Had an Offer to Sell Site

Adsense Codes for 7 years

[ElvisFan]

I have had an offer to sell for one of my niche site which has earned good bucks for seven years with just adsense.
How do figure what would be a good price?
Calculate Adsense earnings per year over 7 years?
Any suggestions?

[azn romeo 4u]

I sold a few websites here and there. And I get about 5 offers per year from some people who are interested in my sites.

I value my really good sites at 2-3 years worth of earnings. If my site made 200k in three years, that is what I would sell it for. Also if you have good traffic, minimal upkeep, the value increases. But three is stretching it for some unless you have a really good site. Two years is probably a better starting point.

If you have an okay site, then it goes down to one years worth of earnings. You can see many sites sell for one years earning on flippa.com But the really good sites, with traffic, earnings, minimal upkeep sell in the 2-3 year range.

[topr8]

>>Any suggestions?

yes, ignore all advise about multiple of earnings.
you need to decide what makes it worthwhile to you... the site could easily keep earning money for 20 years why sell it for 3 years, unless you really want the cash for something.

but mainly - never, never, never give a price to someone who has cold called you wanting to buy ... ask them to make an offer. (that's your starting point, you can always ask for more if them seem serious - or just ignore them if their offer is derisory)

[ember]

I agree with topr8. I get offers occasionally and always ask them to make an offer. It is at least a starting point without having to commit to anything. And as long as you are not desperate to sell, it puts you in the power position.

[nomis5]

you need to decide what makes it worthwhile to you... the site could easily keep earning money for 20 years why sell it for 3 years, unless you really want the cash for something

And the site might tank for no good reason in six months leaving you with nothing. Never forget, any calculations that even consider what the situation might be after five years, let alone twenty years, are wildly optimistic. I bet some Pandalized site owners wish they had sold for 2.5x earnings a year or so ago. And there will be more Panda look a likes just round the corner, you can be sure of that.

Yes, you do need to decide what makes it worthwhile to you. What would you do with the money? Make more money from it or fritter it away?

What would you do with the time you freed up by selling the website?

And I'm not quite sure about the advice to always leave the first offer to the prospective buyer. Another viewpoint might be to decide what you want for the website, add 50% and negotiate from there. There is a portion of the population who tire of complicated negotiating tactics which avoid any honest one to one discussion at a realistic level. If your buyer is serious, he / she knows the approximate market valuation as you soon will. Cut the crap, get to a realistic price soon without all the clever negotiating shananigans and if that doesn't work you know the buyer is not serious.

[ElvisFan]

Thanks all for your imput. Sound advice indeed.

I have since emailed my reply with "Make me an offer I can't refuse..."

As this is only one of four sites I own it will not free up too much of my time. And I certainly don't have stars in my eyes in this dire economic climate.

[Swanny007]

I got an email yesterday too about buying my biggest most profitable site. I've had it about 11 years now. I wouldn't sell for less than about 8 years' profit at this point. It takes little to run and honestly could make more if I just added a few more ads. It's been such a stable revenue source for years that I really don't have a reason to sell. The niche is pretty stable.

Unless you're really looking to get out of it, I say hang on to it. I get unsolicited emails like that a few times per year, no big deal.

[snickles121]

I get those offers at least a few times a year and they usually turn out to be brokers wanting the website to resell and they offer a extremely low amount that insults me. I make more with adsense on the site in one month than they offer.

I believe the best way to go before you respond to people looking to buy your site is to place your website with a auction site such as godaddy auctions and put a reserve price of at least 3x earnings in one year and then refer them to where your site is listed so they can make a bid. If your not interested in selling just put a higher reserve price of maybe 5x times earnings in one year. Who knows you might get lucky.

[netmeg]

I wouldn't sell it unless you really don't want to mess with it anymore. A stable of nicely earning sites is a retirement plan.

[nomis5]

Netmeg, lots of good posts but to recommend including the earning potential of websites in a retirement plan is beyond belief.

Websites are as ephemeral as a passing cloud, don't include them in any sensible retirement plan.

[Swanny007]

Websites are as ephemeral as a passing cloud, don't include them in any sensible retirement plan.

Ha! My site is 11 years old and is still growing and makes more money every year. It's just as relevant today as it will be in 10 years, or 20. Speak for your own niches.

My site is realistically part of my retirement plan (but I'll probably sell out / cash out prior to actually retiring, and then live off the $$ I walk away with).

[netmeg]

Scuse me, I did NOT say that *ADSENSE* was a retirement plan, but that a stable of sites (meaning multiple) nicely earning (earnings sources not specified so could include AdSense, affiliate, and direct advertising) with traffic (from diverse sources) can most certainly be a reasonable part of your retirement plan.

I'm the first one to tell anyone not to rely on Google for your income or your retirement, but I absolutely rely on myself for mine. I know what I can do.

[ElvisFan]

Please don't get into a heated argument over what's what...
I got the first offer... however, it doesn't even cover 12 months of adsense earnings let alone earnings for private ads... I don't believe they will come back with anything worth even considering.. if their first offer is so low...

[topr8]

ah well, sorry to hear that!

although i'd say i've only ever had one sensible offer for any of my sites - not that i've got many and i'm not looking to sell any either, it was just a fyi really!

[ElvisFan]

WOW after totally rejecting the first offer they have come back with 65K offer... something that took me all of 2 minutes to dismiss...

Now they have come back wanting to buy another one of my sites. However, if they come to the party I will sell but only at my price and in Aussie dollars... not green backs...

[graeme_p]

And the site might tank for no good reason in six months leaving you with nothing

Conversely. the site might also continue to grow so you make a lot more in the next three years than you made in the last three in which case you may regret selling it for a low multiple.

[habato]

I think you should sell a website that makes good money only if you want to do something very different (traveling, meditation in India, ...). If your site gives you a regular income you should keep it and aim 10 years of income. Of course you'll need to fine tune it to stick to the (ever changing) environment. For instance, in my case, I had to adapt all websites for mobile traffic last year. And then, to html5, remove flash movies, etc ... Just some adjustments but the site is alive and google likes that.

If you want to sell it you should get 'an offer you can't refuse'. That could be 5-6 years.
You should probably try to understand who your buyer is. May be you have a 'deep pocket' one or may be someone who can fine great synergies with an existing business. For instance, if he pays $$$ for adwords in your niche, your site has a lot of value. At least your income/.68 (the % you get from google). It's worth spending some time talking to him ... and learn from him before you make a decision.

Good luck,

JP