This is Marshall here from Small Business Internet Marketing. Chris has kindly asked me if I would do a guest post for his blog – so here it is. So, you have your business for sale or you are thinking of selling. You want to maximise how much you can sell it for. Here is one area that is often overlooked, but is essential to getting the best price.

Most business owners equate an Internet strategy with having a website. Well, that is good – but really is only scratching the surface. We find, by and large, that most businesses have a website because they think they should have one (which is definitely the case). However, when we ask the question:

“Are you happy with how the website is going?”

We get 3 types of answers:

1. Yes, it is great. It looks fantastic and all my friends and customers think it looks great as well.
2. Yes, I think we have at least broken even on it.
3. No, I get no sales from it and it cost a fortune.

Let’s look at these answers in a bit of detail:

1. Yes, it is great. It looks fantastic and all my friends and customers think it looks great as well. This is actually irrelevant generally. A primary purpose of a website is to get new customers to find you and to do something with you (generally buy, but maybe subscribe to a newsletter, or similar). This is a sure sign that no SEO or strategy has been done and it is there to stroke the owner’s ego. Your friends and current customers know the website is there, you want potential buyers who don’t know you to find you and buy.
2. Yes, I think we have at least broken even on it. Has no idea how it is really going. Has no tracking package set up on the site (as Google Analytics is free, everyone should have at least this). More importantly, they have no process by which to track conversions, so have no idea if the site is working or not.
3. No, I get no sales from it and it cost a fortune. Had no Internet strategy and have applied the time honoured principle of “Build it and they shall come”. Unfortunately, the Internet just does not work like this. So they drop a lot of money and see no results (well at least these business owners want results and just not a good looking website).This is by far the most common area that we do work in at Small Business Internet Marketing.

How do you fix it?

So what do you need to add value to your business via your website? Well here are a few pointers:

1. Own your domain. If your business is Bob’s Smash Repairs, have the domain www.bobssmashrepairs.com.au registered by business – even if you don’t have a website. Domain name poaching and reselling is big business.
2. Have a clear strategy why you have a website – this is to sell it to any potential purchaser of your business. Internet strategies generally only have upside if properly structured, and upside potential is what gets a 3 times earnings multiple rather than 2 times earnings multiple when you sell your business.
3. Have clear and followed business processes and rules around your website – don’t let emails for enquiries go to an unattended email address because someone is away on holidays.
4. Have a tracking package loaded so you can tell a potential purchaser exactly how many hits you get a month, how long they spend on site, what pages they visit, what are the main keywords, etc.
5. Have your web based sales and conversion metrics at your fingertips. We did $X of sales via the web last month – a conversion rate of Y%.

So the answer to the question I posed in the title is double-sided. A robust Internet strategy with proven performance can certainly add value to your business, but a poorly thought out strategy (or none) can actually decrease your business value when you have your business for sale.

If you want to know more about internet strategies, have a look at our site www.smallbusinessinternetmarketing.com.au.

Related posts:

1. What’s Your Salon Worth?
2. What Is SAV?
3. Let’s Start a Business
4. Financing a Franchise – Part 2 of 3
5. What is an addback?