While working on acquisitions I see both sides of the deal. I get to work with all the different people at our company that touch a deal, and I’ve seen that everyone has a distinct set of dealbreakers. During the due diligence phase I get a realistic business view of the companies we are acquiring while learning about their domain and SEO strategies. Seeing a number of domain and website deals has evidenced that most domain investors and developers have no exit strategy in mind and are not preparing their properties for likely buyers.

Being unprepared for a sale usually works in the favor of the purchaser, so a little bit of advice might go a long way to improving a potential valuation model.

For example, as a domain investor or developer, do you have a price in mind in case you receive an offer on your highest earning domain? When an investor receive a serious, unsolicited offer it can sometimes cloud decision making, so it’s a good idea to consider real-world valuations before being put on the spot.

Are you building a network of sites that have a rat’s nest of off-topic links? Are you engaging in any black-hat linking strategies or copyright violations that Google or a potential buyer wouldn’t like? I’ve seen more than one deal fall apart when a domain or website has a questionable history. This could be because of improper linking, stolen content, or questionable periods of ownership. If an investor pays $20k for a million dollar domain and is not sure of the domain’s pedigree, don’t expect a larger player to take a gamble by paying top dollar. Large deals require large amounts of due diligence, and the money flows to areas where risk is low.

Are you creating content and growing your site, or did you build out a five page site and let it sit? Some believe that Google cares about the story arc of a website and favors websites that have a story about consistent growth and high-quality content.

Are you tracking metrics on your site? Which traffic analyzing software do you use? There are more applications out there besides Google Analytics so be prepared to quickly provide detailed webserver logs for serious buyers so that they can load them into their analysis software of choice.

I think the best rule of thumb is to build properties that are distinct by topic and linking methods. Then grow them consistently over time while continually seeking out advertisers. It makes SEO sense and opens your site to more advertisers. As your traffic quality and revenues increase so will the size and number of offers.