How to Create a Killer Auction for Selling Your Website
What makes one website sell for more than others?
Sure, it almost always has to do with the amount of revenue a web site makes and how popular it is.
But it also comes down to how well you lay out your auction listing.
The difference between creating a regular listing versus a killer listing could be thousands of dollars, or even 10 to 20 times your monthly earnings.
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Selling Your Website – How to Create a Killer Auction
1.) Post Your Auction on Your Web Site
Who knows your website more than your audience? Depending on the type of website you are selling, it might be a great idea to make it aware to your visitors that your site is for sale. If you have an internet marketing blog, there is a good chance your readers might be interested in buying your site. However, if you run an entertainment or celebrity website, it would be less likely your audience would want to buy your site.
2.) Provide All Web Stats Reports and Google Analytics
I can not stress how important it is to make sure all of your web stats are up to date and in order. Google Analytics is the platform of choice when it comes to web stats, and Flippa – the website selling business also verify the legitimacy of Google Analytics. If you are using a different tracking system, I advise you to include Google Analytics in your tracking as well. By providing Analytics, potential buyers of your website can see where your traffic is coming from based on search engines and geographic location, along with how long they are staying on your website in addition to other criteria.
3.) Breakdown All Revenue Methods
Just as important as your website stats, the revenue and financial earnings of your website will play a big part in the final sale price of your website. Break down your monthly revenue by source and as far back as you can possibly go. Many websites sell for 15-20 times their monthly earnings. This can vary depending on the niche and quality of your site, but providing as much financial information as possible will help you get the most for your website.
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4.) Always Reply to All Questions and Comments
Personal contact and correspondence go a long way when it comes to buying and selling websites. More than anything else, it’s a business transaction, but trust also comes into play. Make sure you take the time to answer all questions and comments in detail, and also quickly as possible. Web site auctions have a time limit and not everyone will have time to wait for your answers before placing a bid. Don’t miss out on a high bid because you were too busy to respond to questions and comments in your auction thread.
5.) Reach Out to Webmaster Forums
Just like I mentioned it’s sometimes a good idea to post on your website that an auction is for sale, it’s also a good idea to visit a popular website and webmaster forums. Web site owners are always looking to expand their business and portfolio of websites, and your site may be a perfect fit for someone else. If you are already active and have a good reputation in a forum, it can definitely go a long way with other members and users of the forum, helping in the potential sale of your website.
Become a Web Site Flipping Master
Using these same principles and finding under-monetized websites, which I like to call “hidden gems”, I’ve been able to buy and sell over six figures worth of websites over the years.
Want to get started buying and selling websites?
A lot of people have started their website flipping business at Flippa.com. With over 200,000 buyers looking to buy your website or online business, Flippa.com is the go to place for both buyer and seller.
Flippa is especially good for smaller sites making under $100,000 per year in profit – although they do handle larger transactions.
Founded in 2009 Flippa has sold 250,000 + businesses sold worldwide. Click the banner below to check out some of their current listings.
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Hi Zac,
Thanks a lot for the awesome post.
I really love your tips about giving as much details about the website as possible and I think that can make a huge difference in the amount you will get for your website – people like to know as much as they can about what they will be buying.
I’m also happy you created an helpful guide on the subject of website flipping and I can say it is the best guide on the subject I have read so far.
Thanks so much for your comments, I appreciate it! Once people start to realize how much of a difference it makes to actually list all of your web stats and revenue broken down by month and with screenshots, a lot more money will be earned of selling web sites.
Great article and as someone who has done well by selling on Flippa in the past, all the points are spot on.
Just one question, when would you use a broker rather than Flippa?
Cheers
Ian
Thanks, I actually cover a few different places outside of Flippa for buying and selling web sites. I also have a few friends that use brokers directly for their high end sites. Shoot me an email if you want their info and I’ll see what I can do.
Hell Zac,
I’m interested in the info about good brokers with selling skill on Flippa like auctions
Thank you so much
im now just starting to do some research and learning in how to flip a website..thanks for this zac 🙂
im sure i will grab it
Thanks Haru, let me know if you need anything or have any questions.
I bet you could flip your Zac Johnson website for 2 million if it wasn’t called Zacjohnson.com. You have a fancy website.
All jokes aside, I know people who have bought some really profitable websites off flippa. That’s definitely the place to auction off your website …plenty of buyers flock there.
Haha yea exactly. Once you create a site and use your domain name as your real name, you know it’s one that you will probably never sell 😛
Great info. about selling sites.
Regarding “Flip This Web Site” – I wonder if it covers the mechanics of transferring websites (files, etc.) once they’re sold.
I cover the basics of “After the Sale”, but this can always vary depending on the complexities of a web site and how they are hosted or transferred. If you are not that experienced at transferring sites, you can usually have the transferring can be done by the previous owner or your web host.
You’ve awesome tips on website flipping zac. This business model is truly a big one, we all need to learn well and master selling psychology, this way, we not only persuade people to bid, but also, they feel happy about relinquishing their hard earned cash. This is priceless knowledge for me. Take care.
Thanks. I’m a big fan of site flipping, simply because I can buy an established site and not have to deal with the time consuming tasks of building the site, creating content and building it up to an authority site.
Hi Michael,
Thanks a lot for sharing this amazing information about flipping websites.
I also always wondered how do you manage to avoid getting paypal chargebacks once you release all your site logins and information?
Thanks!
I haven’t run into any of these problems, but if it did happen, I’m sure Paypal and Flippa would not allow this to happen, as they have documentation and proof of your sale. Also, you can setup payments through Escrow.com, which will hold all of your money until both parties are happy with the completed sale and transaction.
It seems website flipping is the rave of the moment now. But I dont see reason why I should sell a website that is making me money, except I can no longer manage it.
It’s great to have a portfolio of sites that are earning you money. Some profitable sites are selling for 40-60 times monthly earnings. If you are ever tired of running your site or want a nig pay day, flipping your site could pay off nicely.
With this kind of scenario I am sure the government is very thankful in the internet world for all the jobs being created out of it.
I am getting your flipping course.
Really Great Idea, Thanks Zac!
This story was perfect! It helped me a lot. I have a blog and always look for relevant information like this to apply and succeed as well. hugs
Thanks for the great post. I have been thinking about selling my site recently so that I can move on with other projects but I am finding it hard to sell my first blog, I’ve put so much work into it.
Hi Zak,
Great post big props. Just wanted to ask have you ever had bidders wait till the very last minute to bid. Reason I ask I recently listed a website on Flippa and the site was seeing over 1million hits a month and $14k in revenue but it only got to 36k it was listed as private as I wanted to keep the URL confidential.
Thanks
Warren
The most activity happens on an auction during the last few hours. When someone bids within the last 4 hours, the auction clock resets back to 4 hours to allow for more bidding.
If you didn’t sell your site, I would relist again and do some “premium listing” advertising, or try running without the private auction setting.
This an interesting read. Selling your website would mean that you don’t have the website anymore. I would personally prefer to keep them all for a longer time.
Thanks Zak for the info