How to Put a Price Tag on your Website’s Traffic

By | February 17, 2012

If there’s a single unified currency of the Internet – and we can’t include any actual currency – then it would be traffic. There’s nothing that will “up” the value of your website like having a lot of targeted, consistent traffic on a daily basis. And that’s exactly why so many website owners wonder exactly what kind of price tag they might expect to put on their site as a result of all the traffic they’ve earned.

The problem? Not all traffic is alike. In fact, as you’ll discover, there are a lot of elements that go into determining whether or not your website’s amount of traffic is truly valuable or simply an empty promise. We at WebsiteBroker.com want to make sure you get the full value for your site, so let’s take a look at the elements that can increase the price tag on your website.

Search Engine Traffic

There are two things that you’ll need to remember about search engine traffic: it’s highly valuable and somewhat unstable. Sure, it’s great that you landed the #2 spot for that one spectacular keyword on Google – and your traffic statistics probably bear this out – but that doesn’t mean this one statistic alone will earn you that mega-paycheck you might think your site deserves. It’s an important piece of the puzzle, but considering that Google actively changes its algorithm on a daily basis, it’s important to also remember that search engine glory can sometimes be fleeting.

Direct Traffic

Of course, no one can take direct traffic away from you – which is why it’s such a highly-sought after commodity in the world of website buying. How much traffic does your site get simply from people typing in your domain name? If you get a lot of it, you could be looking at a hefty price tag for your website simply because its traffic is so secure.

Link Traffic

Getting linked to by other sites won’t only help you boost your search engine traffic, but it will improve your site’s overall Internet standing in general simply because of word-of-mouth advertising. This can be a highly valuable form of traffic to receive because it says a lot of good things about the content on your site already. Having a link from a powerful website, for example, can be a major selling point to your potential buyers.

Putting it All Together

Ultimately, the price you fetch for your website will be up to a number of factors. The amount of traffic you receive is one of the most important factors, to be sure, but there are other elements at play as well: what can you convince a buyer is the most reasonable price for your site? What kind of niche is your site in? What kind of market is it: a buyer’s market or a seller’s market?

Use your consistent traffic as a major selling point for your site, but not as the sole reason that your site should sell. You want to sell your website as a complete package, not as one statistic. You can fetch far more for a complete package than you can for one statistic.