Buying an Adult Website – 13 Things You Need to Check Before Buying

• 01 Aug, 2022
• Adult Site Broker

Buying an adult website can be highly lucrative. The team at Adult Site Broker certainly knows that. Whether you’re looking for an adult website to buy and resell, or you want to buy a website to expand your portfolio in the adult industry, it can be a great investment.

However, there are a few steps and precautions you need to follow before buying an adult website.

Here are 13 Important Things you Should Consider Before Buying an Adult Website:

Check The Domain (history, age, authority, backlinks)

First, you should look at the domain’s metrics, such as its history, age, authority, and backlinks. It’s the easiest way to establish an adult site’s credibility and viability.

Note that each of these items provides essential information. This might not be enough information to tell you whether to buy, but it can help you rule out some sites before reading the longer description.

• Archive.org is an excellent tool for checking the history of a website.

• “Whois” Domain Name Search (DNS) provides valuable information about the domain, such as when it was registered, ownership details, and contact information. 

It’s always recommended to buy an older website (at least one-year-old). This way, you can skip Google’s “sandbox” phase, which is a compelling advantage.

• To check the traffic of the domain, use Similarweb.com.
• SEMrush and AHREFS can be used to check a website’s domain authority. The higher the domain rating, the stronger and more authoritative a site is.

Verify The Seller Information

To get an adult website up and running as quickly as possible, you must be careful when choosing a seller. 

Make sure you find a trustworthy seller who can prove that they own the domain and website and are authorized to sell them. 

Also, the seller should be willing to provide their contact information such as name, phone number, address, and company number. This way, you’ll have the upper hand if any problems arise. 

Check The Structure Of The Adult Website Itself

The number of inbound links on an adult website says a lot about it. A site that claims to get a lot of traffic but has few inbound links is probably relying on purchased links and PPC campaigns to get traffic. 

Also, good quality and quantity of internal links will ensure you fetch a higher price when you sell fixed-rate ads or resell the site. 

You can check if a site backlinks via SEMrush or AHREFS.

An appealing design that is easy to use can also attract more visitors and increase the popularity of an adult website. The site should be easily adaptable to different screen sizes.

Confirm Proof Of Income

Checking the seller’s claims of revenue is crucial.

Profits is of the most critical aspect of valuing a website and establishing traffic and returning customers. A website with established monthly profits will attract buyers and increase its value. 

The value of an adult website is usually determined by its profits over the last twelve months. Based on existing profits, buyers are willing to pay anywhere between $120,000 and $420,000 and even more  for a website that brings in $10000 per month.

Why is this important?

It proves that a particular business model can be monetized. You can also use existing profits as a basis for speculating on improvements to the website to increase future profits.

Check The Diversified Revenues

Adult sites that have multiple revenue streams are worth more than those that don’t. 

There are many ways an adult website can make money. Through affiliate promotions, advertising revenue, selling banner ads, or even special deals with the brands they promote. 

If you’re considering buying a membership website, you can ignore this part because the website will make money through subscriptions.

Remember, though, that the more lucrative an adult site is, the more you should expect to pay.

Estimate The Cost Of Updates And Maintenance

It’s important that you’re aware of the costs associated with managing and maintaining the site. You should know how often the site will need to be updated, how long maintenance is expected to take, and what special skills are required to update the site.

If special skills are required for maintenance, such as PHP programming, you should calculate the cost of outsourcing if you aren’t an experienced programmer.

Basically, you should make sure that the cost of running the website is as low as possible.

Look Out For Strong Statistics

When buying an adult website, don’t just rely on the seller’s word.

Take the time to carefully review the site’s statistics – from visitor numbers to bounce rate – and check everything before you buy.

The easiest way to do this is to get analytics data. Ask the seller to give you access to Google Analytics.

Check The Site Traffic

One of the questions you should ask yourself before buying an adult website is how much traffic the website gets. Traffic means new and returning website visitors – the more unique visitors, the better.

It’s also important to identify the traffic source. Organic and referred traffic is much more valuable compared to paid traffic.

A good place to check a website’s traffic is SEMrush or AHREFS. 

Under the “Traffic Rankings” link at the top of either directory’s landing page, you can enter the URL/website you want to buy. 

You should get a ranking of the website. SEMrush and AHREFS rankings are mainly based on traffic; the lower the ranking, the higher the traffic.

Analyze The Social Media Presence

Online marketing has come a step further with the use of social media. 

That’s why when you buy an adult website, you should ensure that it contains links that lead visitors to the company’s main social media pages. This aspect will market any products or services that are being sold while also increasing traffic to the website.

Get the Important Contacts For the Operation of the Site From the Seller

Ensure the seller is willing to share their contact information all their vendors, such as programmers, designers, producers, etc.

This is important in case you need to make changes to the site, need help maintaining the site, or if a problem arises in the future.

Consider Signing A Non-Compete Agreement

If you’re buying an adult website from someone, it’s good to remember that they have a lot of expertise and connections in the industry. You don’t want to spend much money on a website and then have the seller make a new one just like it and take your market away.

Confirm If There Are Any Legal Issues

When doing due diligence, you should ask the seller many questions about the website’s legal status.

Does the owner have a clean legal history? Are they selling their own products? Are they using stock images and uploading unique content?

You don’t want to inherit any legal battles when you buy an adult website. To be sure, you should consult a legal professional. Never sign a contract without checking the legalities first.

Check the Competition

Highly competitive keywords, especially in the affiliate industry, require much more hands-on work and investment in content, rankings, and links. The more direct competitors, the less attractive a site is.

So check to see if the competition is intense in the adult site’s niche. You can use Google to check this out. 

Use a Broker to Buy an Adult Website

Buying a website is like buying a house: you don’t want to wait until you move into it only to discover a major undisclosed problem! 

Before you buy a website, be sure to do your homework: All statistics need to be checked, re-checked, and confirmed!

If you don’t want to go through all this hassle, use Adult Site Broker to help you with these things.

Using a broker to find an adult website for sale will help you quickly filter out the noise you have to deal with when trying to find sites with potential. 

Most adult site brokers ask that sellers provide all pertinent information for their listings . This will allow you to assess the opportunity better before you start due diligence.

Hopefully, by applying these tips and strategies, you can ensure that you don’t waste time and money on frivolous adult website sellers.

Don’t get me wrong: due diligence is just as necessary when looking for a site for sale via a broker as when finding a site to buy directly.

Related articles:

Selling Adult Websites – 13 Things to Keep an Eye on Before you Do

We at Adult Site Broker hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Please reach out to us if you have any questions.