Buying a ready-made website: 7 checks before you order
Buying a ready-made website is usually cheaper and faster than building it yourself or commissioning a custom agency project. But offers vary wildly – from a few hundred dollars in an ad to ten thousand from an established agency. Here are the seven points that separate a good deal from an expensive surprise.
1. The price – and what's added on top
Always ask: «Is this everything I pay?» Many vendors lead with a low price and add a monthly fee for «maintenance», «platform rent» or «updates» – the equivalent of 50–200 dollars a month, forever. A one-time-price offer where you own everything is usually the cheapest route over time.
2. Ownership – who owns the domain and content?
The domain should be registered in your name, and the design, texts and code should be yours. If the vendor built on a closed platform they own, you can't move the website without starting over. Ask directly: «Can I take my website and leave one day?»
3. Speed and mobile experience
More than half of your visitors are on mobile, and Google ranks partly on load time. Ask for links to previous client sites and test them on your phone. If they take more than 2–3 seconds to load, they lose customers. Hand-coded websites are usually faster than page builders and heavy CMSs.
4. The SEO foundation
A beautiful website nobody finds serves no one. Check that the vendor includes: proper titles and descriptions per page, structured data (JSON-LD), a sitemap, mobile-friendly design and Google Search Console setup. Read our guide on how to become visible on Google.
5. Maintenance and changes
What happens when you want to change a text or an image? You should either be able to do it yourself (which must be built in from the start), or send an email and get it done quickly and affordably. Avoid vendors where every tiny change requires a billed hour.
6. Delivery time
A traditional agency often takes 6–12 weeks. Flip it around: how long can you afford to go without customers from the web? Vendors with a lean process deliver a complete website in about a week – without sacrificing quality.
7. Payment and safety
Pay by card through a secure solution (like Stripe) – that gives you buyer protection. Get the price confirmed in writing before ordering, and check that the vendor is a real registered company.
Ready to order?
If the vendor you're considering passes all seven checks – great. If not, you now have the language to challenge them. And if you'd rather skip the whole checklist: see our packages and prices with a fixed price up front.
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