Thread: Tips for a Successful Web Site Auction

As said in the post of Will, writing a good listing is the key to get buyers and with more works, improve your sale price.
I'm going to post here, what to write in your listing, step-by-step.

The title

Try to find the most catchy title. Be sure you said the niche, the kind of site and the potential of what your are selling.

Bad : [WTS] blog about poker
Good : [WTS] New Blog - Poker Niche - AdSense / Casino Affiliate Integrated - Ready To Go !

Introduction

Introduce yourself and your site and say why you are selling.
Do you need money ? Do you want to get rid of some websites ? Why this site can a good investment for your buyer...

The Site

The domain name: introduce the quality of the domain even if it is a .info.
Say if it is brandable, memorable, does it have PageRank.

The content: talk about the content of your site. Have you uniques articles, keywords targeted or re-used elsewhere. If you have done some keyword researches or some internal links buiding.

The design: tell the readers if you have bought the theme, if yes how many.
Do you have a good CTR with this theme. Do you provide a logo, a header or some banners ?

Traffic

Talk about the traffic (referers, organic traffic) and upload some screenshots for proof (tinypic.com, pixitux.com). Remember, the key of a good listing : always say the truth ! Never, never, never hide something! It can kill your auction AND your authority !

Monetization

Maybe the most important thing if you want to get some hundreds from your listing. Talk about the money you earn or the potential the site to earn it.
Do you have already integrated some AdSense Ads or affiliate links ? Is your site banned from AdSense ?

Bonus

Here, you should tell the readers if you offer some extra services like free web hosting for X months etc...
Can you transfer the site for the buyer ? Do you provide an after-sale support ?

Finally, set a Buy-It-Now (BIN) price (don't change it after!).
I think a good BIN price is 3 times the monthly earnings and a starting bid as less as 10% of the BIN. If you don't want to sell under a reserve price, say it to your readers and tell them when the reserve price is met.

Remember:

Catchy Title

Hello,

• Introduction
• Domain, Content, Design
• Traffic
• Monetization
• (Bonus)
• Starting BID, BIN

Bye.

The key of a good listing : always say the truth ! Never, never, never hide something! It can kill your auction AND your authority !

Come.

Originally Posted by Come

a good BIN price is 3 times the monthly earnings

I strongly disagree.

Would Google sell themselves off at 3 times their monthly earnings? Nup, because it'd only take the buyer 3 and a bit months... And they'd be $x-squillion in profit -- completely effortlessly. It would be a lot more profitiable for Google to keep their company, at that sort of rate.

If Google wouldn't (I'm sure you wouldn't argue with me in saying that Google have made some pretty good business choices), why would you? Compare things to scale.


Not a bad reference, but I probably wouldn't have prepared it in the same way myself.