Ever thought about flipping blogs for profit or selling your blog?
“Build it, and they will come.” Have you heard that statement before?
That well-worn chestnut applies to many things in life. But unfortunately, selling a blog isn’t one of them.
If you thought that all you had to do was set up a blog, populate it with content, and sit back as buyers beat a path to your door, you are in for a surprise.
There is a surprising amount of work involved when you decide to sell your blog. Many people who chose to make money with blog flipping found this out the hard way.
Now, we’re not saying that it isn’t possible. Many people have successfully started up blogs and sold them for considerable sums. But many more have embarked on such a venture only to end up hugely disappointed.
We’re here to help you avoid that.
Here we lay out some essential steps for preparing a blog, setting it up, putting it on the market, and cashing in.
Although we can’t guarantee that this guide is your ticket to the Big Time, it will at least teach you the fundamentals of how to sell a blog. So if you’ve ever asked yourself the question, “how to sell my blog?” you’ve come to the right place.
Preparing A Blog
Much of the work involved in selling a blog begins even before you write your first page. Before you set up a blog, check out these pre-prep tips. If you need more information on how to start a blog, you can sign up for our free mini-course.
1. Figure out your passion.
Your blog needs to be focused on something that you believe in or are passionate about. Keep in mind that it could take months or even years to build a blog into something that will appeal to prospective buyers.
That’s a long time to toil on something you aren’t passionate about!
2. Focus on depth
Beyond passion, you need to choose a niche with some depth. Your blog’s focus should be something that gives you room to expand, grow, and broaden your horizons.
An overly specific niche will have limited appeal, which in turn narrows your readership base. This could fail to make your blog appeal to buyers.
3. Think about monetization
It would be best if you had an idea of monetizing your blog right from the beginning. Remember: prospective buyers will only consider your blog if they feel that it has a good chance of making them money.
If you come up with a surefire way to monetize your blog at the outset, you won’t have to put as much effort into convincing buyers to take a chance on it.
4. Get your own domain and hosting
Why? It just looks more professional and helps legitimize your blog to potential buyers. It also ensures that you have the exclusive right to use the domain name of your choice.
This is always a plus when the time comes to sell the blog. You can learn more about the best web hosting for blogs here.
Building A Blog
Perhaps the most crucial aspect of selling a blog is building a blog worth selling. It is also the stage that involves the most work, as you will see in the steps below.
1. Create valuable content
Content is the lifeblood of your blog. It is what garners readership and makes your blog stand out from others in your niche. Always strive to provide something of value to your readers.
Whether it means providing relevant information or offering affiliate products that they can’t resist, try to maintain a consistently high level of quality.
2. Include a clear, content-focused call to action
Even the most valuable content needs a push from time to time. As a blogger, your goal is to encourage your audience to perform a specific action.
A compelling call to action is essential, as it transforms casual visitors into valuable followers.
3. Make your blog easy to use
No one wants to go around in circles or jump through endless hoops to get to the goods. Part of your responsibility as a blogger is to make your site as user-friendly as possible.
This means making it easy for your readers to subscribe, comment, and get around your blog.
4. Interact actively
Your readers will appreciate your blog more if they feel that they are interacting with a living, breathing human being that genuinely cares what they think.
Make an effort to interact with your readers, whether it means replying to comments, answering emails, or maintaining an active forum presence.
5. Install Google Analytics
Don’t wait for your blog to get off the ground before you install Google Analytics. You need to show potential buyers a comprehensive record of your site statistics to encourage them to consider your blog a worthy investment.
Install Google Analytics right when you set up shop, and you are already one step ahead of the game.
6. Actively participate in other blogs
Make an effort to become an active part of the community from time to time. This means participating in other blogs, either as a commenter or a guest blogger.
This is one of the most effective ways to establish a powerful online presence and help attract more people to your blog.
7. Tailor your content to people
With so much emphasis placed on keywords, search engines, and site stats, it is easy to lose focus on the most important component of the blog: your readers.
Sure, you need to spend some time searching appropriate keywords and writing content relevant to your niche. However, you need to make sure that the content appeals to your readers within those parameters and gives them something valuable.
8. Get connected
Strive to establish a more expansive network centered on your blog. Social media is a powerful platform by which you could form connections to your blog and expand your reach.
Whether you use your social media accounts to promote your blog, generate traffic, or encourage interaction, you will find them invaluable tools.
Selling A Blog
This is the part where all your hard work pays off. But don’t rest easy just yet! Although you’ve already done a lot to make your blog as appealing as possible to prospective buyers, there’s still plenty to do!
Note that in order to make your blog sellable, you’ll need monthly profits (ideally, passive income streams) and you’ll need to make it brandable.
That said, you’ll need to detach yourself from the brand so that someone new can come and take over.
1. Determine the value of your blog
Consider the following factors when determining your blog’s value:
- How much your blog earns monthly (average net profit)
- How much you are willing to sell it for
- How much prospective buyers would be willing to pay
Most experts advise pricing your blog between 20-60 times its monthly net revenue. If your blog earns $500 a month, for example, $10,000 would be a reasonable starting price.
But if you feel that your blog is worth more than that, don’t hesitate to price it accordingly. If you need a quick sale, then, you may need to readjust your pricing.
2. Put your blog up for sale
There are many sites designed for selling websites. Here are the most popular ones:
- Flippa – I recently sold a website on Flippa. Read about my experience selling on Flippa here.
- Empire Flippers
- Blogsforsale
These websites have the advantage of excellent buyer protection and a good reputation in the industry, so consider using them as your sole selling platform.
If you want to expand your reach by listing your blog on other sites, you could have those direct inquiries to your listing.
3. Create an attractive listing
Make sure that your listing is as appealing as possible to prospective buyers. Start with a catchy title that mentions your page rank, income, and traffic numbers.
Don’t be shy about flaunting your site’s best qualities, but don’t make false claims either. Screenshots are always helpful and could sway hesitant buyers in your favor.
4. Do a final check of your blog
Always make sure that everything is in order before you begin fielding inquiries. You need to ensure that all the links work and that the code is clean and tidy.
Most buyers will want to test drive your blog before closing the sale, so make it easy for them to sign the contract by ensuring that everything works as it should.
5. Set up an escrow payment
For payments of more than $5000, it is a good idea to have the transaction take place through Escrow.com. The service requires buyers to deposit the money into escrow first before you turn over anything to them.
When you receive the payment, you can then release the blog’s domain name to the buyer. This ensures that you don’t get scammed by an unscrupulous ‘buyer.’
Final Thoughts On Selling Blogs For Profit
That concludes our guide on how to set up a blog and make money by selling it. As you can see, the process is somewhat complex, with many steps involved.
Don’t be discouraged if your initial efforts don’t get you the response you have hoped for.
Even the most successful blog flippers had to go through months–and even years–of dead-ends and rejections before they landed a deal.
Our advice is: build your blog slowly but consistently, make sure all bases are covered, and establish a solid online presence.
In time, you will be able to sell your blog and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
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