Hi,

I have many sites that have been around for quite a while. All generate a fair amount of traffic and not as much business as they could were they looked after on a daily basis.

So what I want to know is if I were interested in selling one for example Web site design promotion and marketing UK which is a small web design business I own and sub out the work from it, what is it worth and how do I go about working out a figure to put on it in terms of value?

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It's worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it. My fear would be that a competitor would pick it up. You'd probably be better off to keep it and just tweek it once a month or use a redirect to one of you other sites.

There are domain name and website sales forums specifically for this type of topic.

I'd do a Google search for domain appraisal, or website appraisal, or any combination
there of.

Some of the value points to consider when appraising a domain/website are:

• PR of domain
• IBLs of domain
• Age of domain
• Existing revenue of website (AdSense, YPN, monthly text link sales, etc.)

I've listed a few things you can consider. And by the way, I like that site! I'd make you an
offer if I got a bit more info on it

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These link may help:

Sedo - Buy and Sell Domain Names and Websites

SiteVestors - The Premium Domain Marketplace

http://www.dotzup.com

NameDrive.com

A lot depends, (as stated above), on:-

Number of Visitors,
Google PR
Link Backs
How well It's Listed
Domain Name URL
And other such factors.

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Dominate Google Search Results Pages
Business Support A Computer Portal

According Modigliani-Miller theorem it is the present value of future expected net income.

If you are uncertain about it, visit eBay to get empirical support.

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I will use a search engine before I ask dumb questions.

It depends, what you want to sell.
If you are selling you eBusiness then the usual model 1-3 years profit should work. Use BizBuySell - The Internet's Largest Business for Sale Marketplace to advertise it.
If you are selling your webpages, you just need to find somebody willing to for those.
If you are selling your visitors (domain name or redirect), you should find a buyer. It all depends, how qualified your visitors are to that buyer business. I have heard values $1-$5 per visitors, however IMHO those are overvalued.
If you are selling your subscription base, this could have more value than visitor.
Anyway, when I once had over 30 000 unique visitors per month and No1 search engine positions for "financial accounting software" and "human resource management", so afterwards when I had lost my applications I tried to sell my domains without any luck.

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So you have a better model than Nobel Price Winners M-M?

Alternatively you can value a company as a real option, but the forumla is much more complex.

Further explanation at Rubinsteins excellent site.

Yes, mathematical finance is close to rocket science. Even rocket scientists may crahs out of orbit when they meet the most difficult option pricing models, e.g. if the undrelying process is chaotic (that is short term predictable. Meaningless to try to predict it over the length of the attractor).

Copy from a related post at W3 Schools:

Will there be a Web 2.0 bubble? (Should W3 School members be aware of this?)
SE engines use advanced empirical Bayesian filtering that is used in rocket science like the Kalman filter. Options pricing formulaes are in some cases more advenced than those used by rocket scientists. These formulaes are used to value a company, websites and more generally eProperty.

I like very much the following statement made by Benjamin Graham, by many called the Dean of Wall Street.

"You are no more right even if most people agree with you."

Especially regarding businesses, credibility and reliability this is of utmost importance. The march 2000 dot com bubble should be well known by webmasters that has been online for some years. Internet sites were valued at thousands and millions of dollars without (or zero) earnings. Price / earnings (P/E) is a very much used magnitude in finance.

P / 0 = Infinite !! Infinite Price earnings.

Many of them also went broke. What is a website worth thats a few years old?

It is no problem to manipulate information on the WWW. You can sign up with different nicks on different IP addresses. You can manipulate information through your own network.

This is serious. Be sceptical when too many people agree. Be sceptical when too many smile and laugh.

"Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper. To trace the history of the most prominent of these delusions is the object of the present pages. Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."

Copy on a related post at WebProWorld.

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Mini Network:: Financial information at your fingertips
Learn object oriented programming where it started

I will use a search engine before I ask dumb questions.

Free Website Valuation

How Much is Your Website Worth?

And:-

Web Businesses for Sale

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Dominate Google Search Results Pages
Business Support A Computer Portal

I like this site for website evaluation:
Website Value 101 - How to Appraise a Website

Of course, all the elements others have mentioned are important - backlinks, revenue, age of domain ... but one critical factor is how long would it take to replicate the site, both in terms of domain and backlinks age *and* the hours to create the content and do the SEO/SEM ...

Cheers, MJ

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M.-J. Taylor
SEO Web Design by Cyber Key Search Smart Design® SEO Copywriter & Traveling Vacation Gypsy