Is your website worth more than $1M?

One million dollars. For some people, it’s not a big deal at all. If you already know that your site is worth that much, good for you! If you have no clue, I highly suggest that you should evaluate your site. If this number is still a dream for you and don’t know where to start, then stick around!

The goal of this article is to show you: 

• What makes a site worth $1M
• How can you make your site worth $1M (even if you’re on a budget)?

• Why is one website worth more than another?

Let’s begin.

What makes a website worth $1000000?

Websites that make under $10000 in a month have a tendency to be sold for around 1–1,5-year income. In most cases, the price tag moves also when the income gets higher. If it makes $25000-$40000, you might be able to sell it for 3–4 years worth of revenue. That’s a pretty decent multiplier.

The most critical factor is whether the site is beneficial to a buyer in a way it is economical and has room for development. Younglings aka sites less than one year old will have a hard time proving themselves, but as they say

age is just a number

How can you make your site worth $1M?

The same way you would you can have a website that’s worth 100k or less. You start with a Mind-map. A mind map is basically a diagram for representing tasks, concepts, linked to a central subject.

So, in this case, the central subject is not other than having a website that is worth $1M. Now you have to plan your requirements. These can be separated into two main groups.

Finding a niche

Think of your website as an investment. Million dollar websites begin with million dollar ideas. You can pump everything into a fancy website that sells a product or service, but sometimes less is more.

You don’t have to think of something like the next Facebook. For example, here’s a list of 20 blogs that have been sold over a million, and they are still up and running. TechChurch, the well-known platform in the world of technology was founded in 2005 by Michael Arrington and sold for $30 million 5 years later.

Now how’s that for an achievement?

Find a niche, search for an exact problem or something that is actually out there and is REALLY DESIRABLE.

Do yourself a favor and don’t try to reinvent the wheel.

Laying down the fundamentals

After you have your idea, do your keyword research. At this point, you have completed your two very basic requirements. Now find a domain that suits you. If you have no idea, just use some free tool like DomainHole. Once you’ve made your choice, go and pick a hosting service. Keep in mind that you might save a couple of dollars with a cheaper one but I wouldn’t recommend it. The benefit of having a well-known host for your website is the fact that it’s well known. Your developers will thank you later. Now you need a CRM to manage your contacts, send/refund orders and so on. You can choose from various CRM systems — some even cost $800 a month — it really depends on your budget. The good news is that WordPress has TONS of plugins available and it’s enough to get you in business and the most bang out of your buck. However, you might want something more scalable in the future.

Designing the sales funnel

“ …the sales funnel we all want would be the simplest, easiest, “just buy from me” funnel, but that rarely works”

by Eddie Picot

At this point ask yourself the following questions:

• What kind of problem does my product/service solve?
• Are people looking for my product/service or I have to show them?
• Are there any concerns regarding my product/service?
• What is my position on the market?

The length of your sales funnel can vary depending on the answers.

Graphics Design

This task is not just about hiring someone to do the job. You can — and should — help the work of your designer by doing the followings:

• search for working sites that you really like. It’s when you go to a barber and instead of just describing what you want, you show actual images.

• Describe your market/target group. Don’t be afraid to go into details such as demography
• Be specific on your budget and don’t be afraid to set a deadline. Once you leave these open-ended, you might find yourself overcharged

Why is one website worth more than another?

“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is —it is what consumers tell each other it is.” — Scott Cook

The best way to do this is to turn your product/service into a honeypot for buyers. You can do this with the help of marketing. There is no actual rule of thumb here. If you have the budget, then fire up AdWords and launch campaigns. Social media marketing can help to drive traffic if it’s done right, and Email marketing is not dead so if you want a great way to reach customers with strong ROI (Return on Investment) then go for it. MailChimp is a good start; it lets you send more than 10000 emails monthly. You can also save money, create awesome content and build valuable backlinks to your site by blogging. SEO-optimised community blogging platform like WordPress.

Regardless of what you choose you will need a way to monitor how your website handles itself. There are myths saying that you have to put a small fortune into analytics software and hire up a whole marketing team to get things going. However, this is not true.

There’s no need to overthink and spend your money on expensive tools. In fact, all you need is two weapons in your arsenal.

One of them is good old Google Analytics. It is a very scalable and traditional analytics tool, it focuses on measuring the key metrics of your site. It has become so popular that sometimes website owners install it — but might never use it —, and the fact that it’s there calms them.

In a nutshell, it allows you to tell what is going on your website.

But what about the WHY? Users are coming and leaving without converting on your website.

WHY?

What if:

• your checkout process is unclear
• your registration form is annoying
• your CTA (Call to Action) buttons are in the wrong spot
• your site has a bad user experience design overall

Big companies really care about user experience and know that sometimes the devil is in the details. Improving functionality by adjusting the design can have a huge impact on user experience and make a website more intuitive.

Conclusion

One million dollars. It can be a game-changer. If you consider your website an investment and put the effort in it, it can turn out to be a great foundation of your business. It’s not just about putting something together and throwing money at it. Both technical and marketing requirements are needed to be fulfilled. Successful website owners always monitor their website, how it converts visitors into customers and why things happen. Websites that have been sold over a million aren’t even rare and you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to come up with a marketable idea.

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