How do you best prepare for an authority website sale?

[bernard]

I'm in the process of selling a larger affiliate sites, with a lot of posts, plugins and Pretty Links.

I want the money in my bank account sooner, rather than later, thus I want to make the transfer and sale of the site as smooth as possible.

Would anyone who went through such a sales process for an affiliate site, share their experience?

What was more difficult than anticipated?

What thing you did helped in making the process easier?

 

[JamaicanMoose]

I've done sales through a broker and through private dealings. The transfer is usually super easy.

Here's what I do:
1) run backup of site with UpDraft Plus and send files to new owner
2) new owner uploads files to their host
3) I switch nameservers to their host
4) 48 hours later I begin domain transfer to them
5) they use Better Search and Replace plugin to switch my Amazon affiliate tag for theirs

Super easy. Haven't had any problems whatsoever.

All payments done through Escrow.com

 

[Ryuzaki]

Based on your other recent posts, you already have a buyer lined up.

But if things aren't completely official yet, one main thing is breaking the process up into phases and setting timelines around them.

For instance, there should be a phase AFTER they sign a non-disclosure agreement and non-compete in the case of not buying, where they can investigate your analytics and make sure everything is legit.

There should be time-based parameters after they sign the contract with intent to buy where you send them the website files and they can get it set up on their side and confirm everything is fine and do more investigating. They should probably go ahead and swap out monetization too so there's no downtime in that.

When that time period is up, there should be another phase where they have a shorter amount of time to fund the escrow account. Once that's done and all members are tied into the transaction (55% to you, 30% to your partner, 15% to the broker, etc.) the transaction needs to occur quickly to set the seller at ease.

If you're doing a buyout period then all of that needs to be in the contracts and be water tight, and the broker or your lawyer need to be on top of making sure the next payment occurs at the required time.

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I find that preparing before you ever begin the process of finding a buyer is best. I clean up anything straggling within the dashboard (like unused plugins, clean the database, take care of draft posts, etc.).

Then you can draw up a prospectus type of document that lists the strengths, weaknesses, revenues, revenue sources, expenses, expense justifications, human time required to operate, etc. If you can do this with month-by-month data then you can provide graphs too.

I'd go ahead and create a spreadsheet if you don't have one including all of the URLs, login names and passwords, etc., for any social media accounts, Google accounts, the website itself, etc., that'll all get passed over too. Include info like SFTP logins, cPanel, WHM, etc. if you're going to pass the server over to them.

Finally, if you have anything peculiar going on, create a PDF of notes on that. Like images needing to be certain sizes, how to use your custom fields, what to look out for when updating plugins or themes, and anything else of this nature.

If you have the documents ready and the buyer doesn't have their own operations going on (or even if they do) you can pass over standard operating procedures too that will outline any peculiarities.

 

[bernard]

Thanks @JamaicanMoose for 5), that just saved me a lot of time in regards to Pretty Links updating. They probably know this method, but if they don't, then I can tell them this and save them or me hours of updating.

@Ryuzaki Thanks, a lot to consider actually. I was thinking about stuff like you mention, cleaning up etc. It's important for me to not do a hit and run style sale. I want to keep selling to these guys as part of my business strategy.

Also, I haven't discussed payment terms yet. I hope I could get it all in cash in one payment, but maybe not. If not, then that definitely needs to be lawyer approved.

I hope I manage to sell the site. It would legit change my life for the better and it would be a great culmination of my BuSo journey.

 

[DD1]

Also, I haven't discussed payment terms yet. I hope I could get it all in cash in one payment, but maybe not. If not, then that definitely needs to be lawyer approved.

OTOH, if you get paid over two different tax years, you might fall into a lower income tax bracket. You mentioned more than once about your tax situation, so think about that. Obviously get a lawyer for your protection, a CPA to review your numbers according to your unique situation, etc. But a quick google search and an online calculator could give you an 80/20 view of your tax situation in a lump-sum payment vs something spread over time.

Also, if it does happen like that, there might be room for raising the sale price. For a lower initial investment, the buyer is taking over an income-producing asset. Or he pays whatever was agreed in a lump sum. It's fair for both sides.

 

[F5K7]

I've done sales through a broker and through private dealings. The transfer is usually super easy.

Which broker would you recommend? Do you have any advice on finding buyers for private dealings for larger sites?

 

[JamaicanMoose]

Which broker would you recommend? Do you have any advice on finding buyers for private dealings for larger sites?

I don't have a broker I can recommend at the moment. I have used FE International a couple of times. They promised to send me a bottle of wine after each sale. I never received any bottles of wine. Not going to be working with them again. Empire Flippers wants a $297 fee to run a detailed valuation on websites. They don't deduct that fee from the brokerage fee if it sells. I think that's bad business and so I won't be going with them.

I found a couple private buyers off of Flippa when I listed one of my small sites. Ended up selling 4 additional sites outside of the platform. So not sure where to find private buyers for larger sites. Someone else on here probably knows.

 

[bernard]

@JamaicanMoose I forgot, did we have a thread for website flippers? I'd like to bounce some ideas about that. Planning, timeline, optimal time of sale, that kind of thing.

 

[secretagentdad]

Post a bst here.

No reason to pay any commissions.

Plus it would be epic and cool for the community to host a big sale.

 

[Antti]

@JamaicanMoose

If you set up seller call with Empire Flippers and they see you're serious about selling your site, they won't charge you anything for vetting.

@F5K7

You could try various Facebook groups on SEO / website flipping for finding a private buyer if you have <$150k site. For example "Affiliate SEO Mastermind", "Proper SEO Group", "Flipping Websites" etc.

@bernard

Hope all goes well!