What is an existing forum worth when purchasing

[JohnnieOO]

Just curious as to what an existing forum would be worth? Forgetting about existing advertising revenue and all I have to go on is total members, active members and forum activity, does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks,
Johnnie

[MrEyes]

It is difficult to say, but I would suggest that you don't discount current advertising revenue.

As an example you might be looking at a site with a million posts, 50k threads, 400+ concurrent users, blah blah blah. In other words extremely active - on the face of it it looks like a good site.

However it is also a site that will need a decent server to run, and this will cost. So if there is no advertising (or other) revenue creation on the site then you are looking at paying for that out of your own pocket.

Or maybe the site doesn't have any advertising / revenue creation on it and you are thinking of buying the "community" and then adding in advertising? You have to ask how the community will react to the introduction of advertising? I have seen active forums die in less than 6 months after the introduction of advertising.

[TimberFloorAu]

Usually what people are prepared to pay for it ;)

[JohnnieOO]

Well, I guess let me ask another way. Is there any "ballpark" rule of thumb on advertising income vs total members, active members or forum activity? I'm looking at an existing forum and am trying to figure out its worth. It is relatively small with about 400 active users, but has only been in existence for about 15 months without any advertising.

Johnnie

[Videx]

It's probably not worth much more than the cost of the vb4 suite then. Businesses are always priced based on their monthly profit statements.

Actually, I don't even know if the vb license is transferable; you may have to buy your own anyway. Then you have to hire a competent super admin (not cheap!). With only 400 members you can probably hang on a cheap shared server for a while.

Also, if you expect to push advertising a lot, you will likely need to hire an SEO expert. Also not cheap.

[JohnnieOO]

Well that's my point, I'm trying to figure out what would be a reasonable advertsing income (per user/ per active user/ etc....) that I could expect to make on a forum. Then I can decide what I am willing to pay to purchase an existing site. I was hoping there was some type of "rule of thumb" on how to judge an existing site for its advertising potential.

Thanks,
Johnnie

[JohnnieOO]

Surely, someone here has an idea of income potential on a per user basis, etc....pm me if you don't want to disclose the data. I can't seem to find any reliable/experienced numbers to support a purchase price.

Johnnie

[Videx]

I can think of two reasons offhand. First, you're in the modifications forum, not the official vbulletin forum at vb.com. Second, I don't think anyone has ever heard of someone selling a working board. I know websites are sold all the time, and they may or may not have a working forum in place. But again the selling price has to do with their p&l, and you said the one you're considering has no profit at all.