What You Need to Know When Selling a Website
You’ve spent countless time and money on your website, but the time has come to sell. It’s your baby and you want to see it succeed, but you just can’t do it anymore. It’s time for someone else to give it the care it needs, so you can move on to bigger and better things.
Now that you’ve come to the realization that the time has come to let it go, you just need to know the right steps to take in terms of how to sell it — to the right person, for the right price.
Get Prepared
There is a fair amount of work that needs to be done before your site hits the open market. You should start gathering any relevant paper work that will be required of you, including proof of revenue and any traffic stats that you can put together. You’ll want to have data on unique visitors, page views, growth rates, etc. Remember, more is better here. Solid, hard numbers are what can drive up your asking price.
How much your site is truly worth all depends on how much someone is willing to pay you for it. The true value of a site is how much value the buyer sees in it. So you’ll want to present as much value as possible.
Determining Price
There is no magical formula for determining a selling price, although people may tell you there is. Everyone seems to have a different opinion and a preferred valuation method to use. In an earnings method, for example, a website could be sold for: two to five times last year’s revenue or three to six times earnings before interest. How the multiple is generally determined is by the amount of risk involved. The lower the risk, the higher the multiple and vice versa.
Other sellers determine a selling price by comparing it to what similar sites have sold for. This is probably the least accurate, but it gets you a ballpark figure to start negotiations with. If you’re nervous about either one of these methods, our advice is to have your site’s selling price determined by a valuation expert.
Put It Out There
Once you have a figure in mind, it’s time to get your site in front of potential buyers. There are several reputable websites out there that specialize in buying and selling online businesses. Once it’s listed, your role is to be responsive. There will be interest, and you will need to be available to answer questions and response time is key. Don’t leave a potential buyer hanging by not getting back to them right away.
Lastly, it’s important that you exercise patience. You may not have buyers lined up willing to pay your asking price right away, but that’s okay. Finding the perfect buyer takes time.