Internet Marketing Tycoon

#1 (permalink)

I've never sold any of my sites before. I guess I just was never of the mindset that I was building them and someone might want to buy them or that someday I might sell them.

I've been emailed a few times on whether I'd consider selling a couple of my sites.

About a month ago, someone emailed and inquired about one of my very (and I mean very) small sites. I have put so little effort into this site.

Anyway, he just asked if I would consider selling it. (which I had not ever considered before)

I didn't reply, but then got curious. He wanted the entire site. As is. (keeping in mind it's just a small site with only about 45 articles on it and a vbulletin with under 500 members)

With not ever experiencing this, I asked how he wanted to proceed. Did he want appraisal? traffic stats? revenue?

He replied he didn't want to insult me with offering too little, so to tell him what I wanted for it and to send along the stats.

Then I googled his name and was surprised to find out who he was and felt terribly naive. Like ok, I'm in over my head lately. You know..they know the game better than I do, but I'm not entirely stupid either.

Really, there is a point to this post. lol I'm quite longwinded when I have coffee and spare time.

My point is, I do see how sites sell based on traffic and revenue and the cute little equation. (which I understand isn't set in stone) But, when it comes to looking at your domain names as true net properties and not just the "now value", but the future value, how do you let go of them? or no you don't even think about the future value because the sale is now.

Do you go into things building knowing that you're building to sell? Do you build and if the price is right, you sell? How do you yourself decide what your own site is worth? Something that you created and obviously have some bias on what you think it's worth?

When does it become about the money? I ask because I think there's a point where you sorta cross over. I'm reaching that point. My sites that I am passionate about...my writing which I am also passionate about...it never ever used to be about the money.

#2 (permalink)

Haha, that sounds exactly like me. I contact people and ask about buying their site, and I also do stuff like ask how much the seller would want. Who was it asking, by the way? I'd like to know who's stole my line.

If the site in question has a value to you beyond money, I'd say just mail the guy back and tell him you don't want to sell. You might get a nice chunk of cash for the site, but if you feel like crap for selling the money is not worth it.

It's a good question though. When you build a site because it's your passion, it shows up in the quality of the site. If you build a site to make cash, that shows too. The former tend to be more valuable than the latter.

#3 (permalink)

I'll pm you who it was. It's not a secret. Just don't like mentioning complete details via open forum. The site doesn't really have any type of sentimental value. I just have a good feeling about its future value (mostly because the topic was my career for many years, so I'm confident that I can continue to create something decent) and once I saw who it was that wanted it, I felt like well it's worth more to me than his "add it to the ole collection" lol Hmm, that does sound sentimentally attached. haha

My problem is that I'm a savvy cat, but I'm no tiger. I'm sure "they" know this too. I'd like to get to that place. I have enough confidence from doing ok so far...am lacking different experiences though.

Hoping to help others, but learn a bunch too.

#4 (permalink)

Yea, tell me the site too, I'm curious!

#5 (permalink)

To me you always have to consider selling if the dollars make sense. If you see long term value in your site, then you definitely might want to stick it out (or at the very least increase your perceived value of the site). If a buyer was to come along that is willing to pay what you perceive it to be worth, then it might be time to sell.

#6 (permalink)

Hehe,I never bought or selled any of my sites ..
I hate doing so .. I like to open new site and help it develop and not buy a developed one ...

#7 (permalink)

It's great to develop a successful site, certainly. But, particularly with forums, it's very difficult to build them up. I've done very well with buying established ones, but I've also had success with building them up from scratch too. It's very valuable to me, to have experienced it from both ends.

#8 (permalink)

Yes but they always ask for lots of money while selling it ... and many sites dont deserve lots of money to buy ..they dont do revenue or traffic sometimes...

#9 (permalink)

I know a few people who create sites to solely sell them, and some of them are awful. You just have to look at the SitePoint Sell Your Turnkey forum.

I agree with what petertdavis was saying, you can see clearly what sites have been developed to keep and later sold and what sites have just been created to make a quick few quid from. The designs are awful and not much effort has been put into the development of the site.

Regarding the evaluation of a website, it can be tough. Most go on the revenue and how much can be made in the long run. HolyLemon.com was up for sale recently, the owner was selling because he was taking up a job offer and didn't have enough time to run the website. The site itself was making over $16,000 a month and was pulling in the visitors (80k uniques). The site probably would have sold in the region of $xxx,xxx, and the new owners know there will always be users to the site because of it's appeal; so they don't mind splashing the cash.

Another way is the domain, I know Lee bought OnlineGames.net a while back, the BIN was $120,000, don't know what the final sale price was, but the site was making around $4,000 a month before expenses. The domain would have been the big factor in the sale, because even though the site is well coded and has a nice collection of games it's not one of the most popular arcade websites. There are plenty of other arcade sites that have five times the traffic and plenty more games that wouldn't go anywhere near the BIN of $120,000.

If you're going to base selling the site on the revenue it makes, usually 10x or 12x the monthly amount is the norm. So if you were making $500 p/m from the site go for somewhere in the region of $5000 to $6000. Then if the domain is valuable, add the amount onto that.

You can base the site on the amount of traffic as well. Many popular MySpace resource sites, such as ProfileJuice.com (which was getting over 70k uniques a day and made $1,300 in three days was sold for around $20,000) have been selling for large amounts.

It's hard trying to explain how to evaluate how much a site is worth, some people evaluate them at enormous amounts, others lower. Just go with what you think, get some reassurance off some webmaster friends in the know and you should be okay.

Sorry if I babbled on a bit, just tried to explain a little.

#10 (permalink)

Sure, that's true. I generally don't buy sites from people who have unrealistic expectations of the value of the site they're selling. I generally try to get that out of the way up front by finding out the seller's expectations, it can save a lot of time that way.

#11 (permalink)

One of the main things to remember in this business is to develop with a sale in mind. If the site grows and provides a staple income for you on a month to month basis, plan the length of time you want to keep it. Calculate growth figures, site expenses, the time you will need to spend on it.

If there's an off balance in the equation then it's time to think about selling.

Also remember that the more a site grows and the longer it keeps growing, theoretically the more it's worth.

#12 (permalink)

Frankly, I'd rather focus on the buying end. There are so many crap sites for sale that it dilutes the market, and not enough buyers to really drive the prices up for the quality ones. It's more of a buyers market, even though good sites are getting more expensive, it's still a buyers market.