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Also depends on how much traffic, how many visitors a month, page views?
The "typical" rule of thumb is 3-5 years of annual earnings is the asking price. Hence in your case $600 times 12 times 3 or 5. However there are several factors that influence this.
1. What is the source and use of funds? What does it clear after expense $600 per month? Are either the expenses or revenues "soft" which means they could be changed or go away quickly. For example soft revenue might be a single advertiser that represented over half the monthly income who could leave with one fell swoop. Soft expense might be something like paying a writer to help develop the content, someone who could be eliminated and still have a site. Hard revenues are things like membership fees. Members may come and go, but unless you do something stupid it is unlikely that half of them would disappear overnight. Hard expenses are something like a royalty that you have to pay to someone whose content you are using.
2. Do you have a better then average brand in the industry? If you have a brand that is well respected and with a little more work someone could easily double or triple the monthly income I think that is worth a little more. If you have a crappy brand that people say you are lucky to get $600 per month sell now, then that is probably not worth much at all.
3. Do you have to stick around after the sale and keep developing content or information to keep the site going. If you do that is probably worth more.
4. Do you have a good solid database of customers and know what they like and dislike about the site? If you do that is worth more. If you guess each month who your customers are and where the income is coming from that is worth a lot less.
The point is that things that raise the long term value of the site for a buyer is the premium you can charge above and beyond the 3-5 years annual income. Things that are unstable and/or unpredictable don't warrant a premium.
Fortune Hunter
