Post on 15-May-2015
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How Are Websites Making Money?A look at $30 Million in Website SalesFlippa.com User Meetup – Feb 2013Andrew Knibbe – Operations Manager, Flippa.com
How Are Websites Making Money?• Approach• Average Site Profile• Niches• Site Types/Models• Advertising• Affiliate Programs• Platforms• Questions
Approach
• Transaction data for all established websites sold in 2011 and 2012
• Over 8,000 transactions worth almost $30 Million• Mix of seller provided and directly sourced data• Focus on median performance
2 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 6 - 6 - 6 - 12 - 16 – 40 [mean=10, median=6]
• Compared changes between 2011 and 2012
How Are Websites Making Money?• Approach• Average Site Profile• Niches• Site Types/Models• Advertising• Affiliate Programs• Platforms• Questions
Average Site Profile in 2012
The Baseline• Monthly Revenue: $133 12%• Monthly Uniques: 2,097 38%• Monthly Revenue per Unique: $0.04 15%• Sale Price: $493 1%• Sale Multiple: 8 x monthly revenue 21%• Built on a standard CMS• Single Monetization Method
How Are Websites Making Money?• Approach• Average Site Profile• Niches• Site Types/Models• Advertising• Affiliate Programs• Platforms• Questions
Tier 1 Niches – 70% of Sales Volume
Internet MarketingEntertainmentHealth & BeautyHomeInternet ServicesTechnologyHobbiesBusinessTravelGaming
• Gaming and Business sites are good earners• These + Hobbies and Tech tend to beat the market
when selling• Gaming/Tech have high traffic but low user yields• Business sites have best revenue yielding traffic• Internet Marketing sites tend to be short-term
earners (ie low sale prices)• Gaming site capital/revenue yields GREW in 2012
Tier 1 Niches – Call Outs
Tier 1 Niches – Capital/Revenue Yield
Internet Marketing
Entertainment
Health & Beauty
Home
Internet Services
Technology
Hobbies
Business
Travel
Gaming
$- $200 $400 $600 $800 $1,000 $1,200 $1,400 $1,600
$- $50 $100 $150 $200 $250 $300 $350 $400
Series4 Series1
Median Sales Price
Median Monthly Revenue
Tier 1 Niches – Traffic Yield
Internet Marketing
Entertainment
Health & Beauty
Home
Internet Services
Technology
Hobbies
Business
Travel
Gaming
- 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000
$0.00 $0.02 $0.04 $0.06 $0.08 $0.10 $0.12 $0.14 $0.16
Series3 Series2
Median Monthly Uniques
Median Visitor Value
Tier 1 Niches – wheretogetmovingboxes.com
• Home Niche
• ShareASale
• PageRank 1
• $69 Monthly Revenue
• 301 Month Uniques
• Sold for $747 (24 bids)
Tier 2 Niches – 24% of Sales Volume
Employment & EducationElectronicsFinanceSocial MediaFamilyNewsSportAutomotive
• Family, Social Media and Finance are strong earners: all grew in 2012
• Automotive, News, Family and Employment beat the market wrt sell price: all up 20% in 2012
• News sites tend to sell for more but need A LOT of traffic to earn revenue
• Finance earns 20 cents per unique: double in 2012 on 2011• Sport and Family not massive in raw traffic but getting over
7 cents per unique• Social Media sites had strong financial and traffic
performance: fad or trend?
Tier 2 Niches – Call Outs
Tier 2 Niches – Capital/Revenue Yield
Employment & Education
Electronics
Finance
Social Media
Family
News
Sport
Automotive
$- $200 $400 $600 $800 $1,000 $1,200 $1,400 $1,600
$- $50 $100 $150 $200 $250 $300 $350 $400 $450 $500
Series4 Series1
Median Sales Price
Median Monthly Revenue
Tier 2 Niches – Traffic Yield
Employment & Ed-ucation
Electronics
Finance
Social Media
Family
News
Sport
Automotive
- 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000
$0.00 $0.05 $0.10 $0.15 $0.20 $0.25
Series3 Series2
Median Monthly Uniques
Median Visitor Value
Tier 2 Niches – iKidApps.com
• Family Niche
• Link Share (Apple)
• PageRank 4
• $1,300 Monthly Revenue
• 19,000 Month Uniques
• Sold for $19,100 (35 bids)
How Are Websites Making Money?• Approach• Average Site Profile• Niches• Site Types/Models• Advertising• Affiliate Programs• Platforms• Questions
Site Type Performance
BlogEcommerceDirectoryServicesSocialForumMarketplaceReviews
• Forums still beat the market - despite strong sell price decline in 2012
• Review sites earn roughly as much as a blog - but sell for double!
• Review sites saw a massive increase in traffic in 2012
• Forums, Directories and Social sites struggle to convert traffic into revenue (Forums down 60% on 2011)
Site Type – Call Outs
Site Types– Capital/Revenue Yield
Blog
Ecommerce
Directory
Services
Social
Forum
Marketplace
Reviews
$- $200 $400 $600 $800 $1,000 $1,200 $1,400 $1,600 $1,800 $2,000
$- $100 $200 $300 $400 $500 $600 $700 $800 $900
Series4 Series1
Median Sales Price
Median Monthly Revenue
Site Types – Traffic Yield
Blog
Ecommerce
Directory
Services
Social
Forum
Marketplace
Reviews
- 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000
$0.00 $0.10 $0.20 $0.30 $0.40 $0.50 $0.60 $0.70 $0.80
Series3 Series2
Median Monthly Uniques
Median Visitor Value
Site Types – BestHydrationPacks.com
• Review Site
• Amazon Associates
• PageRank 1
• $24 Monthly Revenue
• 870 Month Uniques
• Sold for $210 (19 bids)
How Are Websites Making Money?• Approach• Average Site Profile• Niches• Site Types/Models• Advertising• Affiliate Programs• Platforms• Questions
Advertising Performance
Google AdsenseBuySell AdsInfolinksChitikaDoubleClick.NetOpenads/OpenX
• 20% drop in revenue in 2012• Traffic yield tends to be half of what the
market is getting• Plus, all yields dropped in 2012 (despite total
market yield being up 15%)• BuySellAds sites sold for good prices based on
having more traffic
Ad Performance – Call Outs
Ad Performance – Capital/Revenue Yield
Google Adsense
BuySell Ads
Infolinks
Chitika
DoubleClick.Net
Openads/OpenX
$- $2,000 $4,000 $6,000 $8,000 $10,000 $12,000
$- $500 $1,000 $1,500 $2,000 $2,500 $3,000 $3,500
Series4 Series1
Median Sales Price
Median Monthly Revenue
Ad Performance – Traffic Yield
Google Adsense
BuySell Ads
Infolinks
Chitika
DoubleClick.Net
Openads/OpenX
- 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000
$0.00 $0.01 $0.02 $0.03 $0.04 $0.05 $0.06 $0.07 $0.08 $0.09 $0.10
Series3 Series2
Median Monthly Uniques
Median Visitor Value
Ad Performance – CrispMe.com
• BuySell Ads
• PageRank 3
• $61 Monthly Revenue
• 110,000 Month Uniques
• Sold for $9,450 (55 bids)
How Are Websites Making Money?• Approach• Average Site Profile• Niches• Site Types/Models• Advertising• Affiliate Programs• Platforms• Questions
Affiliate Performance
Commission JunctionAmazon AssociatesSkimLinksLink ShareCPAleadShareASaleClickBankAffiliate Buzz
• Commission Junction and Link Share are yielding especially strong revenues: both up in 2012
• … largely due to being 50% better at visitor revenue generation (over 8 cents/unique)
• Amazon Associates not a strong performer and flat in 2012
Affiliate Performance – Call Outs
Aff. Performance – Capital/Revenue Yield
Commission Junction
Amazon Associates
SkimLinks
Link Share
CPAlead
ShareASale
ClickBank
Affiliate Buzz
$- $500 $1,000 $1,500 $2,000 $2,500 $3,000
$- $100 $200 $300 $400 $500 $600 $700 $800 $900 $1,000
Series4 Series1
Median Sales Price
Median Monthly Revenue
Affiliate Performance – Traffic Yield
Commission Junction
Amazon Associates
SkimLinks
Link Share
CPAlead
ShareASale
ClickBank
Affiliate Buzz
- 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 16,000
$0.00 $0.02 $0.04 $0.06 $0.08 $0.10 $0.12 $0.14 $0.16 $0.18 $0.20
Series3 Series2
Median Monthly Uniques
Median Visitor Value
Affiliate Performance – LoveTheOutdoors.com
• Amazon Associates
• PageRank 3
• $1,200 Monthly Revenue
• 118,000 Month Uniques
• Sold for $37,100 (32 bids)
How Are Websites Making Money?• Approach• Average Site Profile• Niches• Site Types/Models• Advertising• Affiliate Programs• Platforms• Questions
Platform Performance
WordPressJoomla!vBulletinDrupalBloggertumblrPligg
• Popular platform = strong sell price• Wordpress up 8% in CMS share in 2012• Joomla still powering well performing sites• Drupal and Blogger are equal wrt median
revenue & traffic BUT Drupal doubled in 2012 while Blogger halved
• Tumblr went from zero to hero in 2012
Platform Performance – Call Outs
How Are Websites Making Money?• Approach• Average Site Profile• Niches• Site Types/Models• Advertising• Affiliate Programs• Platforms• Questions
Questions – Take-Outs
• Website performance down in 2012 compared to 2011• Offset by more effective monetization in 2012• Median sale prices have held steady• Not all Niches were created equal: Finance, Business,
Home, Entertainment/Gaming and Family niches tend to outperform the market
• Review sites are seeing a performance comeback• Ad revenue is generally in decline• Affiliate revenue is generally growing• Wordpress growth in unstoppable. Keep an eye on Tumblr
Questions
How Are Websites Making Money?Contact Flippa• Flippa.com/blog• facebook.com/flippamarketplace• @flippa• support@flippa.com
Contact Andrew• andrew.knibbe@flippa.com• linkedin.com/in/andrewknibbe• @andrewknibbe