Selling a successful website can be a fast way to get the cash out of your asset (the website) and use that money for something else – usually investing in other ventures that you have, or diversifying into other assets.

I get asked "how do I sell a website" very often, and this method can be a little complicated for anything that seems so straightforward on the surface if you've never done it before.

I'll give you the steps in this guide on how to better market your account.

How to sell: the short version

This will be a long post, but if you are in a rush and just want to figure out how to quickly sell a website, here are the simple steps that you need to follow:

Ensure sure the website is "sellable" and as purchaser-friendly as possible.

Ensure that the platform maximizes its sales to get the highest selling price

Prepare the last two (or more years) of the sales, expenses, and benefit numbers.

Find the worth of your platform before the sale

Make a list of the projects you are working on for the website, and the amount of time these projects take you each week.

Make sure you have a list of your sources of income and the main costs (writers, developers, hosting)

Write a transition plan for the new owner so that they can reach the running ground when they buy your site

 

Find the buyer (either using a Flippa / Empire Flippers marketplace, a FE International broker or, where possible, a private buyer)

Using the safe payment escrow service to ensure both buyer and seller are secured

The full guide to selling a platform

Okay, "total" is used a lot online to try to make it look like it's the best stuff. I would try to use my own website sale process as comprehensively as possible but there is no such thing as a full guide.

So, you have a good website, it's money-making and attracting customers, so you want to sell it so you can use the funds elsewhere.

Whatever the reason you're selling your website, cashing out helps you to take advantage of money's time value – a concept that literally means $1 in your hand today is better than $2 in your hand next month.

By using your website as an asset for sale, you have in your hand the benefit of a lump sum of money, which you can then use to spend and boost your net worth.

Consider your website as useful as possible prior to sale

The first step in selling a website is to make sure that the site is as appealing and as purchaser-friendly as possible.

Maximizing your website before you sell is the best way of ensuring you get the lowest possible sales price.

Probably you want to make sure that you took the platform as far as you can at least three months before the sale. This gives your changes time to have an impact on conversions, and ultimately on revenue and profits.

A buyer would be much more interested in a fairly passive website than a "fixer-upper" which takes effort and commitment to realize the potential.

Your site requires to be well built and easy to use

Technology is a subjective thing, but landing on a website is quite simple and you find it doesn't "look" quite right.

A bad design can make your site look unprofessional, or even worse, spammy.

 

Provide a message which is straightforward. Make sure your content copy and advertising are very simple and concise so your guests know exactly what you are offering.

The app is Mobile-friendly. It would go without saying, but more and more people are browsing and shopping on their cell phones – there may be up to 50 percent or more of your guests on phones.

Simple model. Nothing than that when it comes to web design. Rarely do the users think about fancy fonts, animations, or slider photos scrolling? Keep your layout as basic as possible, so that you can easily see your key call to action links (CTA).

Call for practice. Again, your website needs these to be transparent and consistent, so your guests know exactly what to do.

Unless your website is content-based then WordPress is most likely to be used.

If you've made your website design appealing to a customer, the next move is to concentrate on how much you're making.

Make sure your website receives the full possible amount

A multiple of your annual earnings is the most popular way of valuing a website. That means more earnings contribute to a higher sales price.

When your website makes $10,000 a year, and you sell it for a multiple of 3 times, the sale price is $30,000.

This means if you can lift the annual earnings to $12,000, the sales price can leap to $36,000!

Here are several ways you can gain more from your website before you sell it:

Try out another ad network. Should you use AdSense? If so, you can turn to Ezoic or Mediavine, with exactly the same traffic, and gain more from your ads.

Offer immediate advertising. To draw advertisers, you can add a "advertise" page to your site, and you can also contact the companies you see in your AdSense advertising to see if they will be interested in brokering a direct offer.

Improve your marketing ties with your affiliates. Do an analysis of the ties to your affiliate marketing. Have the links in the article very early, include them via the post, maybe even add a CTA or popup button to try to get more clicks on it. More clicks = bigger sales.

Sell products. Could you build an online course, ebook, audiobook, or guide to sell your visitors? Normally this is much more profitable than any other form of monetization.

Check the different placements in the ad. Ezoic helps you to quickly check various locations and there are WordPress plugins that can do that for AdSense as well.

Experiment with texting the CTA connection. You should try "I want this" or "Grant me permission" instead of "Click Here" Try to Personalize the CTA.

Having an email list ensures that even after they leave your website you can target them several times over.

If you're looking for a quicker deal, you may not have time to do this, but it's the fastest way to raise the selling price and it's worth it if you're able to put the effort in.