Another approach to buying sites, what do you think?

Approaching webmasters directly is my preferred approach and I've had success with it. All the sites I currently own have been acquired though identifying sites that had unrealised potential and where the webmaster did not express a public intention to sell their site. My experiences seem to mirror that of others on the forum/thread.

There are numerous benefits from this approaach. Sites sold on marketplaces such as Flippa are bound to be held by people who understand their site has value and so the price will reflect this. A site created out of pure passion and only ever seen some monetisation efforts (if any) is less likely to command a high price.

That said, it takes a lot of effort. At times I've been sending out around 30 emails a day. Only some reply, those that do often express a lack of interest in selling, or are still after a high price (to reward them for their efforts, rather than the business worth).

There are some strategies which have been talked about on the forum. Cold calling on the phone can work, it's easier to build some rapport and to come across as serious. Chasing down a reliable phone number is difficult, however. Complimenting a webmaster, or asking to pay for advertising space, are ways in which an initial correspondence can be initiated without the sales patter. I agree that this can be deceptive if it's not your honest intention to buy advertising etc.

Once upon a time, I used to hide under a fake name when contacting webmasters as I didn't want my real word credentials effecting my efforts to buy a site. I'm now taking the reverse angle; I'm being honest about my intentions to profit, but I also speak about my skills and the past sites I've worked on, highlighting how I've improved the sites and engaged with their communities. Moreover, I contact people from my company email address and will soon look to create a website where I will disclose what I do. It might undermine my "I love your site/share your passion" patter and even command a higher price, but I think it might just come across as less hostile. I could be wrong.

Scaling is important. I usually make the extra effort to really personalise my emails if I highly rate the opportunity in buying a specific site. If it's a merely okay opportunity, then I might just use a fairly canned response and give up if I don't get a response. Hunting down the perfect contact details and writing hand-crafted emails every time isn't economical, I feel.

Great to hear other peoples thoughts on all this and it most definitely seems that there's more players in this space. I frequently get emails asking to buy my sites and I'm sure I'm not alone.

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