Blogging has become a popular side hustle over the last 10 years but many bloggers are selling their blogs.
Why? For a giant payday, and to make a living.
Some bloggers actually create and sell several blogs over their career as a blogger. Some will stick to the same niche and sub-niches while others will create and sell blogs in several different niches.
But how does one even go about something like this?
How to Evaluate the Value of Your Blog
Let’s start at what makes a blog “sellable”.
There are 3 factors that all buyers look for:
- Traffic amount and traffic sources
- Monetization methods
- Domain authority
If your blog has a steady traffic source either from organic search or social media, then you’re probably in a good position to sell.
Then they’ll look at how you monetize that traffic. You will have more negotiating power with the more ways you monetize your site and the more income streams it generates.
Then finally, a healthier domain (one with some online presence and no spammy links), the more valuable the blog. A quality domain is much easier to grow after a blog purchase so buyers will keep an eye out for this.
Let’s say you have all three and are ready to sell – how much will you sell your blog for?
Usually the ballpark price for listing a blog for sale is the last 12 months of revenue multiplied by anywhere between 12 to 36. The higher end of the prices will be those with more passive income streams and high sustainable traffic sources.
You can also get a valuation from a broker like Digital Exits and they will also help match you with buyers.
Where do I Sell my Blog?
There are several ways you can sell your blog. You can either do it on your own, list it on a site, or hire a broker to sell it for you.
Trying to sell a blog on your own is much harder but you won’t owe a percentage to a third party. However, you’ll be doing a lot of legwork asking around your network for anyone interested in buying your blog. You can also look to companies that already own several blogs that target your audience to see if it might be a good fit.
If you don’t want to take this time and effort, get some help with any of the below sites.
Flippa
Flippa is a website where you can buy and sell websites including ecommerce stores, blogs, apps, and more. They charge $19 to list your website for sale on the platform and if it sells, they take 10% for a success fee.
According to ProfitBlitz, Flippa isn’t worth it unless you sell your blog for under $5,000 due to the 10% success fee having no cap. If you’re willing to eat the 10%, this site has worked for several bloggers and has great reviews.
Blogs for Sale
Blogs for Sale is a boutique online business marketplace where you can buy businesses and sell your own blog and business online. The platform was actually created by Chelsea from HerPaperRoute, a blogger herself, who actually sold her first blog for $39,000.
If you have a blog in the lifestyle, food, beauty, garden, home, education, finance niches, or have an ecommerce shop, then I definitely recommend checking out this site and service.
Empire Flippers
Empire Flippers is another well-known site along with Flippa but for higher-value blogs. They also sell podcasts on the site too.
They’ve helped people buy and sell over $200 million worth of websites and online businesses. When you check out their site you’ll notice right away of how much bigger of an operation it is and they have several resources on the site to help walk you through the entire process of selling your site or blog.
Empire Flippers charges $297 to list a blog for sale and claims most sites sell for 20 times their trailing 12 month profit. The highest rate of success for blogs selling on Empire Flippers are between $5,000 and $30,000.
Negotiation Tips
To negotiate for the highest pay possible for your blog, you need to first determine what it is worth to you. What is the minimum price you are willing to accept for it?
Sure, you can do the calculation of the last 12 months profit multiplied by 10 , by 20, by 30, or other or work with a broker to determine the true worth. First, determine your complete lowest number you’ll go and price it higher than that.
For example, if the lowest you’ll go is $10,000 for your blog, price it at $15,000.
Many times offers come in lower than asking price so bump up your price to account for this.
Remember this above all else: A blog is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.
If the monetary value of your blog is lower but it’s reputation is higher, you are probably going to be able to sell it for more.
Use that idea to your advantage.
Tips for a Smooth Sale
When selling your blog, there are a lot of moving parts.
Lawyers will be involved in the contracts, you’ll need to supply financial numbers and other administrative information, and it can be time-consuming. If you know why you’re selling and get prepared sooner rather than later, it will be a pleasant experience.
There are four must-have items to get in order for a smooth sale:
- A lawyer ready to work with you on this
- Have a spreadsheet ready with the last 12 months of traffic and income data
- Move the site to its own hosting account
- Gather all other accounts like ad network logins, affiliate logins, ecommerce shop logins, etc in another spreadsheet laying out all the access to all the income sources
After you gather these together, you basically have your blog bundled up for sale and ready for closing.
Conclusion: Should I Sell?
Now that you know how to sell a blog, you need to decide if you want to sell your blog.
Are you wanting to offload your blog completely or do you want to keep it around a little longer for the extra passive income? Do you want to sell your blog but find it hard to part with it? Are you scared of what someone else will do with your blog after you sell it?
All of these questions are valid questions and you need to go through as many of these questions with yourself as possible before deciding to sell your blog.
You created that blog with your unique creative energy and you don’t want to regret letting that go.
The good news is you can always create more.
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