When selling a site you can sell it for your best months income times 12-18 for a year to a year and half worth of income.
ie. You made $2400 in november, and $5000 in december.. with proof of income you can multiply $5,000 as your estimated monthly income and charge your estimated earnings for a year. So.. 5000×12=$60,000 to 5000×18=$90,000
Does advertising costs and hosting account into monthly income as a negative? Yes and no.. If you have mostly organic traffic then don’t bother mentioning your advertising campaigns unless you spend more than $500 a month on it. Same applies to hosting.. I mention how many dedicated servers the site uses and the fees associated with hosting. I never mention problems with the site, only the good things. But hosting is something the new owner will have to take on their own. Let your host know you will be switching owners and billing.
If you want to do site flipping as a business your goal should always be to raise the income level of your site each month and you shouldn’t be afraid to invest money into your site in order to make it as good as you possibly can without breaking the bank.. you’ll be making the money back and then some.
Want to get a gauge on how big your site is before you sell it?
- http://www.alexa.com check your alexa rank
- check your “Google webmasters” panel and find out how many keywords your site has #1 for.
- Ask yourself if there is more growing potential before you sell it, you don’t want to regret the sale.
- Ask around on the following sites:
What kinda sites work best with site flipping?
1) Membership(& ebook) sites – You can charge a monthly/yearly fee for information on your niche. It’s easy to raise income and make your best months earnings within the first few months.
2) Blogs (yes… even auto blogs) – If your earning good money with AdSense and CPA networks and can show some charts of steady income you can resell for higher than your average estimated income if your site is showing signs of growth.
3) Forums – Making money from donations, advertising, referrals, reviews.. Theres plenty to be made by establishing a solid forum. It’s very hard to simply start a forum and get tons of signups right away. However with an investment in some advertising networks you can get 100,000 members in a month.
4) Turnkey sites – Flash game arcades, Link directories, Article directories etc. Anything you can install a script for, setup a theme on and simply advertise to get visitors.
More website ideas in the Premium Member & Contributor section of the forums.
Where to sell?
http://marketplace.sitepoint.com
eBay.com
Another method which i find the most effective, is to contact companies that advertise on your site, let them know your site is available for bidding to a closed amount of people. Most people don’t want their communities to know their site is for sale or even being sold and switching ownership.
What kinda services do you offer with the sale?
I offer a month to 6 months of my help with the sale of my websites. Why? Because most people who takeover a site will need training and info on the ins and outs of your website. The more time they want your help, the more you can charge them. If I used any coders or artists on the website I give the new owners their contact details.
Do you hand over affiliate network accounts and PayPals after the sale?
Yes. Your gonna have to turn over every account your generating money from with the exception of AdSense and maybe a few others that specifically mention no transfer of ownership.
What payment method should you ask for?
The way you should be getting paid is “Wire Transfer/Direct Deposit” only use paypal if your selling for less than a thousand dollars.. they take out around $30 in fees when ya transfer that much money..
Will I need a contract?
It’s official once it’s on paper and signed. It keeps both parties safe. This also gives you extra time to think about the deal. Don’t agree to anything you can’t commit to. This is the last chance you have to negotiate, make it count.
Final step in the site flipping process is transferring the domain over to the new owner. If your using GoDaddy, simply select the domain and click “Account Change” — other domain management sites have similar options. Suppose the wire transfer doesn’t go through or something bad happens you have up to 7 DAYS to pull the domain back through your registrar. Just make sure the contacts on your domain are all true, that way the registrar knows that you are the real owner.
Best of luck on your Site Flipping ventures. Hollar at me on the forums and keep me updated with your success stories. Contributors & Premium Members feel free to discuss this method and expansions of it here.
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