LiveBlogged: How to Sell a Blog #typeacon

Session name: How to Sell a Blog
Speakers: Deb Ng, Wendy Piersall

Wendy said she was writing up her presentation for how to find a broker to sell blogs – and she ended up selling a blog to someone she was getting advice from!

Why Sell Your Blog?

• No time
• Not feeling it anymore
• A good offer
• Moving in a different direction
• Building to sell

File my Cute Mom Clothes under “not feeling it anymore.”  (Want it? Make me an offer! Uncharted Island has also run its course.)

Deb never built Freelance Writing Gigs for the purpose of selling it. Wendy has a pact with her friends to never start a new project unless she has an exit strategy. She made her Copycat Crafts site simple enough that anyone could take over; she didn’t put too much of herself into it. Be conscious of not putting your personal brand into it.

Blogs are like real estate. When you buy a house, you make it your own. But you know that eventually you’ll be selling it, so you may think twice about painting a room a really gaudy green that will be hard to paint over in a few years. You do the same thing with a blog.

Having a Blog Worth Selling

Blog Assets

• Monthly Income
• Your Content
• Traffic
• Domain Name
• On-Site Reader Community
• Site Design
• Special Apps or Functionality

Copycat Crafts made Wendy $50 her first month. By month 4, it made $150. Month 5 went to $200, and Month 6 went to $250. (This is not typical for a new blog, but she’s been blogging elsewhere for years.)

The more content you have, the more money you’ll be able to make. But if no one is coming to your site, no one is going to buy it.

The other factors on the list are subjective and may or may not influence potential buyers. Cecily Kellogg’s company buys old dead blogs to help their other sites with search engine traffic, so it doesn’t necessarily matter what they look like, if they have good monthly income, etc.

Off-Blog Assets

• Facebook Page
• Twitter Followers
• Social Bookmarks (StumbleUpon, Digg, etc.)
• Search Engine Ranking
• Mailing List

Assets You Can’t Sell

• Your personal brand
• Your relationship with your readers
• Spokesperson deals
• Blogger/brand relationships

Finding a Buyer

• Online marketplaces/auctions (i.e. Flippa.com, WebsiteBroker.com)
• Brokers (i.e. WebsiteProperties.com, QuietLightBrokerage.com)
• Networking

Online marketplaces probably won’t net you a lot of money. Brokers are for more serious sales, $100k+, screened buyers.

Pricing & Negotiating

• Income x 2-4 years + value of any high value assets (i.e. desirable domain)
• Negotiating points
  • Your future involvement
  • Non-compete agreements
  • BE WARY: Payment plans, revenue sharing, check payments. DON’T DO IT.

Buyers prefer sites that have room to grow, so don’t get perfectionistic.

Get a contract. Show it to a lawyer.

The Aftermath

• Handing over the keys to the kingdom
• Letting go emotionally… watching someone run your blog, watching someone destroy your blog…
• What will you do next?
• Tax implications

Deb didn’t expect the community backlash when she sold her blog. She had a lot of explaining to do, trying to get people to understand that she just wasn’t feeling it anymore.

Thank you to Deb and Wendy for sharing this information with us. Those of us who have some blogs they want to sell, or those of us who may eventually want to sell a blog, will certainly be able to use this advice!

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