For many of us, starting a business provides us with the freedom to work when we want in the way that we want to work. We all work hard on these businesses and want to see them succeed.
At the same time, there aren’t many of us who intend on working forever. The end game when you are ready to retire or move to another project, is to either pass the business on or sell it for a profit.
Many businesses aren’t sure on how much their business is worth, but there are several key factors that can help push your businesses value up. But just what are they?
SEO and Organic Traffic
Surprise surprise, one of the key factors that can help boost the attractiveness of your business to buyers is the SEO/organic traffic to your website.
The reason behind this is because once you have worked hard on your website’s SEO and got your website to a good level of traffic, it will continue to bring in further organic traffic.
Good traffic levels with a good conversion rate gives buyers the confidence in your brand, product and website. For a buyer who is new to your industry, this helps reassure them that they have room to learn the ropes, maintain the traffic levels and perhaps look to improve further.
SEO is a heavy investment initially but in the long term the effects can be maintained without much significant upkeep.
In comparison, if you have a website that is dependent on paid traffic then this traffic will require constant upkeep both in terms of capital and a qualified paid advertising manager/agency.
It’s this drastic difference in cost which can be a factor in attracting or discouraging potential buyers of your business.
Email Subscribers
Another key factor in boosting your business’s attractiveness to buyers is a good email subscriber list. Email marketing is extremely popular and a great way of promoting your business to a captive audience.
A proven email list, made up of interested customers and potential customers, is gold dust for many buyers.
With the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) there will be an added onus on you to prove that those on your email subscriber list have all consented to have their details stored by the business and to be contacted with marketing emails. With a carefully built database with records of consent given recorded, this will be simple to prove.
Your email subscriber list can be built up with clear calls to actions on your website – providing your subscribers with something useful in their everyday life.
For B2B companies/websites, this could be guides, latest news, industry benchmarks. For B2C companies/websites, this could be entry to latest competitions, new products, and even information on exclusive sales and discounts.
Social Media
A further element of your online presence that will help to improve the saleability of your business is your social media following.
Your followers on social media are essentially another email marketing list. Buyers will be attracted to a business with a good following on social channels as it is another method of reaching customers and promoting your business’s offering.
Using your social channels correctly and building up an online following is a worthwhile activity. Interesting and captivating posts are key here.
Improving your Business's and Website’s Attractiveness
Taking the time now to invest in your business’s attractiveness will pay dividends down the line when you are looking to sell.
Don’t forget, all of these principles also apply for when you could be looking for investments in your chosen business and/or website.
Get in touch with the team here at Digital Nachos today to discuss how we can improve the organic traffic of your website via SEO. Investing now will help put you and your business in a stronger position in the future, ready for whatever you decide to do.
Published: 11th May 2018