Guide to Selling (and Flipping) Blogs in 2024

You’ve put months, maybe years of laborious work into starting a profitable blog—and it’s paid off. So, let’s speak about  promote a weblog.

Let’s say you’re making a steady income from your blog, nevertheless it’s taking fairly a little bit of your time.

Perhaps you’re not feeling the preliminary pleasure you felt about your blog’s niche, or maybe you’re merely able to sort out a brand new problem.

Too many bloggers find yourself abandoning their blogs and letting them slowly fade away. However there’s a significantly better answer—one which’s a win-win-win for you, your readers and one other eager blogger.

Promote your weblog.

It’d sound a bit daunting, particularly should you’ve by no means bought a weblog earlier than. You might fear about operating into technical points, undervaluing your weblog, or whether or not you’ll even be capable of discover a purchaser in any respect.

Maybe you don’t even have a weblog but, however you’re considering forward. If you wish to launch and develop a weblog you could promote later down the road, you’ll have to determine promote a web site earlier than you get to that time.

On this article, I’m going to take you thru every little thing you could learn about promoting (and flipping) blogs in 2024.

How one can Promote a Weblog in 2024: Final Information to Promoting (and Flipping) Blogs

1. Why Sell Your Blog?
2. How to Set a Blog Up for Success (and a Sale)
3. Blog Selling Platforms
4. Pricing Your Blog
5. Taxes
6. Contracts/Payment
7. Flipping a Blog

Disclosure: Please observe that among the hyperlinks beneath are affiliate hyperlinks and at no extra value to you, I’ll earn a fee. Know that I solely advocate services and products I’ve personally used and stand behind. While you use one in every of my affiliate hyperlinks, the corporate compensates me, which helps me run this weblog and hold my in-depth content material freed from cost for readers (such as you).

First, let’s check out the why. In case you’ve obtained a profitable money-making weblog, why would you wish to promote it within the first place?

Why Promote Your Weblog?

Maybe you began your weblog in a profitable niche that you just favored, however that area of interest is not the place you wish to be.

It may merely be that you just’ve misplaced curiosity. You’ve stated every little thing you wish to say about your matter, and also you’re prepared to maneuver on.

Alternatively, it is likely to be that you just not wish to be related to that model or matter. It’d not really feel like “you.”

Promoting your weblog frees you as much as transfer on and begin a brand new weblog (and even take up a new business idea) with out having your outdated weblog draining your power and momentum.

You Desire a Massive(r) Sum of Cash, Now

Let’s say your weblog is bringing in $1,000/month, each month. That’s nice cash to have — however what if you need a lump sum, quite than a small ongoing quantity?

Having $12,000 (or seemingly extra) proper now may provide the money you could launch one thing new, take up a once-in-a-lifetime alternative, or just get some respiration area.

Placing up your weblog on the market means you get a big sum of cash all of sudden, and that may make a whole lot of issues potential in a approach {that a} small month-to-month quantity doesn’t.

Your Life Circumstances Have Modified

Perhaps you launched your weblog again if you have been a scholar, with loads of time to work on it within the evenings or weekends.

A number of years later, you’ve obtained a accomplice and two babies, and life is way busier.

Your weblog’s nonetheless operating with out an excessive amount of work from you, however your earnings from it’s slowly declining and also you simply don’t have the time to put money into it anymore.

Promoting your weblog will be a good way to capitalize on all of your laborious work. Handing it to another person provides you area in your life to concentrate on different priorities — and a helpful sum of cash, too.

You Have Too Many Blogs or Web sites

Some on-line enterprise house owners like to launch new initiatives — and possibly you’re one in every of them.

You’ve registered a lot of completely different domains and put in WordPress extra occasions than you care to recollect.

Generally, your blogs or web sites solely final a couple of weeks till you lose curiosity, however possibly you have got a couple of longer operating ones.

At some stage, you’ll have to pare down your initiatives in order that those you have got left can really flourish, identical to a gardener scaling down seedlings.

Promoting a few of your blogs or web sites provides you cash, time, and power to put money into these which are left.

Plus, studying promote blogs will repay time and time once more should you’ve obtained a number of blogs to promote.

How one can Set Up a Weblog for Success (and a Sale)

Whether or not you’re beginning a weblog with the hopes of promoting it or beginning it as a challenge to repeatedly run by your self, you wish to give your weblog the very best probability of success.

Let’s rapidly run via what you could do so as to create a money-making weblog.

Choose the Proper Area of interest

Earlier than you begin a weblog, you could choose your niche. This implies selecting a broad matter space — like “journey” or “parenting” or “devices” — then drilling right down to discover a smaller, extra particular area of interest to concentrate on.

Some bloggers will area of interest by selecting a sub-topic (e.g. “journey” may turn out to be “touring in Europe” or “touring on a finances”) and others will area of interest by specializing in a selected viewers (e.g. “solo vacationers” or “touring with younger youngsters”).

Identify Your Weblog … With Promoting in Thoughts

After you have your area of interest, you possibly can choose a name for your blog. In case you may wish to promote your weblog sooner or later, it’s a good suggestion to maintain this in thoughts when naming it.

Ideally, keep away from utilizing your personal title, as this might make it trickier to promote your weblog, because it’ll be extra intently tied to you because the blogger. As a substitute, strive specializing in key phrases or utilizing a blog name generator.

Earlier than you get too connected to your weblog’s chosen title, do guarantee that it’s out there as a domain name (net deal with), ideally as a .com.

Create a Running a blog Technique

Selecting your area of interest is the start line to your blogging strategy. You’ll additionally wish to determine on:

What your targets to your weblog are. In case your foremost aim is to create a worthwhile weblog and promote it, then that can inform the remainder of your technique.

What key phrases it is smart to concentrate on when creating your content material.

Keyword research means determining what individuals are already on the lookout for on-line, associated to your area of interest. You then simply want to put in writing content material that delivers what they need.

What sort of content material you’ll create — and the way regularly. Are you going to publish a few in-depth weblog posts each month? Or a lot shorter posts every single day?

The way you’ll earn money out of your weblog. Will you promote merchandise, supply your companies, herald affiliate commissions, or one thing else?

Content material/General Design

To achieve success, your weblog wants to draw and hold guests. To deliver individuals in past an preliminary look, your weblog needs to be laid out and designed to look good and performance nicely.

That doesn’t imply you could pay hundreds of {dollars} for slick net design and an expert emblem.

But it surely does imply your weblog shouldn’t look cluttered or complicated. It ought to load rapidly and new guests ought to immediately get a way of what your weblog is about.

By way of content material, you’ll wish to create common weblog posts — however you’ll additionally want key pages to your weblog, like an About Me page and a Contact web page.

Social Media

You’ll additionally wish to arrange social media accounts to your weblog. Once more, should you’re interested by promoting your weblog sooner or later, it’s vital to maintain that in thoughts.

Ideally, this implies separating your weblog’s social media presence out of your private accounts.

It’s additionally a good suggestion to choose only one or two social networks to concentrate on. In any other case, you may find yourself spreading your self so thinly throughout a lot of completely different websites that it’ll be laborious to realize traction on any of them.

In fact, you possibly can nonetheless arrange accounts on different platforms. That might merely imply claiming your weblog’s title and placing up one or two posts to let individuals know the place else they’ll discover you on-line.

Sooner or later, these social media accounts — even barely used — might be invaluable property you possibly can promote alongside your weblog.

Internet Internet hosting

All web sites want hosting. An online host shops your web site for you on large computer systems (servers) which are linked to the web 24/7.

To construct a profitable weblog, you want good high quality hosting. You don’t desire a net host that’s unreliable or isn’t appropriate for operating blogging software like WordPress.

The excellent news is that hosting doesn’t have to break the bank. Lots of the best web hosting companies supply nice offers in your first 12 months and even your first three years, so you will get began fairly cheaply.

• Dreamhost (one in every of my favourite net hosts) prices from simply $2.59/month if you’re getting began — or you possibly can pay for month-to-month hosting for $4.95/month.
• Bluehost is one other improbable possibility, beginning at $2.95/month and providing nice help.

You should definitely take a look at my full information to all of the blogging costs that’ll be related to operating a worthwhile web site over time, if you need a preview of what you’ll be getting your self into.

How one can Promote a Weblog (and Revenue) in 8 Steps

Now you’ve obtained a fairly strong weblog that’s bringing in not simply readers, however earnings as nicely. However now it’s time so that you can transfer on to one thing new. You wish to capitalize on all of your laborious work. So how precisely do you promote your weblog?

Weblog Promoting Platforms

Generally, bloggers will strike a personal take care of somebody who’s occupied with buying their blog. As an example, you may need partnered up with another person to create a product — and you would ask in the event that they’d be occupied with buying your weblog.

Alternatively, somebody may electronic mail you out of the blue, asking should you’d think about promoting your weblog.

However most bloggers use on-line marketplaces to search out sellers. There are a variety of various weblog promoting platforms on the market, together with these ones.

5 High Weblog Promoting Platforms (to Promote Your Weblog In the present day):

1. Flippa: Some of the well-known platforms for promoting web sites and on-line companies, with an enormous variety of websites listed on the market.
2. Empire Flippers: One other large on-line market, which has an approval course of earlier than blogs are listed.
3. Blogs for Sale: It is a a lot smaller market, however particularly targeted on blogs. It contains websites that aren’t but bringing in income (listed as “starter websites”).
4. eBay: This may not be the primary place you’d consider, however eBay has an entire part devoted to web sites. In case you’ve obtained robust eBay suggestions already, it might be a very good place to listing your weblog for public sale.
5. GoDaddy: Trying to promote a website title? GoDaddy is a well-liked market for current domains, in addition to being a registrar for brand spanking new ones, however simply remember that you just seemingly gained’t be capable of value in all of your content material and site visitors right here.

In fact, there’s all the time the choice to succeed in out to different particular person bloggers inside your area of interest and see in the event that they’d be occupied with presumably buying your weblog. Whereas a bit extra of an extended shot, you is likely to be shocked what number of profitable bloggers are sometimes trying to broaden their attain and diversify their companies.

Pricing Your Weblog

On websites like Empire Flippers the place I spend a whole lot of time taking a look at blogs on the market, most websites have a sale value that’s a a number of of at the least 40x their common month-to-month earnings.

Your sale value is of course going to depend upon different elements, like how a lot potential your weblog has for development, how massive your mailing listing is, how a lot natural search engine site visitors you get, what area of interest you’re in, how excessive your electronic mail listing conversion charge is, which income sources you have got, and way more.

Finally, it’s as much as you ways a lot to ask for.

In case you’re not in a rush to promote your weblog, you may wish to begin out by asking for round 30-40 occasions your weblog’s month-to-month earnings (that’s $30,000-$40,000 for a weblog incomes $1,000/month) and see if there’s curiosity.

In case you don’t get any curiosity, you possibly can merely decrease the asking value a little bit.

You too can use on-line web site valuation calculators to determine a tough value to your weblog. With these, you’ll have to reply some questions on your weblog, like your annual income and month-to-month guests.

One other good possibility is to take a look at the value factors for related blogs on Flippa, Empire Flippers or one other market, to see what the going charge for a web site like yours is, proper now.

Taxes

After promoting a web site, you’ll seemingly have to pay taxes on your blog income. Your revenue could also be thought of a “capital acquire” just like—actual property.

That is excellent news for you, because it means you’ll solely have to pay tax on the distinction between the event prices (e.g. the quantity you paid for the positioning or the quantity you paid to develop it) and the sale value, as a substitute of paying earnings tax on the complete sale value.

You’ll seemingly wish to seek the advice of an expert accountant or tax lawyer to be sure to’re paying tax appropriately on the sale of your web site or weblog—and never paying extra tax than you could.

Contracts and Accepting Fee

• All the pieces to do with the weblog: Your area title, content material, design, emblem, different branding, email list, social media accounts, and so forth. That is what most individuals consider after they’re promoting or flipping a weblog.
• Simply the area title: Shopping for and promoting domains is an entire complete business, itself.
• Something in between: As an example, you may promote your area title, content material, and branding, however not your social media accounts should you’re utilizing these for different initiatives too (or in the event that they’re your private handles).

You’ll want to attract up a contract with the customer that clearly specifies what they’re shopping for from you.

Plus, you’ll additionally wish to embrace data on how cost can be organized. Normally, the customer will switch cash into an escrow account (comparable to via escrow.com).

You’ll then switch all of your property to the customer, they usually’ll launch the funds from the escrow account.

Promoting platforms like Flippa and Empire Flippers will often present their very own sale settlement template that you need to use, although you might wish to get authorized recommendation on drawing up a contract particular to your on-line enterprise. And remember that the foremost market websites usually cost a price or take a fee in your sale value.

Flipping a Weblog

Flipping is if you buy a blog or web site, enhance it, then promote it once more. Consider it like flipping actual property—you may purchase a fixer-upper cheaply, put in some money and time, and promote it at a revenue a couple of months later.

Some individuals flip shopping for blogs and flipping them into a gradual earnings stream.

The Shopping for Course of

First, you’ll wish to discover a weblog to purchase. That is nicely value taking your time with. You don’t wish to make investments some huge cash in a weblog that’s not going to supply a very good return in your funding.

Ideally, you wish to discover a weblog that’s underpriced. Maybe the proprietor must promote quick, or they merely don’t notice how invaluable their weblog is.

You additionally wish to select a weblog you could enhance comparatively quick. That most likely means selecting a weblog in a distinct segment that you just already know nicely, quite than one on a subject or for an viewers that you recognize nothing about.

You should use varied on-line instruments to search out out extra a couple of weblog that you just’re occupied with. Some simple methods to get began are to:

• Use Alexa (not the digital assistant!) to get details about the web site’s site visitors, rivals, and extra. You’ll be capable of see data like whether or not the positioning’s site visitors is rising or declining, which is — actually vital if the positioning proprietor is offering stats from months in the past.
• Use the Wayback Machine to get a way of the historical past of the web site. This web site permits you to see snapshots of what a web site seemed like prior to now. Be cautious about shopping for a website that’s modified fingers lots, notably if it appears to be like prefer it may need had a shady historical past — like getting used for plenty of spammy hyperlinks.
• Use Built With to test which WordPress plugins and WordPress theme the positioning is utilizing, and whether or not it’s even operating on WordPress. You’ll seemingly have to pay to your personal licenses for any premium plugins if you wish to hold utilizing them.

When you’ve determined that the weblog appears to be like like a very good funding, it’s time to contact the proprietor. Allow them to know that you just’re occupied with shopping for their weblog and ask for extra particulars.

They need to be capable of offer you site visitors statistics, earnings studies, and details about the variety of individuals on their electronic mail listing, social accounts, and so forth.

Tip: Bloggers could also be open to promoting, even when their weblog isn’t listed on the market anyplace. Is there a weblog you used to learn that hasn’t been up to date for ages? In case you’d be occupied with taking it over, strategy the blogger and clarify you’d be occupied with buying the weblog. You might be able to strike a terrific deal, particularly in the event that they have been considering of merely abandoning it altogether.

In relation to truly shopping for the weblog, it’s the same course of to promoting your weblog, talked about above.

You’ll switch the cash into an escrow account, the proprietor will switch the area title and web site information (together with any extras like social media account passwords to you), then they’ll obtain the cash.

Monetization

Your fixer-upper weblog isn’t going to be nicely monetized — that’s why you’ve purchased it at a terrific value! Maybe it was bringing in a trickle of earnings via adverts or internet affiliate marketing, nevertheless it’s nowhere close to fulfilling its potential.

You might want to consider carefully about how one can finest monetize the weblog.

In case you’re planning to flip it pretty rapidly — inside months, quite than years — then you could select earnings streams you could implement rapidly and simply.

That might imply:

Signing up for related affiliate packages and ensuring that each one the most well-liked posts on the weblog promote an affiliate product. I’ll cowl internet affiliate marketing in additional element in a second.

Making a easy product to promote — most likely a digital one which’s fast to make and that has very low overheads.

Making use of any current sources that you just bought together with the weblog. As an example, if the blogger had a video course on the market, you may be capable of get gross sales going extra strongly utilizing an automatic electronic mail sequence.

Affiliate Hyperlinks

As talked about above, affiliate marketing is one nice technique to earn money from a weblog.

As a result of it doesn’t require you to speculate money and time in making merchandise, it’s a very great way to herald a gradual earnings from a weblog that you just’ve bought.

In case you’re not but acquainted with internet affiliate marketing, right here’s the way it works. You enroll as an affiliate for services or products that you just like and wish to promote.

You’ll be given a particular hyperlink to make use of when linking to these services or products. At any time when somebody clicks in your hyperlink and makes a purchase order, you’ll obtain some fee.

It’s actually vital, then, to just remember to’re utilizing your affiliate hyperlink everytime you point out a selected services or products.

To get essentially the most from internet affiliate marketing, it is best to:

• Hunt down companies and/or merchandise which are extremely related to the weblog’s readers. You may wish to look via some respected affiliate programs to search out appropriate choices.
• Undergo any beneficial companies or merchandise already listed on the weblog and join affiliate packages the place potential.
• Use a plugin like Thirsty Affiliates to simply handle your affiliate hyperlinks. With this device, you possibly can immediately change a hyperlink all over the place it seems in your web site, which is useful if the corporate strikes to a brand new affiliate system and offers you a distinct hyperlink.

At all times disclose affiliate links. It is a authorized requirement within the U.S. In case you’re utilizing affiliate hyperlinks, it is best to just remember to clearly let readers know that you just’ll earn some fee.

search engine optimisation

A technique you possibly can fairly rapidly enhance a weblog that you just’ve bought is to spend a while on SEO.

Many blogs are under-optimized. Ensure you perceive the fundamentals of keyword research and on-page SEO and that you just apply them to key posts and pages on the weblog. A few nice methods to begin are to:

Having an search engine optimisation title and meta description for each put up. The simplest approach to do that is to make use of a devoted search engine optimisation plugin, comparable to Yoast, All in One search engine optimisation, or RankMath.

Bear in mind, you could craft titles and meta descriptions that not solely embrace your key phrases but in addition draw readers in.

Utilizing Google Analytics to see which posts are getting essentially the most site visitors and doing what you possibly can to spice up them even additional.

As an example, you would just remember to’re utilizing a key phrase within the title, meta description, and a number of other different locations within the put up, in addition to a picture and alt textual content. If a put up is rating #5 in Google and also you get it to #1 or #2, that’ll imply an enormous leap in site visitors.

As soon as your weblog is bringing in extra money and site visitors, you possibly can promote it for a revenue — and transfer on to flipping your subsequent weblog.

Able to Promote Your Weblog? Closing Ideas to Contemplate

Trying to begin a brand new weblog to promote — and even your first weblog? Try my full information on how to start a blog. It takes you thru every little thing you could know.