This is a post from a personal experience. There is no doubt that there are many opportunities in business that we can invest in. In my earlier post on ways of making money online from home, I talked about a website reselling business. In this post I am going to expound on the same. It is possible to make some money with little capital by creating and reselling websites. But in order to make a decent profit, your selling site must be making a decent profit, i.e. essentially you're selling off your business.
Selling a Web Store For a Profit
I have sold my web store and made a good profit in the past. If you have physical products or downloadable products to sell, you can build an e-commerce site, run it for a few years and eventually sell it off.
Building a website from scratch involves domain registration and web hosting, which will be in your name and therefore transferring it to your buyer can be tricky. The easiest method is to open an ecommerce website on a speciality platform. The first site to visit is sellfy.com. Another one is shopify.com. Both charge $29 per month and offer 14-day free trial. You can try both, but I have always used Sellfy.
Both the online store services provide good training and support. If it's your first time, there may be a lot to take in, but soon you'll be comfortable listing your products in your store site. It does not matter at this point whether anyone will buy the products or not. The most important thing is to start driving target traffic. Create social media pages and accounts for the website for the purpose of ensuring that you are promoting the products. When the accounts have more followers, it is also a chance that your website will become more profitable.
Once this is done, register for the Google ad network and start advertising on the website. Depending on the number of clicks on the website, the website's value increases and attracts more value when someone expresses interest. It is also important to note that as long as the products are selling on the website the value and your bargaining power increases. There was a time my website had more than 12k unique page visits per month.
When Ready To Sell Your eCommerce Website
When the website is making more than $1,000 a month in terms of sales, it is ready for sale. There are many sites that will help you in valuing your website. You can choose to use these websites. My favorite to use is flippa.com.
flippa.com takes into account different things including fact of whether the website is making more profits, the period the website has been operative and the number of unique visitors per month.
There are stores that have their domain at the end of the name you decide to give your website. An example of this is www.sellfy.com/ashemakevin. However, you can decide to make your store have a custom url, like www.ashemakevin.com. This is possible when using e-commerce platforms like shopify.com.
If you are using other platforms, purchase a domain name, hosting plan and then upload your store to this domain. It's easier than you think, but you need certain skills and as far as SEO is concerned e-commerce platforms have more advantages. For that reason I would recommend e-commerce platforms.
Value increase
I would also like to indicate that for the value of the website to increase, select the advance/pro version of the e-commerce store. The benefit is because all the features are at your disposal. They help in making sure that you engage with your customers/clients in an easy way.
What Do You Advocate?
Are you willing to share what you love? Show your creativity and earn rewards. Websites, AI tools, community & coaching.
When selling on flippa.com you can do it as an individual or you can select to use a broker. Using a broker is the best option despite the fact that it is 5% more expensive. However a chance of your website selling is 63% likely.
My website had operated for four years making a profit of $900 averagely per month. The valuation I received was between $36,000 and $56,000. I sold it using a broker for $48,000.
Technical Additions
Creating and selling websites is a venture that can be done with anyone with computer knowledge or without. You can also contract web developers on www.freelancer.com and they can work for you. The most important thing is for you to remain patient and with time you can generate a good money if you continuously resell several websites simultaneously.
Pros and Cons of Selling an eCommerce Website
You’ve built a store site and it’s been successful. You have a loyal customer base, good traffic, and healthy sales. But now you’re thinking about selling the business. It’s a big decision to make, and there are pros and cons to consider before hitting the “for sale” button. In this blog post, we will explore the pros and cons of selling your site so that you can make an informed decision about what’s best for you and your business.
Pros of selling an eCommerce website
There are a number of reasons why selling your online site can be advantageous.
1. It can generate a significant amount of revenue.
Depending on the size and scope of the website, it could be sold for tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of dollars.
2. It can also help to eliminate some of the hassle and expense associated with running the business.
For example, if you are no longer interested in dealing with customer service or product fulfillment, then selling the website can help you to avoid those responsibilities.
3. It can provide you with an opportunity to start fresh with a new project.
If you have grown tired of the current website or feel like you have taken it as far as you can, then starting over with a new site can be very exciting. It can also be less expensive to build a new site from scratch than it would be to try and revitalize an existing one.
Cons of selling an eCommerce website
There are a few potential cons to selling your e-commerce site:
1. The new owner may not be able to replicate your success.
Just because they own the website, doesn't mean they'll know how to run it as well as you did. There's a lot that goes into running a successful online store, from marketing and product curation to web design and customer service. If the new owner doesn't have the same dedication and expertise, they may not be able to maintain the same level of success.
2. You could lose valuable employees.
If you have a great team in place who have been with you since the early days, they may not want to stay on under new management. This could mean losing out on valuable institutional knowledge and having to start over with a new team, which can be time-consuming and costly.
3. There's always the risk that something could go wrong during the transition period.
Whether it's an issue with the transfer of ownership or problems with the actual website itself, there's always a chance that something could go wrong during the sell/buy process. This could lead to lost sales, customers, and revenue for both parties involved.
How to know if you should sell your eCommerce website
If you're serious about selling your online store, there are a few key things.
- Evaluate whether or not your business is profitable. If it's not, then selling may not be the best option.
- Consider your personal goals and objectives. If you're looking to retire or move on to something new, then selling might be the right choice.
- Take a look at the current market conditions. If the market is hot and there are buyers interested in purchasing eCommerce businesses, then it could be a good time to sell.
What to do if you decide to sell your eCommerce website
First, you will need to find a buyer who is willing to pay the price you are asking for your website. It's also important to clarify whether or not you will be able to transfer the domain and hosting to the new owner. If you are unable to do this, then it may be difficult to sell your website.
You will also need to create a sales agreement that outlines the terms of the sale, such as the price, payment method, and any other conditions that may apply.
Conclusion
So, you're thinking about selling your eCommerce website. It's a big decision, and one that comes with a lot of pros and cons. On the plus side, you could get a nice chunk of money for your business. On the downside, you'd be giving up control of your company and possibly opening yourself up to legal trouble down the road. Weighing all of these factors is crucial before making a final decision — but ultimately, only you can decide what's best for your business.
AshemaKevin is a Freelance writer. He covers all topics revolving around business. You can follow him on X @ashemakevin
Author // Kevin Ashema
I can easily tell he’s not talking from his own experience.. You can build a site and resell it, but that is the exit solution, not to make money.. Possible 10 years ago but no longer. This is so misleading.