Is there a website that buys / sells other websites?

[CasinoDawg]

Seems like a silly question... but is there a website out there that will allow users to list websites for sale so that other prospective web-masters may either "bid" on them or purchase them outright? My thinking is that if my current website (http://www.casinodawgs.net) doesn't do well in the next couple of months I may just try to sell it.

There is a ton of functionality / content in the site and I add more every day. Though I am thnking that's my issue. I am doing TOO much on content / features and not enough on SEO. In fact, I have yet to even hit link exchanges! My traffic has been rather low... less than 40 uniques per day and I suspect most of those people aren't the target users. Hmm... so I guess this thread is turning into a two-part question thread. Second question being, do link exchanges REALLY make a differnet in bringing in Quality users? I understand it helps PR and such... but does it help with the bottom line (which is sign-up to view ratios)? Thanks.

[rgRoo]

SitePoint is one place that always has sites for sale with many webmasters looking and buying.

http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=56

[bigbcasinos]

One - You can never have too much content. It can be bad if it isn't laid out in a sensible manner but other than that, content is king.
Two - Your position on the search engines is determined by an algorythm. In various degrees of importance (between search engines), the vote that a link exchange gives you moves your importance up, bit by bit. The more votes, the higher you go.
Three - Reading a forum like SEOchat will help you with the onpage and offpage SEO. Using HTags, your title, meta tags, bold, underlined, italics, and so on. Your anchor text, link relevance, all play a role. You will also learn that there is an art to NOT triggering a filter by being over zealous with your SEO.
Four - Selling to 20% of 10 people is more efficient than selling to 1% of 100 people. This means that you must visit your own page to see if you have the right "buy" signals. Are you giving the visitor a reason to go to the casino? Will he want to play? Have you done your job as a marketer in one of the more difficult fields? The point of course is that SEO, Link exchanges, and layout are all important but if you have no tantalising content, no content to provoke a "buy" response, then all you will have is a bandwidth bill. Use your valuable traffic to it's fullest.
Five - Time. There are many entrants into this market. Far too many fly by nighters. Not too many lifers. Those who are passionate and carry on where others get off are those who bridge the gap to success. This is far from a get rich quick scheme.
Six - Longevity. Your site will only gain true longevity if your heart is on offer with every sale. You will be there to bat for your player if he/she is abused. You will similarly bat for the casino if the player is an abuser. Your whole intent is to make an honest introduction of a person with the right wants and a supplier with the ability to meet those wants.

Good luck and don't give up unless your heart isn't truly in it. You will be seriously lucky to ever recoup a fair price for the work you put into a site if you sell the site. The reward will only really be achieved with the site doing the work it was designed for.

[SportsBookie]

namepros.com and dnforum.com also offer special section for buying and selling websites

[CasinoDawg]

Excellent. Thanks for all the info. bigbcasinos made some very good points and all of them are well taken. I actually enjoy the entire process of building websites and coding and taking ideas and making them into reality, so my heart is defintiely into the coding. I also enjoy gambling and I hit the online casinos every now and again, so the subject matter seemed like a good fit. The only issue I have is one of time and trying to keep up with content updates and SEO and such. So, my thinking is that if I find the process of maintaining this site to be a little too overwhelming then I would consider putting it up for sale... but I'm not at that point yet (still far from it). I do understand this is by no means a get rich quick scheme, but I've heard some very positive things from other people running these portals. So, my feeling is that if it at least pays for itself (the webhosting and the $$ i've invested into it) then it's fine with me. I look at it as a learning experience more than anything. Thanks again for the tips and information!

[Doolally]

Just as a matter or interest, has anyone here bought someone elses website from them? How did you get on? Any problems?

[bigbcasinos]

Doolally

It's a little like a CPA deal. When you buy a site, either you win or they win. It's kind of rare that both are happy I think.

Still, I made a great deal on 2 sites in terms of Page Rank. The sites don't actually convert too well for me but their PR has been invaluable I think. Probably a case of I had the better part of the deal but it wasn't one sided

For the seller, he was left with 3 sites that he then gave extra attention to. He is now a major force on google and does really well.

Yeah, given the right circumstances, I guess both parties can win.