It doesn’t matter whether you are selling a site for the first time, or the hundredth time, the best place to unload an unwanted website is Flippa.com. In terms of both the number of active members bidding on sites and just how easy it is to make a listing, there is no other platform that really comes close. Lets take a look at How to Sell Sites on Flippa.
What often irritates people new to the marketplace however is that the price that a site ends up being sold for can at times seem pretty random. And if you forget to set a reserve price, you can easily end up getting less than you had hoped.
The primary cause of sites selling for less than they are worth however, is not actually all that random. It is simply that not everyone knows how to correctly demonstrate a sites value. Should you be considering selling a site on Flippa, here are a few tips to make sure that you get what it’s worth.
Effective Monetization
If there’s one thing that makes people bid on a site, it’s profitability. It’s not unique content, it’s not traffic, it’s cold hard cash. Although a site with unique high quality content is valuable, many bidders are simply not interested. And while traffic can easily be monetized, many bidders are simply not that imaginative. Therefore, before you even consider selling your site, you need to figure out the best way to monetize it.
Unfortunately, if monetization is not your strong point, you are going to have to either educate yourself or hire somebody to monetize your site. Because if you want to get the most money for what is your strong point, be that content writing or web design, you need to show how those skills have been translated into a profitable site. Also, it should go without saying, that unproven profits are not really profits at all. You must provide screenshots.
Make it an Easy Choice
Nobody wants to purchase a site that they don’t understand. If your site takes no time at all to run, than you can simply say so and leave it at that. Sites that offer passive income are of course, enormously popular.
But if your site will require work on the part of the owner for it to remain profitable, you need to answer a number of questions.
- What work is required?
- How many hours per week?
- If new content or products are regularly required, where can they be obtained?
- Do you offer support and if so, how long?
Any discrepancy or uncertainty in your answers will result in lower bids. Potential buyers are looking for profitable websites that they understand and it is up to you to explain your site to them.
Traffic Proof
As well as demonstrating profitability, you will also need to demonstrate that your site gets its fair share of visitors. To do so, you will need to install Google Analytics. Although there are many alternatives, Google Analytics is the one statistical package that everybody has not only heard of, but trusts. Unfortunately, if you use a different tool, you are going to lose out on bids from people that either haven’t heard of it or simply don’t trust it. And if you provide no traffic proof at all, you will be lucky to get any bids, let alone good ones.
Character Proof
Who are you and why should anybody trust you? Unfortunately, until you have bought or sold a few websites on Flippa and demonstrated that you are on the level, many potential buyers will want nothing to do with you.
One useful way to get past this problem, fast, is to demonstrate that you have a solid reputation elsewhere. Perhaps you are new to Flippa, but you have bought and sold virtual goods elsewhere? If you are a reputable member of another forum, include both your username and an invitation to contact you at that username.
If you have zero feedback at Flippa, this small step will increase the number of bids that you get. And the more bids you get, the more money you will get for your site.
Why Are You Selling?
Regardless of whether you are selling a car, a house or a website, this question always comes up and you need to figure out what your answer is going to be. In fact, it is generally advisable to include your motives for selling within the description of your site. When people see a profitable website for sale, they become curious as to why anyone would want to sell it. And unless you answer said curiosity, they are going to assume that there is something wrong.
Handling Questions
Finally, when somebody asks a question about your site, you need to give a straight answer. If you don’t respond, potential bidders will get suspicious. And if you try to dance around the question, potential bidders will get even more suspicious. There is nothing wrong with admitting that you don’t know the answer to something. But pretending you know something, when you don’t, not only makes you look stupid, it also makes you look like you have something to hide.
Selling a site on Flippa is not everyone’s cup of tea. Sebastian Cowie has a lot of experience with website flipping, mailing lists and blogging. Visit his site to learn more about how you can utilize your website to create a good email list.
About Josh Nadeau
