This week, we’ve looked at the blog sales market from all sides:
- the seller’s perspective
- the buyer’s perspective
- the perspective of the marketplace.
We also spent some time yesterday putting a value on your blog.
So today, I wanted to open the blog up to discussion.
- Has a blog or site you loved ever changed hands? How did it feel for you as a visitor to that site?
- Did yesterday’s challenge change how you felt about selling a blog? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
- Have you ever bought or sold a blog? Share your tips and tales with us.
- Many of you have mentioned over the course of the week that you’d like to see more on this topic: what kinds of information do you need?
- …and if you’d like to see a series like this one on another topic, let me know below!
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on blog buying and selling.
Hey Darren!
Personally, I would never want to sell my blog unless I am in some financial debt. I don’t want to lose the brand, the readership and the name, after all, it’s my own blog.
Previously, I sold one of the my blog, which brought me enough exposure and placed the tag “a writer” after my name. I really feel so bad for that, even now. Now, I’d never sell my blog. Yet, I do have some other blogs which I don’t concentrate much on. I can sell them, if I really want.
But, I’d like to buy blogs. I do it for flipping and it is really interesting. I love buying domains actually. So, when I buy some site with a cool domain name. I just keep it. And, I won’t use it though. I just have a little collection. Last week, I sold most of them and right now, only half-a-dozen are left.
I’d love to see what others say on this regard
Hey Koundeenya, how are you doing man? Thanks for leaving your comment, and taking the time to share your story. I noticed that you said you like to buy blogs, well I actually have one for you to purchase if you would like.
send me a text or email if interested.
See ya :)
Demetrious Hayes
757-679-1649
[email protected]
Yup, been seeing many articles this week referring to buying or selling a blog.
Don’t mind them at all :)
I really haven’t looked into buying a blog that has been set up or worked on for a while.
For me, I like to know every step on growing a blog and leveraging those steps to my growing advantage.
Very good series and definitely food for thought. Who’d have thought years ago that blogs would be businesses changing hands for real money?
I’m interested in exploring the life of someone who sold their blog. Didn’t that feel like selling a child? Because a blog is probably a lot more personal, with more of yourself invested in it than, say in a corner bakery or boutique.
In particular, I’d be interested to hear what people did with the money. Did they buy another blog? Did they travel the world? Or did they pay off their debt, invest it and start another one?
I have been thinking about selling my blog for a while now.. but just not sure what price to set as reserve. Its very hard to tell how much a blog is worth
Well Steve, I guess that the price souldn’t be a dilema for you. The monthly earnings x 12:)
I’m a capitalist at heart. If you buy and then sell any business for a substantial profit, why not? Blog is a business just like any other. However, I would recommend selling at a SUBSTANTIAL profit not just a few hundred or a couple thousand dollars profit. I’m thinking at least five figures to make worth your while or else you’re going to either have to go back to a job or start another business. Where else can make money easier than blogging? Not too many!
Hey Robert, I think you’re completely right. Blog can be worth a tremendous amount in the long run. Do you a personal blog at the moment?
We Should Sell our blog If we get good price on it, I want to sell my blog because Adsense disable my account permanently and now my blog is not generating single $
Hey Aumkar, I can probably help with your dilemma. Send me an Email
Selling a blog is a great way to make money. But I think that buying blogs is the best thing to do. You will get your blog setup, running and also earning. You can then optimize it and get more money. That’s why I suggest buying blogs in a topic you know about and when you know about blogging.
By this way you can start earning a lot of money.
Excellent series of posts. Personally speaking, I can’t see myself parting with my main project but the idea of building websites with flipping in mind is an interesting one. It all comes down to weighing up the effort required against the potential reward.
I spent some time looking at other blogs for sale yesterday after reading the problogger article and from what I gathered from those for sale, I would consider buying a domain but not a blog. I have enjoyed building a blog from the ground floor and if there was a time in my life where I had to give it up for some reason, I would prefer starting from scratch again. There are too many unknowns in buying someone else’s project. Unless there’s something I misread?
I’ve thought about both situations.
To buy a blog I’d really need to find the right one and it’s a risky process as you never can be 100% sure of what you’re going to end up with.
To sell a blog (at least my current blog) would be tough as I’ve raised it from a baby and have that attachment to it and the readers.
I suppose that if you go into blogging to build a specific niche site geared around a topic with a clear plan to sell it it’d be easier – for me though I’m happy with building it and running it without thought of sale.
Of course that being said if someone offered me obscene amounts of money for my current site I’d certainly consider the option.
Hello,
This subject is very interesting, since the market for buying and selling websites and blogs is very promising, I wanted to see some posts related to the subject here on Problogger>
Hug.
My site is really small and very new. For me, selling really isn’t even a consideration. There would be little to gain, and much to lose… personally more than monetarily.
But I’m curious about what changes in a site owner’s mind to motivate a sale? Or, was the intention always to sell at some point?
For small sites it seems harder to me. Woodworking is my hobby, and it would be kind of like selling all my tools one day, and declaring that I’m not going to build anything again.
When you sell, what do you do the day after?
I would like to sell few blogs that I am currently managing, due to the following reasons:
1. I am unable to update them on regular basis due to lack of time, hence providing less value to my readers.
2. I am losing interest in those particular subjects.
3. I am short of cash these days :)
Hey Kashif, send me an email. I can probably help you getting rid of your blogs my friend.
Hey Kashif, send me an email. I can probably help you getting rid of your blogs my friend.
I’ve never really followed a blog that I read and has been sold to someone else, but I have seen ones that have. I have to say it’s a little sad as far as reading the blog knowing that there isn’t that one or two people behind the new content. I’m talking about the “3 fat chicks” blog. It’s a blog about dieting and it was sold a larger content development company.
I have thought about selling a couple of my smaller websites, but never really wanted to take the time to make maybe $300 on the sale.
Hi everyone,
I own two blogs I would rather not sell them anyway I think I would have trouble with find a buyer, but even if there would be one I thnik I would not sell it.
I’m not telling never because who knows.
I love my blogs but for a big price who knows if I wouldn’t be tempted.
Anyway I wish you luck with blogs.
Erwin.
See you on top.
I’m pretty sure no one would want to buy my blog at this time ;-)
I’m almost certain that Fabulously Broke in the City was sold and I was disappointed. The founder’s style of writing and voice is so strong, opinionated and distinct that the new writer’s posts pale in comparison. If I were to buy a blog (unlikely) I would purchase one that read a bit more like a magazine rather than a personal based blog with a unique style of writing. The founder is now at thebudgetingtool.com and I’m so glad I found her again.
The disconcerting part was that there was no disclosure to the readers. The about still just talks about the founder but then you see this different author’s name with a completely different voice/style. I wouldn’t be surprised if the site lost quite a bit of its recurring visitors.
Hi Darren,
Personally I don’t like to sell blogs as blogging is my hobby, But in some cases people sell their blogs because they lose their interest in their blog’s topic, They want to start a new topic, A new niche and a new brand so that is the main reason of selling blog.
STEPS TO TRANSFER OWNERSHIP
Get EPP code of your domain
Unblock DOMAIN
Give EPP code to new owner
Transfer social media account if any
Transfer feeds
Share Google analytics and webmaster tools
@ Darren,
Nice article about the transfer of ownership but personally hope that i don’t have to follow this guide from Problogger.net :)
I’m thinking about selling my 6-years old site with 7800+ articles for a while. I have a good day job and now with having a little boy priorities changed.
I think a blog is only has value if it’s good and like a website why sell something that can make much more long-term.
The answer is, I always would UNLESS I have some personal and emotional attachment to the blog which is mostly the case. I remember selling a sports blog 4 years ago only to end up buying it again after a couple of years.
As for buying, I did some flipping back when it was cool but I would say no. :-)
I used to sell a blog when I didn’t my own site yet. But right now, I am earning a lot more from having my own site.
Selling a blog while you are not getting revenue from it, that is sometimes a good idea. But we should take care of everything while taking this decision.
Untill now i have never sold any any of my blogs/sites. I feel that its worth more than then the average 12-24 months revenue. As long as i dont need the money right away i rather keep them and enjoy the profit for many many years.
If your blog’s generating a substantial amount of money it’s unwise to sell it now. If your blog isn’t generating well then also it’s unwise to sell it now. This’s my principle.
I sold one of my blogs late last year for 5 figures after 2 years. I loved the blog but I couldn’t take the pain of seeing the blog deteriorate with time-simply because I did not have time to produce the quality and thought provoking articles that kept the blog on it legs.
Since I hate to read effortless posts, I did not want to join the ease route of copying and pasting or writing without extensive research. So I had to let it go…
Another reason why I sold this particular blog was that, emerging competition and readers demand meant that, I had to put in more time than I was before. And since I am tired up in studies for my Bar exams, there was no way I could match this demand…
I wrote a post on why I had to let that blog go and the right time to sell a blog; http://topvincent.com/2012/08/when-is-the-right-time-to-sell-your-blog-i-just-sold-one-of-my-blogs-for-5-figures
It hurts to let something you have built from scratch go to another person. But I believe readers will generally appreciate that than feeding them with shallow content as a result of lack of time, interest or whatsoever.
well, I will never sell my blog. I am good in blogging and I will start a blog from the basics and I will build my own rather then buying some one else. :)
Thanks
I’m keeping an eye on a blog that is for sell. It has multiple authors, but the writers are slowly jumping ship since the site is up for sell and I’m curious to know if the value will drop with the loss of the writers.
I sold 1 of my blogs last summer – in a niche I wasn’t really passionate about.
But it was a great little site and I had put 10 months of really hard work into it. The traffic and interest was there to scale. But unfortunately I just wasn’t into it.
So I sold in July 2012 for what I thought was a decent price. Oddly enough I did go back several months after the sale and noticed they completely changed my optimized layout – optimized and tested.
It’s somewhat disappointing to see, it could have been a nice little business.
I think people sell their blogs on two reasons those are for profit and when they suffer from loss.
If domain is valuable it might be worth to use. Get advises are most useful thing at this time.
Thanks, great series!
Would love to see something similar on different topics in the future.
I have been looking for a secondary blog I could run in my niche – no luck so far.
Considering starting something from scratch.
I am thinking to sell my own blog. It has a PR-3 and good visitors daily but don’t know at price should i sell that.
nah, i wouldnt sell my blog unless its content sucks,lol. if you believe your blog has good content its better to give in some extra effort for getting hits on your blog and earn money from ads and if you attract users you might get good amount from ads more than what u’ll sell it for :)
I have an EMD domain who’s keyword gets approx 35,000 visitors per month which I am considering selling. The competition has been fierce and I haven’t managed to rank the site well. I was very excited when I purchased it but sometimes you just have to let it go. I will shed a tear :(
I agree with you – it seems that people get less shy when it comes to blogging. They see it today as a business instrument. However, there are also a lot of people who do not take thsi industry serious although there are 1000s who earn a nice income from their websites but i guess they will soon be proofed wrong :)
Great series!
Would love to see something similar on this topic in the future.
I have two sites that I was very passionate about for years, then life got in the way. They still do great in organic traffic but from their peak, the numbers are WAY down. The problem is, I don’t have the desire to keep up with them anymore and because I’ve neglected them for so long, any value that was there is now pennies on the dollar. Selling them may be more work than just letting the domain names expire and yanking the content off my web server.
I lived in Mexico for 5 years recently and built up a pretty good readership for my site on learning Spanish and on living in Mexico.
Then I moved back to the US, for good.
I wouldn’t sell the Mexican one because it’s so personal on every page, but I have been wanting to sell the Spanish one since I’m not keeping my language skills up.
Hey everyone,
I have been reading a lot of these posts and I think their great. Some of these viewpoints I’ve never really considered, and these comments just opened my eyes. Thank you Darren for posting the article. If anyone needs help trying to sell or improve a blog, I can give you some free advice. Have a great day.
Send me a text or Email
Demetrious Hayes
757-679-1649
[email protected]
yes why not