Selling Websites for a Living

Traditional business folk love to buy these types of site. I started building and selling online stores last January after I had completed the Niche Blueprint 2 course and have since sold over half a dozen.

They seem to have more value because they are dealing with physical products so you can show invoices, suppliers etc. rather than Adsense numbers or sales of a digital product that exists no where but on your hard drive.

I tend to build my e-commerce stores for the UK market simply because that’s where I am and I believe you need to fully understand your market place when selling physical products. This is even more important for high ticket products.

Another reason is that you need a free phone number on display and many customers phone just to satisfy themselves the web site is genuine. You will leave a lot of money on the table without one on display (I’ve tested extensively).

I prefer stores that I can find drop shippers for, not always easy in the UK but the benefits are that you require no or little stock. I do sometimes import the best sellers to improve the profit margins but do find it causes problems when it comes to selling the site on if the buyer is new to the business.

They want to know about import duty, taxes etc. where as someone already in business is happy enough to know you will pass on the details of suppliers once payment has cleared.

These e-commerce stores take some work, mostly in the research stage. Go after the wrong niche and you will be lucky to make your $14 a month hosting fee back.

Get the right niche though and the profits can be huge.

I’ve found that you need to sit on these sites a little longer before selling. Buyers like to see solid results for at least 3 months. Understandable as the site typically requires a higher level of investment than your average Flippa.com site.

Before paying to list an e-commerce site for sale I always contact the drop shipper and let them know I am going to flip the site. Over half I have so far sold were purchased by the stores drop shipper.

It’s a win/win for them because they will make double per sale that you make so they get their investment back far quicker than a buyer who is looking to continue using your drop shipper.

Never sell an e-commerce store until it hits number 1 at Google for it’s main keyword or phrase. You simply have no idea what you are sat on until it does.

These type of sites are valued on profit made. When I see them for sale while still at number 2 or 3 in the Google results I often take a punt on them myself.

I’ve had sites making a couple of sales a week sat at number 2 in Google that have then increased to a couple of sales a day once it hit the top spot – the difference really is that big.

You can learn more about Niche Blueprint 2 by clicking here.