Determining a good price to sell a website.. Suggestions?

Hey everyone... I could use some help.

I started a website ( blog ) a few years back revolving around the NYC party scene ( clubs, raves, music, etc.. ) and ran it for about 2 years up until I no longer had time to update it due to my 9-5. I never monetized the site because I didn't want to make people think I was running the site just to get money. I know, bad business plan but it was more of a hobby.

I checked recently and I was getting on average 4000-5000 uniques a month. I figure I shouldn't let the site go to waste so I decided I was going to sell it to someone who either would just monetize it or keep the blog posts/event calendar going.

My question is, what do you believe an entertainment site ( which has thousands of professional pictures we took at numerous parties..original content ) that gets about 5,000 uniques a month go for $ wise...

I want to sell it but I don't want to low ball a price for something that is potentially worth more. I was thinking the $1,500 range?

Any suggestions?

 

Myself I am not one to turn a site into just a PPC site but the question I would first ask is who would own the photo content rights?

 

Well, since we took the photos, we own the rights. But if I was to sell the site, I guess I would transfer over the rights. Right?

 

It's a determining factor was what I was hinting at, you have to consider these things.

 

Ahh.. yes, I agree. I just don't know where to start.

 

You have a lot of things to consider like that as it's not just a site with spun content it's a hobby site that has been treated with care and not only do you have original content you also have the secondary content of original photos which add a lot to the value IMHO.

You will have to see what others think as pricing such like is not something I would attempt but you certainly need to take care, as much care as you already did of things by the sounds of it.

 

Really good info you shared. Thanks a lot.

 

Have you thought about introduing a small amount of advertising to help determine the effect on users, user numbers and also what revenue carefully placed advertising generates over a period of some weeks at all?

 

Yea.. I've actually thought about just putting up advertising and not selling the site. I just haven't got around to it yet.

 

Although you may have put a lot of work into it, it really depends on how much the site's making. 5000 visits a month isn't really all that much. Try putting some ads on the site and monetizing it for a few months then you should be able to get the monthly revenue x 12 for the site.

 

It would be Totally Bonkers (as they say here in London) to sell it at this stage (unless you really really and VERY urgently need the money) since the site/domain is apparently growing in popularity without a lot of in put from you!

I have lots of clients who have New York and London sites (these are of course the only two truly global cities) and every one of the sites is getting better and better every day!

 

Here is the formula for traffic valuation method, this is used by Flippa and i also use it...

To determining the value of a site, specifically sites that have yet to be monetized but have traffic, is the Traffic Value Valuation Method.

This method is determined by researching the top key phrase or phrases that drive the majority of traffic to a website. Then find the Cost-Per-Click value of the keywords.

For example, the site we will use in our example: Bankruptcy-Chapter-7.org has two key phrases driving over 90% of its traffic, the two key phrases are; Chapter 7 and Bankruptcy Chapter 7.
Once you know these terms go to Google's keyword tool and enter both terms. The approximate cost per click for each term will be found. For [Chapter 7] it’s $5.95 and for [bankruptcy chapter 7] it’s $11.44.

If the amount of traffic going to Bankruptcy-Chapter-7.org is 900 visitors using Chapter 7 and 500 using bankruptcy chapter 7, then you can multiple the cost per click with the visits.

Formula for Traffic Value Valuation Method
Cost per click x # of Monthly Unique Visitors from That Keyword
$5.95 x 900 = $5,355 + $11.44 x 500 = $5,720
$5,355 + $5,720 = $11,075
The value of traffic to the site is worth $11,075 per month if a site had to pay, for each visitor with a service like Google Adwords. The next step is to multiply $11,075 by an amount around 45%. Taking a percentage of the total traffic value creates a more realistic picture of what the traffic will cost if paid, since not everyone would pay the maximum cost-per-click.

Traffic Value ($11,075) x Percentage .45 = $4,983.75/month.

Hope this helps.

 

That's an interesting read FunkyDog. Worth a "like" for the insight IMHO!

What about value of other things like "photo content" all being original. Do you consider that at all or do you just go by potential "Adsense" revenue in your valuation "overall" only?

And let's not forget we don't know if the domain name is also a real good one or not to. Something you also consider or not? I mean what if the domain was valuable in its self irrelevant of site or content.

 

As for the content, that would only be of value if it can not be replaced by other content without it damaging the website... look at it from a potential buyers point of view ;-)

If the domain itself had value, this is "added value" and you should take this into your price settings.

If your traffic value is for example $1,000 and your domain value is $2,000 i would go for $3,000 or even more...

Nutshell:
Photocontent: nothing in my humble opinion
Domain: added value