Chapter 3
How I sold My First Web Site (my story) I thought it would be easier to simply tell you the story of how I sold my first web site. Then later on I'll try to break it down and explain some of the more important parts of the process in more detail. Because of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA's) and Non-Compete agreements that I've had to sign as part of the deals I've made, much of the story will be a little vague. (I'll discuss these two things in greater detail further along. They're an important part of any deal you will enter into when selling your site) I'll try to be as specific as I legally can. You'll come away with a good picture of what went on though. Our story so far... It all began several months before the actual sale of the site, very nearly an entire year before. I found a web site that listed other web sites for sale (I'll give you a list of such places later). Intrigued, I wondered if I could possibly sell any of my sites. At the time I was operating a number of web sites, and all were profitable. Out of curiosity only, I listed my banner advertising network web site. The site was doing well (in only a few months online we already had facilitated over 1 million banner views) but I was spread thin. At that time I was still working completely on my own and I devoted most of my time to my other sites. If I had to pick one site to sell, the banner advertising network was the one that I could afford to lose. So I listed it for sale on this site, then I completely forgot about the entire thing. Several months went by, when suddenly I began to receive offers. They were few, and most were not very serious. I was surprised to receive any feedback at all. As I said, I had forgotten the entire thing completely. Then one day another offer drifted into my email box. It was a woman whom I didn't know. She said that someone wanted to buy the site, and would I please call so and so to discuss the whole thing. I was dubious at first, I thought it would turn out to be another crank offer. And I was a little nervous about calling some stranger to discuss selling the site. It had been so long since I put the site up for sale, that I had even forgotten what price I had listed it under. Nonetheless, I tentatively picked up the phone and dialed the number. A receptionist answered the phone and I quietly asked to speak to the person with whom I was asked to call. Before I knew it, I was introducing myself to a Vice President of the company. We spoke for a few minutes; I answered some of the questions he had about the site. By this point I was pretty nervous. This definitely did NOT sound like a crank offer. After a few minutes of discussion, he made his offer to buy the site. I was floored. I didn't know what to say. I was never really interested in selling the site, I was only curious to see if it could be done. But right before me was an amazing offer and I quickly began to recalculate my interests! I told the man that I would have to think about it and asked if I could get back to him in a day or so. He agreed, we thanked each other for taking the time to speak to one another, and I hung up the phone. I didn't really need to think about it, but the truth is, at that point my stomach was doing so many different weird swirly things that I could either hang up the phone or pass out. The nervousness soon passed and was replaced by a sort of giddy elation. After I settled down, I called the company back and accepted their offer. Little did I know about negotiating! I know now that I could have gotten more from them (nobody opens with their final offer, but I didn't really know that then and I was so happy with their offer that I didn't really care). What followed was a series of phone calls and email exchanges between the Vice President and myself. I never talked to anyone else in the company, and I never met any of them in person, we did the whole thing over the phone, email, fax, and Fedex. We had to discuss many different things concerning the site. He always had more questions for me, and was respectful of my nervousness enough not to bombard me all at once. Contracts and other legal documents were passed back and forth (all provided by them). Time passed and eventually we agreed to the wording in the contracts etc, signed everything and I passed the site over to them. The entire process, from the time I called their offices the very first day to the time we closed the deal, took between 2-3 months.
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