Numbers and statistics for business planning

Discussion in 'General Business' started by MarioGL, Mar 3, 2009.

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  1. #1
    Hi all,

    Looking to get back into the game, I have a few ideas for some websites that may require small investors, so I need to write a business plan. What "rule of thumb" numbers should I use for estimating the relation between traffic and revenue?

    Example: say I want to do a baseball site focusing on statistics. I estimate that after one year of operations the site gets 10,000 page views a day, 2% click through rate and 10 cents an ad for Google = daily revenue of $20. Add another 10% in revenue through affiliates, link exchange, etc.

    Are my click through estimates and $ per click reasonable estimates? And is an estimate of 10% affiliate\other revenue based on Adsense #s is reasonable? I know it varies widely based on niche and I've done some research (I actually have a lot of baseball blogs but they're "autoblogs" :) ), I'm just curious what an "industry standard" clickthrough rate is and $ per pageview for a properly marketed website, any help appreciated.
     
    MarioGL, Mar 3, 2009 IP
  2. thefandango

    thefandango Active Member

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    #2
    thefandango, Mar 3, 2009 IP
  3. MarioGL

    MarioGL Peon

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    #3
    Errr, thanks :) The article says a 2-5% CTR is a broad average, so my estimate is on the conservative side. I found another post here where the average $PC is about 15 cents, again my estimate of 10 cents is on the conservative side.

    I think an SEO expert should aspire to better than the low end of the average, and I think revenue will come down as the economy stalls, so 3% and 10 cents on average across a broad portfolio of websites seem like good numbers for forecasting.
     
    MarioGL, Mar 3, 2009 IP
  4. lifeplayer

    lifeplayer Notable Member

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    #4
    You cant estimate without data analysis, this is not called as "estimate", it call guess.
    I will suggest to do some experiment, build few site with different niche and find the best, then focus on the best website to make it better.
     
    lifeplayer, Mar 5, 2009 IP
  5. mentos

    mentos Prominent Member

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    #5
    Based on my experience,CTR is unable to predict especially if you're using adsense coz the rate is fluctuation is huge.And the rate is depend on the keyword which mean it based on the niche of your site.
    As for biz plan,investor is not purely interested with the projected earning forecast,but it more on how you manage and maintain the site.
     
    mentos, Mar 5, 2009 IP