Should You Sell a Website?
Recently, I was thinking of selling one of my more profitable websites. I felt I just wasn't dedicating the time necessary to ensure it continued as a profitable and valuable resource. I wanted to bow out gracefully before my neglect led to a big downslide. Having never seriously tried to sell a website for good coin (and this one is worth VERY good coin), I asked a few friends I thought might have some advice for me.
One of the people I asked was John Reese. Boy, am I glad that I had that middle of the night email conversation with him.
He asked me why the heck I would sell it when it was making money. I told John that if felt like a monkey on my back. I wanted to get out before it went downhill. He actually gave me a lot of great guidance, but there was one thing he said that was very powerful and really opened my eyes and allowed me to come to a final decision on the matter.
"Why don't you just find someone to take care of the site for you and pay them a percentage of the profits? If you ask one of the work at home moms you work with, they'll have a ready-made business and you'll continue to profit from the site."
DUH! What was I thinking? I guess I just felt like I was out of ideas and the motivation necessary to keep it going. Because of those feelings, it was adding some stress to my life. I spent the next hour or so writing down all the things I was responsible for with the site. Many of the tasks were already outsourced, so my list of duties really was quite small.
I came to this conclusion: If I found someone to handle those few tasks that were my source of stress, then I could continue to receive the sweet residual income and keep the site alive.
If you are thinking of selling one of your websites, I encourage you to take time and really think through ALL of your options. Don’t be afraid to seek the advice of your fellow website owners and mentors. They just might shed some light on areas you are blinded by due to being too personally involved in. People buy and sell websites all the time, but if you have a nice piece of virtual real estate that you don't have time for...there might be more profitable alternatives than selling them.
One of the people I asked was John Reese. Boy, am I glad that I had that middle of the night email conversation with him.
He asked me why the heck I would sell it when it was making money. I told John that if felt like a monkey on my back. I wanted to get out before it went downhill. He actually gave me a lot of great guidance, but there was one thing he said that was very powerful and really opened my eyes and allowed me to come to a final decision on the matter.
"Why don't you just find someone to take care of the site for you and pay them a percentage of the profits? If you ask one of the work at home moms you work with, they'll have a ready-made business and you'll continue to profit from the site."
DUH! What was I thinking? I guess I just felt like I was out of ideas and the motivation necessary to keep it going. Because of those feelings, it was adding some stress to my life. I spent the next hour or so writing down all the things I was responsible for with the site. Many of the tasks were already outsourced, so my list of duties really was quite small.
I came to this conclusion: If I found someone to handle those few tasks that were my source of stress, then I could continue to receive the sweet residual income and keep the site alive.
If you are thinking of selling one of your websites, I encourage you to take time and really think through ALL of your options. Don’t be afraid to seek the advice of your fellow website owners and mentors. They just might shed some light on areas you are blinded by due to being too personally involved in. People buy and sell websites all the time, but if you have a nice piece of virtual real estate that you don't have time for...there might be more profitable alternatives than selling them.
3 Comments:
Great idea Alice. And whoever came on board with you is a lucky duck. hehe
I'm glad you did that Alice! It was very thoughtful of you to share it with a work at home mom (assuming you did). Thank goodness for John Reese hehe. I agree with Nell that person is sure a lucky duck!
Alice,
There is no better person to listen
to about selling websites then good
ol Mr. Ed Dale.
Considering he got "8" times yearly
earnings (yes you read right, 8 times)
I think he's in the know.
A few months ago I attended his
$10,000 class on selling and buying
sites and it was absolutely
phenomenal.
If interested in this topic, I know
he just did a interview with Yanik
Silver on his blog and is going
to be going into more depth on the
subject soon.
http://www.tubbynerd.com
Cheers!
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