5 Effective Ways To Boost Your Online Business Before You Put It Up for Sale

Aug 15

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Have you thought about selling your online business at some point in the future? What about your main business goals and what would happen once you reach them?Many entrepreneurs start businesses to turn a dream into reality, some do it only for profits, while others often get other business ideas along the way.For some of them, the only rational choice is to ‘cash out’, sell your website and the entire business. By finding a good broker, you can make this decision quite profitable.If you, too, are considering this business move, it would be wise to learn what to do before you decide to sell your business and its resources. The tips listed below will help you maximize your chances of getting a good price.

What types of businesses are commonly sold?

First, let’s take a look at the types of business that are most commonly sold. If your online business belongs to one of the categories listed below, you have a better chance of selling it at a desirable price quickly:

Amazon affiliate websites
Google AdSense websites
Affiliate websites
Dropshipping businesses
Online stores (eCommerce)
SaaS businesses
Amazon FBA
Mobile apps
Productized services

If you think you can sell your business easily, take a look at foolproof tips and methods that will help you boost your business before you sell it.

Collect data about your business

All potential buyers look for this key data point when deciding whether or not to purchase a business. It indicates how much traffic is coming to a website and where from.In order to get this information, you need to use tools such as Google Analytics that allow users to track website traffic. The potential buyer wants to ensure that the reported traffic is real when buying an online business, and this is useful for all kinds of websites, including WordPress sites and eCommerce websites as well.Your eCommerce platform might collect your sales data automatically, but using an analytics tool provides much more traffic data. A good analytics tool will allow you to see where the traffic is coming from, and it will also verify that all visits are coming from genuine websites, leads, and other valid sources.This is what buyers want to see because it allows them to recognize whether the traffic figures are fake and also if the conversion rates are real.

Do not neglect social media marketing

Just because you have decided to sell your business does not mean that all marketing efforts should die down. This is especially true for social media marketing.Visitors (potential buyers) should be able to find your logo and company name as soon as they reach your page.Every detail, from your visuals to your interactions, should convey your brand’s tone and values. Branding is one of the best social media practices rooted in the concept of improving the customer experience.One great thing that you can do when it comes to social media marketing is to implement a standard operating procedure (SOP). In its essence, this procedure means writing down how you handle various tasks such as product selections, keyword research, writing product descriptions, SEO, and so on.Start with simple tasks and then move further to the smallest of technicalities, such as the tools your business relies on when doing social media marketing. These are all your business’s resources that cost money and keep in mind that no resource is too small.And if you see that some of your tasks take too much time, you can try to automate them. For instance, a reliable LinkedIn automation tool can help you spend less time on LinkedIn outreach and messaging while keeping the quality of your interactions at a high level.When you do all of this right, a potential buyer will recognize that you are serious about your business’s branding and that your target audience sees your business as trustworthy and an authority. This proves that the business has good potential to keep growing and bring even more profits to the next owner.

Tidy up the books

Tidying up the books and getting your numbers downright is important for knowing your finances well and sending a good message to buyers. Potential buyers want this information presented to them in a way that’s quick and easy to understand, and they want to see a distinctive separation between business and personal accounts.If you still run your business out of the same account as your personal expenses, stop right away. This is not a good way to handle business finances, and potential buyers will think that an amateur stands behind your business operations.Instead, create accurate reports and keep a close eye on finances to allow buyers to accurately assess the value of a business they plan on acquiring.A serious buyer will ask how much money your business is spending on customer acquisition and overhead. They will want to know every important detail about the money that comes in and goes out of your company. This is the only way for them to make a prediction of whether a business is profitable or not.

Determine the right time to sell

Sit down and determine what you are looking to get from selling your business. Ask yourself the following questions to determine the right time to sell your business:

Are you trying to cash out of one business to go into starting another one?
Do you want to use that money to pay off the mortgage?
How much money will be enough for your goals?

Establish what the end goal is and what you would like to gain from the sale of your business.Also, you can assess the potential sale price using a valuation formula. This formula helps you break down how much net profit you need to be making to hit your exit target for the sale of the business.

Supplier contracts

If you have an eCommerce business, this tip will be of great importance. A business supplier or business suppliers can make all the difference between your business looking like an attractive proposition or a bad deal.Keep in mind that once you sell the business, your supplier stops having a relationship with you. In addition, they also have no relationship established with the new owner.In some cases, suppliers feel no obligation to offer the new owners the same price they offered your business while you were in charge and this can lead to an unpleasant situation for the new owner. To avoid this, try to get an agreement with your suppliers in writing and make sure each deal is transferable to a new business owner.

Final words

Hopefully, after reading this article, you’ll have a better understanding of what needs to be done to improve the chances of securing a good deal for your business.Don’t forget that the higher the price you set, the longer the negotiations will take. So, set a hard minimum sale price or the price that you are not willing to go below. This will help you secure a good deal, and it will save you from lowering your price irrationally. Set the limit, and the process will be finalized smoothly.