Selling Websites – What to Include in Your Sales Copy
Posted on December 22nd, 2009 by Luke Moulton
New to selling websites? The sales copy you write for your Flippa listing page is all-important.
There are a few items you can include on your listing page to ensure you attract bidders and answer as many buyer questions as possible. Whether you’re selling start-up websites or aged established websites with high PageRank, it’s important to provide buyers with all the information they need to do their due diligence.
Here are some tips to help maximize your sales opportunity and inform potential bidders:
- Capitalize Domain Names
Make long domain names more readable by capitalizing them. For example: www.LongDomainName.com will make the domain name more readable in the Flippa listings and help people recognize the niche that the site caters to. - List What’s Included
Let potential buyers know what will be included when the purchase completes. For example:- 50 unique and keyword targeted articles.
- 1 month free hosting.
- Custom design theme.
- Domain transfer from GoDaddy.
- Website and database transfer to buyer’s hosting account.
- 1 month support.
- Use Tags
Tags help categorize your website and help potential buyers find your listing. Use the 3 tag fields to list the niche, platform and revenue generation methods. For example: Health, AdSense, WordPress. - Provide Statistics
Ideally you have some historic traffic statistics either from Google Analytics or similar stats package. You can upload copies of these stats when listing your site. Try to include a keyword report with your stats. - Supply Proof of Revenue
Where possible, provide proof of revenue. If you have Google AdSense revenue, make sure you check the AdSense Terms of Service before you publish any AdSense reports. - Monetization Strategies
If your site has not been thoroughly monetized, suggest avenues of improvement: affiliate programs, AdSense, product development etc. - List Ranking Keywords
List the keywords your site is ranking well for in search engine results. - List Keyword Targeting Benefits
A site might be targeted at, and ranking for, certain keyword phrases. Using Google’s Keyword Tool, list the number of monthly searches performed for those keywords to indicate the popularity of the niche. - Content Management Systems (CMS)
CMS and blogging platforms generally make website maintenance easier. Where possible use a popular CMS or blogging platform and post the details in your website sales copy. - Increased Perceived Value with Add-Ons
If you’re using WordPress or a similar CMS platform, often it’s easy to add plugins to your CMS, and these can increase the perceived value to the buyer. For example, the addition of an XML sitemap plugin, SEO plugin or Social Media sharing buttons are quick and easy to install but may increase your sales price. - Explain Why You’re Selling
If your website listing includes consistent revenue and solid traffic stats, why would you be selling? From a seller’s point of view, there’s always a good reason, you may want to put the money towards another investment or expense. Tell the marketplace why you’re selling – if you’re selling a revenue generating site, you’ll be asked this question by more than one buyer. - Realistic Buy It Now Price
For a quick sale, list a respectable Buy It Now (BIN) price. Use these website valuation resources if you’re not sure what your website’s worth. - Use Escrow for Larger Transactions
Escrow can help ensure both buyer and seller honor the transaction process. It costs a little more than PayPal but provides added security.
The above list may vary depending on the type of website you’re selling, but the basic lesson is: the more information you provide on your Flippa website sales page, the better.
Comments (9)
Comments are closed.
December 23, 2009 - 4:25 am
Good post. This thread on the SP forums may be worth reading as well: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=558997
December 23, 2009 - 5:18 am
This is a good post. I’ll have to thank the poster. Lot’s of blogs out there but only some are useful and helpful, this is one of them.Keep posting!
December 24, 2009 - 2:35 am
That’s a great list, I think you’ve managed to cover a lot of the key points nicely.
Regarding keyword rankings, I would not hand out too much specific information on the listing itself but rather first establish who the serious buyers are (as much as is possible) and then privately reveal that info and or offer Google Analytics access if that has been tracked.
February 25, 2010 - 3:47 am
what is really annoying me is the number of websites with no income listed in the ‘high end’ category! I am trying to browse for sites that are making decent money, and I see listings of crappy sites with little or no income. Can you not sort this out?
Steve
February 25, 2010 - 10:07 am
Steve,
They appear in “High End” if the seller thinks they’ll sell for more than $10k – that’s usually a decent indication. However, if that doesn’t match your idea of high end then I think you should set up a custom search. Click on “New Listings” then scroll down to the “Revenue” option on left. Stick “1000″ into the first box to see only those listings with more than $1000 revenue. Does that help?
July 11, 2010 - 10:41 am
It definitely helps both buyers and sellers to put up more info on sales, niches, keywords, etc. but many of the viewers are collecting that information to compete with you and not buy your sites. Therefore, you have to be selective in what you offer as stats especially if you are not retiring from that market.
September 28, 2010 - 1:06 am
Agree, I just wanted to see if any interest given the name of my site, and nada, which I anticipated but you never no. I’ll let it drop.
February 18, 2011 - 3:06 am
hey great tips for selling website, i used this on flippa for selling my website
March 30, 2011 - 8:33 pm
Like the website selling tips, thanks!