Affiliate Marketing Blog from UK Offer MediaWelcome to Kieron’s blog - the life and times of an Internet Marketeer

10 step guide to selling your website

First of all, how NOT to sell a website.

Do not post a message on a forum like Affiliates 4U saying something like…

“I have a great website for sale, pm me for details”.

This will get you the least number of replies from interested parties because you will immediately miss out from any “impulse purchasers”. These are the people who are not necessarily looking to buy a site but if they see a bargain or something that catches their eye then they will. However as these people are no in “buying mode” they will not go to the bother of sending you a private message or email to find further details. It’s a bit like when you’re wandering around a shop, see something that you kind of like, pick it up to see how much it is, discover there is no price on it so put it back. You didn’t desperately need the item so you won’t go to the trouble of finding a sales assistant and asking them for the price. Instead you put it back and the retailer loses the sale. Exactly the same thing applies when selling websites.

Don’t be fooled into the mindset that by asking people to email/pm you that you will only attract “serious” buyers. Not so. I’m the perfect example, I’m not looking to buy any new sites, however if you made a really great post on a forum giving me loads of details about your site, i.e. the URL, traffic, earnings etc. then I could be tempted.

Would you place an advert in Auto Trader when trying to sell your car saying “I have a really nice car for sale, call me for details”?? And if you did, do you think anyone would call? Of course not. So don’t do the same when selling your site.

Here’s how you should construct a “site for sale” post on a forum.

1. Tell us the URL: Yes it may seem obvious but there are so many paranoid affiliate marketeers out there tha they don’t tell us what the site is! Again, you see the usual “pm me for the URL” rubbish. I mean come on, you’re selling the site for goodness sake so just tell us what it is.

2. Traffic: Try and provide stats for at least the last 12 months, back up with screenshots. Not only that but tell us where the traffic comes from, is it natural traffic or PPC? If it is natural then from what search engines and from what search terms. If it is PPC then again, what keywords and how much do you spend?

3. Earnings: How much does the site earn? And from what methods? Affiliate programmes? AdSense? etc.

4. Niche: Tell us about the niche your site operates in, is it big? In terms of traffic and revenue. Remember although you may be an expert in your niche and know everything there is about it, don’t assume your buyer will.

5. Users: Do you have a database of users who have subscribed to your site? If so how many? Do you email them on a regular basis?

6. PageRank etc.: Yeah I know PageRank doesn’t mean much but the fact is its still one of the first things that people look at when looking at the potential of new sites. So include the PageRank, Alexa and Technorati (if applicable) rankings.

7. Hosting: Where is your site hosted and how much do you spend a month on hosting? All very important when working out ROI.

8. Backlinks: How many links to your site are there out there?

9. Workload: How many people work on the site at the moment? How many hours a day/week do you spend updating/managing the site? Again, all of this is vital when making purchasing decisions.

10. Unique Selling Point: What is the USP of your site? If say it’s a cashback site then what makes your site different from the 50 billion other cashback sites in existence? Really sell your site and tell the world why it is so special and the best thing since sliced bread.

If you follow the above 10 points I guarantee you will have a much better chance of selling your site, getting the most people interested and therefore the best price for it. So please, please no more “pm me for more details” type posts. When selling a site there isn’t room to be shy or coy about URL’s, figures etc. Instead, go the other way and divulge as MUCH information as possible about your site.

But where shall I advertise my website? I hear you ask. Well I’m glad you did Obviously a good place is the A4U forum but I would also try the SitePoint Marketplace. A lot of very good quality sites get bought and sold there every day and they have a massive audience of potential buyers. I’ve bought and sold a few myself from SitePoint and can highly recommend it.

Oh, and don’t bother trying to sell on eBay, waste of time.

What I’m listening to right now: Sean Garrett Feat Pharrell – “Patron”

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Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 11:26 am and is filed under Making Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.