Whenever you consider buying a website from someone, trust is always an issue. It is in the seller's interests to paint as rosy a picture as possible about the site being sold to make it seem like an attractive investment for potential buyers. It's not unusual for sellers to embellish the truth a little about the site's selling points. Some unscrupulous sellers even go so far as to use an image editor like Photoshop to falsify their traffic or revenue screenshots. This makes trusting such screenshots difficult.
Verifying traffic statistics for the site usually doesn't become a headache because often a seller will give you access to their traffic analytics package. You can then log on, have a nosy around and see the traffic numbers yourself. The website's earnings, however, are a different matter. The only available options for checking revenue are to:
- cast a critical eye over the revenue screenshots, looking for obvious errors that give away the fact that they have been Photoshopped.
- go round to the seller's house and sit with them while they log on to their adsense/affiliate account. Obviously, this is difficult if seller and buyer live in different countries.
- inspect a hard copy of their financial accounts. For most small sales, this just isn't feasible.
- get the seller to provide a screen recorded movie of them accessing their online accounts. You can use Camtasia, Camstudio or other screen recording software to do this. This method relies on the seller actually having the software installed and knowing how to use it.
- use screen sharing software to allow the buyer to watch the seller's screen in realtime as they access their online accounts.
Using Screen Sharing Software To Check A Website's Revenue
I've tried a couple of screen sharing solutions in the past, but I've not been satisfied with the results. I'll admit that this may be down to me not using the software properly! I tried Skype and found that the screen resolution was too small and the screen quality quite poor. I also tried MSN Messenger but found that it worked only when the two PCs were on the same network. Otherwise (I'm guessing that) firewalls/router security impedes the connection.
However, I have found a wonderful FREE scheen sharing solution in Crossloop!
Crossloop is a doddle to install and I've had magnificent results using it. Response time seems to be quite fast and screen quality is very good. Here is the Crossloop download.
Using Crossloop To Share A Seller's Screen
This really is an easy solution for us non-techies to use. Once Crossloop is installed on both the seller's and the buyer's machines, you are ready to go. Both seller and buyer must open Crossloop, and then ignore the first screen (click Skip) asking you to login or create an account. You don't need an account to share a screen.
Once we've skipped the first screen, we get to the screen where it all happens. You'll notice that there are two tabs: Access and Share. The seller will share their screen and the buyer will access the seller's screen. When the seller clicks the Share tab, they will see their Access Code.
The seller needs to give the buyer this code and then click Connect. From the moment the seller clicks Connect, the buyer has 2 minutes to establish the connection.
The buyer has to type in the seller's Access Code into their own Access Code box and then click Connect.
The seller will receive notification that a connection is being attempted, and they should click Yes to accept. They should check the View Only box, otherwise the buyer will be able to control their PC, start opening sensitive documents and cause general mayhem!
Once the connection has been established, the buyer will be able to view the seller's screen and see everything they do on it - including accessing their online accounts. At any time, both seller and buyer have the ability to terminate the connection by clicking disconnect.
Crossloop is a fantastic free solution for screen sharing, and is particularly useful for giving access to online revenue accounts. Did I mention that it's FREE?