Whether you feel like you’re done with your affiliate website, you see trouble rising on the horizon, or you feel like it has reached its maximum value, selling could be a great idea. You can’t just put your site up on one of these website marketplaces overnight, however, even if it’s urgent. If you rush the process, you won’t be able to extract as much value from the site as you can. It’s also important that you know all the options that are open to you and make sure that you have realistic expectations. Here are some of the things you need to know and do before you sell your affiliate website.
Maximize Your Site’s Value
The first thing you have to understand is that simply existing doesn’t make an affiliate website valuable. If the site has only been around for a couple of months, there will be little interest in it in most cases. Even having a few sales is not enough to make people interested in a website if it’s too young.
Most sites are valued based on an earnings multiplier. Some sites sell for 20 times their current annual earnings, but you can’t expect someone to pay that much for a site that has only been up for about three to six months. The ideal scenario would be to wait until the site is at least two to three years old before you sell. If you can’t wait that long, try to wait for at least a year before you try.
Another thing that will affect your website’s value is the main sources of traffic. If most of your traffic comes from paid sources like PPC or media buys, then you can’t expect to get paid as much as a website that has solid SEO.
When you look at affiliate site owners, many rely on SEO traffic but don’t keep close enough tabs on traffic fluctuations. This is why we suggest that you check if there has been a dip in traffic lately as it could be a sign that you have been hit by a recent update. You will need to correct the situation before you sell your site as serious sellers might recoil once they notice a recent sharp decrease in organic traffic.
Have Your Analytics and Financials in Order
Another thing that will boost your site’s value and facilitate a sale is having all your metrics and financials in order. The more your paperwork is clean and tidy, the more people will be impressed by you and will have trust in your site.
You’ll need to show clear proof of affiliate revenue, ad spend, and ad revenue if you make money from ads. You also have to provide different traffic reports. Serious buyers will ask to see Google Search Console and Google Analytics reports and most brokers will ask for at least three months of verified Google analytics reporting before they even look at your website, so be prepared for that.
Marketplace or Broker?
When it comes to selling a website, you have two main options. You can either go for a marketplace like Flippa or go with a broker. Note that you can always sell your website independently, but it’s much more of a hassle and it’s usually better for people who have access to a large network already.
You’ll have more control over the process and be able to keep more money in your pockets if you go with a website marketplace. However, you could also run into issues and some people will simply refuse to buy a website from a marketplace unless it’s at a huge discount.
With a broker, on the other hand, you won’t have to worry too much about time wasters or people trying to sell you short. A broker will help you with everything from the valuation, to escrow, to transferring the site. They also have a whole network of buyers that they can take advantage of. This is usually the best option if you have a site that is well-established with steady revenue.
This is all you need to know if you want to sell your affiliate website. Take the time to look at how you could get the most for your website and be patient if you want to get the absolute most for it.