Making an Offer on a Website

In my research I often come across sites that don't look like much - many times they have no method of monetizing their site at all - but have good rankings across many related terms. I suspect that many of these webmasters don't even realize what they've got, they just created a site a long time ago and put quality content on it for the good of mankind (whoa, imagine that! )

Anyway, have you ever just approached another site owner and successfully purchased their site? If so, what is the best way to go about it?

 

Do you mean one that's not currently up for sale?

 

Yeah, I mean sites that are not actively for sale, but it's obvious they are/were hobby sites and probably don't produce any revenue for the owners.

 

I've done it before successfully. The trick is crafting an e-mail that doesn't sound like spam. If the site has a contact form use that. If they have an e-mail address listed use that. Put specifics about the site in your e-mail and leave your intial e-mail open ended - "I'm interested in partnering with you or possibly acquiring your site". Even if you're only interested in acquisition. If you don't get a response in 2 or 3 days send another e-mail with similar ideas but different wording and a different subject. Give some background on yourself and your contact information (phone number if possible) and ask for the contact info of "whoever is in charge of Business Development or the site owner".

Good luck. I think there's a lot of opportunity in well placed, well trafficed but nearly abandoned sites. I planned to systematically go after some but never did follow up on it. Don't expect to get a great deal just because of the state of the site. Often they won't want to part with it even if they're not doing much with it. Sometimes however a good or at least fair price is possible and if you can grow the site or better monetize it it could be a great deal in the end.

 

How about contacting a webmaster about their site design? Any tips on that?

 

I've bought a number of sites. Most won't want to sell at any price. Almost all of the rest are think their site is worth far more than it is. Once in a great while you'll stumble on someone who needs their car fixed and you're looking like $500 of easy money.

All you can do is craft a personalized email and let it rip, then forget about it. Make sure the email addresses them by name and provides your real info. Keep it short and simple with absolutely no details about what you're planning on doing (I'm starting a new project and would like an older domain rather than a new one to start the project). Then mention a price that you're willing to pay - don't waffle, just set a price. Send it, and forget it.

Now, trick #2 . Most won't reply. A few will - and they'll just turn you down flat. So what I like to do is send a reply email 'well, instead of that then, if I sent you $XXX, would you give me a link?'. I've got some of my best links that way.

 

So the trick is to pay $XXX for a link? I dont get it...

 

The problem with buying a website that the person does not want to sell is they want to sell it for a lot more than it is.

 

Of course they are, what they give, they want it back, simple..

 

Pick your digits, that was simply a placeholder. But if you don't mind paying for really top quality links, this is one way to do it. If someone won't sell their site for $30K, sometimes they'll give you a link for $50 or whatever. I have paid low three digits for links as a result of this technique - and am happy to do so for the quality of links I got. After all, if it wasn't a really great site I wouldn't be putting an offer in on it.

if you're into free links only, then this isn't the technique for you.

 

I think the trick is to do your research. A site owned by a corporation of any size/sophistication isn't likely going to sell. What you're looking for is a site that's well placed in the search engines and gets a decent amount of traffic (using alexa or others as a guide) and is also owned by an individual who's likely a hobbyist and most importantly the site has been abandoned and is pretty much not monetized. There are probably tens of thousands of these if not more. A lot owned by small time webmasters who have a portfolio of multiple sites and some inevitably get neglected.