It is very time consuming to design a niche affiliate marketing website from scratch and then to promote it online. If you have very little spare time, then you should consider buying an established online business. There are a number of important advantages to be had in buying a website that someone else has built and promoted. For example: * it will already have built up a regular flow of traffic * it will already have been discovered by the search engines and may even have reached a page one ranking on Google for some keyword phrases * it may already be generating sales and profits. While the advantages to be had in buying an established website are impressive, bear in mind that if you are not careful, you run the risk of being massively ripped off. Some less scrupulous niche affiliate marketing website owners will quickly set up a site and try and flip it for an exaggerated price, building and flipping site after site in quick succession to unsuspecting purchasers. When you find a website that appears to suit your purposes, you need to check it out before you buy. Is the content unique? Check it out on Google or by using a duplicate content checker such as copyscape.com. Enter the website URL into Dnscoop.com to check its Alexa traffic rank, domain age, page rank and the number of inbound links. Dnscoop will also give you an estimate of the value of the site. Next, check out the details of the owner of the website at whois.com. To prevent the seller from setting up another version of the website you are planning to buy, ask him to sign a non-competition clause. After you gain ownership of the new website, you will need to perform several tasks to make it uniquely yours. 1. change all the passwords. 2. You will need to change the affiliate links to your own and possibly replace the affiliate programs with ones that you prefer. 3. Replace the e-zine subscription form with your own. 4. Update the website contact details. 5. Add your own photo. 6. Maintain the site and build up traffic flow and conversion rates. If you have made a good purchase, you should be able to recoup your money while you work on expanding your new business. In one month, you will be able to accomplish more than most online business owners get done in a year. Where can you buy an established website? Here are the three top website auction locations: 1. Bizquest.com – which has been going since 1994 2. Bizbuysell.com – the biggest online website auction site 3. Dealabiz.com – lists some low priced niche websites In summary, if you can afford it, buying an established niche affiliate marketing website has many advantages over starting one from scratch.