marketing

Where Can I Sell My Website?

People sell their businesses for many reasons, either retiring or burned out, some are looking to move onto bigger, better opportunities. Selling your website requires you to get the maximum value from the sale of it, and not put yourself in a position where you potentially being forced to accept less than the business was worth. Here is the breakdown of your website’s value that's attractive to investors and how you ensure they're willing to pay a premium price tag for the business you've nurtured for so long. Also, we’ll go over the types of people and organizations that will buy your business, so you’ll know what to expect, and where you can sell your business for the maximum value.

What's your website worth?

There's often a gap between what you think your business worth, and what the market is willing to pay. Here are few factors that help assessing any website when it is on the market:

  • Sales
  • Yearly profits
  • Business growth trends
  • How new customers emerge
  • Scalability of the business
  • Breakdown of all customer acquisition channels
  • How the business is positioned in its market
  • The time you spend running the business
  • The systems and processes within the business

Investors will look at these areas when they're deciding whether to buy the business, while also consider what other comparable businesses sold for in the past. The two major factors are your yearly net profits and whether your business is on a growth trend. Most investors will look at the earnings-multiple to decide how much the business is actually worth.

Why do buyers pay a premium?

To maximize what investors are willing to offer you, you need to focus on two key areas: return-on-investment and relative risk.

Businesses that offer lower risk will fetch higher premiums on the open market. Risky businesses with lower profit margins will fall lower on the earnings-multiple scale and be harder to sell. To do that, you need to focus on some key areas:

  • Predictably driving new sales to the business
  • Diversifying your traffic sources and showing stable growth
  • Providing a long history of detailed traffic stats
  • Generating a high percentage of repeat visitors
  • Showing the business has a clean legal history
  • Positioning your branding in the market
  • Establishing documented systems and processes
  • Establishing documented systems and processes

The market is getting bigger, and when you're ready to sell you are going to have to focus on the areas that investors will look at to ensure that your offer stands out in a crowded marketplace where it's competing against other businesses that are currently being sold.

Where can you sell your website?

Where you sell your website depends mostly on how much the website is worth, and how much revenue and profit it generates. A few ways to sell your website:

  • 1. Auction. A platform where potential buyers can place bids for your business. Flippa considers to be a good website for it; usually the best choice for startup projects, and smaller websites under $20,000.
  • 2. Marketplace. Different platforms which allow business owners to post listings just like classified ads. The largest marketplace to sell websites is BizBuySell. This is best for smaller businesses usually under $100,000 and you have to list the business yourself.
  • 3. Broker. Professionals handle the deal; brokers will help you find investors, negotiating your asking price, and structuring the deal all the way to finalizing the sale. Brokers are best for deals valued between $250,000 and $20 million.
  • 4. Investment bank Mainly for large deals usually over $20 million dollars, which means the business generates over $5 million per year in profit. Foundersib.com is the best investment bank to sell your large website.

Who will buy your business?

  • First-time buyers. This is usually people who are looking to purchase their first business, and are generally higher paid employees or C-level executives with money to invest, access to an SBA loan, or their IRA.
  • Internet entrepreneurs. Investors that have been in the industry for a long time and have a good understanding of what it takes to run a digital business, and are typically looking to add another business to their portfolio.
  • Brick-and-mortar entrepreneurs. Brick-and-mortar entrepreneurs who are looking to get into internet businesses either after recently selling their own company, or because they want to expand their existing company through the purchase of yours.
  • Private equity companies. Private equity firms will purchase larger businesses, and want to keep the management in place to continue developing the business.

Selling your website for maximum value requires you to know what the market will bear, and then make sure you've positioned the site to achieve a premium price.

Once your site fully optimized, it’s time to sell your site. The easiest way to sell websites is to head back to the same platforms where you originally purchased it. You can sell your site directly, or through industry forums. When selling your site, be as honest as possible. Always keep records of your revenue, and traffic numbers, as detailed as you can, to show to potential buyers.

It’s always a good idea to use an escrow service when receiving payment for your site. Most marketplaces already have a built-in escrow services, but if you’re selling the site on your own, it can be helpful to use a third-party service.

Hopefully, you have a better grasp of what it takes to buy and sell websites for a profit. It’s time-consuming and the money isn’t always guaranteed, but it can be a lucrative way to make a living online.