Ray2215
Newbie
- May 6, 2018
- 31
- 13
I've gotten some good help on another thread of mine, so I thought I would put together a short thread on this topic to give back some of the things I know. I am by no means an expert, but I have made a few k in small sales. So I'll share what I can.
1. Flippa is FULL of people looking for a bargain. When you're planning your strategy consider that many people will try as hard as they can to get your site for $1. This used to be a good thing, because you could attract a lot of attention/competition to your listing, and rank it in the "Most Active" section by increasing the number of bids. However, since Flippa has updated their platform and integrated both Established and Starter sites, it has become increasingly difficult to rank without heavily monetizing your listings with upgrades. This is due to the number of websites with upgrades "Always On Top" pushing your site down in the general listings, as well as increasing the number of websites submitted per hour - which also pushes your site down. You will get less visitors to regular "Public Auctions" and need to creatively capitalize on those with genuine interest.
2. Setting a solid perceived value is important. In order to compensate for less traffic to your listings, you need to get your point across that your site is genuinely worth owning and operating. Most would consider this to be a given, but then again most do not seem to capitalize on it seriously. For instance, using really really long walls of text (of which many I've found prospects will not even read.. comment updates as well) with continuous marketing manipulations. This is something that is still done today, and can really hurt a listing that isn't getting enough traffic to pump the price so to speak. Instead, briefly describe your selling points in a clear and transparent bullet-ed format. For instance, if your business has profit margins over 60% - tell them that in a bullet, and explain how that makes the business less likely to fail. You'd have more budget to pull from profit and need to spend less budget on expenses.
3. The best customer is a business-minded individual who does not know much about IT and Digital Marketing. These are the few serious inquiries I'm talking about. Also, the reverse is true (those with an IT background but a lack of business-sense.). However, your business minded prospects typically have a larger budget to work with, and have a greater need for your assistance. So when you express the value points behind your asset use transparent business related descriptions (i.e. profit margins) and also build your sites in a minimalism fashion so those with the budget will have the confidence to run them, and therefore buy them.
4. Set yourself apart from the pack by dispensing invalid information. Those with a serious budget are typically less likely to buy into "fast-talk" and the like. You could do well to earnestly explain that your site CAN be "AUTOPILOT" by using SEO, PPC, SMA, etc - but it does indeed require setup and constant maintenance. Also, explain that the work required is minimal compared to the result - and that once campaigns are setup, and a client becomes familiar with the platform involved, that everything runs very much "autopilot". Another thing to do away with is that the site is loaded with 10,000 products, when in many cases a site with 1-50 products that apply to a popular variety of demographics in a trend is far safer and potentially more profitable for the prospect.
(In many cases these fast-talking listings do quite well, so take all this as you will and read on.)
5. Generate and capture leads as you go. When you keep your listing brief, clear, and effective - you will get a decent number of inquires even with a small amount of traffic to your listings. Talk to these people, and get them excited about the idea of you providing them with a custom project. Be direct in asking about their budget, and also in many cases you can strike a deal in making a duplicate of the site with a few changes in order to monetize those inquires who are short on capital. Just be sure to mark your listing as duplicated even if it has not yet been done so - if you intend to do this.
6. Non-Premium-Public-Auctions should have, in my experience, a fair starting price. This is in order to skip over the $5 to $40 back and forth. If you do not believe your site will trend in the Most Active section, then there is no need to put your asset at risk when you can relist for half-price and collect more leads -or- generate inquiries as it were.
7. The reserve should genuinely reflect what you believe your site is worth. I'm not going to go into valuing your asset, but just know that the reserve is there to protect you.
8. Set your BIN high, include a ton of POWERFUL BIN bonuses, and near the end of the auction - bait your watchers/bidders by dropping it closer and closer to the current price. Also, if you have someone who has asked you a lot of specific questions, that did not seem to penetrate as if they were just gathering information to build the asset themselves, and they say "Okay, thank you." after you answer their questions - that person is watching your BIN and really doesn't want others to grab the site.
9. Websites generating revenue should always have their accounting and bookkeeping up to date and ready to show prospects and Flippa Account Managers (who will give you a bevy of free upgrades in many cases if they perform an audit.)
10. Include a video walkthrough for all assets, even starter sites. This is a no-cost bonus that really pays off.
Anyways, that ended up being a bit longer than expected but hope it helps someone or generates some new ideas. I'm by no means an expert so share your ideas and results below.
1. Flippa is FULL of people looking for a bargain. When you're planning your strategy consider that many people will try as hard as they can to get your site for $1. This used to be a good thing, because you could attract a lot of attention/competition to your listing, and rank it in the "Most Active" section by increasing the number of bids. However, since Flippa has updated their platform and integrated both Established and Starter sites, it has become increasingly difficult to rank without heavily monetizing your listings with upgrades. This is due to the number of websites with upgrades "Always On Top" pushing your site down in the general listings, as well as increasing the number of websites submitted per hour - which also pushes your site down. You will get less visitors to regular "Public Auctions" and need to creatively capitalize on those with genuine interest.
2. Setting a solid perceived value is important. In order to compensate for less traffic to your listings, you need to get your point across that your site is genuinely worth owning and operating. Most would consider this to be a given, but then again most do not seem to capitalize on it seriously. For instance, using really really long walls of text (of which many I've found prospects will not even read.. comment updates as well) with continuous marketing manipulations. This is something that is still done today, and can really hurt a listing that isn't getting enough traffic to pump the price so to speak. Instead, briefly describe your selling points in a clear and transparent bullet-ed format. For instance, if your business has profit margins over 60% - tell them that in a bullet, and explain how that makes the business less likely to fail. You'd have more budget to pull from profit and need to spend less budget on expenses.
3. The best customer is a business-minded individual who does not know much about IT and Digital Marketing. These are the few serious inquiries I'm talking about. Also, the reverse is true (those with an IT background but a lack of business-sense.). However, your business minded prospects typically have a larger budget to work with, and have a greater need for your assistance. So when you express the value points behind your asset use transparent business related descriptions (i.e. profit margins) and also build your sites in a minimalism fashion so those with the budget will have the confidence to run them, and therefore buy them.
4. Set yourself apart from the pack by dispensing invalid information. Those with a serious budget are typically less likely to buy into "fast-talk" and the like. You could do well to earnestly explain that your site CAN be "AUTOPILOT" by using SEO, PPC, SMA, etc - but it does indeed require setup and constant maintenance. Also, explain that the work required is minimal compared to the result - and that once campaigns are setup, and a client becomes familiar with the platform involved, that everything runs very much "autopilot". Another thing to do away with is that the site is loaded with 10,000 products, when in many cases a site with 1-50 products that apply to a popular variety of demographics in a trend is far safer and potentially more profitable for the prospect.
(In many cases these fast-talking listings do quite well, so take all this as you will and read on.)
5. Generate and capture leads as you go. When you keep your listing brief, clear, and effective - you will get a decent number of inquires even with a small amount of traffic to your listings. Talk to these people, and get them excited about the idea of you providing them with a custom project. Be direct in asking about their budget, and also in many cases you can strike a deal in making a duplicate of the site with a few changes in order to monetize those inquires who are short on capital. Just be sure to mark your listing as duplicated even if it has not yet been done so - if you intend to do this.
6. Non-Premium-Public-Auctions should have, in my experience, a fair starting price. This is in order to skip over the $5 to $40 back and forth. If you do not believe your site will trend in the Most Active section, then there is no need to put your asset at risk when you can relist for half-price and collect more leads -or- generate inquiries as it were.
7. The reserve should genuinely reflect what you believe your site is worth. I'm not going to go into valuing your asset, but just know that the reserve is there to protect you.
8. Set your BIN high, include a ton of POWERFUL BIN bonuses, and near the end of the auction - bait your watchers/bidders by dropping it closer and closer to the current price. Also, if you have someone who has asked you a lot of specific questions, that did not seem to penetrate as if they were just gathering information to build the asset themselves, and they say "Okay, thank you." after you answer their questions - that person is watching your BIN and really doesn't want others to grab the site.
9. Websites generating revenue should always have their accounting and bookkeeping up to date and ready to show prospects and Flippa Account Managers (who will give you a bevy of free upgrades in many cases if they perform an audit.)
10. Include a video walkthrough for all assets, even starter sites. This is a no-cost bonus that really pays off.
Anyways, that ended up being a bit longer than expected but hope it helps someone or generates some new ideas. I'm by no means an expert so share your ideas and results below.
