How do I assess a website portfolio that has many small sites in it?
Treat each site as its own small business: look at its income, traffic sources, costs and upkeep separately, then see how much of the total depends on a few sites. Many tiny sites can look steady but demand a lot of attention, so ask what the owner does for each and who would do it for you.
Start with a one-page profile for every site: what it is about, how old it is, where visitors come from, what it earns and from which source, and what it costs to run. Do not accept a combined total without the breakdown. Often a few sites earn most of the income while the rest add effort and little else.
Compare the sites to one another. Are they in a related field, or are they scattered topics that each need different knowledge? Do they share one hosting account, one tool set and one ad account, so that a single problem could affect all of them? Check each site’s content quality, backlinks and reliance on a single traffic source.
Then count the work. Ask what the owner does weekly across the portfolio, which tasks are done by freelancers and what each costs. Ask which sites have not been touched for a long time and still earn, and which would be sensible to close. Your accountant can put financial ratios on each site so you can compare them on the same basis. Plan the first weeks after purchase around the sites that carry the income, not the biggest number of sites.
Key takeaways
- Make a profile for each site rather than reading a combined total.
- Look for shared accounts or traffic sources that tie the sites together.
- Ask what work each site needs every week.
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Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are the steps to buying a business?
- 03Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentAfter buying a business, what is the next step?
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