Website Acquisition

Are you wondering if CodeIgniter would put someone off buying out your website? I really doubt it, if someone is buying you out they're doing it to acquire the website's service, its audience or staff. What it runs on would be fairly irrelevant I'd imagine.

Do you use Codeigniter? I'm currently making an app in vanilla PHP and wondering if something like Codeigniter is worth spending time to pick up. PHP can be pretty clunky at times.

Yup, that was my question... I was thinking along the lines of what you suggested. I haven't used it recently but I am looking to get back into using it again.

I've purchased a couple websites, and I will say this:

@ian is correct, in that buying a business takes into account the WHOLE picture. It's a measure of risk/reward, potential costs, and what a business is offering.

In my experience, a website's value is in its ability to perform well, have a great user experience, attract/maintain/build an audience, and then other things, such as security. If you're specifically looking to crate a site that will sell well, I would consider the following things:

+How long has it been around +SEO and search-engine friendliness +Does it come with active google/twitter/facebook/linked-in accounts (either 1 or all... quality is important). +Do you have analytics to support your claims? +Does it currently make money (if yes, the longer the better). +Does it come with an active and well-cared-for email list +General site VS. nice audience +Ease of operation for the site owner (is the admin UI like wordpress, or do they need to hire a php expert to go in there and figure things out?) -- a buyer may want to know, "how easy is it for me to just add a page" +Cost of maintenance +Intellectual property - what IP comes with the website +Is there something absolutely unique about this site? examp: you have the easiest to use, most robust cost calculator for grocery shopping.... versus: I have a recipe blog. -- something that would be difficult, expensive, or time-consuming to replicate (especially replicate BETTER).

I could keep going, but that's how my mind works. It's also what was drilled into us in school (I have a degree in Entrepreneurship).

So... basically... if code igniter will make the site robust, easy to update/maintain, and any php dev could just jump-in where you leave-off... than great.

In fact... you COULD even use it as a selling point. - "This is built in code igniter, a php framework that cuts down on dev time, which will save you money in the future, as you enhance the site".

(I assume your fear is that this wasn't hand-coded all by yourself. -- Business people don't care if you use frameworks [as long as it doesn't impact their ability to do business, such as restrict them to not reselling something because of a license]. -- if it works and makes money, you're good)

Agree. When a site is bought they are paying for the attention its received or the eyes on it. Once they have the eyes they can scrap the whole thing and pay to make it into whatever they want.

@justin -- what kind of site is it? (or will it be?)

A good thing to also do (especially before spending dev hours), and especially if your exit strategy is to sell it, is to see what similar sites sell for (or the asking price at least) on business broker websites, as well as auction sites, like Flippa.

Google " {insert your kind of site} site for sale " -- see what they're selling, how much, whether the site has any value, audience, or features, etc. -- bonus if you can find data on sites that actually SOLD and sold recently.

--this will give you an idea of the who the buyer is.

I agree with @matthew if you're selling to a web-savvy/business savvy crowd. If this is the case, they may ONLY care about your audience and you could make it in nearly anything you want.

If, however, you're making an e-commerce site that sells screen printed stickers (a good fit for an existing screen printing shop, an art major, or a recent college grad), you may find your audience is buying it because they don't want to spend time on development and marketing. -- basically looking for a turn-key business/website. They will care if the site is difficult or expensive to maintain/use.

@Alexander, it will a business services website. Only in the planning stages at this point and haven't started any dev yet. It was just a question that I thought about while trying to figure out if I would like to use a framework or not.

Thank you everyone for the advice and help! I really appreciate it!

Great discussion!