Brokers to Help Sell a Website with Focus Outside of North America

Looking for website brokers

[msafi]

Hi, I have a website that makes ~$700 from AdSense and ~$100 from affiliate commissions per month. I was told this type of website should be easy to sell for 3x the annual income--except I tried and couldn't find a buyer. And I couldn't find a broker that's willing to take it because the income isn't high enough and the website isn't focused on the North American market or Europe...It's focused on Dubai.

I don't wanna use Flippa because many (but not all) sites there are listed by disgusting scammers and you can't get better than 1x annual income there.

Does anyone know how to find a buyer of such a site?

[wheel]

I was told this type of website should be easy to sell for 3x the annual income--except I tried and couldn't find a buyer.

Then clearly you were told wrong. They were wrong on the 'easy' part, they may be wrong on the '3X income' part.

Would you buy a website that took 3 years to break even? Well, people do but you need to find the right buyer and they probably need a reason other than your income to buy it - something that justifies the price above and beyond the base income you're earning.

Forget the idea that some random purchaser is going to buy your site for 'market value of 3X income', particularly since you stated yourself that market value is likely closer to 1X income. Try targetting people in the niche directly (i.e. call them). Try putting up a 'site for sale' on the site. Look at other people in the affiliate market that you're in.

The best way to make the highest price is to do the footwork yourself to find a targetted buyer rather than throwing it at an open auction.

[msafi]

Are you really saying 3x is a lot? Don't brick and mortar businesses usually sell for 5-10x? Why should web properties sell for much less? Or are you assuming that I have a crappy site with low trust and reliability? The site is very old and established. The sources of income and traffic are solid and can withstand tough scrutiny. So, 3x is a normal and fair price. Regardless, when I talk to a potential buyer (I had a couple of inquiries), I do justify the price with some solid facts.

When did I say the market value is closer to 1x? Are you saying that an open auction on scammer-infested Flippa is what determines a site's true market value?

Anyway, I do have a "This site is for sale" ad on the site and I did try to call a few people. But I still haven't sold the site. I think it's gonna be hard to sell the website to a local buyer because there aren't many of them. And of course it's not gonna be easy selling to a non-local buyer because they don't know much about the local Dubai market.

So because the site is hard to sell, brokers aren't interested it seems...

[Leosghost]

Why should web properties sell for much less?

Because very very very few B&M's ( JCDecaux's street furniture bus stops and signs business is about the only one I can think of ) exist solely to show ads for a third party's ad agency platform ..

The only guaranteed money from adsense is the last payment that arrived at your bank or the last cheque that you had cleared ..all other adsense income is "maybe money" ..it may not happen again next month

..Google could just close adsense at any time ..
an adsense site is similar to a hand of cards ..some have more chance than others to get paid ..but there is no certainty..

[msafi]

@Leosghost, Yeah, that makes sense--most B&M businesses are more likely to continue to exist than Google's AdSense platform. Or AdSense might change their Terms of Service tomorrow and render a very ethical and normal site obsolete. And an earthquake may hit the city where the website is hosted and get swallowed into a ditch...Based on historical data, all are very possible risks that a buyer is taking with my website...

[Leosghost]

Yahoo had their equivalent of adsense ..( it was always "going to spread from being USA only, eventually"..it never did..it is now gone, even from the USA.

Many of us were on the web long before Google ..and thus long before adsense .. things change..

I'm not making any reflection upon your site , I don't know it, but ethical etc is no guarantee, not for your site, nor my adsense ones , nor those of anyone else..

Any site which is solely designed to sell adsense or aff ads has it's business model built upon the existence of others whose actions or existence it does not control.

If they change, and as a result of that it has no income ..it then has no assets ..no way for the buyer to recover any of their money ..

A B&M ..has stock which can be sold off ..or office furniture, or photocopiers etc etc ..even the bare shelves are worth something however small ..an adsense or aff site ( with no direct ad sales customers ) without an adsense or aff deal is worth nothing ..so it is a bigger risk ..and thus is worth a lower multiple of earnings than a B&M..

No one knows if any individual site will have adsense on it next month ..not even Sergey or Larry ..totally white hat sites can get taken out ..and the Google feedback system for reinstatement to adsense is famous only for it's deafness..

You wanted to know "why?" ..that is "why?"..

That said ..I wish you luck with your sale..:-)

Btw ..you didn't mention the language of your site ..English or Arabic ? ..English is going to be easier to sell anyway..( more "mature" buyers market )..but bi-lingual or tri-lingual would be possibly even easier to sell ..especially to a "local market".

[LifeinAsia]

Are you really saying 3x is a lot?

It can be. If a buyer has the potential to really grow the site from its current level, 1-3X current earnings may not be too much. However, the Dubai market is *extremely* small (compared to North America and especially to the rest of the world). So I would say it would be extremely difficult to grow the site much larger without a lot of work (if even then), no fewer investors that would want to invest with such limited ROI expectations.

In general, small niche + limited investors = low valuation. Like Leosghost said, it's not a reflection on your site or you, it's just the way the market works.

Note- I have the same experience as you do- all the sites I own are very small (comparatively) niches. There is limited potential to grow them too much more. On the bright side, that usually means there's not as much competition. :)

[msafi]

The website is high quality, established, reliable, and stable. Please stop assuming that it's a made-for-AdSense site or something made for the purpose of being flipped later.

There is room and a lot of potential for growth. Again, please don't make unhelpful assumptions about the site. I don't want to have to defend it here. That's not the purpose of this thread.

All I been getting in this thread is "something about your site sucks. That's why you can't find a buyer for 3x."

If anyone knows how to find buyer, please let me know. Otherwise, please don't make assumptions about which aspect of my site is crappy.

@Leosghost, The website is English only.

[Leosghost]

No one is assuming it is an MFA ..
you said it was adsense and aff ..in your first post..
And you are the only one who has mentioned MFA

If the English expat community has website in Dubai ( and if it isn't your website ;-) ..try putting an ad in there ..there may be webmasters reading it or living in your target area...

[msafi]

@Leosghost, Trying to reach webmasters in my target area sounds like a good idea. I guess I'm not desperate enough to do the hard work myself and rather looking for someone to help and take a cut of the sale price...

Thanks!