How to Sell a Website (Part 1)

Selling a website can be a stressful time, especially if you’re selling one in the five figures range, or above. I know myself personally when Ive sold sites in the $30,000 price range, that there have definitely been times of uncertainty and anxiousness that have left me wondering – have I taken everything into account? I have personal friends that have sold sites in the six figure range and I know they’ve always breathed a sigh of relief once its all over.

Regardless of how many times you check, recheck and triple check everything, you always end up with this feeling of having missed something. Perhaps Ive missed something on the website purchase agreement contract, perhaps Ive overlooked the figures, perhaps Ive forgotten something else. Then again, maybe that’s just me. Either way, I like to be very thorough, and ensure I don’t miss anything, for the simple fact of avoiding any potential problems later on.

When it comes to selling your website, regardless of whether youre selling a $500,000 website or a $500 one, the best advice I can give you is this.

Don’t rush the sale! Take your time, and plan the sale out in stages.

For sites that Ive sold in the past, especially the higher priced ones, Ive always gone about doing everything methodically. This usually means mapping out the entire process in stages. Ive sold a few sites over the past 10 years, and Ive come to follow a certain “system” if you will. It works well for me, and Im sure it can work for you to, especially if you've never sold a site before.

Below are some steps to help you sell your website and make the whole process much, much easier.

Website valuations - What's my website worth?

Before you do anything, you need to ask yourself if your website is actually worth anything. Only you will know that for certain, however I must stress that before you get too excited, that you be realistic about your selling price. There’s absolutely no point in listing your site for sale at 1 million dollars if it’s generating $50 a month via adsense. It just aint gonna happen! On the other hand, you want to ensure that you maximise your sales potential by getting the best price possible.

Either way, the best way to determine your sites worth, is to perform a few steps as Ive setout below. 

So how do you figure out your sites actual valuation? 

How to value a website.

In simple terms this process usually entails, calculating the sites income figures based over a set period of time, and then recalculating those figures based on averages.

The purpose of this is that this will help guide you in terms of valuating your site. There’s absolutely no point in posting “how much is my site worth?” on a forum and then hoping for the best, or highest response. Your income figures will determine this for you. 

Typically sites sell for 12-24 months worth of income, however this theory has been, and will continue to be debated to the death. It’s a range that I’ve found success with, and one that seems to work well.

I also, at this point, like to perform a bit of market research on sites such as flippa, which I feel is the best place to sell a website, to get an overall idea of what similar sites have, or are being sold for. This can give a bit of an insight into what sort of figures are realistic for the site Im selling. Whilst this isnt always reliable data, it can help in determining an estimate or range.

Of course, if all this seems like too much work, you can hire the services of a website broker, who can take care of all of this for you, at a fee, which is generally calculated as a percentage of your website's sale price. I cover more on that in this article 'how to buy a website'

Another piece of advice I will offer is this. During this process, avoid posting any questions regarding valuations on public forums. This can undermine your sale in a negative way. If someone sees that you intend on selling, and yet have no idea of your sites worth, then its likely that this will work against you, and you could potentially receive lowball offers, or worse, no offers at all. Do whatever you need to calculate your sites worth, but definitely keep any financials off the forums, trust me.