With the free Investors Club valuation tool, you can get an idea of the selling price your site commands with just a few clicks.
If you’re ready to sell, we’ve made the process quick and easy to do so you can start receiving offers in under a week.
Listing happens in two parts and takes less than a week to go live. When you choose to sell with us you get access to a range of benefits including:
- One of the lowest seller fees in the industry at just 7%
- A pool of hungry buyers (ie. serious investors)
- A quick, simple, and free listing process
- Complete transfer service upon sale
- Detailed due diligence report to give prospective buyers an insight into your business
- World-class support the whole way
Important: The content of this post was based on features and functionalities of Investors Club version 2. As of July 2024, a new version is available, and the details discussed here might have changed. We recommend checking this article for the most current information.
A Summary of How it Works
Here is a visual timeline of how listing your website on Investors Club works.
Now let’s take a closer look at each of the steps of the funnel.
Part 1 – The Initial Application
Step 1. Specify the Business Type
The first thing you’ll need to tell us is what kind of site you’re selling. Currently, we are listing content sites and e-commerce sites on our marketplace.
Step 2. Monetization Methods
Next, buyers will want to know what type of monetization methods the site uses.
Select all that apply and then later on we’ll ask you to specify the financials so make sure you have this data to hand.
Step 3. Site Backstory
Here’s where things get a little more detailed. On page two, you need to supply the site’s URL and give us a few details, including:
- If you’re the owner or brokering the deal
- Whether you started the site from scratch or bought it (we’re big fans of either at Investors Club!)
- When the site was established
You’ll also have the opportunity to tell us more about how the site works and how it makes money.
Bear in mind with this answer that detailed and ‘creative’ descriptions are more attractive to potential investors than just “It’s a content site about cars that posts weekly and makes money via display ads”.
In other words, be as descriptive as possible.
Investors Club supports the sale of both individual listings and portfolio packages (multiple sites under one combined price point). If you’re intending to sell as part of a portfolio let us know and include the URLs of the other sites.
Step 4. The Financials
As promised, now you’re given the chance to elaborate on the site’s financials and analytics data.
We need to know when the site first started generating money and what the average monthly net revenue is for the 3,6 and 12 months. Please make sure the answers are in USD.
Investors Club only lists sites where all the information is verified, which is why we ask if you have Google Analytics or Clicky installed. You’re also asked if the site is added to Search Console which provides us with a secondary way of confirming information and forms an essential part of our analyst’s due diligence process.
If you answer no to these questions, your site will likely be deemed unsuitable for listing with us as we don’t allow sites with unverified traffic data on our marketplace.
Step 5. Seller Information
The last section of stage 1 applies directly to you the seller. We need to know your name and email so we can contact you and any social media profiles that you want to share (optional).
If your listing is accepted, you’ll need to upload a form of ID so we can verify your identity, but we’ll get to that in part 2.
Only your name will appear on the listing, all other contact information is kept private. Buyers can contact you through the platform so you’re details are never shared with anyone.
For our own research, it would also be helpful to know how you heard about Investors Club, but again this information is strictly for our records.
Hit submit and that’s it for now.
Part 1 Complete
Once you’ve submitted the form you’ll get a confirmation of submission to the email address you supplied in step 5.
Our team of analysts will then assess the data to make sure the business is a good fit for our marketplace.
If it’s a content site that targets an English-speaking market, is over 12 months old, and generates upwards of $500/pm in profit, or an e-commerce site with predominantly English content, has a minimum avg. net profit of $1k/month and at least 12 months of verifiable sales history, then your chances of being accepted are very high.
Part 2 – Finalize Listing & Submit Additional Information
Within one business day, you’ll hear back from us with details on how to complete your submission or with details of why the site isn’t quite right for us.
If you’re accepted, you’ll get an email asking you to complete the submission process by sharing more details about your business.
Just hit the ‘Submit Additional Information’ in the email to continue your submission and get your listing ready to go live.
Step 1. General Information
Included in each of our listings is the ‘Seller Information’ section where buyers can find out more about you.
How much you share is up to you but a good basic guideline is who you are, what you do, and why you launched (or bought) the business in the first place.
Here’s an example from one of our listings to give you an idea.
Next, tell us whether you’ve had other successful online businesses in the past (or currently) and if you’re the sole owner of the site you’re listing.
If you select no to this last question, a new one appears and you’ll need to tell us the name of your co-owner and their % share in the site.
One thing some buyers look for is sites where the seller is willing to sign a non-compete. If you are, you can tell us that here, as well as if you have other sites in the same or related niches, and if you’re including any similar businesses in the sale.
Signing a non-compete is not mandatory but some buyers like the reassurance of knowing that since you’ve already dominated this niche once that you’re not planning on doing it again and posing a threat to their new investment.
Finally, let buyers know how many hours you currently dedicate to the site and what tasks you’re responsible for ie. content creation, accounting, software updates, etc.
We also ask that you give your best guess at how long it will take a new owner to learn the business and if you’re willing to offer post-sale support (and for how long).
As part of our detailed due diligence reports, our team of analysts draws up a workload analysis detailing how passive we think the site is so knowing how long you spend on it is helpful.
One of the main pieces of information that buyers want to know about you is why you’re selling the site.
Popular reasons include:
- To pursue other ventures
- A change in circumstances means you no longer have time
- To free up capital
If you’re including any other assets as part of the sale, for example, affiliate accounts, social media accounts, or email lists, now’s the time to list them.
Step 2. In-depth Financials
Although you gave a brief overview of the site’s financials in part 1, you now need to supply more detailed records.
Alongside needing to know the different sources of revenue and the % that comes from each, we ask that you upload a profit and loss statement.
For your convenience, we provide a template for the profit and loss statement so all you need to do is fill it in.
While we’re on the topic of finances, if you’re intending to offer flexible payment terms to a buyer or are open to seller financing, then you can declare it here too. This isn’t required, but some buyers may request it and if your site is valued at over 6 figures, it might help attract more buyers.
Step 3. SEO & Site Information
Love it or hate it, SEO is a big part of running a website, and buyers want to know about it.
On page three, you’ll be asked to explain your traffic acquisition strategy and link-building practices. Be as descriptive and specific as you can.
We also ask whether you’ve ever used PBN links or have been hit by any Google penalties, which then helps us put together the spam signal section of our due diligence report.
If you answer yes to the PBN link question, you’ll need to supply further information.
Then there’s a section to give details on your content publishing strategy and let us know who writes your content. If you work with freelancers, it’s a good idea to see whether they will continue working with the new site owner before listing so that we can communicate this to buyers.
Finally, we need to know the details of your current hosting provider, where the server is based, and which domain registrar you’re using. If you’re using any secondary domains as 301 redirects, you should declare that now too.
As mentioned, Investors Club only lists sites where the information is fully verified so buyers can invest with confidence. In order to sell with us, we require that you add [email protected] as a user on your Google Analytics account so that our team of analysts can access and verify the data for your listing.
Step 4. Growth Prospects
As part of our detailed due diligence reports, we put together a growth analysis report that sets out potential strategies we would implement if we owned the site.
As the person who knows the site the best, it’s helpful for us if you could indicate any opportunities you see for the business, speculate the budget they’d require, and which you envision offering the most ROI.
Here you can also let us know if any of these steps are in process and if not, why you haven’t implemented them. Websites with room for growth and therefore the potential to increase revenue are extremely attractive to buyers so spend some time on this question.
Investors are looking for sites that offer a smooth transition, which is why the last question on this page gives you the option to identify any potential difficulties a new owner might face.
Step 5. Email Marketing
For sites that have a mailing list, now is the time to tell us.
If you answer yes we’ll need to know the size of the list, how frequently and in what manner you communicate with subscribers, the typical open rate, and what software/service you use to send them out.
Step 6. Social Media Marketing
Our last set of questions relates to any social media marketing strategies you might have. If you have a social media account(s) then we need to know what channels you use, how often, and who posts.
We also ask that you share how many followers each account has and which you’ve found to be the most effective for your niche.
Step 7. Upload Proof
For sellers looking to speed up the process, you have the option of uploading various files that we require for verification now. These must be provided before a listing can go live and submitting it with the rest of your information ensures your listing doesn’t get held up.
We require:
- Proof of ID
- Proof of domain authority
- Affiliate network payout history for the last 12 months
- Bank deposits matching payouts
None of this will be shared with buyers and is strictly used for verification purposes.
Step 8. Submission Complete
Once you’ve submitted your information that’s your part done.
You’ll get access to a PDF that contains more information and FAQs about the next steps.
Our team of analysts then takes over and begins working on the site, analyzing data, and drawing up an in-depth valuation. This usually takes around 5-7 business days.
If you haven’t submitted all the information we need you’ll get a follow-up email detailing what’s missing.
Once the listing is published all you have to do is field any questions potential buyers might have and wait for the offers to come rolling in.
To get started listing your site today, try our free valuation tool or go straight to selling here.
Content Marketing Specialist
Hannah is a content marketing specialist at Investors Club and a freelance copywriter. When she’s not busy behind the keyboard, you’ll find her baking her signature salted caramel brownies or trying to sink that elusive hole-in-one.
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