Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I have received quotes by3 different proramming companies who all quoted me prices over $50,000 when we changed our design.  They were not able to reproduce our technology, however.  They wanted to use a standard "easy board" messaging system rather then a custom system like we have.  The advantages of our system cannot be overstated.  Every element of the website is in a unique field in a very complex SQL database.  As a result, we have the ability to do anything that can be imagined.  We started with some of the cookie cutter message boards (Snitz, EasyBoard..) but they are so liited.

For example, the "Top Poems" area of the website is simply a query that calculates the amount of views/ratings/and stars in a formula and automatically displays the results. 

If I wanted to delete all poems that have a 3 star rating or less, that were written over a year ago, from people from Spain, I can do it with the click of a button.  All  I have to do is call the correct fields in the database.  Any design company will tell you the disadvantages of using commercial products. There is very little room for upgrades and customization with these programs. 

I just rechecked the INlinks from Yahoo and it`s 1,673.  Here`s the url:

http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/search?p=http%3A%2F%2Fw ww.moontowncafe.com&bwm=i&bwms=p&bwmf=u&fr=y fp-t-501&fr2=seo-rd-se

Whatever program you are using to estimate the US visitors is way off.  The value of under $1000 is completely absurd.  We make that more in a week from our business deal with Poetry.com.

Also, I used Google and their payout was much less than Yahoo!  Yahoo! is very exclusive, unlike Google who accepts everyone.  My YPN revenue is over $1500 a month, so I think that CyberWyre`s apprasial is way off.  Especially since most of our income comes directly from companies like Poetry.com (and others) and our overhead is virtually nothing.

We just completed a pulishing deal with Simon & Schuster for a contests we sponsored.  The winner won a book deal with Simon & Schuster, $10,000 cash, and book distribution by Borders.

ObsidianLaunch, I really appeaciate your feedback.  I`d like to know more about how you started the process of selling your websites. 

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Visit our poetry website today at:

www.moontowncafe.com

If you want to sell your site, like the companies you spoke of in your original post, you will need to find a buyer that sees more value in your site than how you answered my first question.   If a potential buyer has unlimited resources, what you outlined does not make them say I am ready to buy.  These figures and points seem big to you but they are small to the type of potential buyers you say you are seeking out. 

 

I guess my first question would have been who to you see as potential buyers?  I had assumed this would have been part of your answer.  If you read most of the stories about the sites that were purchase for large sums of money, many of them were not even planning to sell them in the first place.  They were in the right place with the right solution at the right time.  They were focused on making the business go big.  Their value was in that the giant that purchased them saw them as a fast and cheap way to fulfill something they saw as important to fulfilling their business plan.

 

I like your site and I think it has a lot of potential.  Posting that it is for sale can actually make others think there is no value there and you are giving up.  Nikole is a big pusher of content and value.  She is right!  If you do what she says and make sure your potential buyers know you exist, you have as good of chance of selling as anyone.  Just remember companies buy other companies because the value there will fulfill their goals when purchased at the right price.  In many cases, they will come to you.

 

I hope my frankness on these points is taken in the vein they were intended.  I would like to see you fulfill your dreams.  You might want to privately seek out an expert in this area.

 

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Bert at Harvey Software, Inc.
Multi-Carrier Shipping Software and Supply Chain Solutions for Internet Retailers

Also a provider of free shipping information and resources at Harvey Software`s Parcel Shipping Blog along with free tracking solutions at TrackingPage.com...

Moontowncafe -  likewise - I would be thrilled if you or anyone else is successful in their business ventures.

The challenge is that we are so passionate about our businesses that we fail to see them in a different light. The benefit of this forum is that others can give you a different perspective - one that your potential purchaser might take.

If you can address the comments here, you will be better prepared when a suitor approaches you :)

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A good idea is a good idea NOW![sup]TM[/sup]

ethnicomm inc. | sales | marketing | web | strategy consulting

I`m starting what I consider a large business partnership with a large company (Gather.com) on July 16th.  This company has expressed interest in buying our site, but we have not talked dollars yet.

The owners of poetry.com and poets.com called me on Friday and directly asked how much I wanted for the site. I left the question open and will resume talks on Tuesday. We talked about other options as well such as:

- A more exclusive partnership with them to promote their websites. We have been working with them for over a year promoting their site.  This has been a good source of income for us ($500-$1000 per month).

- A silent partnership with them, turning over major decission making to them.

- Selling the site outright.

But the bottom line is that I need to come up with a number that I would be comfortable with. I know this is not a YouTube type deal, but it could be a good opportunity for us. I certainly don`t want to undersell the site. 

I think that by having at least 2 companies that expressed interest in buying our site could play a huge advantage to us.

My thoughts are that I should ask them to make an offer rather than naming a price. Any thought on that?

 

Kyle

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Visit our poetry website today at:

www.moontowncafe.com

I would ask them to make an offer.

I don`t understand what the benefit of having 8000 registered users. Why would they be worth $65 a person? Why is a repeat visitor worth then a first time visitor? What is the benefit of a community and forums and blogs...?

 

5,000 visitors a day is 5,000 visitors a day regardless of how often they visit.

Most people are interested in unique monthly visitors, so I understand your point. 

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Visit our poetry website today at:

www.moontowncafe.com

Don`t name a price first!  You have no idea what your site is worth to someone else.  Ask them to make an offer.  Whatever they offer, take some time (days) and think about it before saying yes or no.  Try to figure out why they want your site before you make any decision. 

 

Personally, I think your site has a lot of possibilities and I think you could make it more valuable by marketing to your 8000 members more.  This would give your site more value at the time of a sale.

 

Have a great holiday and good luck!

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Bert at Harvey Software, Inc.
Multi-Carrier Shipping Software and Supply Chain Solutions for Internet Retailers

Also a provider of free shipping information and resources at Harvey Software`s Parcel Shipping Blog along with free tracking solutions at TrackingPage.com...

Great advice as usual Bert, thanks.  My business partner wanted to throw a number out, and I stressed to him not to.  They may be thinking much more than the amount he was considering.  Plus, now there are 2 parties interested. 

The advice on this has been all over the place, from $900 to much more.  Just for fun, does anyone want to take a guess on what the price will be with the info I provided.  I`ll buy a gift card to Circuit City or somewhere to the person who is the closest.  If it goes for a lot, the gift card will be bigger.  Just an idea for some fun. 

Kyle   

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Visit our poetry website today at:

www.moontowncafe.com

I`m actually becoming some what of an expert in this area.  I`ve launched a site that`s in beta that is a marketplace to buy and sell existing websites and domains. 

http://www.flipsquare.com

There are a couple of factors to consider when selling your website but mainly you would value it like any other business.

Income: This is a business so Income is the biggest factor.  If your website is earning very little to $0 then it has little value.  You usually take your income x 10 - 16 months.  The only time this doesn`t hold true is if you have an amazing website that is receiving millions of visitors per month. e.g. YouTube.  They wer receiving hundreds of millions of visitors per month and were generating page views in the billions.  I don`t think your website is anywhere near to that.
Web Presence: Page Rank, Back Links, Age, Generic Name or Brand Awareness
Website: Design and Code
Traffic: Volume of monthly unique visitors over 6 months to 1 year, Page views
Market: How large is your target demographic and potential growth.  If you`ve almost reached your maximum traffic due to the size of your niche then you probably aren`t going to get a lot for your site.

*Your code isn`t really that complex and anyone saying they would charge you $50,000 for the code is out of their mind.  You could get a very good freelancer to recreate or make your site from scratch for 5-10k tops. 
**Your design is good and a good designer would cost around 2-3k
***With  that said if your site isn`t generating revenue or a massive amount of traffic, to compensate for the lack of income, that would show potential income then your site isn`t going to get retail value for the code and design.  In fact no where near that.
****If you want to really increase the sale value of your site then you should work to increase traffic and income.

For example a blog, http://www.netbusinessblog.com that was earning 1k-2.5k per month recently sold online for 10k.  Another good friend of mine who owns another entrepreneurial community site for young entrepreneurs receives 20k visitors per month easy and would accept an offer for 15k.

I think you`ve got a good site and am not trying to be a party pooper but just wanted to share some honest advice and experience.

Personally I would value your site at around at around $10,000 to $25,000.  You do have a good web presence which could give you some additional value if your buyer understands SEO.

PR 5
Age: 7 years
Dmoz: yes
Backlinks: 3-4k
Domain Name: not generic or keyword oriented
Design: Good
Traffic: ?
Code: .asp could be a problem for some buyers. Just depends on who`s buying


Good Luck.