I started a relatively-small side business last fall called WP Mechanic that has had some good initial traction. The business offers performance optimization services to individuals with WordPress websites and I think it has some good potential for growth. Unfortunately, I’m no longer the right person to grow this business, so I’m offering it up for sale publicly.

Tell me more about the business.

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WP Mechanic is a productized-consulting business that offers services to individuals that have websites powered by WordPress. Because as much as 20% of websites are powered by WordPress, it’s a large market with growth potential. Furthermore, many people that own WordPress websites know enough to do the basic management of their websites, but run into trouble when dealing with complicated tasks, such as virus removal, performance optimization, theme customization and backup. Currently WP Mechanic offers performance optimization services for $249.00.

How is the business marketed?

This business has two marketing channels. First, it is marketed via email to a list of approximately 16,000 webmasters and agencies that have WordPress powered websites. Up until this point, only about a third of them have received any marketing material from WP Mechanic. I have never sent an email blast to the entire list, but have put about a third of them through a 3-4 message auto responder series.

Second, there is a small Adwords campaign ($100-200) per month that promotes this product. I am not an Adwords expert, so there is a potential for the right person to be able to optimize this campaign for better results. Currently, the customer acquisition cost through AdWords is approximately $107.00.

What have sales been so far?

WP Mechanic has been in operation since December 2013 (four months from the date of this post).

  • December 2013: $747.00 (three sales)
  • January 2014: $747.00 (three sales)
  • February 2014: $548.00 (two sales)
  • March 1st – 8th 2014: $249.00 (one sale)

What are the ongoing expenses of the business?

The largest expense is the AdWords campaign, which is approximately $100-$200 per month. Other costs include web-hosting (any standard WordPress capable hosting account will work), domain registration ($10/year) and an SSL certificate from RapidSSL ($49/year). Payments are processed through Stripe, which are 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction.

Why are you selling this business?

I run three other businesses that are much larger than WP Mechanic: Analyst Ratings Network, GoGo Photo Contest and Lightning Releases. I’ve decided that my time is best spent focusing on those two businesses, which are much larger than WP Mechanic. Because I don’t have the time to dedicate to WP Mechanic to grow it to its full potential, I believe the best course of action is to find a new owner that can this business the time and attention it deserves.

What’s included in the sale?

With the sale, you will get the domain name WPMechanic.com, the WP Mechanic website and all related content, the email marketing list, details of the WP Mechanic AdWords campaign, the emails in the auto-responder series, the list of standard optimizations that I make for client websites, free hosting for up to six months and up to three hours of assistance in the transition of ownership. Please note that you will need your own Stripe account to accept payments on WP Mechanic and your own email list management service such as Aweber or Mailchimp.

What opportunities are there for growth?

The original vision of WP Mechanic was to offer a series of productized consulting services, such as virus removal, backup setup, performance optimization, theme customization, etc. WP Mechanic could be expanded to offer a range of different consulting services. There are additional growth opportunities in better targeting the email distribution lists, enhancing the AdWords campaign and finding new marketing channels.

What risks are there with this business?

WP Mechanic does not have recurring income and must be marketed on an ongoing basis using the provided marketing channels to generate new sales. If the new buyer does not re-establish the existing marketing channels after purchase, it’s likely that sales would suffer.

Who should buy this business? Who shouldn’t buy this business?

This business is great for an individual that has a strong background using and maintaining WordPress or anyone with intermediate or advanced website development skills. This business likely would not be a good fit for an individual with limited technical skills or an individual that is not interested in being in the client services business.

How much are you asking for this business? How can I buy it?

This is a services business and won’t command the revenue multiples that a hands-off content content site might and is priced accordingly. I am asking for the equivalent of six months of revenue based off the last three months of data, or, $4,000. If you’re interested in buying this business, please contact me via email at matt [at] mattpaulson [dot] com.

What if I have other questions?

Please write them in the comments below so that I can answer them publicly for any and all potential buyers to see.