I have been growing basil from seed each summer for at least six years. At
first I had very little success and lost most of the young seedlings well
before the pricking out stage. As luck would have it, I met the proprietor
of a herb farm who told me that basil grows best in small clumps, therefore
his advice was not to prick them out singly into pots. The following year I
took his advice and found that all my clumped basil seedlings grew very well
indeed, each later producing a fine crop of leaves for most of the summer.
I have not had any success growing the purple leaved varieties which I
understand have a stronger flavour.

Rufus
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"Martin Sykes" wrote in a message:

I think a better way would be to save the cost of buying a pot of basil
and
instead buy a pack of seed. I've seen mixed packs with different varieties
of basil.
If you want to start with a pot from the supermarket, it tends to be lots
of
young plants in a pot so you wouldn't need cuttings. Just carefully divide
the plants into separate pots and keep pinching out the tips to get them
bushy. You'll only have one variety this way though.