Guide to Selling a Website

Maria Morrison

6 years ago

Situations like this happen often: you create a website, care about it and, of course, achieve a particular success. But in the end, you understand that there is no time to keep working on it because you need some money urgently, or you develop your website specifically for sale and then feel its high time to make a killing. Whatever the reason, the decision is taken, and you should start acting. The whole situation may look murky enough if you don’t have a single idea of what your first step should be. This guide is specifically for those, who want to sell the website quickly and safely with little effort.

You will find key recommendations on what to focus on first, where to find customers, and how to make a terrific deal.

Concept matters

Before offering your website to the potential buyers, try to answer one question: what is your website about? It seems quite simple, isn’t it? But don’t relax yet. Usually, a lot of website owners cannot give a clear and full response, as they don’t understand a basic concept of their web pages or blogs. Moreover, often they consider their website idea to be evident to everyone without caring to reflect it adequately. And it is not about money which you spend to build your website; it’s about the efforts you made to engage visitors and to make your site interesting and unique.

The devil is in the details

Boost the value of your website to the greatest extent possible. Make sure your web page features user-friendly and uncluttered web template design, smooth and clear navigation, and a lot of high-quality visuals. Also, mind that not everyone will access your site via desktop. According to recent statistics, the percentage of website traffic generated via mobile devices worldwide has reached almost 53% as of the end of 2017, and it is continually growing. So, the website, which looks great on all screens, is what will increase your chances to make a beneficial deal.

Stand out from the pack

Make your website show up. Don’t you dare to get lost in a sea of identical sites, described with the words like “the best,” “the most useful,” “extremely creative” and more without proving it with the valuable content. It should be designed to give answers to the questions and to resolve specific problems the visitor might face.

It’s all about optimization

Not optimizing your website before selling it is a huge error, which can lead to the financial losses and will make your efforts go down the drain. A decent optimization can increase a conversion of your site and make it more profitable. Before putting your web page on auction, make sure it owns more than just several poor ads. Try to use various optimization options such as relevant content, architectured by proper keywords, internal linking which will ensure the reading variants for your website visitors as well as take care about the advertising networks to be connected to. Be creative while testing different types of ads, their placement on your website, while choosing monetization strategies or lead generation methods. Remember, a good optimization is reached by trial and error, but in the end, it will serve its purpose.

Of course, there are some customers, which will prefer to purchase unoptimized or poorly optimized website, but in this case, you aren’t going to make a fortune.

That scary word “monetization”

Let’s talk about monetization. It may seem a little boring and complicated, that’s why so many newbies and even professionals commit the same sin of not paying enough attention to make their websites as profitable as possible. Of course, you can sell a site, which doesn’t bring money, but you won’t be on a roll with this deal.

One of the general methods to monetize your website is to launch ads. There are a lot of advertising options, provided, for example, by Google AdSense. But don’t consider it as the only tool to be used to ensure monetization - nowadays a lot of people install software which blocks different types of ads. The only way out is to be more creative and to look for the other ways to generate income.

For example, you can sell your website advertising space directly to the companies, related to the concept of your page. It seems a bit challenging but allows you to increase targeting and value of your site.

The same refers to the affiliate companies which can be promoted on your website in the form of useful reviews, and you, as a website owner, will be rewarded a commission in case any sales of the reviewed products are carried out.

Overall, if a task to make your website super-profitable looks exceptionally tricky for you, just try to make sure your page has a potential to generate money and, of course, try to prove it.

How much is it worth?

While thinking over the cost of your website, it is highly advisable not to reinvent the wheel and to do a little research of how the websites, which are very similar to yours, perform. Try to identify how they present themselves, what information offer, what design they feature and what tactics they use to attract customers, were they successful or not – any information can influence your decision on pricing the page of your own.

Before putting your site on auction, it is crucial to analyze its current profit and the potential that it may bring later. Don’t base on your host and domain cost – try to evaluate what income it will generate in future. Think ahead, as many customers are looking for the web page with a long-term perspective.

In case you’re still not sure about the price, there are a lot of online value calculators, mainly provided by online auction platforms, which will define the cost of your website based on its traffic, ranking, revenue and potential.

Who are you, my dear customer?

Without proper knowing who your customers might be, it is impossible to choose the right selling tactic. At a time being there is an array of various online platforms where you can sell your site. Try to learn the fundamental values of their audiences before putting your website on auction. Some customers may appreciate unique interface and useful information best of all. The others will value the growing potential the web page may feature, or maybe they are looking for the site to improve their business. Identify your audience and emphasize the advantages of your website.

The list of the best website selling platforms for you not to waste your time surfing the internet is kindly provided below.

Flippa.com - it is one of the most popular world selling platforms for the websites and online business. Its auditory is the largest and comprises over 800 000 registered potential buyers. It features a user-friendly interface, simple navigation and clear instructions for newbies. You will be charged some listing fee to put your website on the auction. Flippa.com is one of the most trusted platforms, as it owns a range of verification features like the confirmation of the personal data of the users, website traffic statistics according to Google Analytics and more. Probably, it has no match when it comes to the selling of decent websites. Try it – you will love Flippa.com.
InternetCompanyForSale.com – this online platform features an uncluttered and straightforward interface. From the very beginning, you will be aware of what to do to list your website here. It is quite lucrative regarding expenses, as it charges only a listing fee with no commissions. You can choose the selling option taking into account the type of your website – if you own a startup business, then you pay less in comparison with those, selling already established sites.
Websitebroker.com - another useful Internet platform that allows you to buy and sell websites. It owns 90-day listing at very moderate prices. For more capricious users it offers a premium listing, which costs more.
Buysellwebsite.com – excellent online service, helping to sell your website no matter what your offer – startup product or turnkey project. It features listing fee depending on the period of the listing and a possibility to be featured on a front page. The latter option is only available for already established websites.
Wesellyoursite.com – a website broker platform, owning a nice interface and user-friendly instructions both for buyers and vendors. If you are a seller, first you are offered to complete a short registration form, attaching the screenshots of your website, then the broker will help to you to position your web page for sale, indicating annual revenue, profit, unique visitors and more. You can work on submitted offers from potential customers and celebrate contracts directly via the given platform.
Feinternational.com – a popular online platform for buying and selling websites. Established in 2009, it features realistic valuations of sites, is known for its fair policy and quick deals. You can be sure you won’t lose your money while working with Feinternational.com.

Are there any other options?

If your website occupies some particular niche, you can always try to look for potential customers in a related industry. Contact the corresponding companies and stores, and mail the web entrepreneurs and individuals you know by sending a good promotion letter. Register on thematic forums like SitePoint.com and Forums.digitalpoint.com.

To summarize

No matter how much you care about your web page, try to avoid selling it to a random person. Find someone who is passionate about it, wants to make it a dream website, and won’t lose your audience but take it to a new height. If you make your website a piece of art, you will find a decent caretaker and make a fortune.