Are you thinking about retiring in the not so distant future? Did you think your boat was the asset you had to sell? We are here to remind you that the online business you have built with your website is a goldmine and you likely have a buyer right there on your dock. At Charternet Web Solutions we have supported many fishing charter captains and yacht charter brokers to ensure their online business and website are more appealing to a potential buyer! When taking the time to prepare your business for a sale, you’ll likely generate more interest and a higher sales price, simply because most sellers don’t do the proper “prep work” to make the sales process easy and transparent.
So how can you best set yourself up to win when you sell your online business? Take a look at our 5 tips below:
- Sell your online business the way you’d sell your boat. Selling a business and selling a boat are similar in a lot of ways — and most people wouldn’t ever let people tour their vessel without making some cosmetic changes and cleaning up before offering it for sale. Will a buyer visiting your website for the first time see order or chaos? Buyers look for companies that show well. A clean, modern website with steady traffic and conversions should be #1 on your list. Having a website that properly conveys the experience you provide on the water is crucial to potential buyer.
- Understand the true profitability of your business. Where do you rank on Google, Yahoo, and Bing? You have likely had your domain address and website for years and that is of huge value to the youngster just getting started on the docks. Make sure the online presence you have grown over the years in your local market is prime for the next. They want to buy your traffic, your outstanding rankings and reputation. Maintaining a proper SEO and social media presence can really turn the tide on your profitability outlook to a potential buyer. Encourage current customers to give you reviews, push out fresh content to draw in potential customers, and make your presence known! How are your reviews and TripAdvisor, Facebook, and Yelp? If you are not ranking well and your customer’s reviews aren’t great – now is the time to correct it!
- Show strong financial performance. Planning well ahead helps you ensure that your business has a financial record that attracts buyers. A first step is to ensure that your finances are in good order. Although this should be the case at any time, planning to sell your business can push you to focus on this area. You will want to present your business as attractively as possible. Buyers usually prefer businesses that show increasing profits year on year. Good sales forecasts will help to increase prospective buyers’ confidence in your business – but you must ensure they’re realistic and can be supported with evidence. Put your online marketing plan in place now, so down the road you can confidently show potential buyer the constant increase in business.
- Increase your visibility. Prior to and during your selling process, you should maximize whatever opportunities are available to increase the visibility of your business. Maximizing visibility goes back to your most valuable assets: website traffic, customer reviews, frequent and fresh online content, your online marketing strategy and a clean, easy to navigate/mobile friendly website. Show potential buyers you and your business are an authority in your market.
- Keep your eye on the ball. Don’t let your business performance decline because you’re too focused on retirement or the sale of your business. This will only give buyers additional negotiating power to lower their offers!
Contact us today for a free, no obligation audit of your site. Together we can pull up your Google rankings and start reeling in more site traffic to make your business more appealing to a potential buyer!
