Yesterday, I spend the day taking in an abundance of information at the Small Biz Internet Marketing seminar with Dave Jenyns and Pete Williams, and actually had a handful of people approach me, who followed this blog, asking a handful of questions about selling websites on Flippa and how to go about it. Naturally, I took this as a great inspiration to create a post on here, and have decided to answer all of these questions for you.
Q. How Can I Sell A Website On Flippa?
Selling websites on Flippa is as simple as signing up, and pre loading your account with some cash so that you can start selling. Flippa’s pricing is a little steep in comparison to a lot of other market places out there, however, the effectiveness of the marketplace easily makes up for it, considering that if you were to attempt to sell on Digital Point for example, you would more than likely end up making much less than you would on Flippa, plus you would end up increasing the odds that you would end up being the victim of a reversal of some similar kind of unpleasentry.
It is as simple as having a website that people may value, listing it, and seeing how it goes, however, nothing goes without testing. You will win some, and you will most definitely lose some. But in the end, you will get a system in place that works and does quite well. I can teach you the basics, plus more in the upcoming course that I am working on with Dave Jenyns, but that is still in production.
Q. What Can I Do To My Website To Increase Its Saleability?
There are a bunch of things to consider here, however, the main thing (which is universal really) is to add value to the website. If you can prove that the website converts in some way that results on money being earned, then you have done your job. Now, there are multiple ways that you can increase income on a site, many different monetization models, however, it can be as simple as generating high quality unique traffic, then adding Adsense ads on site. If you have 1000 visits per month to your site that focuses on a 2$ CPC keyword, if you convert even 2% of that traffic, then you will have proof of around 40$ per month in earnings for that site. Of course, this can fluctuate, and there are many different monetization models for each type of site, but the key is in proving to the market that the site that you are selling is a viable commercial opportunity, then the rest is really up to you. You can also attempt the same with Affiliate products, or even write an e-book for sale on the site that you may sell for 17$ a piece. The choices are endless, and as always, it depends on your niche and how you market the site.
Q. Is There Any Other Way To Increase Your Sales On Flippa?
If you look at flipping sites in much the same manner as you approach SEO, or anything else that may result in a conversion, the general rules of thumb are always going to be to put yourself into the mind of your desired customer or potential buyer, figure out what it is that they want, then market your product to that specific person.
When asked about such things when it comes to selling sites on Flippa, I always harp on about two things in particular. The headline, and the use of listing tags. First things first, I will assume that you are after the highest possible sale price for your site, so in that sense, you are going to want to use tags that reflect the quality of that site, and what it is about. So, take a minute to think about what someone who wants to spend a ton on a site will search for, and what someone who wants to spend very little on a site will look for. As an example, someone who searches for the “No Reserve” tag will almost always be willing to pay very little for a site (at the time of this post, this tag has a 94% sell rate, with an average sale price of $298), however, someone who wants a site that is profitable will be willing to spend more (current sell rate of 63% with an average sale price of $3553). Your site isn’t profitable? Think again. Whilst your site is ranking for any keyword that has a CPC value of…. well, anything, try placing some ads on your site to get some kind of proof of income. Even so much as 20$ per month will result in a high priced sale.
In fact, check out this auction that I listed for David Jenyns a while back, it sold for $1495 with as little as $17 in income claimed. Further proof that if anything is proven to be even slightly commercially viable, someone will want that site.
Q. If You Can Offer One Piece Of Advice To Sell A Website, What Would It Be?
Honesty and transparency. Selling a website on Flippa is a big thing, if you screw up a sale, then that ends up being one negative mark on your name, which can affect you for a very long time. With the new auction interface on Flippa, real proven stats are now above the fold, meaning that more attention is going to be paid to these than the stats that you claim. Nothing wrong with this of course, this means that those who are selling sites that have value are going to get a good deal, so the best bet is to mirror those real stats in what you claim.
Also worth noting that you don’t have to explain in every single auction why you are selling the site. If you go into a supermarket to buy a bottle of milk, do you ask the person at the checkout why they are selling that bottle of milk? Only ever explain why you are selling if it is part of a sales pitch that tells a story. Having said that, I explain in most of my auctions why I am selling, but that is because my sales pitch always tells a story that builds rapport. Remember to keep that in mind, that is a gold nugget in itself.
So, I will leave it there for the moment. If you were at the seminar, and asked a question that I wasn’t able to answer in that lot, let me know, and I will probably post an addition to this post as well, good luck flipping sites! Don’t for get to follow me on Twitter at @ryantmalone to keep up to date with what is going on here, and you can also opt in to my insider list below to get tips like these in your inbox.
