Phil asked – “Would you ever consider selling problogger.net?”
I’ve been asked this quite a few times of late for some reason – increasingly by genuine buyers.
The answer is Yes…. and No.
At this point I’m not looking for a sale and am not even close to doing so because over the last couple of years this blog has built itself into a tool that is incredibly useful for building my own profile and for my own personal income earning capacity for the longer term.
While this blog doesn’t earn a great deal of money (although it’s continuing to increase in it’s earnings as I’m starting to sell more sponsorships) it sells me very well and for me to sell it would decrease the potential for me to sell myself as a consultant, writer, speaker, business partner etc
Having said that – if the offer were right I’d be crazy not to consider selling.
However for the offer to be ‘right’ it would have to be fairly significant. I’ve been offered medium six figures for it already and didn’t have to think too hard before saying no.
I think you are making the right call in not trying to cash it right now. In my humble view, I see a blog like yours bringing in much more dough a few years down the road.
I love problogger! I was once new in the blogging scene and your useful resources and posts help me grow tremendously!
I hope you not going to sell it but instead get more sponsorship to get the 6 figures revenue!
Interesting. I’d like to hear a big deal with problogger one day. It would be very motivational for us small time bloggers :P
This site definitely has become your identity… when I talk to blogging friends we tend to say things like… ” I dunno, what does Darren recommend? ”
It wouldn’t be the same without you.
6 figures is a lot for a blog though! Its nice to have the choice.
Although, I think others buying the site might struggle to maintain same profile,
True, Problogger wont be the same without you Darren.I dont think any buyer will be able to catch the attention of readers in your manner. ;)
Less than 7 figures and it wouldn’t be worth it. Your site can make more in the long term and as you say your online presence would take such a big hit.
That does it… Problogger will be the next Youtube. 2 billion dollars in the works! Go Darren!
Surely YOU are essentially ProBlogger. Now this does not always make good business sense – when a company or organisation is identified purely with one person, that really stunts its growth potential. But in that sense I still see PB as essentially a personal blog, which is different. So how would it work if you were not the main writer..?
Good Darren! Stay loyal to your readers. We all need your advice and support for the next blogging years to come. You provide some of the best blogging advice out there.
I’d stop reading this blog I if it was sold.
Almost every blog that has been sold has turned out for the worse over time. The only way that I would continue reading would be is if Darren continued to be the major writer and he retained the same passion he has now. This site really isn’t much if you take away Darren’s passion for the subject and willingness not only to make money, but to help out others trying to make profits blogging.
Problogger would become a 2nd Blog Herald without you.
Hmm…You are right, you should be crazy not to sell it if the price is right….Even if the place will never be the same without you, the new owner can make heck of a money with the traffic coming from SERPS
Interesting indeed! And yes you’re right, this has become your identity. This site won’t have a character if it wasn’t you. If selling this site is an option, most of your readers won’t be hitting back.
Having said that – if a great deal of money is offered, why not. You deserve it! You can always build a new identity, a new site.
Darren, judging the comments so far, it looks like you’re tied to this blog until the Rapture. If you get a large enough offer though, I’d take it and I bet you would too. It just has to be the “right price.” What is the right price by the way? Not that I have the dough or anything.
It looks like this post is either in an invitation for an offer or a hint you are wearing out as a blogger.
I agree with earlier comments, I think the readership of this blog would decline significantly if it was sold. I would hope that whoever would consider buying it would be wise enough to offer you a substantial salary to continue contributing.
I have been scanning articles on this blog for about 3 days (and blogging for about 3 months) since I found it. So far I can see that for the blog to succeed in the sale there would be some sort of handing over process where the readers would start to get weaned off Darren onto the new writers.
Maybe even invite guest writers while Darren was away on business or something ;-P
Seriously though 6 figures in Dollars is 7 figures in Rands so to me that would be a huge amount of money and I would definately consider it. However if I had built something up like a blog, it becomes an extension of me. Someone was telling me the other day that when they were potty training their little one, they had to send him out of the bathroom before flushing because he had produced something which was a part of his body and it was disappearing in front of his eyes. This was very traumatic for him.
I would find it traumatic to see a blog which I have formed and has become a very part of my personality, who I am, be taken over by someone else.
I am JMR from JMRPub.com
Darren,
As most have stated, ProBlogger is Darren Rowse.
If it were me, I would have a difficult time making this decision. The fact that your name will always be connected to this site would make it even harder.
As Hagrin said, your passion is what makes ProBlogger.
C. Oxford
So what price would be right for you Darren?
FT
Interesting thoughts, when I started blogging the motivation was to make money. A year later it is a motivator, but in truth I love writing on my blog and maybe I am not the greatest writer but I am passionate about the subject.
So where I can relate is blogging becomes so much a part of you, you find it hard to walk away, because every day you share part of yourself to your readers and at the same time you make many friends as a result, the social networking I suppose. So in the end you are in truth selling your soul if you sold out and that is a bigger issue!
Sounds to me like you’re in negotiation, but just haggling over price!
Great discussion on a topic that brings up another issue, and thanks, Darren. What do you think of the relations between the income and the ideas generated on a blog as folks try to grow their base in both? Thoughts?
As one of the people who have offered Darren considerably over $100,000 for ProBlogger (double it and then add some) I can hear what people are saying in terms of this blog being not the same without him.
That being said, you’ve got to consider the value of this blog not only for the blogger but for what else this blog retains whether Darren is a part of it or not. Think about this, he’s got 3500 pages of blogging tips in his archives. Imagine the ebooks and courses one could develop with that kind of material. Also consider the Search engine ranking and the power that developing other things on this domain could bring and you see what a valuable asset he’s building here.
Of course in our negotiations we’d have wanted Darren to stay on in some capacity for at least a minimum of time while we transitioned the property.
All that being said, I think Darren was right not to accept our offer. Even since the time we made it a few months back I can see that we well under what the blog is actually worth with our offer.
Please forgive me for remaining anonymous on this post, Darren will know who I am, unless he’s been getting more offers since!
I think the real question is:
Are you actually “selling yourself” if you were to sell this blog?
Would you have to sign a Non-Compete Agreement? Otherwise, why not sell this one off for 750K and just start “Darren’s Blogging Spot” tomorrow?
If the money isn’t a significant motivation, donate half the money to charity. ;-)
I think change can be a good thing. Yes, you’ve got a ton of inbound links and an audience. But, we’d come find you. LOL…
Yeah you could sell this blog, and probably make a lot of money off it. But Darren, without you, Problogger wouldn’t be Problogger. Part of what makes blogs so great in general, and this one specifically, is the personality that goes along with the blog. In other words, Darren don’t ever sell this blog ’cause it just wouldn’t be the same.
We’ve got to remember that one day, Darren might not want to continue having his own brand or to keep selling himself. We’ve also got to remember that blogs, one day, are likely to go the way of the dodo (in their current form, at least). Cashing out at the apex is always a good idea.. but it’s impossible to see an apex until things are already falling ;-)
For some people, at some point you want to cash out and just live for the moment with kids, family, your hobbies etc.. some people, though, would rather work for the rest of their lives and do things that way. I don’t know which way Darren goes, but if he’s even entertaining the notion of selling, it could well be the former.
If you must, don’t take anything less than seven figures. ;)
Sounds to me like Darren is fishing for a buyer.
In regards to some people saying that they wouldn’t read the blog without Darren as the main author, I don’t think that’s necessarily true. If the content was still good I don’t care who the author is.
Also they wouldn’t be buying the d6omain so much as the contents and SE ranking. I think anything under 5-10million would be a under evalution.
Don’t beleive me? He posted a photo of his chitikia (or however you spell it) earnings over the last 18 months and it was a little under $250,000 in earnings, he said that it also represented about 40% of his total earnings. That means his total earnings in the last eighteen month would have been around $612,500. His costs are small (there is another post about this somewhere, can’t remember what they were) so most of that is pure profit (minus time). If he got anything under 10x revenue then he would be getting short changed big time.
The only thing is that the screen shot posted might have included earnings from his other sites, in which case problogger would be worth a lot less.
I witnessed at least one in my country a reputable company sold while in its premium value. The company name itself is also part of the name of the owner. Nothing bad went wrong after that. So, while we (most) all agree that without Darren Problogger may not be like it is now, the future of it without Darren may not always be bad, either.
If Darren has to sell it, he should sell it to the right entity who still gives him right to write at least as guest writer to Problogger.net. That way, all will be benefited.
One thing for sure. Anything worth a buck today and is any good will grow in value dramatically in the next few years. The trick is the quality!
I agree with many of the others. You yourself are THE Problogger! You are the inspiration for many, and the site would never be the same without you participating on it.
However, if I was ever in your shoes, and the right offer came along, I’d probably say to hell with it and sell it, only if it meant I’d never have to work another day unless I chose too!
If it was sold I think the reader base would decline rapidly, we love to read what YOU write, not what some body else writes. Your one of the best in your niche and it wouldnt be the same without you.
I for one hope you never sell it
Ultimately I stay subscribed to a blog because of good content. I don’t agree with the premise that without Darren blogging daily, that Problogger could not still remain extremely successful.
In fact, I think it could even make Problogger stronger if Darren were able to spend less time posting but still remain at the helm, focusing his efforts wherever he judges them to be more beneficial.
Not that I want to see Darren go, I just don’t subscribe to many of these borderline negative comments.
Also, we may be getting a little too worked up. As Darren says right off the bat “At this point I’m not looking for a sale and am not even close to doing so…”
You could sell the blog and start another one easily. I think your profile is well known enough that people would follow you to your new blog and you would be a lot richer :-)
That was a smart move. I would hold out for more money.
Hi Darren,
A difficult one for sure!
Does a blog have a shelf life? If it does and the subject of ‘making money online’ becomes obsolete you might be wise to cash in.
However, with all this ‘juice’ you created there is such an opportunity to use it as a conduit to other sites you might own or start up or different opportunities it could bring.
You could even franchise out a junior ‘Pro Blogger’ section embedded into Pro Blogger.
The real positive is from all of what you have achieved is ‘choice’. By becoming so successful you have opened up many many avenues and epitomise what all other bloggers aspire to.
Good luck anyway
Phil
It would be hard to dissociate Darren from ProBlogger tag. But given the money in stack, it would be worth considering !!!
It’s all depend on Darren yourself.
Given the money is more than what you want It would be worth to sell.
You can start another one really easily !
I believe that every readers here will still admire and follow you.
Actually Darren, if you sell this blog to some other fool, take my word for it, I would NEVER EVER COME BACK here.
I come here for reading your stuff. I come hear for your opinions and articles. Apparently, this is also the reason I hate those “Guest Mode”s.
Can certainly identify.. Someone approached me out of the blue about buying one of the few website domains I own, one that has aspirations as a locals’ dating site or something similar.. My polite, sincere response was that the proceeds would have to support a reasonable Lifestyle for a significant length of time before the cyber keys to that one’s front door change hands.. ;)
To people saying that they wouldn’t read this blog if Darren wasn’t the head writer: Do you still read this blog when Darren has guest writers for a week or so at a time? It’s likely that such a sale would be kept quiet (at least initially) in order to ease the readers into the new owners’/bloggers’ writing styles.
To people saying that they’d follow Darren to his new “pro-blogging” blog: Obviously if someone were to buy problogger.net for a significant amount ($100K+) they’re going to have Darren sign a non-compete clause for X amount of years after the sale. Otherwise Darren could just sell his “pro-blogging” site every six months or so and start another one.
As someone who went close to the brink of selling and backed off – and not regretted it since since my blogging has really taken off since then – I have to say that everyone has a number even if that number isn’t known to themself or anyone else. For Darren, I’d agree that the number would probably be well over “half of six figures”. Mine is nowhere near that high but certainly bloggers have to ask themselves what their “walkaway number” is. That number would have to cover your life after. Enough money to invest with a return that would keep you and your family secure for a long long time. Even if the walkaway number is completely nonsensical for a particular blog, it’s not about the blog, it’s about YOUR number to totally walk away from what you are doing. YOUR buyoff number.
I hope everyone has thought about it because maybe that day will come. Then again, maybe not. :)
I have to agree with what you said about harming your other interests. You have to take all of that into account before the site is passed to another owner – if your other earning sources reduce because of the sale of this blog then it’s something you need to weigh up when a sale comes in.
I would hate to see Darren no longer be a part of Problogger. It just wouldn’t be the same.
Well, there goes my idea.
Darren, don’t sell. This site has huge potential.
Trust me :)
Blessings,
Arnold
I have to admit that if I had a blog as prolific as this one and the offer was high enough, I would definitely have to consider selling it as well. I agree with the anon poster that made an offer that there is more value than just the author, the value is the content. And hey, who wants to write forever if you can get a considerable chunk of cash from selling it?