Web Equity Show

S02E10: How To Grow Your Purchased Website

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Subscribe to our VIP LISTSo you’ve decided on the business you’d like to purchase, have done your due diligence, and negotiated the deal, and have signed on the dotted line.

You’ve done it! Now…what’s next?

In this episode, we’re looking at the various methods, tactics, and tips you can use to build and grow your website or online business purchase.

We cover both some general growth strategies that are useful/helpful with most websites and online businesses, but we also look at some of the things you can with specific monetization methods and traffic strategies. (Advertising sites, Lead Gen businesses, and service-based businesses, for example)

There’s a lot to cover in this episode and it would be impossible for us to dig into everything, but we wanted to present some ideas and give you resources to dig in even further.

Also – this is our last episode of the season! Season 2 has been all about buying websites and online businesses, but we’re going to take it from the seller’s perspective in Season 3. Expect an in-depth review on when you might want to sell, the steps you can take to prepare the business for sale, and all the way through the negotiation process and hand-off.

We’re excited to bring you another season – expect us back in August (or September at the latest!)

 

Did you like Season 2 of the show? Please stop by iTunes and leave us a review! We’ll give you a mention when we start Season 3 and we love to read the reviews!

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What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • General Growth Strategies
  1. Ad Placement & Optimization
  2. Test Pricing Models
  3. New Products, Services, Or Income Streams
  4. Conversion Rate Optimization
  5. Improve SEO
  • Specific Growth Strategies
  1. Advertising Sites
  2. eCommerce
  3. Affiliate Sites
  4. LeadGen Sites
  5. Service Businesses

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S02E09: Website Migration & Turnover

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One of the scariest steps for buyers (and sellers) can be migrating the business from the old owner to the new.
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What if you make a mistake and lose traffic/rankings/earnings? What if you put yourself at risk and end up getting scammed?

In this episode, Ace and I sit down to look at the various steps involved with migrating an online business from the seller to the buyer. We cover issues from transferring the money, domain, and assets to verifying you actually received what you purchased. We even take a look at the horrible situations where a buyer might be forced to back out of the deal.

If you’re looking to make a purchase and wondering about the steps and process in the final stages, this is the episode for you.

Digging this podcast? Please stop by iTunes and leave us a review! We love to read the comments and will give you a shout on a future episode!

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What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • First Phase: Transfer Period
  1. Money Transfer
  2. Domain Transfer
  3. Website Transfer
  4. Other Accounts
  • Second Phase: Inspection Period
  1. Goal 1: Did You Get Everything?
  2. Goal 2: Verify Quality and Metrics
  • Third Phase: Signing Off
  1. What To Do If Things Go Bad? (Backing Out)

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S02E08: Making Offers And Closing The Deal

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Now that we’ve looked at the various types of deal structures you can implement, it’s time to close the deal.
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Nervous? You don’t have to be! In this episode we walk you through the tricks and tactics you can use to come to a win-win agreement that will work for both you and the seller.

Whether you’re using a broker or working out a deal directly with the seller, we’ll cover the various processes so you can feel confident heading into the deal and all the way through the process.

This can be one of the most exciting (or costly) periods in the buying process. Your next moves will determine whether you walk away with a steal…or empty-handed.

Do you like the show? Please stop by iTunes and leave us a review! We love to read the feedback and will give you a shout on an upcoming episode!

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What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • What’s The Process
  1. Letter of Intent (LOI) Process
  2. Empire Flippers Process
  3. Private Purchase Process
  • Our Best Tips On Closing The Deal
  1. Find out what the seller REALLY wants!
  2. Get the broker working for YOU! (Insider trick)
  3. Be mindful of the seller’s ego/feelings
  4. Consult your Accountant/CPA about tax benefits
  5. Be SUPER clear about the terms and deal structuring
  6. Make it clear you’re a good fit for the business
  7. Be understanding if seller responds with a touch of hostility
  8. If deal stalls, rely on broker. (Or lawyer / 3rd party)
  9. If you’ve been through several rounds of offers, give the seller a small win to close the deal
  10. Don’t rely too heavily on contracts post-sale

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S02E07: Understanding Deal Structuring

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Understanding the various ways to structure a deal can be a critical piece to actually getting the deal closed.Subscribe to our VIP LIST

While many newbie buyers can get stuck in negotiations, a pro understands how to leverage different deal structures to get the outcome they really want.

Once you get to the meat of what the seller’s really looking for out of the deal, you can structure the deal around their wants/needs and put it in terms that are to your benefit.

In this episode, Ace and I dig into the various types of deal structures, explain how they work, and look at specific examples where they might work best to get the deal done with a seller.

Some of these are well-known (i.e. Seller Financing), but when you use these deal structures in combination (A time-based earn out with in-perpetuity payments, for example) they can get quite complicated.

Our goal is to break each of the deal structures down to better help you understand how you can use them in a negotiation/offer.

For us, this is the fun stuff. Creative deal structuring and finding win-win offers is breathing life into deal deals and can make everyone a ton of money.

Are you digging the podcast? Please stop by iTunes and leave us a review! We love to read the feedback and will give you a shout on an upcoming show!

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What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Seller Financing
  • Earn-Outs
  • Balloon Loan
  • In-perpetuity payments
  • Outside Financing
  • Seller Retained Equity
  • Investor/Sweat-Equity Partnership

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S02E06: Due Diligence

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If you’ve been following along our buyer’s series in Season 2, this is an episode you don’t want to miss.

In our longest episode to date, Ace and I break down some of the critical issues and steps to take when performing due diligence with website properties.

Now, of course, we can’t cover every single issue that may come up in due diligence, but we do attempt to provide a framework and a specific way to look at deals that will help you separate the good from the bad.

We’ve put together our years of combined experience in reviewing more than a thousand deals into an in-depth review. Hope you enjoy!

One more thing – it’s your support that keeps this show going. If you’ve appreciated what you’ve heard and would like to hear more, please stop by iTunes and leave us a review! We love to read the feedback and will give you a shout on an upcoming show!

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What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Content Sites
  1. Check Visitor-to-Customer Flow
  2. Sustainability/Scalability
  • Earnings
  1. Are The Claimed Earnings ONLY Coming From Site For Sale?
  2. Compare Stated Earnings To Bank Account Deposits
  3. Bring In A Professional (Larger Purchases)
  • The Website / Niche
  1. Is The Content Quality?
  2. Will The Niche Last?
  3. What’s The Site History
  4. What’s The Reputation / Backlinks Situation?
  • The Seller
  1. Are They Real?
  2. Who Have They Done Business With?
  • Not-So-Common Scams
  1. Fake leads
  2. Not just the president, also a client
  3. Double (or triple) dipping

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S02E05: Initial Website Evaluation

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Subscribe to our VIP LISTContinuing along with our Season 2 buyer series, we’re following up on last week’s episode regarding where to find websites to purchase with the next step in the process – a way to quickly determine whether a site is right for you or not.

Instead of putting a ton of hours into due diligence up-front, it’s better to create a framework that allows you to quickly and easily determine whether a business is a “go” or “no-go” right from the beginning.

We dig into our process for the initial website evaluation in this episode with the hope that you’ll walk away with some tips that will help you build out your own framework.

 

Just a reminder – if you’re liking this show please make sure to stop by iTunes and leave us a review! We’d really appreciate it and will give you a shout out on an upcoming episode!

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What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Looking At The Seller
  • How Do You Consider The Niche?
  • A Quick Dig Into The Website
  • Digging For Discrepencies

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S02E04: Where Can I Find Sites To Purchase?

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Subscribe to our VIP LISTContinuing along with our Season 2 buyer series, today we’ll look at the various ways and places you can find sites to purchase.

We’ll cover some of the advantages and disadvantages that come with trying to find sites yourself, but we’ll also look at the various aggregators, auction sites, and brokers available.

What works for you might not necessarily work for everyone, but we’re hoping this episode will help you narrow down your search for quality websites and online businesses by pointing you in the right direction.

Having high-quality options will ensure you get a good look at the best sites available and give you a better opportunity to purchase quality sites.

 

If you’re digging the show and would like to show us some support, make sure to stop by iTunes and leave us a review! That’s the best way to support the show and we’d really appreciate it!

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What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

1. Find Yourself!

Advantages:

  1. Can find GREAT deals
  2. Sometimes built with love/care
  3. Less competition from other buyers

Disadvantages:

  1. LOADS of work
  2. Must have a process to sort/sift
  3. Seller often value their sites MUCH higher than they’re actually worth!

2. Classifieds

Advantages:

  1. Deals are all in one place
  2. Less competition from buyers
  3. Wide selection?

Disadvantages:

  1. Not checked at all
  2. Not easy to quickly check/verify stats
  3. Ton of scams

3. Brokers

Advantages:

  1. Quality selection of vetted/verified sites
  2. Great information for quick scans + due diligence
  3. Professionals w/ established process

Disadvantages:

  1. Higher prices/multiples
  2. They represent the seller, not you!
  3. “Polished turds”

4. Aggregators

Advantages:

  1. Consolidate listings from many different brokers
  2. Wider selection + can narrow down searches
  3. Similar format makes scanning better

Disadvantages:

  1. Not always up-to-date info
  2. Quality varies heavily

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S02E03: Should I Start With Building Or Buying Sites?

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If you’re just starting out, you might have asked yourself the question, “Am I better off building or buying sites?”

It’s a fair question – one we attempt to help you answer in this podcast episode.

We look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of each approach and break down the Money-Time spectrum to see which might be a better fit for your situation.

 

While we can’t answer the question for you, we hope these insights will help you make a more informed decision on building up your online portfolio.

If you’re liking this show and want to give us some love, make sure to stop by iTunes and leave us a review! That’s the best way to support the show and helps us spread the word.

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What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Required Skillsets For Buying A Site?
  1. Internet savvy + Google-Fu search skills
  2. Buying and setting up domains, hosting, WordPress
  3. Intermediate skill in at least one (more is better) traffic channel
  4. Basic understanding of the different monetization methods and ups/downs of each
  5. Intermediate understanding of at least one platform you’ll be primarily using
  • The Website Buying Spectrum
  1. Point 1: No money, lots of time
  2. Point 2: Some money, good amount of time
  3. Point 3: Good money, some amount of time
  4. Point 4: Lots of money, no time

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S02E02: Analyzing Websites For Beginner Buyers

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Subscribe to our VIP LISTNow that we’ve covered some of the basic business models in Season 2, Episode 1, it’s time to start looking at some of the terms and ways to quickly scan/analyze potential website purchases.

We take a look at terms like ROI, EBITDA, and how they apply to online businesses.

We also look at some of the metrics that, at a glance, might help you quickly disqualify a potential purchase. (Or know that you need to dig a bit deeper)

 

If you’re liking this show and want to give us some love, make sure to stop by iTunes and leave us a review! That’s the best way to support the show and helps us spread the word.

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What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • The Metrics
  1. Multiple
  2. ROI – Return of Investment
  • The 2 Biggest Disqualifiers
  1. History
  2. The Growth Plan

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S02E01: Introduction To Buying Websites

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If you’re interested in the idea of buying websites and online businesses, but have NO idea where to start, this is the episode for you.

We’ve had quite a few requests from new buyers that we cover topics that are unfamiliar to those not in the industry. We decided to make Season 2 (10-ish episodes) and dedicate them to walking you through the buying process, star to finish.

In this first episode we get back to basics and look at the different types of websites and how they make money. We’ll also dig into some of the basic strategies website builders employ to build profitable websites and online businesses.

If you’re NOT new to buying online businesses, you might want to give this one a pass. (Unless you’re so stoked the show’s back that you just can’t help yourself!) No worries – we’ll be diving much deeper later in Season 2 when we get to due diligence, negotiating deals, etc.

While Season 2 is really dedicated to buyers, potential sellers might do well to learn a bit more about the buying process to better understand their potential customers.

If you dig the show, make sure to stop by iTunes and leave us a review! That’s the best way to support and encourage us to keep it running.

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What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  1. How Would We Describe The Industry To Someone New?
  2. What Types Of Website Businesses Are Out There
  3. Comparing Offline To Online Businesses
  4. How Can I Find Websites And Online Businesses To Purchase
  5. FAQ

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