Best way to find a website to buy? (Not Flippa)

[DrewD]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum but in all of my research on buying and selling websites I have found this tip repeatedly and I wanted to share it with the world of EP. I apologize if this sounds redundant to many of you, but if it helps just one person find that deal that makes a difference..

Everyone knows that the best deals happen offline, the deals that make news, sales of websites for $80,000+, this is of course because the sites that are being sold at these prices are being bought by people who don't value these websites as just "websites," instead they value them as full-fledged businesses and are making substantial investments for incredible returns. The point is that these deals, the best types of deals, are not found on Flippa, they are not found on eBay or for sale anywhere on the web for that matter. The best websites to buy are the ones not for sale.

If someone walked up to your door, knocked, and said, "I would really love to buy your house" chances are you would shoo them away. Unless of course you were planning to move soon, and you haven't done any renovations to the house lately, and you knew that if you were going to put it up for sale soon you were going to have to put money into it to make it "buyer-ready." If this was the case, I'm sure you would be overjoyed that someone shows such great interest, and you might even sell your house if the conditions were right.

The point is, when this happens online, people are usually apt to sell their house! There are often old, ugly ducks of a website lurking on page 2 or 3 of Google, that have been there for a long time and the owner is stuck: doesn't know how to improve rankings to improve revenue. Or simply they don't know the value! Owners of these ugly ducklings are unaware of what real gems they are sitting on, which is why they are perfect for people like us to take off their hands.

The process is simple:

1. Identify a niche or keyword (preferably an evergreen one) that you are interested in
2. Look past the authority sites on page one, and scour Google to page 2 or 3 or 5, look for that site that has a few adwords ads on it and tons of content, look for the sites that you can't believe are ranked. Look for the sites that you can tell have not been updated in a while, and see potential.
3. After due diligence, contact the site owner, find their contact info on the site or WHOIS and send them an email that looks something like:

Subject: thedomainname.com
Message: "Hi, I came across your site and I noticed it has some really great content, I really like it. I also noticed it hasn't been updated in a while. Would you be interested in selling your site?"

* some people believe a long drawn out approach is best...yeah, don't do that. We are all busy, and the site owner is too. Keep it short and to the point, while also making it personal. The worst they can do is say no, and you move onto the next gem.

4. Often times, since the owner of the site has never been approached by someone interested in buying their site, you will be able to get a price that is an absolute steal compared to the would-be price of the site on an auction.

5. Don't say the first number in the negotiation

This method is simple, but on the private marketplace, the best deals are found, and you can almost always get them for way less than would-be at an online auction!

Has anyone tried this technique before?
What was your success? Failure?
What are some tips you would be willing to share about this technique?

Thanks everyone!

[Denny]

I have not tried this, but based on my lack of success with Flippa and other sites, this sounds like a technique to try. I was negotiating with the owner of a site on Flippa who told me that most of his site purchases were done using the technique you outlined. The more I read about Flippa on this forum, the more skeptical I get. I've been burned twice on Flippa over the past 2 years. But regardless of how much DD you perform, there's always a risk. This method will of course take much more time, but could definetly be time well spent.

[DrewD]

Absolutely, risk will be involved, and time too. But the price you will pay for what gem you will receive should be worth it. On flippa you are bound to run into many people who are just there to make a quick buck, and aren't too focued on the quality of the site. With this method, you are the one who determines the quality of the site, and the price comes later. I would recommend giving it a try, once you've searched around a bit you'll figure out what is most comfortable for you and will develop a system.

[Clinton]

DrewD, welcome to experienced-people.net

You are very correct. A lot of online businesses change hands every year. If you measure the size of the market in dollar terms and include the likes of Groupon and LinkedIn, then what goes through Flippa is almost negligible - a blip in the ocean. But at the lower end of the market- say less than $50K - Flippa's share is significant, maybe even one or two percent of global sales. The vast majority of sellers use business listing sites, well established business brokers, newer brokers of online businesses, webmaster forums like V7N, other business forums, direct contact with competitors, chambers of commerce, the list is endless.

There have been a few discussions in the past around the method you suggest and even some ideas about automating the finding of such sites and automating the initial approach.

4. Often times, since the owner of the site has never been approached by someone interested in buying their site, you will be able to get a price that is an absolute steal compared to the would-be price of the site on an auction.

I get several emails every year from people approaching me to buy sites I haven't worked on in a while. I ignore those emails. Considering that there are a fair few people employing this tactic now perhaps you can try something new. Like phoning them! Sometimes they laugh at you. Wolfram did when I approached them about buying their site some years ago But sometimes they'll enter into a dialogue.

You might find this thread interesting.

[DrewD]

Hi Clinton, thank you very much I'm happy to be a part of it.

First off, that's awesome that you tried to buy Wolfram. Awesome. Imagine if that deal woul have gone through. But thanks for that tip. I guess I've never really thought of trying to phone someone, simple solution to the problem of being just a wallflower.

I read through that thread you linked to, another innovative technique Ive never even thought of. Google is such a powerful tool within itself, advanced search ignorance could really cost ya.

One of the tools I have personally heard about for automating the process is Ryan Moran's Flip Finder. Have you had any experience with it? Or know others who might have?

Honestly automating that process could potentially provide you with an ever growing list of potential investments. If your budget wasn't too steep anyway, if it is, I'm guessing the sites you would be really interested in are already linked to a broker of some sort. Is there any services that you know of that search across some of the online marketplaces that you described?

[Mutt Media]

Thanks for the information, Drew. I have almost given up completely on Flippa and am slowly compiling a list of community sites that I would be interested in buying. I check in on the sites about once a week and see when the last time the owner/admin visited the site. My belief is if they are uninterested, then the chance of them selling will be higher. Also, they might be burnt out and are grateful to walk away with some cash in their pocket!

I'll start trying your method for non-community sites as well!

Eric

[Clinton]

If your budget wasn't too steep anyway, if it is, I'm guessing the sites you would be really interested in are already linked to a broker of some sort. Is there any services that you know of that search across some of the online marketplaces that you described?

There used to be places like ITSect, but it closed down. There are still places like Flipfilter and I've got a list of other locations here (which I should really update at some point. I've started work on the update but ... other things are getting in the way. Maybe somebody can do a nice post here on the forums with a comprehensive list)

[DrewD]

Good luck Eric that's great! Most likely they will definitely be happy to walk away with an unexpected paycheck. That's a great tactic too, to continually update yourself on what the status of the sites are. Have you thought about how you are going to approach the owners of these sites to test your theories? How you might bring up potential price?

I think your Google advanced search tactic is one of the best that I have heard so far.

Eric, a good use of Clinton's advanced search method could be a goldmine for community sites, have you ever tried it?

[rogsmith]

DrewD,

After reading your post and a question you asked which unfortunately had no replies i wonder if i can ask it again.I had never heard of flip finder but after googling it following your question it looks interesting so can i ask again does anyone have any experiance or knowledge of this,i see they have some kind of course which looks like it covers all the stuff i want to learn.So would it be worthwhile.Many thanks.

[KenW3]

One of the tools I have personally heard about for automating the process is Ryan Moran's Flip Finder. Have you had any experience with it? Or know others who might have?

I had never heard of flip finder but after googling it following your question it looks interesting so can i ask again does anyone have any experiance or knowledge of this,i see they have some kind of course which looks like it covers all the stuff i want to learn.So would it be worthwhile.Many thanks.

I had never heard of Ryan Moran or Flip Finder, but the approach on his sales page was that of a guru promoter and IMer rather than a serious business professional. I signed up for his webinar to see what further information was available. If you register for his video, a thank you video appears at members. flip-finder.com/1/webinar/webinar-register-thankyou.php (space added to break active link)

At 2:45 in this video, he mentions Perry Belcher as part of his group, so I didn't watch any further. I suggest you search that name on Google.com

On his sites, Ryan Moran mentions Ryan Deiss and Travis Sago. I would suggest researching them also. That will help you begin to get an idea of effective methods being employed to get prospects to give marketers such as Ryan Moran a thousand dollars for an eTycoon course.

The sites of his I found after a brief search were, eTycoonRyanMoran.org, eTycoonCourseReview.com, eTycoonBlog.net, LumpSumProfits.com, LumpSumProfitsGuide.com, and of course, FlipFinderSoftware.com and Flip-Finder.com. I would expect there are more.

A useful thread on this is at http://www.warriorforum.com/internet...5-etycoon.html One WF member in the thread sounds like a partner (JV or affiliate). Post 22 (of this WF thread) has some very useful resources, and this same information is available here on EP.

eTycoon came out in early 2010 for $997. The Lump Sum Profits above was $97 as an introduction.

The FlipFinder Software is available for $997 (or 3 easy payments of $397 ) which is a two thousand dollar discount over the regular price. It says the first 250 customers will receive a copy of Local Tycoon as a free bonus. (This was a $197 course.)

If you want to explore this guy further, here are a few eBooks from him. Explore, but don't give this guy any of your money. This type of problem brings members to EP. Better resources, and education with greater value, are available here on EP.