How Much Do You Think This Website Is Worth?

[thai20144]

I have been offered to buy a Internet Forum - The owner doesn't have the time to run it anymore and they have not put much effort in recently so loads of

room to improve.

Here are the stats of the forum:

It was established in 2004

20,000+ Members

15,000+ Unique visitors
30,000+ Page views (per month)

The Owner has not really done a great job on this site and is currently only making $1000 a month.

I think I can buy it at a cheap price and better monetize it.

Note: I wont be Disclosing the Website address. Its also American Based and Legal, nothing to do with Thailand.

Edited October 16, 2014 by thai20144

[Somtamnication]

You want us to give you a price based on not seeing what the site is? So what is the site for? Is it a store? Is it an information site? <deleted> is it?

[thai20144]

You want us to give you a price based on not seeing what the site is? So what is the site for? Is it a store? Is it an information site? <deleted> is it?

Its all about the numbers of visits (traffic) per month and what it is earning per month, Its a Forum. The Topic is irrelevant IMO.

Never mind next...

Edited October 16, 2014 by thai20144

[konying]

You want us to give you a price based on not seeing what the site is? So what is the site for? Is it a store? Is it an information site? <deleted> is it?

OP States its a forum., something similar to this .

[konying]

OP, it's a hard one but Google " how much internet website is worth"

There are a few sites which publish value of whatever website to want.

They base it on traffic and links .

That should give you an estimate idea

[thai20144]

More Stats

Total Backlink Count 4877

Google pagerank

Google Index

66,100

Alexa Global Rank.

134,510

[samba2014]

Interesting stats. Without knowing the context of what kind of content the site is worthless.

[thai20144]

Interesting stats. Without knowing the context of what kind of content the site is worthless.

I disagree

Edited October 17, 2014 by thai20144

[Chairman Of The Board]

Interesting stats. Without knowing the context of what kind of content the site is worthless.

I disagree.

I would disagree with you disagreeing.

[Pomthai]

I agree with your disagreement with his disagreeing.

Need more topic info etc.

[IMHO]

6.7 cents per unique visitor is not bad monetization - I'm curious how you expect to improve upon that?

[thai20144]

6.7 cents per unique visitor is not bad monetization - I'm curious how you expect to improve upon that?

The current webmaster has only monetized it with AdSense ads, I would sell ads to 3rd party companies in that niche,

Also by promoting other related product's for commission.

Edited October 17, 2014 by thai20144

[AyG]

Viewing it purely as an investment, it produces $12,000/year. Assuming a 4% p.a. return, that would imply a price of $300,000.

[kurnell]

I'm guessing it's Bangkok Tonight. A disgusting forum full of filth and debauchery. I know cos I have been a member for 11 years.

[doggie888888]

How long is a piece of string? Everyone would arrive at a different value.

Assuming you want to recoup the purchase price in say 3years.... A rule of thumb, back of envelope sort of calculation would be 36,000. You adjust that for any potential ups and downs for next few years and see any adjustment is required on the 12,000 as well eg any unaccrued expenses.

[IMHO]

Viewing it purely as an investment, it produces $12,000/year. Assuming a 4% p.a. return, that would imply a price of $300,000.

Absolutely no way it's worth 25 years EBITA - to get that you need a brand, tech and some solid contracts backing you. Assuming it has none of that, I'd say more like 2-5 years EBITA

Edited October 17, 2014 by IMHO

[IMHO]

6.7 cents per unique visitor is not bad monetization - I'm curious how you expect to improve upon that?

The current webmaster has only monetized it with AdSense ads, I would sell ads to 3rd party companies in that niche,

Also by promoting other related product's for commission.

Selling your own display can be hard work - especially when you're only talking 30 CPM units - for many advertisers that's just not going to be enough for them to be interested, and the smaller guys tend to expect too much and end up dropping off as quickly as you can sign them up.

Referral comms can work, but it totally depends on the subject matter. i.e. it probably wouldn't matter how hard the admins here tried, they wouldn't make much out of something like an Amazon affiliate program.

There is quite a bit that can be done with simply optimizing adsense though - indeed there's plenty of players out there who will guarantee a 30% uplift, but you need big traffic to interest them. The basic concepts of what they do are pretty easy to understand if you spend a little time analysing their own case studies and before/after screens

The problem you'll find with some of the really lucrative monetization methods out there is your level of traffic won't get you in the door - e.g. outbrain and taboola..

Best of luck though - if you can get it for 1-2 years EBITA, and your due diligence is able to rock-solid confirm traffic stats, costs and revenue, go for it

Edited October 17, 2014 by IMHO

[Tywais]

You can try this site it to see if its worth is listed. Have no idea of the accuracy though. http://www.howmuchwebsiteworth.com/

Or this one which uses more technical analysis - http://www.mustat.com/

[IMHO]

You want us to give you a price based on not seeing what the site is? So what is the site for? Is it a store? Is it an information site? <deleted> is it?

Its all about the numbers of visits (traffic) per month and what it is earning per month, Its a Forum. The Topic is irrelevant IMO.

Never mind next...

It is, but demographics are also important. 30K pageviews from 6-12 year olds isn't worth anywhere near as much as 25-34, or 35-44 yo's...

The proof is in the pudding though - if it's pulling 6.7c/visitor already, it's unlikely that will fade - unless you suddenly get a strong competitor eroding your traffic - or the traffic is being paid for....

Which brings me to - make sure the seller hasn't been padding their traffic numbers with SEM/display and hiding the expense.. it's easy to get 15K UV's if you're spending money on SEM

One stat that is troubling (and caused me to bring this up) is the pageviews - only 2 per month (and that's not even per visit, but per unique), which sounds awfully low. What's the bounce rate? What's the percentage of returning vs. new visitors?

Edited October 17, 2014 by IMHO

[ldnguy]

Sites like this generally sell for 6-24 times monthly earnings. Have a look at the sold prices on flippa.com. So it should be worth $6K-$24K. But there are lost of things to consider. If it's been making $1K per month consistently for the last few years it will be more valuable than if it made that amount only for 1-2 months. Also, is traffic rising or falling? If it's falling, how will you get it back? How are the earnings made? How do you know that they are genuine? How do you know that the owner didn't spend $1K buying traffic to make the $1K income? I that case profit would be zero. Is $1K the income or profit? How many hours per month does it take to run the site? PR hasn't been updated for about 12 months and Google recently said it might never be updated publicly again. So there's no way of knowing if the site is still PR4. Has it had a Google penalty? That could mean the site is PR0 now but showing as PR4. How is the $1K made?

PM me if you want any help with this. If you decide not to buy, can you pass the details on to me. I may be interested myself, depending on what the site is about.

[ldnguy]

You can try this site it to see if its worth is listed. Have no idea of the accuracy though. http://www.howmuchwebsiteworth.com/

Or this one which uses more technical analysis - http://www.mustat.com/

This is pointless. I've tried this with sites I know are worth $20k+ but they show the site as worth ridiculous figures like $500. How can an algorithm know about profit and loss.

The first site you mention say that Google.com is worth around $1 billion, yet it made $2.5 billion profit in 3 months. This is laughable.

[ldnguy]

Viewing it purely as an investment, it produces $12,000/year. Assuming a 4% p.a. return, that would imply a price of $300,000.

This is one of the most ridiculous comments ever on TV. You are assuming that the site will continue to make $1K/year for the next 25 years and then you'll break even. If you have to borrow the money at 5% interest then you'll be making a loss. Internet sites usually sell for 6-24 times monthly earnings, so $6K to $24K. $300K is just a really stupid figure. Someone I know paid $300K for a website business that was earning over $100K a year.

[Tywais]

You can try this site it to see if its worth is listed. Have no idea of the accuracy though. http://www.howmuchwebsiteworth.com/

Or this one which uses more technical analysis - http://www.mustat.com/

This is pointless. I've tried this with sites I know are worth $20k+ but they show the site as worth ridiculous figures like $500. How can an algorithm know about profit and loss.

The first site you mention say that Google.com is worth around $1 billion, yet it made $2.5 billion profit in 3 months. This is laughable.

As I mentioned, the 1st site doesn't appear to use much in the way of technical indicators. The 2nd site does and shows Google at $32,940,249,406 worth. It has nothing to do with profit and loss of the company as a whole but of the website itself and its ad revenue, SEO, traffic, etc.

[AyG]

Viewing it purely as an investment, it produces $12,000/year. Assuming a 4% p.a. return, that would imply a price of $300,000.

This is one of the most ridiculous comments ever on TV. You are assuming that the site will continue to make $1K/year for the next 25 years and then you'll break even. If you have to borrow the money at 5% interest then you'll be making a loss. Internet sites usually sell for 6-24 times monthly earnings, so $6K to $24K. $300K is just a really stupid figure. Someone I know paid $300K for a website business that was earning over $100K a year.

I think you rather miss the point I was making, which is that the price of Internet websites is largely disconnected from economic reality. Something producing a steady income of $12,000/year should be worth a lot more than your range of $6-24,000 - but it's not. Anybody selling such a website for a price in that range would be, in my opinion, a fool.

[IMHO]

You can try this site it to see if its worth is listed. Have no idea of the accuracy though. http://www.howmuchwebsiteworth.com/

Or this one which uses more technical analysis - http://www.mustat.com/

This is pointless. I've tried this with sites I know are worth $20k+ but they show the site as worth ridiculous figures like $500. How can an algorithm know about profit and loss.

The first site you mention say that Google.com is worth around $1 billion, yet it made $2.5 billion profit in 3 months. This is laughable.

As I mentioned, the 1st site doesn't appear to use much in the way of technical indicators. The 2nd site does and shows Google at $32,940,249,406 worth. It has nothing to do with profit and loss of the company as a whole but of the website itself and its ad revenue, SEO, traffic, etc.

I just tried a couple of our portals using the 2nd link... way off. If our CPC/CPM revenues were what they are saying, we'd be out of business. Out by a factor of 3,000

Edited October 17, 2014 by IMHO

[Fab5BKK]

"How long is the piece of string?" comes to my mind.

To evaluate a business, whatever it is, Due Diligence is needed.

I agree with your disagreement with his disagreeing.

Need more topic info etc.

[Somtamnication]

"How long is the piece of string?" comes to my mind.

To evaluate a business, whatever it is, Due Diligence is needed.

I agree with your disagreement with his disagreeing.

Need more topic info etc.

The OP will disagree with you. Now, I have a restaurant and I need you to evaluate my menu, WITHOUT TRYING IT.

[ldnguy]

Viewing it purely as an investment, it produces $12,000/year. Assuming a 4% p.a. return, that would imply a price of $300,000.

This is one of the most ridiculous comments ever on TV. You are assuming that the site will continue to make $1K/year for the next 25 years and then you'll break even. If you have to borrow the money at 5% interest then you'll be making a loss. Internet sites usually sell for 6-24 times monthly earnings, so $6K to $24K. $300K is just a really stupid figure. Someone I know paid $300K for a website business that was earning over $100K a year.

I think you rather miss the point I was making, which is that the price of Internet websites is largely disconnected from economic reality. Something producing a steady income of $12,000/year should be worth a lot more than your range of $6-24,000 - but it's not. Anybody selling such a website for a price in that range would be, in my opinion, a fool.

Why would they be a fool? It may take so much work to run the website that you may be working for $5-10 per hour. These are websites, not real businesses. Drop down in the Google search rankings and you could get zero income very quickly. These are just two reasons that sites attract lower prices. Also, there is more supply than demand. If you want to sell your site and there's nothing too special about it, this is what you'll get. Would you work 100-200 hours a month to make $1,000. Most wouldn't, which is why they prefer to take $6.000-$24,000 cash and move on to something more profitable. It's the fool that would hang onto it.

Edited October 17, 2014 by ldnguy

[AyG]

Viewing it purely as an investment, it produces $12,000/year. Assuming a 4% p.a. return, that would imply a price of $300,000.

This is one of the most ridiculous comments ever on TV. You are assuming that the site will continue to make $1K/year for the next 25 years and then you'll break even. If you have to borrow the money at 5% interest then you'll be making a loss. Internet sites usually sell for 6-24 times monthly earnings, so $6K to $24K. $300K is just a really stupid figure. Someone I know paid $300K for a website business that was earning over $100K a year.

I think you rather miss the point I was making, which is that the price of Internet websites is largely disconnected from economic reality. Something producing a steady income of $12,000/year should be worth a lot more than your range of $6-24,000 - but it's not. Anybody selling such a website for a price in that range would be, in my opinion, a fool.

Why would they be a fool? It may take so much work to run the website that you may be working for $5-10 per hour. These are websites, not real businesses. Drop down in the Google search rankings and you could get zero income very quickly. These are just two reasons that sites attract lower prices. Also, there is more supply than demand. If you want to sell your site and there's nothing too special about it, this is what you'll get. Would you work 100-200 hours a month to make $1,000. Most wouldn't, which is why they prefer to take $6.000-$24,000 cash and move on to something more profitable. It's the fool that would hang onto it.

The OP says the site is making $1000/month. Any rational analysis of the cash situation would include the time spent by the owner and staff at whatever rate he/she thinks is appropriate for his/her time (as well as hardware, hosting and network costs). Of course, the OP could be ludicrously irrational and not have done a reasoned analysis of the financial situation. If it is genuinely making $1000/month after all costs and expenses, then $6-24,000 is ridiculously cheap.

As for "these are websites, not real businesses", I rather suspect you're right. As I wrote previously "the price of Internet websites is largely disconnected from economic reality".

[ldnguy]

I think you rather miss the point I was making, which is that the price of Internet websites is largely disconnected from economic reality. Something producing a steady income of $12,000/year should be worth a lot more than your range of $6-24,000 - but it's not. Anybody selling such a website for a price in that range would be, in my opinion, a fool.

Why would they be a fool? It may take so much work to run the website that you may be working for $5-10 per hour. These are websites, not real businesses. Drop down in the Google search rankings and you could get zero income very quickly. These are just two reasons that sites attract lower prices. Also, there is more supply than demand. If you want to sell your site and there's nothing too special about it, this is what you'll get. Would you work 100-200 hours a month to make $1,000. Most wouldn't, which is why they prefer to take $6.000-$24,000 cash and move on to something more profitable. It's the fool that would hang onto it.

The OP says the site is making $1000/month. Any rational analysis of the cash situation would include the time spent by the owner and staff at whatever rate he/she thinks is appropriate for his/her time (as well as hardware, hosting and network costs). Of course, the OP could be ludicrously irrational and not have done a reasoned analysis of the financial situation. If it is genuinely making $1000/month after all costs and expenses, then $6-24,000 is ridiculously cheap.

As for "these are websites, not real businesses", I rather suspect you're right. As I wrote previously "the price of Internet websites is largely disconnected from economic reality".

But it's not disconnected from economic reality. The 6-24 months price is the reality and has been for the last decade or so. This is real. This is reality. You could argue that businesses costing 20-100 times earnings is disconnected from reality. You seem to be assuming stock market prices are the reality but website prices are not. How did you decide which is reality? The fact of the matter is that most websites earning $1k/month end up earning next to nothing within a year or two. So why would someone pay more when that is the reality of most of these sites. Look back at sites sold 2-3 years ago. Most are now earning nothing or close to nothing. That is the reality. I don't know what reality you are talking about.