Making Your Sales More Profitable

Making Your Sales More Profitable

Posted on 29. Aug, 2009 by Michelle in Site Flipping

When it comes to selling anything digital online one of the key benefits is the low costs involved; an ebook for example really costs very little to produce and sell. Selling web property is low cost too especially when compared to bricks and mortar real estate, however if you’re keen to sell a lot of sites at the lower end of the market the costs can really eat away at your profits. I’m specifically referring to the costs of listing your sites for sale at the leading auction marketplace Flippa.com.

Making your sales more profitable can be achieved by cutting costs, although it’s not always the ideal way to make more profit but when you have a plan to sell high volume at low prices then it becomes a  critical leverage point. To list a site at Flippa.com is a minimum of $19 and that’s a good chunk of your sales revenue if you’re selling around the $100 price point.

So what do you do? You build a list.

I know, I know, it always comes back to list building doesn’t it! :) Well as I’ve mentioned elsewhere on my blog, list building is talked about so often because it works. If you set up one page where you can send buyers to sign up for notification of your up coming sites for sale you can offer sites to them for a set price and avoid the auction marketplace fees altogether.

You can see how I have my ‘name squeeze page’ set up at Internet Business Headstart. I created my squeeze page using Artisteer and the form is generated in my AWeber autoresponder account. Over time I’ve had existing buyers and potential buyers opt-in to my early notification list and this gives me the choice as to whether I simply notify them of an up coming auction or offer the site to them prior.

Of course there is a lot more that you could communicate to your list too other than just the sites you’re selling and you could very well find yourself with subscribers sending you requests for certain niches and custom orders.

If you haven’t started building a list yet then now is the time to start. Create a simple squeeze page and then tell people about it via your forum signatures, Twitter etc and of course tell all your current buyers too!

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15 Responses to “Making Your Sales More Profitable”

  1. Web Career GirlNo Gravatar (11 comments)

    29. Aug, 2009

    I am working on this as you write it :) Hehe I definitely think it’s a great idea.

  2. MichelleNo Gravatar (232 comments)

    30. Aug, 2009

    Great to hear that Web Career Girl!

  3. ScottNo Gravatar (2 comments)

    31. Aug, 2009

    What a coincidence!

    I was today thinking about all the costs for listing any sites (that I managed to get finished!) for sale and going through the options to save on costs.

    Good to read that I am not the only one thinking this!

    I just got to go and get them out there. :-)

  4. Web Career GirlNo Gravatar (11 comments)

    31. Aug, 2009

    I just had a question – do you offer a certain percentage discount for them buying through the list or something like that?

  5. MichelleNo Gravatar (232 comments)

    31. Aug, 2009

    @Scott I’m glad this was a timely post for you. Let me know if you need help when you take the plunge to sell your first site. :)

    @Web Career Girl I don’t offer a blanket discount to subscribers per se but you could do that of course and many do.

    What I sometimes do is offer my regular buyers, who have proven to me that they’re decent (oh there’s that word again :) ), a good price on custom orders or multiple purchases.

  6. dlysenNo Gravatar (1 comments)

    03. Sep, 2009

    Without a guide it is hard to make it, It takes a months to experiment how to boost your sales, but if you have a guide or a mentor that you ask for advice you, I’m sure you can do it very quick using the experience and knowledge of others to apply in your page.

  7. Web Career GirlNo Gravatar (11 comments)

    03. Sep, 2009

    I think I’d do that too – I’ve had a couple of customers already who are interested in things like that. But I’m still finding my feet and wondering whether to do custom orders etc. At the moment I’ll be using my list to promote current auctions, but I think in future I’ll send offers to buy sites upfront before listing them, giving money off.

  8. Flippa ChickNo Gravatar (2 comments)

    30. Sep, 2009

    Unfortunately I held out far too long before getting an Aweber account. The sad thing is, I knew all about the benefits of having a list and even stressed this for my clients, but I didn’t see any point in using this feature because I didn’t have a website that I felt needed it.

    Now that I’ve moved to flipping websites full-time I can’t tell you how much I enjoy shooting out a broadcast to members on my list so that they have have ‘first dibs’ on websites that I flip! =)

  9. MichelleNo Gravatar (232 comments)

    30. Sep, 2009

    @dlysen I agree. I’m a big believer in seeking advice from a mentor or two. ;) Thanks for visiting.

    @Web Career Girl It’s a good idea to push your list to the auction to begin with as it builds your feedback/reputation at Flippa. Selling prior to auction isn’t always going to happen so fostering your Flippa profile is important.

    That being said, when you are a little more established (I think you’re there! :) ) then offering up the sites for a 24 hour period at a first in best dressed BIN price is an option. What you need to consider though is that Flippa offers you some insight into who is bidding/buying so tread carefully when you sell to an unknown buyer outside of the marketplace.

    @Flippa Chick I’d noticed some of your auctions actually. :) Great to hear that you have list building as part of your business now. Thanks for stopping by,

  10. JoeNo Gravatar (3 comments)

    04. Nov, 2009

    Great points Michelle. Building a list is so simple yet one of the last things many people think about.

    I love the Artiseer product too… that looks very handy! I may have to get that!

    Take Care!
    Joe

  11. JohnNo Gravatar (1 comments)

    04. Nov, 2009

    Hi Michelle,

    First, thanks for all your info, especially in Quick Cash Report.
    I possess about 50 WP blogs. I can create them rather fast (the wonders of software), but can’t seem to make the plunge to sell.
    Transferring the sites is a big stumbling block, I guess, even though its explained QCP. Is there some way we can correspond about this?

    Thanks,
    John

  12. MichelleNo Gravatar (232 comments)

    05. Nov, 2009

    @Joe I remember nearly giving up on my list building at one point, I’m glad I didn’t! :) Artisteer sure is handy for creating your own unique themes quickly and easily. :)

    @John I’m glad you’ve read my free QuikCash report, it should give you some sense of ease with what to do when moving sites. It can be daunting though moving sites at first but once you do one you will find out it’s a lot easier than it all sounds. :)

    At the moment I can’t offer you anything solid in terms of hand holding during a site move but one thing I would suggest at first is to move one of your own sites.

    If you’re serious about site selling then grab yourself a reseller account at Hostgator and start learning the ropes there. Move one or two of your sites and you will soon discover how easy it is. I will be launching a membership site where there could possibly be some level of hand holding but that isn’t going to help your immediate needs so that’s why I suggest the above.

    If you are more or less trying to get some sites up and sold and move on then you could outsource the transfers for as little as $20. You can find people to do these types of tasks at RentACoder, the Warrior Forum, DigitalPoint etc. Do the due diligence though on reference checking etc.

    I hope that is of some additional help for you. If there is anything very specific you need help with then post your question here and I’ll do my best to answer it and or write a post on it. :)

  13. LeslieNo Gravatar (1 comments)

    08. Jan, 2010

    Michelle,

    I think I’ll be starting a list for this too. I mean, I have blog flipping as one of my business elements this year, so why not make sure I make it as much profitable as I can. If I do well this year (I plan on flipping two sites a month), I want to double it for next year. To succeed I will need to use every angle possible.

    Thanks for giving yet another push ;)

    Leslie

    MichelleNo Gravatar (232 comments) Reply:
    January 8th, 2010 at 8:16 pm

    Hi Leslie,
    Thanks for stopping by. Good to hear you have a solid goal there for selling sites, good luck, I’m sure if you focus on quality and adding your own unique spin to what you offer buyers then you’ll do well.

    Hope to see you here again. :)

  14. Michelle GreenNo Gravatar (2 comments)

    14. Jan, 2010

    I think forgoing a mailing list is a mistake most of us made as newbies. Once you really understand the power behind a mailing list you realize how naive you have been to not have implemented one sooner.