Make Money Online With Derek Baker » Sell Established Website http://www.derek-baker.com Learn tips, tricks, and helpful advice about making money online. Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:34:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 How to Sell An Established Website: Emailing Potential Buyers http://www.derek-baker.com/sell-website-to-potential-buyers/ http://www.derek-baker.com/sell-website-to-potential-buyers/#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:34:09 +0000 Derek http://www.derek-baker.com/?p=287 If you are going to sell a website there is more work that needs to be done than just determining the price and then listing it on a website marketplace. You will need to find the buyers that own similar sites and will be serious about buying the website at the price that you desire. This post will tell you how to find potential buyers by using e-mail.

1. Using Google to find buyers
Search for the keyword phrases you are targeting or get the most traffic from.

For example I get a lot of traffic for “cpalead ebook” on this blog. I would search on Google for that and then find sites that have a similar business format and make a list of them to email.

2. Making the list
Once you have found the sites you have to gather the e-mails of these buyers using whois lookup. I like using DomainTools to lookup domain name registration information.

<— You want to e-mail the address that is there.

If the domain is protected you have to manually write down the string and it will forward that e-mail to the person that owns the domain name. You should check the website first to see if they have a contact form because that will be much easier than copying the string of numbers of a protected domain.

3. Composing the e-mail

This is the hard part because you have to make sure the spam filters will not pick it up. I tailor each e-mail to the website I am sending it to.

Example Email Subjects
Email Subject: CPALead EBook Website For Sale — CPALead EBook is the Google search term I found the potential buyer.
Email Subject 2:  Domain.com Website Purchase Opportunity — Domain.com is your website in this example subject.
Email Subject 3: Website Similar to URL.com for Sale — For this one URL.com is the URL of the persons website you are e-mailing.

Example Email Body
I found your website URL.com using the Google Search “CPALead EBook” and wanted to contact you because I have a similar website for sale right now. Here is the link to view the auction, [auction url link].

If you have any questions about the website or would like any stats/proof just reply to this e-mail or contact me at the marketplace website using private message. All of the websites I sell come with support and use either Escrow or PayPal to protect both parties. My range to sell the website is 10-12x but I’m open to any offer you would like to submit. I know this website will be a great addition to your portfolio of established websites and make your rankings stronger for the keyword “cpalead ebook”.

Regards,
Your Name

]]> http://www.derek-baker.com/sell-website-to-potential-buyers/feed/ 1 How To Sell An Established Website: Avoiding Scams http://www.derek-baker.com/how-to-sell-an-established-website-avoiding-scams/ http://www.derek-baker.com/how-to-sell-an-established-website-avoiding-scams/#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:47:53 +0000 Derek http://www.derek-baker.com/?p=283 Getting scammed is one of the worst experiences you can go through. You are left helpless without a website that was generating income and if you cannot get your money back you lose out on the value of the business too. The best way to avoid scammers is to sell your website to people that are experienced at buying websites. That means do your homework on the seller and ask him personal questions (he will be asking you them I’m sure). Check up on his answers, check his feedback, reputation around the internet, and just use good old common sense. If he wants you to do something that makes you uncomfortable then that should be a redflag. You are selling the website which puts you in the position of power. If the buyer walks away it is his loss and you can sell it to somebody else or keep it and improve it then sell it for even more. For those that buy websites remember that the seller can inflate the revenue and traffic numbers. For both buying and selling a website have a lawyer draft a contract that you can use. If you are dealing with a smaller website (say worth only $150) make sure to use a reputable payment processor and draft your own contract outlining what they will receive for the sale, the closing price, and all the auction details.

I will be sending out a weekly serious of tips and advice for both buying and selling websites. Read my blog and subscribe to my email list for even more updates and free material.

]]> http://www.derek-baker.com/how-to-sell-an-established-website-avoiding-scams/feed/ 1 How to Sell An Established Website: Determining The Price http://www.derek-baker.com/how-to-sell-an-established-website-determining-the-price/ http://www.derek-baker.com/how-to-sell-an-established-website-determining-the-price/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:16:41 +0000 Derek http://www.derek-baker.com/?p=275 How to Price Your Established Website For Sale
Don’t price in your work and time into the sale. This should be reflected in the websites earnings and traffic already. If you spent 50 hours building a custom website then mention that but do not expect the buyer to pay $x per hour for the time it took you. Obviously having a unique site is great and will add value but the majority of buyers will be stuck on “how much the website makes” and that is all they care about.

Looking over the websites that actually sell in the marketplaces I noticed that they end up with a price of around this formula. Of course I suggest using common sense and pricing the website at around 12x the monthly revenue like everyone else but this formula can give you something to think about.

Formula: Monthly Revenue x Amount of months site has made that revenue
Example: I own a website that has made $500 for the past 18 months on autopilot. I should be looking to sell it for around $8000-9000 based on my formula.

Below are examples of the prices of a couple of websites that sold in the various marketplaces. I was very suprised at how many no revenue sites that sell purely based on their design, support of the seller, and potential. About 75% of the sites that were selling were less than $250 and had no revenue (can be considered startup sites).  It looks like there is a market for those at or around the $200 price range.

Niche Sites
$600 sold for $3000 (5 months)
$850 sold for $11000 (13 months)
$1500 for $14495 (10 months)

Arcade Site
$330 monthly for $3300 (10 months)
$30 monthly for $5400 (13 months)
$15 monthly for $227

Affiliate Product
$67 monthly for $1400 (21 months)
$15 monthly for $227 (15 months)
New no revenue for $97, $147, $297 (Niche sites selling clickbank products)

Blogging
$650 monthly for $60,000 (92 months)
$335 monthly for $4500 (13 months)
$23 monthly for $500 (21 months)
$100 monthly for $720 (7.2 months)

Did my formula hold up? No! I will point out the site that sold for 92 months revenue as an example. This site is old (1.5 years but not extremely aged) has a premium domain name and great brand recognition. The domain name alone has a value in the five figures (in my opinion and a lot of the people that placed a bid on the site) which leads me to the point that there are hundreds of factors that go into valuing the website not just the common multiple. Determining the price is hard and there is no simple answer it is on a case by case basis. To help you at least get an idea of what your website is worth I am starting a series to teach you how to sell your website.  In my next blog post I will cover even more tips for selling your established website.

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