1 - anywhere between 15x and 75x the monthly revenue (or more if you know how to price your assets well and can negotiate good deals for yourself), depending on many important factors such as:
- niche (some niches simply pay more and better than others, which makes them very desirable)
- type of traffic (organic, referral, social, etc.... obviously that organic traffic is the best kind of traffic so a website that gets most of its traffic from the search engines and makes money will be worth more)
- domain name (maybe not a big deciding factor, but - again, depending on niche and the domain name's relevancy to that niche - a brandable, short, catchy name could increase your profitability by 2x -3x your asking price)
- traffic origin.... traffic that comes from tier 1 countries (USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Germany, etc.) is more valuable than traffic from tier 2-3 countries like India, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, etc..
- seasonality vs evergreen.... websites in evergreen niches (finances, tech, medical, education, self improvement, relationships, fitness, health, pets, etc... websites in niches like these are more valuable or, rather, more interesting to buyers than seasonal niches like christmas gifts, pool cleaning, etc)
- whether or not it comes with an email list or other benefits. An active list of subscribers, for example, can add anywhere from a few $1000s to a few millions to your asking price, depending on the list size and how responsive that list is. And if the website is in a profitable niche (finances, medical, education, health) it's worth even more.
- domain's age and backlinking profile (if a SEO is interested in your site and will see that the domain is aged and not spammed, he / she might be willing to pay you more than a non-SEO buyer because he understands the value of a good domain)
There might be more factors, but I can't think of them at the moment (it's 1,30 AM here where I live and my eyelids are almost covering my eyes)
2 - the lack of income for April and November could, or could not be an issue for the potential buyer. Personally, I wouldn't be too bothered by this if the other signs of a good website are in place, but other people might be bothered... or, rather, suspicious about it. Depends from one person to another I guess....
Regarding how to answer, just be honest about it! It's better to make a lower, but safe profit instead of twice the actual value of the website but live in fear that the buyer might ask for a refund at any time. Peace of mind can not be beaten in my opinion
CONCLUSION: make an average of your monthly income and - assuming that all other factors that I've mentioned above are average as well - ask for a price that's 25x - 35x your site's average monthly income for the last 12 months and if no one buys you can lower the asking price to 18x - 20x the average monthly income. I wouldn't drop below 15x the average monthly income, though. I mean, you can ask for less if you want, but websites that make money around the clock are the best type of websites you can buy, so you've got good value there
