You’re fed up with being someones assistant or worker, and you want to strike gold on the internet, and with the help of a website and web design company, you can do it. Before you get onto keyword research, choosing a domain, finding products to sell or anything else, there is one important question you need to ask yourself. Should you buy an existing website, or start from scratch? Each have their own advantages and disadvantages, and this article will help you decide between the two.

Buying an Established Website

This is usually the quickest way to get money online, especially if you get the best website for your money. The problem with starting a website from scratch is that search engines and people don’t know you, but not so with an existing business website. Most are already established, are ranked for keywords, have traffic and may have a loyal following. All you need to do is step in and reap the benefits.

One problem with buying an established website is the cost. Most legitimate websites for sale will cost about 10 to 12 times their monthly earnings, so if highly profitable existing business may cost you a lot to start.

If the website is popular, it may come with customers who are already buying. While it is possible that people are only buying because they like the business owner and they may resent management changes, this is typically rare. As long as you follow what the previous owner was doing, you shouldn’t have any problems.

Starting From Scratch

Here you are going the cheap way. You are buying your domain and web hosting, but that is all you have to pay for. The major problem with this method is that nobody knows you, but with some effective SEO, that shouldn’t be a problem for long.

This is commonly less restrictive than buying an established business, because you are free to run things the way you want. For example, when you buy a website that sells shoes, you can’t change that without possibly angering customers. If you are starting for yourself, you can do whatever you want.

Starting from scratch also avoids most of the scams. When people are selling a website, they may make it look successful, but in reality it has nothing going for it. They may artificially inflate prices, get traffic through traffic bots and other things that only line the sellers pocket. When you start from scratch, you have the benefit of knowing that you don’t have to deal with these scams, plus it will give you a good feeling knowing that you can rank a profitable business all on your own, without relying on someone elses work.

Using a Web Design Company

Whether you are starting a business or buying one, getting a professional web design company to back you is well worth it. Sure, there are plenty of free website templates online, but they don’t add much value to your website. Usually these website sell for much less, and they tend to make less money.

A unique website template that is custom built for you will yield much better results, because people like seeing new things. If you are buying an existing website, celebrate the change of management with a new website design, so everyone knows you are in charge and you want to make the website a better place. If you are starting from scratch, a custom web design will make your website jump above the others, because a good design will make people want to stay and buy from you.

Bird and Co Creative is a web and graphic design company, providing innovative marketing solutions for start-up businesses across the UK. For further information and to view their impressive portfolio visit www.birdandcocreative.co.uk.