PPCers - Need Advice

[cola]

New member, site looks great and with a name like NamePros, thought I would ask my question here.

How much is a domain's traffic worth?

We have a site that receives 24K unique visitors per day and millions of page views per month. The site generates roughly $20K banner ad revenue per year and we are five to split the spoils. We want to retire it because the income it provides does not justify the time it consumes.

I read a story about ultsearch and PPC, could the domain and traffic it receives be worth something and how much? The site is listed on Alexa.com's top 50K world wide for traffic.

Thanks

 

[cerebus]

If you want to retire it and it's a well developed site you are probably better off selling it to someone who wants to run it, rather than trying to make income from the pure traffic.

 

[cola]

Thanks cerebus,

As mentionned the time it consumes is not worth the income it provides, we are five and can barely keep up with it. We don't want to profit from its traffic either, but rather sell it to someone who knows how to profit from PPC. Just wondering how much a successful PPCer would pay for it.

 

[Rikkers]

Cola, it's hard to say without knowing the name of your site & the source of your traffic.

If you don't want to post it on the forum send me a private message & I will research it & try to give you a valuation.

I might even make an offer

 

[nRnF]

In any case try first to sell the site itself (incl. the traffic).
Selling only the traffic would be an emergency solution
It sounds, that the site does quite well, so take your time in selling it.

But as rikkers say:
..it's hard to say without knowing the name of your site & the source of your traffic.

PS:
PM me the site and I will also take a look at it.

 

[cola]

Thanks for your input guys/girls. What I understand from your posts is that selling it for its PPC potential would be a last resort thing. Is that because PPC does not generate much in terms of ROI or simply because you all think a well developed site with high traffic is worth more than the income it generates?

Perhaps we are under valuating its worth, but strictly from a business point of view I personally wouldn't pay more for a site than the income it generates in a year. I guess what my question should of been, is that kind of traffic worth more than 20K to a person involved in PPC.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Thanks for your input guys/girls. What I understand from your posts is that selling it for its PPC potential would be a last resort thing. Is that because PPC does not generate much in terms of ROI or simply because you all think a well developed site with high traffic is worth more than the income it generates?

Perhaps we are under valuating its worth, but strictly from a business point of view I personally wouldn't pay more for a site than the income it generates in a year. I guess what my question should of been, is that kind of traffic worth more than 20K to a person involved in PPC.

Possibly, if the traffic is US and searching a topic that is of high value (And not "pig breeding", for example.).

We really do need to know more.

If they were searching "structured settlements" and that's what you get thousands of visitors a month about, then $20K is undervalued. If they were searching something that does not convert into PPC high CPC, then probably not.

More info, please.

-Allan

 

[IdahoFarmer]

Cola,

I would tend agree with the dialog thusfar and your assessment that a PPCer, like myself, would pay an amount equal to last years documented revenue for the domain.

However, as others have stated, the true value may be in the name itself and can best be unlocked by 1) development of the domain (i.e. lead generation or actual sales/service) and then sold, or 2) Projecting developed revenue potential and selling the name on the merits of its projected future value... i.e. speculation.

Many of the high dollar domain sales are completed using #2. Please post or PM me with the domain and I will provide you with additional feedback.

Thank you,

IdahoFarmer
IdahoDomains.com

 

[cola]

I'm not at liberty to diclose the name, but the site caters to home entertainment ethusiasts and technology buffs. The discussion forum alone has 200K active members and the site has been in operation since 1999. It all started as a hobby and now it's a chore we feel $20K a year in banner revenue does not justify the time we put into it.

After reading that ultsearch story, I was under the impression this kind of traffic would be a valuable asset to a PPC business. I'm just looking into different alternatives to selling it and your feedback is appreciated.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

I'm not at liberty to diclose the name, but the site caters to home entertainment ethusiasts and technology buffs. The discussion forum alone has 200K active members and the site has been in operation since 1999. It all started as a hobby and now it's a chore we feel $20K a year in banner revenue does not justify the time we put into it.

After reading that ultsearch story, I was under the impression this kind of traffic would be a valuable asset to a PPC business. I'm just looking into different alternatives to selling it and your feedback is appreciated.

200K active members... (NP staff now sporting a collective "wud-e"...)...

Geezis... PPC won't get you nearly what you could get from selling it as a whole site.

I'm actually more wondering how you only managed to get $20K from 200K active members on a forum.

-Allan

 

[cola]

LOL actually we have only upgraded our banner rates once since the day it all started, guess we're not greedy enough considering the size it's become. Most of the advertisers have been with us since the beginning, they sort of grew on and with us

 

[IAmAllanShore]

LOL actually we have only upgraded our banner rates once since the day it all started, guess we're not greedy enough considering the size it's become. Most of the advertisers have been with us since the beginning, they sort of grew on and with us

Well if you're looking to sell, the forum alone would be easily 2 to 3 times what you're making now, just because you're so far on the low side of things IMHO.

I can't imagine how happy any of the forum folk would be to have even 1/10th the number of actives.

-Allan

 

[mole]

Once you stop your forum, your traffic will taper off until it becomes a shrivelled corpse. I think you are talking about monetizing your traffic, although you are also suggesting that its too much time to maintain and may consider a ditch out?

 

[IdahoFarmer]

Agreed. Since we're talking about a developed name, the traffic comes from the consumer expectation of the value they will receive when they visit the site (i.e. participating in the forums, product reviews, etc.) PPC is not the best avenue for maximizing the sale price because, as mole said, without the website in place the traffic will taper off over time.

Also, while I agree with what IAmAllanShore says in theory, I would propose that the value of the domain, as it is developed, is driven by the current performance of the domain/website. If you're pulling $20k/year and the maintenance costs are $10k/year then the value today to me is $10k.

If you sell it, it will be up to the buyer to improve performance by:
1) Automating or otherwise reducing the maintenance costs.
2) Better monetizing the traffic.

If you want to do these items before selling, then you can improve the value. (Performance assessment)

If you want to NOT do these things, then you will be selling at today's value. (Performance assessment + discounted expected future value)

IdahoFarmer

:imho:

 

[cola]

Thanks for your insight,

20K is yearly profit, after all expenses have been covered. That's one of the reasons I'm looking into other venues than someone who may want to operate it. We split the profits, but the time put into it is not calculated. If someone were to hire 4 persons to help run it, current profits wouldn't cover the costs.

 

[Rikkers]

the site caters to home entertainment ethusiasts and technology buffs.

we have only upgraded our banner rates once since the day it all started

From what you are saying it looks like you are being paid "per impression" rates by your advertisers. I would guess only $3CPM?

I think you need to be looking at displaying either affiliate banners paying per sale or Overture / Google AdSense to increase your revenues.

If you place Adsense on your site in addition to your existing sponsors I don't see how you can fail to increase revenues.

Some current Overture PPC rates per click are:-

"LCD TV" $1.27
"home entertainment" $0.62
"home cinema" $0.48
"electronics" $1.12
"plasma" $1.11

You can check others here

So if 24,000 unique visitors per day click thru at 1% on a $0.25/click ad you should make an extra $60.00 per day for minimal effort. Or, put another way, you will double your profit and hence the resale value of your site. :bingo:

 

[cola]

I tend purposely overlook those Google adverts on other sites so I never really gave it much thought. Might give it a try, thanks Rikkers

 

[cerebus]

Google adsense and other PPC SE ads should at least be a good filler for ads but I suspect it might not be a good first choice, considering the ammount of traffic. I would carefully look into ad networks catering specifically for midsize-big sites.

If you care to PM me the URL to the site I might be able to give a few more specific recommendations on networks to look into.