10 Signs Your Website Needs to be Sold — Now

By | June 17, 2011

If we lived in an ideal world, then knowing when your website should be sold would be as obvious as a slap in the face. But things aren’t always so cut and dry, especially for someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience in buying and selling websites. But as you learn more and more about domains, you begin to recognize signs and indications about the right time to sell.

You can, of course, accelerate that learning curve by following the ten signs you’ll read about here. We at WebsiteBroker.com know that we don’t live in an ideal world where your web site will scream “sell me!”

But hopefully after reading these signs, it might seem that way. (Note: if you hear other voices in your head, there’s a good chance you have more problems than selling websites.)

1. People are paying well. Sometimes selling a website isn’t about dumping it or cutting your losses – it’s about capitalizing on a market. Turning your website into cash should come with a good price, so if people are paying well for other similar websites, maybe it’s time for you to sell yours as well.

2. You have a good offer on the table. This one is even more obvious: a good offer for your domain might be the best offer you’ll ever see. Of course, you have no way of knowing that, but it’s often smart to get out while the getting’s good.

3. You’re sick of investing time and money. Sometimes you know it’s the right time to sell simply because you want to get out of a website – and we don’t blame you.  If you’ve been putting too much time and money into a website for a long time, it might be time to part ways.

4. You see better opportunities elsewhere. If you’re more excited about another website idea and simply don’t have the time or resources to work on another domain, it’s not a bad idea to “jump ship,” so to speak, and sell the web site.

5. You’re under-utilizing the current site. Being honest, most of us wish we had the skills to properly monetize any domain.  But sometimes we have to admit that other people will probably be able to squeeze more out of a site than us. When this happens, we can at least squeeze plenty of dollars out of a domain by selling to the right person – someone who can really utilize it.

6. Ad money is drifting downward. If your revenues from a site are starting to drop, it can’t hurt to look into selling the thing!

7. You need to strike quickly. Along with #1, you have to recognize when the market for a site is ready to give you a lot of money – and if it means you need to strike quickly, you probably should.

8. You think the market is about to dip. Timing is everything, as you’ll find out in your excursions into the world of domain selling. If the market’s about to dip – and even if you’re not about to get a good price for the site – it can still be the “best” time to sell.

9. Your niche is threatened. Sometimes getting out of a lucrative niche ahead of the dip can be a great way to maximize your money – but it does require a lot of experienced foresight.

10. The antithesis: everyone’s giving you the “sell” advice, but you don’t see any offers. Sometimes it pays to hold a site over selling it – and it can be tough when all the peer pressure in the world tells you to sell. But you need to sell when it’s good for you, not good for your peers.