Yesterday I wrote a post about some of the factors that bloggers might consider when deciding whether to end a blog or not.
Today I want to continue the theme and look at some options available to bloggers who have decided to end their blog but who don’t quite know how to do it.
Here are some of the most common ways that I’ve seen people end blogs:
1. Sell It
Before you decide to delete your blog, or simply decide to stop writing – consider whether it might have some commercial worth. This might not be appropriate for all blogs (for example if you have a more personal blog you might not want to give it over to someone else) but if your blog is more commercial/entrepreneurial in nature you’ll probably find that it has some value to somebody else.
There are a variety of places where you can sell blogs and websites online but one of the best that I’ve had a little to do with is Flippa which has regular auctions of blogs and sites running. A quick survey of blogs listed there over the past few months has seen blogs sell for anything from two digit numbers right through to some pretty large sales (I just saw one that went for $60,000).
Obviously the more traffic and income your blog has the better but you might be surprised what people are willing to pay even for smaller blogs that have been around for a while and which have some page rank and incoming links.
Another option if you’re not willing to give away your content but still have a domain with some commercial value is to simply sell the domain without the content. Again – if you have a more established domain with lots f incoming links pointing at it you’ll find that some will be willing to give you something for it.
2. Hire a Blogger or Take On a Partner
If you’ve lost your passion for the topic of your blog but it still has potential to generate traffic and income you might want to consider hiring another blogger/bloggers to write for your blog (or even the run the whole thing).
There would be a variety of levels that you could do this on – from hiring a blogger to write a certain amount of posts per week which you edit, to hiring someone to write and do all the editing, to hiring someone to take on everything (including managing ad sales, maintaining the blog’s platform etc).
The model for this might be to pay a per post rate or you might choose to make it more of a partnership where you share ownership and income with the other blogger.
3. Transition it to a Community Blog
This is similar to the last option but if you have a blog that does have a group of loyal readers it could be worth handing the blog over to volunteers from your community to help you keep it running. In a sense it will become a blog which is largely made up of guest posts from readers.
This approach will only really work if you have an established readership who feels strongly that the blog is something that they believe in and want to keep running – even if it costs them some time to contribute to.
4. Relaunch
One option that I’ve not seen done many times but which could be considered is to refocus or relaunch your blog. This will probably only work if you have a domain name that is suited to more than one niche but instead of completely scrapping your site and starting again from scratch on a new domain perhaps you could build upon the Google rank that your blog has and start a new one on the same domain.
Again – there would be some branding considerations to keep in mind here and it work work best with a small shift in topic, but it could work in some situations.
5. Stop Writing But Let the Blog Sit as an Archive
I’ve done this a number of times – instead of just deleting my blogs I generally will just stop writing and then let them sit on the web in archive mode.
The benefit of this over completely deleting your blog or letting your domain name lapse and someone else grabbing it is that you keep the option open of using it again later and if you are monetizing it you have the opportunity to keep earning a little money from it in the mean time.
The other benefit is that you still are making your content available to readers who might be loyal to your blog and who want to keep referencing what you’ve written previously.
I’ve seen a number of people take this approach and also take up a more aggressive monetization of the site, do some link building to it and treat it virtually like a more static website that targets search traffic.
6. Redirect Links to a New Project
Another approach to consider if you’re starting a new blog on a similar topic is to set up your old blog and get it redirecting its permalinks over to your new project to help that new project get established with a little extra SEO juice and forwarded readers.
This is something I’ve seen a few SEO types do quite successfully and could be well worth doing instead of deleting your blog and not building upon what you’ve already done.
7. Delete it
This would be my last preference for most blogs but could be an option if you don’t want to keep paying for a domain/hosting and don’t care if your content disappears for ever.
I would probably sell my blog before doing this (or at least sell the domain) but I suspect that this is probably the most common approach among bloggers who simply let their domain names lapse and/or switch off their hosting.
What Have You Done with Old/Dead Blogs?
I’d love to hear what approaches you have taken with your old/dead blogs? Have you done some of the above or have you tried something else. Please share your experiences of ending blogs in comments below.
Thank you for these couple of posts.
With advice everywhere suggesting to drop Blogger and shift to WordPress, I decided to give up my moderately successful Blogger blog and move all the content to my own hosted WordPress platform, which I did.
Without consciously doing it for SEO juice, I implemented Number 6 as I wanted existing readers to transfer over to the new WordPress site from any post in the old site as I was planning to give up the Blogger blog. every post was linked!
But as I did this the readership for Blogger increased dramatically so instead of archiving it, as per the plan, I decided to keep both running. While there is overlap thematically, the original Blog sticks largely to travel and the new one is more focused on making a difference and NGO management. It’s slowly gaining a wider readership. It’s been a really interesting experience.
I think I’m in the minority that detests WordPress. It was hacked twice and I would prefer to pay for a product that works well most of the time with fewer security issues than get something for free. Free cost 4 weeks of downtime, paying security experts for fixes and a lot of heartache and hot, sweaty work.
I much prefer the Blogger platform but that’s just me. Perhaps if I were more technical I’d be into WordPress. Nevertheless, it’s doing OK now.
On this topic, I’d suggest not deleting anything until you’ve exhausted all the potential first.
The community or partnership option would probably suit many who’ve worked alone for some time, too.
I have a couple of blogs that I could redirect to my new project but I have no idea how to do it. What’s involved in redirecting links?
Thanks
Dave
Thanks Darren.
I notice (being an optimist), that in 4 of the 7 ways the blog survives :)
I understand this is ways for the blogger to get out, but interesting that the blog does not need to die along with the passion of the writer.
Thanks again,
Dave
My previous blogs I’ve simply deleted. The only one of value had just over 1,000 RSS subs, but the domain was my name, so I wouldn’t sell it. :)
I don’t like leaving stuff up in archive mode because then it’s constantly in the back of my mind. If the site is a blank slate it makes it easier on me.
Turning it to a community blog is a great idea. However, deleting it should not be a consideration. It only costs $10 (the domain price) to keep a blog active and I ‘m pretty sure one can make $10 a year from a blog.
It’s like the false notion of cutting a credit card to avoid using credit cards.
Hi,
Is there a reason to quit a blog? I mean, if you quit one blog and opt for another, that would not be considered as ending the carrier as a blogger. A blogger will still be a blogger in anyways, as long as he or she writes. Nevertheless the writings are no longer on their pre-existing blog, as long as they still voiced out their opinion in form of writtings, they are still a blogger.
If that person really wanted to quit a blog, then she or he should never take 6 out of 7 steps above. Just delete it and keep away from keyboards ;)
I stopped blogging last summer when I started an MBA program. But I left my blogs as an archive.
Two months ago, after taking a social media marketing course, I have decided to use my 500 articles (spread over 4 intermeshed blogs) as a resource base to cannibalize for Twitter. I found that I could blog maybe 20 articles a month but I could tweet 20 a day. To build up my follower base AND my blog readership I simply tweet some of my old stories.
For the field I am in (bioenergy), these blog articles are still relevant as we cycle through the same reminders of our addiction to oil. If anything, current events prove what I have been saying all along. It lends credibility to my tweets that I come from a position of being “a maven” on these issues.
Tweeting has also inspired me to take up the blogging pen again when I find something really worth writing about. And I use # has tags (#biochat, #biofuels, #biopower, #biostock, #bioconv, #biowaste, and #biooutput) to categorize in sync with my Bioenergy BlogRing.
Thanks for the post. But I hope, I’ll never end my Blog.
Hi Darren.
You are such an optimist (As Dave Higgs said)! Those are clever things to do with a blog you when no longer feel like blogging.
So I think the title should be more like 7 Better Things to Do than Ending Your Blog. ;-)
I think the best way to end a blog when you don’t feel like blogging any longer or when you have limitations is to post a “Goodbye” post for your readers. Then put it to Archive mode. And don’t worry because you can come back to blogging anytime!
Gloson
Yes, keep the domainname (or sell it).
It’s always a pity to see a deleted domainname being picked up for free by a spam-company to put some porn-ads on it.
Most of my blogs were too little to even care about, but my biggest one about Science Fiction is an interesting story. I tried to sell it, but I faced dishonest person. He paid me $200 for domain, but after transferring files to his web host, he refused to pay another $400. He also blocked me access to FTP and web admin, but he forgot about to block access to WordPress admin. So I took all my posts, re-published them on another social film website, and I put some ads on this blog and I still earn money (I also took that $200).
I’m an evil person :).
I wonder if anyone has ever tried a blog swap with someone else also looking to end their blog.
I think it could be a fun experiment, especially if you want to continue blogging, just not about your particular topic anymore.
(Could be especially fun if you trade for a topic you know nothing about. It would force you to blog about it from the perspective of a complete beginner, which might actually be very helpful for some readers.)
Great options, though deleting my blog has never been an option. I’m in the process of relaunching it and feel that I can rejuvenate it with a face lift and shift in topic.
I have a few blogs (in different niches from soccer, private healthcare, dating and blogging) that I’ve left to idle, the ideal situation is to hire a blogger to contribute content, however resources are not permitting. I’ve thought of a partnership, however I don’t see the value for a new partner to join a stagnant blog without any income…what would appeal for a partner to join a sinking ship?
Maybe I’m wrong, however I don’t see the bigger picture in convincing a prospective partner to join an idle blog, without income and a handful of readers…
This is a very timely post as I was considering not deleting a few of my blogs but consolidating. I have a few blogs with all very unique content about languages. One Spanish another on Russian and another on Polish for example. I have been told it is better to have one blog than many.
I do not know if that is true or not.
But I thought of consolidating all the blogs under one language blog.
What do people think?
To do this do I redirect all the domains to one language blog, or would this be considered spammy in Google’s eyes? I do not want to do anything other the play by the rules.
When I stopped writing my last blog, Debt-free Scholar, I sold it to College Plus.
Good ideas here. I’m intrigued at the possibility of a doing a relaunch. Family issues caused me to go into a blog coma for over a year and a half & I’ve been wondering how to get back in the groove. I’ve got #1 ranking for my main search phrase & would hate to lose the SEO juice.
Darren, would you care to elaborate a bit more on what a relaunch might look like, or what the ingredients would be?
Thanx!
I suppose I will sell my blog one day.
And hope it will still be on top of search engines as it is now.
The big questions i sfor how much I be willing to give it away to someone.
Always thinking out of the box — love it. Great post and comments here.
I never thought I’d see a post on a blog about how to end a blog, but leave it to Darren to think outside the box.
In terms of deleting the blog, I think the least someone can do for the community, depending on the niche, is migrate the content to a free host so readers have access and the blogger can avoid the cost.
I think it’s a bit of wishful thinking to say you’ll keep the blog up even after you’re done posting to it — 10 years from now? 20?
Where will blogging be then I wonder.
Ignore them. One thing we do, since updates are not often, is to kill off the dates.
Mostly I will sell my blog or give it away as a gift if I don’t want to manage it again .. But I always try to not let that blog die ..
I like your idea of monetising and allowing a blog to go dorment. If the posts are relevant and have some good SEO action going on, you could still make some money from a site where you are no longer doing any work.
Just turn your old blogs into sales pages and put up a few e-books. People will find them and you will get a little bit of extra cash.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog MIllionaire
I’ve let more blogs die than I wish to admit. Most of my past blogs have been on the Blogger platform. So I’d usually delete them. Others I have just abandoned and they just disappear somewhere into the interwebs.
My current blog, which is still going strong and has been for over 3 years now, will be around for a long, long time. If I ever do decide to discontinue it, I’d probably figure out a way to turn the best content into an ebook. I would still keep the domain.
I used to be a fan of the Althetic Alley blog and their weekly blog carnival. But sports is hard to make money so the site was sold with a Page Rank of 2. Now it’s some crappy relaunched site about some chick that lost weight (right! flog). Google dropped its page rank to 0 really fast.
I like the 5th idea (stop writing and let the blog sit in archive mode). I also think if we’re going to do this, it would be good to tell new and existing readers that the blog is no longer updated, or if we have plans of using it again someday, we should tell them to visit it from time to time.
hi. im new to this. monetizing blogs. i used to write my rantings on my personal blog but there comes this time where im out for topics. and now that i saw you’re monetizing your blog/s, im pretty interested in this.
what topics would you suggest? i’d like to here from you, sir. tnx and more power.
i have couple of blogs before. I simply stop writting when i think i lost the passion on them. But yeah i’m still seeing some decent traffic on them, so i just let the blogs on with couple of ppc ads. it’s not bad to have couple of 10$ bucks every months, i can buy fresh new domains with the earning.
Hi Darwin,
I have been trying to kill off my blog pretty much ever since it launched. The traffic is too steady, the people want to participate too much, and frankly I’m tired of it! I was not aware that having a blog would be this bothersome.
I did take your advice.. firstly I tried to sell it. But, the sum of money that was offered was too great to accept because it would affect my university financial aid.
Do you have any other SAFER advices because I’m afraid to try anything else you said… I don’t want to make my situation worse.
2 years ago, I started a few blogs just for practise. I deleted them because I wanted to start a fresh brand for my website.
“A Sitting Duck”
This is absolutely brilliant advice, thank you so much. I mean, surely no-one wishing to blog anonymously would have thought of such revolutionary ideas as to use a pseudonym or not include details that might give you away.
I hope the oppressed of the world may read your technological and cutting edge tips.
I love my blog, and I never want to ‘end’ it as such. But, being a parenting blog, it has occurred to me to prepare for a few year’s time when my kids have gotten older and I still want to have posts about younger kids. As it is, my kids are moving out of the baby stage…
And yes, I had already decided that if I felt the need arose, then I would seek out some parents of younger children to contribute to the parts that I felt my family had grown out of, the community idea is also another one I have been toying with for those future years.
In the beginning when I started blogging, I created some 10 blogs to blog on.But unable to consistently blog on 10 blogs, I left the 9 blogs and currently blogging on 1 blog.
I used to blog last time and stop blogging almost a year. I become full time internet entrepreneur and focus on building the business but i never stop reading blog.
I just wasted 20 minutes looking over the Flippa site. I’m amazed at what some blogs sell for!
I have been in the same position when trying to get rid of my blog in the end I sold it for a couple of hundred pound so it is well worth seeing if the blog is worth anything to someone as they one mans rubbish is another mans Gold or something like that lol
I was surprised when a site valuator priced my weblog Plato on-line, which was still not a year old, almost $3,000 last year but I still don’t want to sell it so I took your advice 5. Stop Writing But Let the Blog Sit as an Archive.
Hello Darren,
Great article, and i have been in this scenario quite a few times already. I recently ditched my own named Domain to concentrate elsewhere; the domain wouldn’t have got any attention as it was a first name domain, so irrelevant. My own thoughts are to hold on to as many domains as you can, you never know what they might be worth in the future.
I like the idea of #5 archiving the site but still earning revenue from ads and affiliate links. This can as you say give you time to build up more inbound links and generally improve your SEO. At the moment i am using UAW, a service that allows you to receive and edit guest posts. I still post about two or three articles myself. This then allows me to expand into other projects.
I also find that on many occasions i like to surf the social networks and get away from blogging altogether. It can be very productive and you get great feedback which you can store up for future posts. Sometimes just taking a breather away from blogging can pay dividends.
There are always options open to you rather than letting your domain lapse.
Thanks for the mention Darren. Buyers on Flippa will pay good money for traffic, some revenue and original content. If you decide to list, tell people as much as you can about these aspects.
Great post, Darren!
As always, I enjoy reading on your posts, and mostly, I’ll get a new knowledge from it.
Recently, I chose to delete my old blog because I didn’t want to keep paying the hosting. But, I saved all the contents into files because I didn’t want all of my hardworks on the contents disappear, and perhaps, someday in the future, i will need them again…
Sell the blog maybe is the best option to finish it, but I never can’t sell my blogs :(
Thanks Darren… didn’t know about Flippa… and I do have a couple of blogs out there I’m not doing a darn thing with.
Just as a general rule, if you no longer wish to continue blogging, you shouldn’t ever let your domain delete without at least trying to sell it beforehand! There are great domain name marketplaces available with tons of viewership looking to snatch up domains with traffic.
Try these to start:
Sedo.com
Pool.com
Snapnames.com
Good luck!
Marie P.
http://www.affinityclick.com
i just want to share my idea:
i think letting visitor or other relation doing a guest post is one of the typical of website that will be going to and end
For me it depends on the content, for blog with long lasting content such as self motivation or picture gallery, I won’t delete or sell it, I just keep it for my collection :P But for blog with dynamic content which needs to be updated everyday, such as about celebrity or news, I choose to sell it because the blog will be useless if there’s no new content.
Join in many social media is very helpful. I also use social media to increase traffic, and 70% traffic comes from here.
Not going to offer an alternate suggestion, but offer a reason why deleting the blog, IMO, is a bad idea.
I noticed a comment from Karol who refuses to go into archive mode and deletes her blogs, even one with what seemed like a considerable following.
Before deleting a blog, always keep in mind that it’s a component of a “web” and look at how many back links you have pointing to your posts. Bloggers are frequently referencing other bloggers ideas within their own. In many cases, that external piece of content is central to their post… without that context, their point loses relevance.
So before you delete, consider the effects that your action will have on your fellow bloggers.
IMO,
I’ve sold blogs, I’ve retired them and I’ve redirected them. It all depends on the topic, content and traffic as to what I actually do.
Although I do prefer to sell! I sold a couple on Flippa – but had some luck with ebay too.
The best case happened to be offering my site to affiliates I used who knew how much I made with them and could imagine how much I made with others. It was the easiest and quickest transaction ever.
Just stop writing and let it stay there
I have been blogging for less than a year and have been earning a few thousand dollars from my blog. However, as I would like to be personal, I used my name as a domain.
I have had friends from this blog as well as those people who wanted to bring me down. As a result my site was compromised and malwares were uploaded. I don’t know the exact cause.
Now I have a dilemma whether to keep the domain or completely shut it down.I can’t seem to get rid of the infection on my blog.
I am not a really a techie and I don’t know how to get rid of these viruses or trojans. I just don’t want to be accused of being part of those spreading malwares in the web.
If there is still a way to salvage, let me know. I would greatly appreciate your help.
Few years ago i had a blog on a subdomain of my main website. The main website was doing pretty well. The blog on the subdomain received low traffic by but i never linked to it from the main website. I was not paying to much effort to the blog, i was just writing the articles.
Suddenly, i deleted the blog. I didn’t had any reason for doing this, It was just a spontaneous thing, i felt the need to do some cleaning and keep things clean. I considered the blog garbage and i moved it to the trash.
The articles are now fine on buzzle and other article directories. I counted tens of thousands of views on buzzle only.