Investor Trader dot co dot uk - Site Valuation

[unimportantman]

Hi people, after a number of back and forth emails with Clinton and following his excellent advice, I thought I'd throw this site out there and see what you guys think is the best way to sell it. First time seller, so I appreciate any information

The site: InvestorTrader dot co dot uk - From Mangy Stray to Financial Fat Cat - One Man, One Site, One Aim, One Million, Five Years.

If you visit the site and click on the "Aims" button you'll get a bit of an idea of what I'm trying to do with Investor Trader.

Site Setup

I originally purchased the domain in February 2007 and it's registered through to February 2013.

Investor Trader is a Wordpress site with a professional (paid for) theme.

Investor Trader also incorporates a bespoke PHP/MySQL written CMS to control things like the "portfolio page", "trades", the "day in numbers" along with the resources "section". Simple form-based stuff, easy to add, edit and delete information.

All share pricing information is free and pulled from Yahoo Finance data.

The artwork (the wonderful cats) are original and were commissioned for the project by a popular Australian artist friend of mine.

Reasons For Selling

Originally the plan was to sell the site in 2014 (it was all part of the Investor Trader marketing plan) - click the "Investor Trader is for Sale" board at the top of the page - but I've got lots of other projects on the go, so something has got to give.

Traffic

January 2nd 2011 to February 2nd 2011: 7,077 visitors viewing 18,196 pages (from Google Analytics). Month by month traffic is on a nice upward trajectory.

Income

Haven't done the sums but at a guess must be in the region of $400 - $500 USD a month from advertisers and Adsense. I'll provide exact figures if and when I put it out there.

Expenses

Hosting and domain renewals are about the only expenses.

Google and Alexa

Home Page PR: 4

Alexa Traffic Rank: 1,156,295
Alexa United Kingdom Flag Traffic Rank in GB: 79,741

Extras

Twitter followers at: twitter dot com slash InvestorTrader are nudging the 600 mark.

I've developed a downloadable website widget whereby other site owners can track their shares utilising Yahoo Finance data. This is free to whoever wants it and contains links back to Investor Trader making it a handy way to build backlinks from highly relevant, related content.

Other Information

All past and present and prospective advertisers contact details and contact history can be provided.

The shares held in the portfolio aren't included in the price They're mine I'm afraid.

I'd love your ideas, comments and suggestions on possible avenues to sale, auction versus private sale, flipper, ways to market, or if it's worth selling at all?

Thanks again.

[benitez17]

How much time do you spending promoting the site and working on it?

[unimportantman]

Hi Benitez17, thanks for the question.

A lot of the time it depends on how much trading I've done recently.

I write a blog post on every trade as a rule and occasionally I blog on other investment-related topics.

In an average week I might:

• post once or twice - if they're in relation to trades I'd update the CMS with those transactions (which would then update the trades and portfolio pages as well as the day in numbers widget)
• swap one or two links with other sites (either in the resource section or the sites we dig blogroll)
• furnish one or two advertising queries
• furnish one or two visitor emails
• reply to any visitor comments

Tweets for new posts are automated but I might tweet two or three times a week on top of those if I see a share in my portfolio making moves.

On average I'd say I spend 3 to 4 hours a week if you don't include the homework I put into making my investment decisions. I consider that separate to the site up-keep as it's something I'd be doing if I ran Investor Trader or not. I just wouldn't be blogging about it.

Thanks again Benitez17

[benitez17]

So it would take something around 10 hours a week to run the site and do the research needed to stay informed about the subject? That makes the site a tough sell given current revenue figures, not to mention that the blog really is focused on you and your goals, and might not transition well to a new voice.

I'm still interested though.

[unimportantman]

Hi Benetiz17, thanks again for the reply.

Agreed, the site is aimed at a UK-based investor/trader in every respect. Possibly suited to a recently retired city type who wants to keep a toe in the market and maybe has a voice/style that they can bring to the project. Or someone who has taken an early retirement and wants to run with a project which will allow them to hone their investment skills - that's one of the main reasons I began Investor Trader and so far it's paid off very nicely (in that respect) for me.

As for the hours, if they're active in the market, I think most investors/traders are probably doing that homework already. If they're not, I'd suggest they probably wouldn't be too interested in Investor Trader to begin with.

I run a number of other sites so I haven't really been able to give it the TLC it requires - especially on the revenue side of things. With a push, I think the structure is there for the right person to up the traffic stats and revenue figures ;-)

May I ask, are you interested as a potential buyer, or just from a "how the sale pans out" perspective?

Thanks again Benetiz17, I look forward to your reply.

[benitez17]

I am interested as a potential buyer.

I think you have identified your ideal buyer fairly accurately. What do you think the chances are that someone fitting that description would buy the site, and what do you think it would be worth to them?

Are you willing to wait for that perfect buyer, or are you looking to get out from under the time and effort required to maintain the site at a reasonable price?

[Clinton]

Hi unimportantman, and welcome to experienced-people.net

With a push, I think the structure is there for the right person to up the traffic stats and revenue figures ;-)

Could you do a rough projection on this? Perhaps you could provide some details on the push required and the direction of push (with some costings) and the associated return the new owner is likely to see for that additional investment.

It's always better when sellers spell that out because buyers in general have acquired the habit of turning a blind eye to seller claims of "potential" (unless substantiated in some way). I too could be interested in buying this site if the figures add up to a sound business decision.

I'd love your ideas, comments and suggestions on possible avenues to sale

If I were to take a neutral view my suggestion would be that a Flippa auction is your best bet to realise the highest price on this site.

[unimportantman]

Hi Benitez17, thanks again for your comments. It's great that you may be interested in buying Investor Trader.

As for my chances of finding a buyer, pretty good I think. I've had a few enquiries already even prior to going public with my thoughts.

Just like the markets I blog about, the forces of supply and demand create an equilibrium - the price. Finding a buyer at a price I like and am willing to accept, now that gets more difficult ;-)

Being open to accept a markets valuation is the key to being a good seller I guess.

As for what that valuation may be, that's what this process here is the beginning of.

Time is not really an issue though a quick sale is desirable. Happy to wait out a Flippa auction, though of course any and all offers prioir to that stage would be considered.

Thanks again Benetez17, I appreciate your thoughts.

[unimportantman]

Hi Clinton, big thanks for the welcome :-)

If Investor Trader could be my sole aim for a month or so, there's a few things I would push, in many cases they're just the basics. Things like blogging more regularly and seeking links from quality related sites.

On the revenue front, I'd partner with a big name in spread trading who pays out an ongoing percentage every time a referred client deposits money into their account - up to 20% in some programs. Pushing this program extensively (in my own words at the end of every blog post for example) would become my main revenue aim. I won't speculate any further (as you say, you can't sell potential), let's just say online spread trading is now big business even if you only have 15 to 20% of a very small slice of it.

I'm actually in the process of making a decision on that partnership as I type.

No costs involved in any of the above, only the opportunity cost of the time spent.

Thanks again Clinton, for your guidance in the email exchanges we've had lately and your help in getting me to this point. It's much appreciated.

[Clinton]

unimportantman, on this page you state that you started in April 2009 and you're going to sell by April 2014. Buyers may wonder why you've now decided that a quick sale is desirable.

The issue of a far-in-advance announcement like yours is something that came up in a VIP Lounge discussion (prior to you joining).