Your blog is a business asset that has value, but understanding what it is worth in terms of real dollar amounts can be challenging. The value of a blog goes beyond its revenues, and it also has other value such as the ability to sustain traffic, organic SEO and search rank, and its online networks and connections. These factors make determining blog value equally an art and a science. Let’s explore some ideas for how to value an online business.
How to value an online business
When valuing brick-and-mortar businesses, you can find disagreement as to how to do it. The three most popular methods include discount cash flow analysis, precedent transactions, and the earnings multiple method. Each of these involves complex mathematical calculations, and they still struggle to produce meaningful results. Here are some other factors that make valuing a blog even more complicated:
- Demographics of the audience
- Subscription and newsletter subscribers
- Potential for new markets and niches
- Brand value
- Social media reputation and shares
There are probably many more that could be listed, but you can see how the value of a blog is more than its bottom line. Fortunately, some tools are available to help.
Flippa’s free online business valuation tool
Your website is worth money, and if you are thinking about starting a new enterprise and abandoning an old one, you might want to consider selling it on Flippa.com. You can use Flippa’s online business calculator to get an estimate of what your blog is worth. Flippa uses a combination of comparable blogs, your business model, age, blog category, and many other factors to come up with a real-dollar value. If you like the estimate, you can sell it, or you can just use the tool to get an idea of valuation for other purposes, like applying for business credit.
Quick tips for increasing your blog’s value
Now that you know some of the things that are involved in valuing your blog, you might wonder how to increase its worth. If you are a solopreneur, you might consider delegating some of these tasks, so you can spend more time producing excellent content.
- Grow your traffic
- Increase your search rank
- Improve conversion rates
- Get a high-value premium domain name
- Create high quality content
- Showcase testimonials and ratings
- Build backlinks
- Build an email and newsletter list
- Make sure it has an SSL certificate
- Pay attention to user interface design
- Make it mobile friendly
- Build up your blog’s presence on social media
Before you decide to sell your website or use it to apply for a business loan, make sure it is ready first. Building a good website takes time. Outsource tasks that are outside your area of expertise to other professionals. Teamwork makes the dream work!
Now you have some practical ideas for how to value an online business and some ways to increase the value of your blog. You can use Flippa’s valuation tool to track your progress. After all, your blog is a valuable asset, and it is time for you to set some real goals for your blog value and get to work.
