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UKBusinessForums.co.uk is sold for 250k GBP
- By Jovi FindRich.com
- Published 08/14/2007
- Web-Based Business
- Unrated
Who says that you cannot sell a forum website, or a forum website is
not profitable? Other than selling advertising space, a popular
business forum is as valuable as any top domain names due to its
potential commercial value. With over 10,000 member and including
business professionals, there is certainly much value and potential to
be explored.
Richard Osborne is just one of those internet entrepreneurs who has sold his website, www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk, (a.k.a. UKBF) for 250,000 GBP. According to the article, UKBF is free small business advice and help forum.
If we understand correctly, Richard bought the website from someone in 2004 and successfully expanded the community. There were several offers to buy over his site, but Sift Media made him an offer which he can't refuse. You can read up more about the press release here.
If you are also looking at starting a similar website, note that the startup cost is cheap - about less than US$200 including scripts and domain. The website uses vBulletin script, which is widely used by many top forum sites on the internet. The script is licensed to use on a single website for lifetime, but upgrades must be purchased separately on yearly basis. We highly recommend buying the upgrades/patches each year so as to ensure that your website is safe from security issues. Sometimes, there will also be new features and optimizations in the codes to improve the speed.
However, is that all that is required to start a successful forum website? As most of us know, the main cost in web business isn't really
the startup cost, unless you are looking at come functionality that is not available "Off-The-Shelf". vBulletin script is an "Off-The-Shelf" script that are purchased by thousands of site owners, hence the lower price. If you are looking at special functionality and customization, the cost will increase based on the difficulty and extend of work required. IT pricing has dropped but it still isn't cheap... you are still paying for what you get.
We always suggest leaving the aesthetic aspect of the web design (e.g. graphics, flash, etc) to the lowest priority because that is not a critical factor that sells a website, at all. UKBF uses almost the same template provided in the standard vBulletin software, less the header. It is now selling for 250k GBP, which costs much more that many of those flashy, good-looking websites out there.
Yes, we know that great looking shops attract customers. But on the internet, it is the "content", "functions" and "who-can-find-you" that matters. In some cases, the price of product counts if it is an ecommerce website.
Ok, we have leaked out but common sense will tell anyone that the most important line in the business plan is in fact budget for marketing and advertising. Getting your links up on the front page of some busy website can cost US$25 to hundreds per month. If you are thinking about using Google Adwords or other PPC advertising campaign, the cost will be fluctuating as you battle with other advertisers for the top placing.
For serious advertising and marketing campaign, we recommend getting both permanent links on the top websites and the use of contextual PPC advertising for the best reach. Such a massive campaign could cost from US$5,000 to US$10,000 per month if you include help from SEO experts. However, the result will be higher traffic which is the lifeline for Forum websites... in fact any website.
There is so much to talk about setting up a website and getting it going. Hope this helps and let us know if you have any questions.
Richard Osborne is just one of those internet entrepreneurs who has sold his website, www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk, (a.k.a. UKBF) for 250,000 GBP. According to the article, UKBF is free small business advice and help forum.
If we understand correctly, Richard bought the website from someone in 2004 and successfully expanded the community. There were several offers to buy over his site, but Sift Media made him an offer which he can't refuse. You can read up more about the press release here.
If you are also looking at starting a similar website, note that the startup cost is cheap - about less than US$200 including scripts and domain. The website uses vBulletin script, which is widely used by many top forum sites on the internet. The script is licensed to use on a single website for lifetime, but upgrades must be purchased separately on yearly basis. We highly recommend buying the upgrades/patches each year so as to ensure that your website is safe from security issues. Sometimes, there will also be new features and optimizations in the codes to improve the speed.
However, is that all that is required to start a successful forum website? As most of us know, the main cost in web business isn't really
We always suggest leaving the aesthetic aspect of the web design (e.g. graphics, flash, etc) to the lowest priority because that is not a critical factor that sells a website, at all. UKBF uses almost the same template provided in the standard vBulletin software, less the header. It is now selling for 250k GBP, which costs much more that many of those flashy, good-looking websites out there.
Yes, we know that great looking shops attract customers. But on the internet, it is the "content", "functions" and "who-can-find-you" that matters. In some cases, the price of product counts if it is an ecommerce website.
Ok, we have leaked out but common sense will tell anyone that the most important line in the business plan is in fact budget for marketing and advertising. Getting your links up on the front page of some busy website can cost US$25 to hundreds per month. If you are thinking about using Google Adwords or other PPC advertising campaign, the cost will be fluctuating as you battle with other advertisers for the top placing.
For serious advertising and marketing campaign, we recommend getting both permanent links on the top websites and the use of contextual PPC advertising for the best reach. Such a massive campaign could cost from US$5,000 to US$10,000 per month if you include help from SEO experts. However, the result will be higher traffic which is the lifeline for Forum websites... in fact any website.
There is so much to talk about setting up a website and getting it going. Hope this helps and let us know if you have any questions.
