If you’re on your way to sell a website for reasons like not having a use for it anymore or simply to cut the cord between you and e-commerce, then there are a few things you should know. It can be a cumbersome task because of how you may not know what exactly you need to do.
In this article, we will focus on how to sell your website and what the whole procedure entails. Keeping it non-monotonous and knowing the worth of your website is a good start. You can sell an old website and even get a high price for it.
How To Sell A Website: Steps To Take
The process of buying and selling websites may seem like a complex procedure that takes a lot of time. “What should I do to sell my website for a good price?”, you may ask. Well, we have made things easier for you by providing steps to take as you navigate your way through this quest of selling your website.
- Use A Variety of Traffic Sources
The goal is to have more people land on your site. Website traffic is a factor that will determine just how successful your website actually is. Therefore, understanding what your traffic sources are is essential to strategize your marketing.
Organic traffic is the type that discovers your website through the search engine; it is well-earned traffic. To increase this, you can try content marketing or Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
You can also find more visitors by using referrals, social media, email marketing, or even Pay Per Click. This will build your army of website visitors, and they will become of great use to you, helping you sell your website sooner.
- Design Procedures & Make Use of Third-Party Services
If you are in search of an easy way to collect email addresses to send your newsletter to, don’t worry, as Third-Party Services are coming to the rescue. Companies like Boast, Olark, and Mailchimp conveniently make our lives better by spending their time and money to help improve your audience engagement and add some social life to your website.
Website selling is not easy, but when it comes to dealing with processes like order fulfilments and updates. To have more chances of selling better, you must detach from the website itself, presenting almost zero involvement in the business.
- Organize Your Finances and Traffic Reports in Order
Just as you wouldn’t purchase land without its proper documents, websites also require certain documents. You can use them as evidence for reports on the finances and traffic, and there is software that helps in this, such as Google Analytics.
Some recommendations to include in financial reports are — Profit + Loss Explained, Proof of Sales (about a year of reporting), Spending on Advertisements, and so on. As for traffic reports, you may include — Google Analytics reports, Ad Reports as evidence for profit and loss count, and Google Search Console Reports.
- Select the Best Broker or Marketplace
How to sell websites to small businesses? Well, this is made easy with the creation of a selling site, like brokers and marketplaces for websites. Its primary function is to assist web admins in their website sales and charge you, at the most, with 14% commission.
They perform many tasks, including website marketing, protection of seller’s confidentiality, a compilation of data memorandum, and so on. They work similarly to real estate agents; you simply need to enter into a sales agreement with them. This is where most people fall short, as they choose brokers that aren’t good.
The best marketplaces that have websites for sale include — Flippa, a well-known broker for small website sales (value under $100k). Digital Exits, on the other hand, is better for larger businesses ($25 million above), and another recommendation is FoundersIB.
- Understand Your Prospective Buyer and Personalize Your Sales Page
As you create a page for your website’s sales, you must prioritize your target audience and what they’re searching for on a website. You can have a look at older established websites for sale, which are now sold on various broker platforms, so that you can achieve the profit — taking in factors such as documents that are reliable, incoming traffic sources, etc.
An average of 88% of buyers have more interest in products when the companies are able to provide them with content relevant to the product. You’re ahead of the game if you can offer everything your buyer wants, from detailed content to reports.
Choosing the right broker is vital as there are some, such as Empire Flippers, that will personalize your sales page and handle all the advertising your website requires.
- Get Your Sales Team / Virtual Assistants Ready
When you’ve come to the decision of selling websites, make sure your team of stakeholders is well informed about the situation. Things are made more accessible when you have virtual assistants and team management that are modern such as Slack, making the ownership transfer easy.
Creating a different business account for handling emails is way more convenient than using your personal email, as files can be easily transferable. It’s crucial for responding to issues with customer service and related problems.
- Be Aware of Your Website’s Value
Website selling must only begin when you have acknowledged the worth of the specific website to sell. You should avoid receiving losses at all costs, and this can only be prevented when you have a rough idea of your site’s value.
Usually, the average price of website sales varies within the range of 2.2 and 2.9. Annually, you should receive a net profit of 2-3 times more. So, you should not hastily sell away your website, analyze it and do it cautiously.
How Much Time Does It Take to Sell Websites?
Like how selling houses or property works, there is also a broker for websites and marketplaces selling websites. They make a listing period actively of 30 to 180 days for marketing your website.
If you want to see your site at its peak, you must be able to lay down all your time, effort, and even money. A website sale is a busy place, and you must be able to be patient and work hard in order for you to sell it at a reasonable price.
