£4k a month site - what is it worth?

[Chesapeake]

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Hello,

I'm considering selling a site I own that earns between £3.5k and £4k a month with zero outlay.

I have no idea what kind of price I should be asking for it. It has been earning good money for some time, is ahead of all the competition and ranks highly on google (usually top spot) for a large number of keywords. It is however reliant on one company for all its affiliate income. It currently takes about an hour a week of my time

To reiterate, What is a site earning a regular £4k a month with no outlay worth?

Edit: reason for sale is I'm buying a house in London which I need a large amount of capital for. I have other sites which provide a regular monthly income but this one is the "Jewel in the crown" so to speak.

[Cheapdvds]

got to be minimum 12 months earnings so 4k x 12

very rough though , would depend on sector and growth poteintial etc as well
also age , how long established and earning that sort of money

just my thoughts

[Chesapeake]

got to be minimum 12 months earnings so 4k x 12

very rough though , would depend on sector and growth poteintial etc as well
also age , how long established and earning that sort of money

just my thoughts

Sector is voucher codes. I guess there is potential for growth in the hands of the right person. It's been around for 4 years and earning those kind of sums since May this year. Prior to that it was still earning 4 figures but mainly with Adsense.

Obviously nothing is certain in this business but the main affiliate company is a well funded business supported by a number of FTSE100 firms so I figure they have a long shelf life.

I was thinking in the region of £75k - £80k? does this sound too much?

[renegade]

Sector is voucher codes. I guess there is potential for growth in the hands of the right person. It's been around for 4 years and earning those kind of sums since May this year. Prior to that it was still earning 4 figures but mainly with Adsense.

Obviously nothing is certain in this business but the main affiliate company is a well funded business supported by a number of FTSE100 firms so I figure they have a long shelf life.

I was thinking in the region of £75k - £80k? does this sound too much?

I've bought a number of sites from a4u members over the years and on the face of it those figures are a good starting point for negoiation BUT I doubt you'll find anyone prepared to offer even half that and only then if the risk was spread across several well established merchants with decent affiliate programs.

With merchants going bust, coming and going and the SEO and PPC landscape in everflux any affiliate offering 12xmonthly income would be mad IMO, 4-6 months is a lot more realistic.

I'd also be very wary of stats which only go back to May and am left wondering how the site made the same income previously from Adsense relying on just one merchant.

Drop me a PM if you'd like a figure I think the site is worth - I'm determined not to buy any more until I've sorted out the ones I have bought - but you never know!

[Chesapeake]

I've bought a number of sites from a4u members over the years and on the face of it those figures are a good starting point for negoiation BUT I doubt you'll find anyone prepared to offer even half that and only then if the risk was spread across several well established merchants with decent affiliate programs.

With merchants going bust, coming and going and the SEO and PPC landscape in everflux any affiliate offering 12xmonthly income would be mad IMO, 4-6 months is a lot more realistic.

I'd also be very wary of stats which only go back to May and am left wondering how the site made the same income previously from Adsense relying on just one merchant.

Drop me a PM if you'd like a figure I think the site is worth - I'm determined not to buy any more until I've sorted out the ones I have bought - but you never know!

Thanks for the feedback.

The site is very basic as I'm not expert in Design or Programming. Think basic and then more so. But.... in its niche it works very well. It does pretty much rely on one affiliate but as I mentioned they are well funded and I can't envisage any issues in the near future (but of course nothing is certain).

It didn't earn anything like £4k a month with Adsense but scraped by 4 figures a month prior to me signing up with the affiliate.

I think 4-6 months pricing is quite low but can see the reasoning behind what you said. £3.5k - £4k per month with no outlay and a few hours a week work must be worth more?

I'd be very reluctant to sell for say £16k as I could in theory (most likely) earn that from now to March next year. Whilst there is a risk to the buyer (affiliate going under etc) there is also the potential for a large upside of a large regular income for X months/years.

November was £3.9k
October was £3.8k
September was 3.3k

Traffic is increasing month on month

[sqwibble]

Just like what renegade tried to say to you...

It's all well and good saying that 12 months of ownership will earn whoever buys the domain £48k and as so, you believe they should cough up at least £48k. But Google being Google, you can not guarantee that the person buying the domain will still rank for those keywords in 5 or 6 months, let alone 12-24 months to make the sale profitable.

No offence but if I had £50'000 burning a hole in my pocket, I wouldn't be about to risk it in a voucher code website of all things. You say you rely on one company for all your income so what's to say there wont be another website isn't snapping at your heels offering the same voucher codes for the same company, that is unless there is already is one...

As you say, you're not willing to let it go for £16k, so why not just hang on to it, get a loan for X amount and pay the loan off with your affiliate earnings seeing as you're so confident it will always provide you with an income and then you don't have to worry about selling the domain cheap!

[Chesapeake]

Just like what renegade tried to say to you...

It's all well and good saying that 12 months of ownership will earn whoever buys the domain £48k and as so, you believe they should cough up at least £48k. But Google being Google, you can not guarantee that the person buying the domain will still rank for those keywords in 5 or 6 months, let alone 12-24 months to make the sale profitable.

No offence but if I had £50'000 burning a hole in my pocket, I wouldn't be about to risk it in a voucher code website of all things. You say you rely on one company for all your income so what's to say there wont be another website isn't snapping at your heels offering the same voucher codes for the same company, that is unless there is already is one...

As you say, you're not willing to let it go for £16k, so why not just hang on to it, get a loan for X amount and pay the loan off with your affiliate earnings seeing as you're so confident it will always provide you with an income and then you don't have to worry about selling the domain cheap!

I probably will hang on to it to be honest, I need to put down a huge deposit for my new house which isn't easy in the current lending climate, however if I juggle a few things I can probably manage without having to sell a site. I'll perhaps use the income to make regular capital repayments and just hope it carries on for the foreseeable future!

Thanks for the advice guys

[DannyW]

You say you rely on one company for all your income so what's to say there...

More to the point: If you're earning £4k from one merchant with a voucher site then what the hell are all the other merchants on the site doing? Nothing?

If it's a voucher site with only one merchant on it (odd IMO) and earning the figure you say, then I'd say don't even try to sell the thing! Add more merchants (get me?)

Also to reiterate what the OP's have already said it's dodgy times for many (so called) well financed merchants with always a handful of mine filing the administration papers each month - Consumers are turning more into tyre kickers daily - And I've paid 10/12x so called monthly income for more than 1 site this year to find out it'll take 2-3 years to the money back.

Without trying to sound preacherish, I'd put some screen shots and real figures up here and see what the consensus is.

[Chesapeake]

Will get some screenshots together and post shortly.

[DannyW]

TBH, that screenshot doesn't say anything.

I was saying if you want it taken seriously post up some serious figures. Traffic details, merchant, network, SITE URL etc... That screenshot could be from anything: what network is that from?

This is why I seem off and pedantic in my previous post and mainly because I run voucher sites, content sites (full time) and also purchase the odd site.

Firstly, you say you have 1 (one) affiliate on your site - you're getting confused between affiliates and merchants here I think!

Secondly, you say it's a voucher site and you earn only from 1 (one) merchant.

Thirdly, you say you'll make the money stretch to pay capital on your mortgage! Well you pay either interest or interest and capital and £4k per month at todays money will pay repayment (interest and capital) on a £730k mortgage - a nice house.

Fourthly, you say "is ahead of all the competition". It's a voucher site (you say) and if it's ahead of the top site you'd be earning more than 15 times your figure in any given month.

Seriously though, PM the url and I'd be happy to tell you what I'd think it was worth and whether I'd buy it if within my budget.

EDIT: cant' take you seriously if you post up screenshot saying you earn majority of commissions on one day then edit the post.