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How to Sell a Website

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How to Sell a Website

Have you ever wondered, “Can I sell my website?” If your website is a business that generates revenue, then you could find a buyer and sell your website. 

In this article, we cover the 7 steps you should take so your website is ready to sell and 3 ways to sell your website. 

TL;DR:

  • Websites come in all shapes and sizes: from niche content sites to eCommerce websites, Shopify stores, and software (SaaS) businesses. 
  • It doesn’t matter whether your revenue is $1000 a month (MRR) or $1 million, somewhere out there is a buyer who’d want to acquire your site. 
  • It takes work to sell a site. Buyers want to know they’re getting an asset that they can grow to generate a return on their investment (ROI), also known as a return on capital. 
  • We walk you through the steps to make your website an attractive acquisition for a new owner and three ways to find a buyer.

Let’s dive in . . . 

Can I Sell My Website? 

Yes, you can, if you’ve got a viable online business then you can sell it. 

When we say, “website”, we mean any of the following types of businesses:

  • Niche websites
  • Blogs 
  • eCommerce 
  • Direct to Consumer (DTC) apps 
  • Shopify stores 
  • Online franchises 
  • Etsy stores 
  • B2B Software (SaaS)
  • B2C apps 
  • Newsletters 
  • Podcasts

And any others that have turned an online interest, skill, passion, or problem-solving idea into a viable business. 

If your business can pay for itself, and make a profit then it’s a viable business. 

If it’s viable, as a going concern, then it’s worth selling. Your website could be worth cold hard cash to a potential buyer. Let’s look at what buyers want when considering acquiring a website from the founder and current owner.

What Do Website Buyers Look For?

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then future value is in the eye of a potential buyer. 

Whether a potential buyer is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor, or they’re representing a business aggregator, venture capital (VC), or private equity (PE) firm, what someone is willing to pay is about potential. 

The amount your website is worth is based on two factors:

  1. How big and profitable you’ve grown it so far;
  2. How much upward, growth-based potential it has and whether a new owner can achieve that, making it worth selling again so they get an ROI for their acquisition funds. 

Say you’ve grown your online business to $1 million annual recurring revenue (ARR). A new owner could buy it from you for $30 million. But, it could be worth $30M if they could scale it from $1M ARR to $10M ARR. 

You may not have the time, energy, or resources to achieve that. But, they do, and that’s how perceived future value and growth-based potential play a role in the sale value of any business.

Don’t worry if you’re business isn’t making much money, or has even started making a loss. Even a distressed asset has the potential for someone willing to pay money for it. 

You can’t just stick a “For Sale” sign on your website and hope for the best. There are steps you should take before it’s ready to sell. 

Plus, it could impact your business ⏤ current customers could lose confidence and potential new customers could go elsewhere ⏤ if you made your exit plans public. There are a lot of upsides to going off-market instead of advertising your intention to sell online. 

We will explore the options for selling a website next after we’ve covered the 7 steps to make your website ready to sell.

How to Make My Website Ready to Sell? 

1. Website Performance & User Experience 

Online businesses rely on the website and user experience. If you’re going to sell your website, you need to think about a few things: 

For those thinking of selling, if you’ve got time and the budget, and any areas need improving then it’s worth investing in any of the following:

  • Technical SEO (search engine optimization) improvements 
  • User experience (UX) changes and improvements
  • On-page SEO and content to increase web traffic

Investing in any of those areas will pay off when it’s time to sell, so it’s an investment you will recoup. All of this will make your website worth more while improving current and future revenue potential. 

2. Revenue & Revenue Sources

How valuable your business is depends on several factors. 

Revenue and profitability are one, but there are various types of revenue and some are more valuable than others. Things to consider are:

  • Is your revenue recurring, e.g., a subscription?
  • If so, what’s the retention vs. churn rate?
  • What does it cost to get a customer vs. the lifetime value (CLTV)?
  • Or is your revenue on-off (one-time purchases) or advertising-based?
    If so: Do any of these one-time customers come back?
  • How stable is advertising-based (given what we’ve seen with Google this year, especially for niche sites and blog owners)?

All of that needs to be factored in and included in any documents or presentations you put together to give to potential buyers. 

3. Future Revenue Potential 

Sharing the above information with potential buyers is useful. 

However, current and past revenue data is only half of the story. 

Buyers want to know about the potential. Say you’ve got a niche website with around 100K visitors per month and a combined social media audience of 100K. But you don’t have a newsletter. 

Straight away, a new owner could monetize that audience more effectively with a newsletter and digital products. Making it possible to sell a website for a higher price using the power of advertising the potential revenue channels new buyers could cultivate.

4. Audience, Traffic, Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) 

Your website’s audience, traffic, and ideal customer profiles (ICPs) also make a difference. 

Naturally, higher traffic and a higher-value audience are always going to be worth more. 

For example, if you review luxury products and have affiliate links or are a SaaS that sells big-ticket subscriptions to enterprise customers that will make your business more valuable than one with lower-income customers.

5. Pre-Due Diligence Sale-Ready Accounts & Legal Documents 

Before reaching out to potential buyers, or advertising your business for sale, it’s a massive time-saver to have everything ready before due diligence starts. 

There’s a couple of reasons we recommend this: 

  • It will help a deal go through quicker; 
  • It will make it easier to get a higher sale price if you’ve got all of the information to support the price you want. 

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of documents we recommend you have prepared:

  • A Non-Disclosure agreement (NDA);
  • A Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM); 
  • A Letter of Intent (LOI);
  • A Definitive Agreement;
  • Non-Compete Agreement;
  • Current, past, and Discounted cash flow (DCF);
  • P&L (Profit & Loss) and EBITDA;
  • Balance sheet; 
  • List of assets & liabilities;
  • A valuation (either by a professional valuation analyst or using valuation calculators)
  • Web Traffic, analytics, and any audience or customer-related data that’s worth showcasing to potential buyers.

6. Pre-Approved For An SBA Loan 

It’s easier to sell a business when you’ve been approved for a seller-financed SBA-guaranteed loan.

It’s worth contacting your bank to see how you’d apply, or work with a business loan provider. 

You will need the various financial documents you’ve produced to apply for one. 

One of the advantages is it makes a business easier to buy, shows the owner has confidence in the long-term potential of the business, and will help a sale go through quickly.

7. Automation & Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) 

One thing that helps to sell a website is having systems and processes in place that can replicate the role of the founder. 

If your business is you, it still needs you to function then it’s harder to sell. It’s important to get your knowledge written down in the form of standard operating procedures (SOPs). If you’ve already got staff or freelancers working with you then this step is even more crucial. 

It’s also worth looking into ways to automate various operational processes. With so many software tools on the market and AI-based solutions, there could be big-time and cost-saving solutions that would help your website grow even more, making it more attractive to potential buyers. 

Now, let’s look at three ways to sell a website. 
For other ideas, here’s an article on: How to Find a Buyer for Your Business.

3 Ways to Sell Your Website 

1. Advertise it Online 

Let’s start with the most obvious approach to selling a website: Online. 

All of your customers are online, and so are people who’ve probably noticed your website, or could take an interest if you were to say it’s for sale. 

Here are the channels you could try: 

There are several downsides to promoting your business for sale online:

  • It might cause customers or suppliers to lose confidence in your business;
  • You could lose new customers who will go elsewhere if they think you won’t continue to operate as a business for the service they’re looking for; 
  • It could cause an influx of “tire kickers” who aren’t serious about buying; 
  • It could cause you to lose focus because instead of focusing on continuing to grow and look after your business, you’ve got potential buyers to deal with (some of whom could be completely wrong or a waste of time).

2. Talk to People Across Your Network  

Instead of taking your plans to sell online, you could only promote your intended exit through your network. 

Review a list of partners, suppliers, and customers. Assess this list based on a number of criteria: 

  • Would buying my business be a smart strategic move for them?
  • Does it look like they’ve got the funds to make this acquisition? (and remember, it doesn’t have to be 100% of the amount you want if you’ve got an SBA-backed loan lined up)
  • Do I like working with them, have we done good business with them before?
  • Would I trust them to take care of the business after me and grow it?
  • If they aren’t a potential buyer, do they know people who could be interested?

Look at every option in your network. Put together a series of introductory pitches and messages, have everything ready (see the list above), and then start reaching out to those who could be interested.

3. Work With a Deal Sourcing Partner 

Like the method above, a deal-sourcing partner would ensure your business exit was off-market. 

An off-market deal is better than promoting the sale of your business online for all of the downsides mentioned in that section. With an off-market approach facilitated by a deal-sourcing partner, such as Falcon River:

  • Buyers are genuinely interested and purchase-ready;
  • You won’t have to deal with time-wasters;
  • Potential buyers will meet your ideal profiles;
  • You won’t have to pay a fee or a percentage of the sale price;
  • You won’t need to advertise the fact your business is for sale online.  

We established Falcon River after trying to sell our own online businesses through numerous channels, including brokers. 

Selling your business through Falcon River is a simple and fast process. Our clients know exactly what they want, have cash on hand, and have an excellent history of closing deals for a good price.

Key Takeaways: How To Sell My Website 

There are numerous ways to sell a site. 

You can always promote the fact that your website is for sale online. You can also use newsletters and other channels. 

That comes with numerous pitfalls. A better approach is to promote your exit plans offline and off-market, through your own network and working with a deal-sourcing partner. 

This will increase your chances of success, will be quicker, and could increase the chance of securing a higher valuation. Work with Falcon River to sell your website: Quick, organized, fair, and zero broker fees.