Guides and information on selling your websites
As regular website buyers know, finding good sites at a fair price is extremely hard work. Here is a unique way of getting inside information on websites available for sale and catching them before they come up for auction.
When webmasters run their sites through the awesome website valuation report at ebizvaluations, they have the option of disclosing contact details if they wish to be contacted by buyers.
Want to see the latest listings?
Midascode
The single question that we get asked the most here at Midascode is “How do I value my website?”, it is a question that had no simple answer, and often it would take a 500+ word reply just to cover the basics.
We all secretly longed for a solution, and authorative, definitive answer that the website buying and selling industry could use as it’s very own declaration of indepence-esque guide, we waited, and we waited, and we gave out snippets of information to keep the dogs at bay.
Well, I can happily announce that our prayers have been answered, an expert has taken up the challenge, and not only achieved the desired result, but grealty exceeded it.
Now, before your spam radar starts spinning, I should point out that this was not done by one of our team, In fact, we are not connected to this at all.
It was actually developed by a guy named Clinton Lee, and you can read the full guide over at Sitepoint.
The guide, dubbed ‘The Ultimate Website Valuation Guide’ is 6-pages long, and covers every main aspect of valuing a website.
Many myths are debunked, many records are set straight… and the upshot is that finally, the website buying and selling industry has a guide, a bible, a series of guidelines etched into stone for us all to benefit from.
Quite simply, it can prevent you from being ripped-off. It can also ensure that you don’t sell for less than your site’s actual value. It can save you money, as you may no longer need to go to an “expert” who will charge you for 38-pages of jargon.
If reading a 6-page comprehensive guide is not your thing, fortunately there is a new valuation tool that takes all those 6-pages and crams them into one shiny, new tool. What’s more, this tool is free, and for the first time EVER, it is accurate.
But wait! I hear you cry, there are already numerous free site valuation tools on the market.
No there are not!
There are site valuation gimmicks, designed to inflate your ego and trick you into linking back to them. These tools are for fools, and they are severly damaging and confusing in an already noisy industry.
In fact, I decided to test out this new tool on my personal blog… the tool asked a lot of sensible questions, such as:
Domain name,
Monthly Profit,
Cost to maintain,
Expertese required to run it,
& a lot more…
When it finished, I hit submit, and got my valuation… and you know what, for the first time ever, I found myself nodding in agreement.
Actually, it was a little lower than I had hoped, but I couldn’t disagree with the valuation at all. It seemed to know the true valuation better than I myself did.
So today is the day that the website buying and selling industry can breathe a sigh of relief… the weight has been taken off our shoulders, there is now in my opinion a definitive overview of the site valuation procedure, and hopefully the industry will use it and we can all benefit from it for years to come.
That said, it is more than likely people will stick with the stupid gimmick tools, and continue to pull valuations out of thin air… but hey, at least now we have an alternative.
Thanks Clinton for boldly going where no man has gone before, this is one giant step for Internet businesses, one giant leap for the site buying and selling industry.
Midascode
Here is a question we get asked often: How Successful Does a Website Need To Be Before You Can Flip It?
The answer is that you can sell your website at any level. In theory, you can even just sell the domain, but that is a whole different ballgame (domain flipping).
However, ideally you want to ensure that at the very least your website has to have:
*SOME subscribers,
*some traffic,
*and some revenue.
These are the big three golden factors, and if your website doesn’t have these factors, you will struggle to get a decent amount for your site.
But if you DO have them all, then you can get some really good bids for your website.
Happy flipping.
Midascode
Buying and selling websites has become a huge industry in 2008, but it can often be a confusing and scary process, so today we are going to shed some light on the top 10 things you should do to ensure you are successful.
If a website requires the new owner to work on it on a regular basis, then you are buying a JOB not a business.
For it to be classed as a business, it needs to be self-sufficient, it needs to be able to run without the regular input of the owner, and it needs to make a PROFIT without your input.
In other words, could you go to the beach for 6 months, return, and have a nice chunk of profit in your bank account? If not, then you are buying a job.
Additional Reading: Buying a job vs a business
Neglecting a website is the worst thing you can do to it. Traffic will drop, visitors will lose interest, and the value will suffer.
We have spoken to so many website owners who would be lucky to get $50 for their site, yet demand hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Additional Reading: The Webmaster Delusion
You would be amazed at how many websites look great in one browser, and then look like dogs backsides in another. Always check that a website works on the major browsers before you make a bid.
Additional Reading: Browser Compatibility Tools
If you are buying a large and expensive site, then you may wish to do some background research on the owner. Better safe than sorry.
Additional Reading: Background Research Tools
We all know that making business decisions based on what friends and family think is dangerous. So avoid making this mistake when buying and selling websites.
Additional Reading: Myths of Starting a Business
There was a time where all people were interested in was the Google Pagerank of a website. I have seen awful websites sell for huge sums of money, just because they had a pr7. Luckily it seems that this virus is slowing down, but make sure you don’t make the same mistake.
Additional Reading: How Much is My Website Worth?
We all know someone with a website like joeblogs.blogspot.com – but if someone cannot afford the $7 to buy a proper domain name, why are you doing business with them? Remember, you don’t legally own a hosted domain name.
Additional Reading: Buying Websites On Hosted Domains
Like any marketplace, buying and selling websites is filled with people who are looking to make a quick buck. Here are some tips to help you avoid them:
1) Use archive.org to see the history of the website. Avoid any adult or potentially unsafe material.
2) Go to Alexa.com to get a rough idea of the site’s traffic. Compare this to the stats the buyer has published.
3) If you are buying from a forum, look at the members previous posts or sales. Also be aware of any negative feedback he/she may have had.
4) Always use Escrow for larger payments and Paypal for all others.
5) For larger purchases, ask the MidasCode.co.uk to do the due diligence on the site for you.
Buying and selling websites is a serious business, but it can also be a lot of fun. You can own websites based on your passions and hobby’s, you can turn your past time into a serious money maker. The options are endless, but remember, have fun.
There has never been a better time to sell a website, and yes, many of them sell for millions, and in some cases even billions of dollars. But how do you create a website that can sell for over a million dollars?
There are hundreds of factors involved, but there are three essential ones:
1) Traffic
2) Profits
3) Brand
Traffic is the blood of any website, if you don’t have it flowing, your site will die.
For a website or blog to sell for over a million dollars, you are likely to need over 100,000 visitors per month. There are some exceptions, but as a general guide, this is what I would expect the absolute minimum to be.
High traffic without profits is not worth a great deal. In fact, there are websites that get high traffic and actually lose money. At the end of the day, you are largely going to be judged on your profits, so to sell for over one million dollars, I would be looking for a minimum of $200,000 profit per year.
Remember, traffic is for vanity, profits are for sanity.
Sites like Facebook and Youtube are valued so high partly because of the global branding that they have. To sell your website for over one million dollars, I would expect your website to not only be seen as a leading brand name in your industry, but also a brand with a good track record and positive image.
If you have all of the above three factors, give us a call, we may just buy your site 😉
Midascode
We have been getting a lot of visits from people looking to know more about buying and selling websites. So we thought it was about time we got interactive. If you own a website, then please answer the question below:
How much would you sell your main website for?
Give your realistic selling price, as it would be great to know more about our readers.
Midascode
Valuing websites can be a tricky business, there is no set formula, and there are many factors involved. Today I would like to share with you 7 reasons that I will pay more for your website.
Ok, revenue is an obvious one, but the fact remains that it is the single most important factor in your sites valuation. if you want me to give you tons of cash, then I want to see a site that is making good profits each month.
If your domain is hosted at blogspot or another free host, then I will most likely shake my head violently and move on. But if your domain is sex.com – then I will have my credit card in hand before you can say “website transaction”.
Are you the talk of the industry? Or does the mention of your website generate blank stares? The branding of your site can have a huge effect on your site’s value.
The design of your website is not a major factor, but it will certainly have an effect on how much I am willing to pay. After all, if your site design looks like a baby has been sick all over it, then it may cost me $2k to fix the mess.
More traffic = more revenue = more value = …… ok, I ran out of more =’s, but you get the point.
Does Google love your site? On the Internet this is like being best friends with the president, and remember, good Google rankings = Traffic = Revenue… ok, you get the picture.
Does your web business come with $10k worth of DVDs? Or perhaps you have a complex custom script that cost you $10k to make? I can’t guarantee that either will add $10k to your valuation, but it will certainly have an effect.
Despite all of the above, the actual value of a site is simple = what someone is willing to pay for it. But hopefully this list will show you areas you can improve upon.
But it’s not all about price. The terms matter too as this article demonstrates.
You own a website or blog and would like to cash in and sell it for the best possible price. But how do you ensure that you get a good price?
There are two simple tricks I have used in the past to sell sites for more than the market average.
1 – Deal with the BIG players
Many people are scared of dealing with mega global companies. Images of scary lawyers and men in fancy suits is often enough to want to avoid them, but guess what? The biggest companies have the biggest pockets.
For example, $20,000 may seem like a lot of money to you, but to these guys it is a drop in the ocean. So they are less likely to haggle, or worry about getting a great deal. Also, they are less likely to waste your time and wimp out at the end vs some kid who is using his college fund to pay for your site.
So if you own a site on cell phones, contact Nokia, they won’t bite.
2 – Find a buyer who can squeeze extra value from the site
Ok, this kinda sounds obvious. But let’s look at an example:
Let’s say you own a Britney Spears fan forum, it makes $200 per month in adsense, and has 6,000 members.
On a standard website marketplace, you would be lucky to get $3,000 for such a site. Why? Because of the low revenue. But what if you could sell it to someone who could benefit in many other ways from the investment? For example, you could sell it to someone who already owns a network of Britney sites. Not only will the new buyer get the ad revnue, but he/she can use the new site to drive more traffic, links, and members to the other sites in the network.
Or, you could sell it to Britney’s management, she needs all the help she could get right now, and I am sure her management could find many uses with this database of loons, sorry, Britney Spears fans.
So remember, look for the people best suited to get extra value from your website, and contact those people first.
Midascode
Did you know that every day is about 55 billionths of a second longer than the day before it?
However, a website can go from slightly neglected to completely dead in a matter of weeks.
Do you own a website that you are not paying much attention to at the moment? Why not considering cashing in on it today?
All you have to do is contact us via our contact form and include the url, traffic and revenue.
If we are not interested, we will consider publishing it here at Midascode for you.
I recently spoke to a web site owner who asked me this question:
I’m considering selling a web site I have had for quite some time, which has a list of over 700. The list is a double op-in list.
However, my question relates to what happens with this list when transferring a web sites ownership.
For example, I use Aweber for my list management, and so if I sell my web site, how does the owner get the list as part of the purchase? Or is this the purchasers problem and not mine?
There are a few points to address here… firstly, it is generally accepted that any list built directly from the site SHOULD be included in the sale of the site. If it is not, then you should make this clear and reduce the price.
Secondly, some sites have a double opt-in and a membership as well. So for example, a forum requires you to register and give your email address, but that same forum may have a weekly newsletter on aweber as well. This is rare, but it can cause problems. The biggest issue is the use of the brand name. For example, the new owner may decide to send a weekly email to the forum members via the forum software, he may start the email: “Hi, Jim here, the new owner of xxxx.com” – But the old owner may still be emailing the same people weekly and saying “Bob here from xxxx.com”
In my opinion, any brand or company related list SHOULD ALWAYS be included in the sale… ALWAYS!
So onto my final point… transferring the list via aweber.
Note: I have never done this, if anyone knows of any better techniques, please let me know.
Ok, the main issue with using aweber to do this, is the fact that they require the leads to re-validate their subscriptions. This means that a % are not going to do this. So straight away you are weakening the stregth of a list.
With that in mind, if you are going to buy a site with a list, and you wish to transfer the list to your aweber account, I would set the price based on the final list size.
e.g If the list is 1000 and the seller wants $10,000, I would say “I will pay you $10,000 if 950+ validate, but $9,000 if it is less than 850 and so forth…”
Here is what Aweber say about this issue:
Import Leads:
All imported leads must be verified before they will be added to your mailing list. Within minutes of being imported a notice will be sent to the lead asking them to verify that they did indeed request to be on the mailing list. Once verified they will immediately be added to your account and visible for email delivery. Learn about the many benefits of using verified opt-in, “Study: Verified Opt-in Reduces Unsubscribes & Complaints.”* Only emails that have specifically requested information from you may be imported.
* Purchased emails or FFA link page email addresses may not be imported.See the unsolicited email section of the service agreement. If you have questions about this policy, ask us. Violation of the service agreement will result in immediate account closure.
If you are not happy about asking them to re-validate, then you could import the leads to your own list software, but that is a whole new set of issues.
Site Sellers Summary: If your list is associated with your site in any way, then it SHOULD be included in the sale.
Site Buyers Summary: When using Aweber, be aware of the re-validation losses you WILL get.
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