Site Recap
We acquired this website in February of 2019 for $51K. This was following several months of continued engagement and negotiation with the seller through a broker.
The site was a content site that published reviews of different types of coffee grinders and other coffee paraphernalia. It was monetized mainly through affiliate sales.
We spent several months growing the site and eventually sold it in October 2019 for $142.5K.
In this case study, we will take you through how we were able to do this.
Growth Potential and Risks
There were different mitigating circumstances that allowed us to purchase this site for a lower price. These factors were definite risks, but also offered significant potential for growth.
Lost Traffic from Google Update
The website was previously hit by a Google update and lost most of its traffic, but the owner managed to recover it and lift the penalty.
This was a fact that deterred most buyers, while we saw it as strength. A recovered site is far less likely to suffer another penalty.
Poor Website Data
The seller didn’t have well-organized financial and traffic details, which complicated the due diligence a bit. While this again can be a risk to judge how the site will perform, it also meant we were able to negotiate a better price.
Timing
Timing was on our side as we were able to acquire the business when revenue was at its lowest during the year.
Communication Challenges
The seller was Vietnamese and the communication was a little challenging through a broker, who was translating for us.
How We Grew the Site
After the acquisition, we decided upon an optimal strategy and immediately set out to execute it. Here’s what we did.
Conversion Rate Optimization
One of our key aims was to optimize conversions.
We were able to do this in a couple of ways:
- Our team added better calls to action (CTAs) to increase direct conversions on the site
- We also added comparison tables on to the site to add value to the visitor and help them view the site as a resource
On-site SEO
We improved rankings by optimizing many on-page factors from load times to improving on-page SEO. We used our internal checklist of ranking factors to optimize any pages that were underperforming. This involves looking at every aspect of onsite SEO like internal linking, keyword density, etc.
Link Building
We built multiple backlinks to improve rankings further and give the site more authority within the niche.
We built links to the site using our in-house outreach team. The main method we utilized was to contact sites that had linked to a competitor and negotiate a placement for our site as well.
Diversify Monetization Methods
We’ve also embarked on a campaign to find alternative monetization methods.
The Sale
Our original plan was to optimize monetization and rankings in the short term. We would then review it after 6 months to decide whether to list it for sale or continue growing.
Based on a risk vs growth analysis we decided to sell the website.
Results
During the 8 months we owned it, we were able to grow the revenue from around $2K to over $4K per month. In this time the site also generated over $34K in revenue.
The site was sold in Oct 2019 for $142.5K via a Flippa sale. This is a great return on investment from the initial 51K we invested.
The sale price plus the revenue made from the site makes the total generated $176k.
Post-sale
After the sale, we helped the buyer manage the website for several months.
This involved teaching him and his team how to run the operations and management of the site, as well as the basics of SEO. We also introduced him to our contacts for continued management.
The buyer was thankful for our service, as it was his first such acquisition, and interested in acquiring more businesses with us later.
