting their websites themselves and offer to continue to host the site for you for a monthly fee. I personally would rather have the website completely under my control so what I do is go to my favorite hosting company and sign up for a new hosting plan. I then upload all of the files they sent me to the new host. Then  I go to wherever the domain is registered and change the DNS settings to point to the new host. The hosting company can give you the DNS settings you need. If some of this sounds confusing the hosting companies should be able to guide you through the process.
5. Make Improvements. Once you have the website under your full control it is time to go in and make SEO improvements as well as internet marketing improvements that will increase the amount of money you make from the site.

Good luck in your website buying journey!