Is this site worth it

Well I have been a "lurker" here for far too long... so I decided to join.
Anyway I have an offer to buy a site for $900. Its a page rank 5 and its on the first page (5th position) of a good keyword in google (it also ranks well in yahoo and msn). Its also on the first and second page for various relating keywords and combinations. There is not that much content to the site, maybe about 10 pages. But all the content is unique. Complete with photos and videos. The domain is two words descriptive of the topic. It is also Dmoz listed (if that matters). I know this is vague but would anyone have an opinion on this?

 

How much traffic does it get?

How much do you expect to make off of it in a year?

 

If you can keep this site in this situation easily, then it's a deal. I think you still need a check of the traffic data.

 

hmm... well I cannot get any traffic data. That's really the scary part about this situation. I know it must get quite a bit of traffic but how much exactly is a mystery... Its been around since 2001. I forgot to mention that in my original post. I would hate to buy it only for it to lose its good rankings... This is a tough one

Another thing is that I do own a competitive site. So this would bring my existing site up quite a bit. (via prominent linking) That's really what makes this deal so tempting

 

Its run by a company who's business has nothing to do with web sites and furthermore they were not expecting to sell. So they do not have any traffic statistics. Would you take the risk anyway given all that I've said in these past 3 posts?

 

I wouldn't I mean how many people sell sites for 900 dollars with no traffic stats?

 

Hmm. Ermm..errr...ahhh...No.

 

if you maintain and grow that site too it might be worth it, if you're going to run it into the ground by crosslinking it with your existing site...you are wasting your money

 

I would maintain both sites. Its really tempting because how often do you get to purchase a site that relates to what you do and know and is high in the serps... thanks for the advice. Keep it coming

 

If you are already in discussions with them, perhaps you could suggest they install a free statcounter in the footer and leave it for an agreed period? Even if it was only a matter of days you'd get an idea of traffic numbers.

Trouble with that is if they turn out to be chuffed by number of visitors and decide to keep it or up the price.

 

Exactly! There is a real fine line here. I could really be getting a good deal or not much of a deal at all. Worst case I buy it and the next day it drops of of google... Ahh!

 

I say buy it. If the site is from 2001 then is no longer in the sandbox, also you mentioned that they are not much into web stuff so I think that they don't know much about seo. It should be fairly easy for you to bring the site to the first positions on those keywords on which it shows in the second page.

 

Yeah! That's a good point. With a little seo (although I am no expert) I bet I could get even higher rankings. Right now I'm leaning towards the purchase.

 

check its traffic stats via alexa.com

$900 is not little at all, but this is surely depends on the site niche

 

Checked alexa ranking... 4.3 million

I know I will get many opinions on this, but how accurate is alexa? Is this too much for this site?

 

Also consider what the domain name itself is worth, and if the site has value to anyone else - as in could you resell it for anything close to $900 if you wanted to? If either of those (name or site) have any kind of resale value, $900 does not sound too bad.

jmo,
tsptom

 

Well I'm sure if I added a little more content... plus the domain and serps would probably be enough to get around what I would have to pay for it. Especially to another site owner who has a related web site... I would think. Its a risk but you don't get anywhere without risks.