How I’ve Made $80,000 Selling Blogs

Hello! Here’s a great article from Dale. Dale has made $80,000 selling blogs. Today, she is going to talk about how much you can sell a blog for, the best ways to make money blogging, where to sell a blog, and more. Enjoy!

Hi, I’m Dale, and I’m the founder of Blogging Her Way. I started blogging over four years ago as a way to get clients for my web design business.

Pretty soon, I realized I enjoyed the blogging side of things a lot more than web design!

I enjoyed blogging so much that I started and sold four additional blogs on the side over the course of three years. While I enjoyed what I wrote about on Blogging Her Way, I wanted to have an outlet to write about other topics I was interested in too. 

So I started blogs in the travel, lifestyle, and college niches. I was able to successfully monetize and sell all four blogs that I started, earning over $80,000 between selling the blogs and what I earned from them before I sold them.

Here’s a look at the blogs I started and sold:

• Blog A: Sold for $4,000 profit, earned $5,600 total from blog (lifestyle)
• Blog B: Sold for $1,800 profit, earned $2,450 total from blog (travel)
• Blog C: Sold for $17,600 profit, earned $27,250 total from blog (college)
• Blog D: Sold for $18,250 profit, earned $44,500 total from blog (travel)

I did all of this working very part-time on my blogs. I would estimate that I never spent more than 5-10 hours a week working on the blogs that I sold.

For most of the blogs, I only actively worked on them for two to six months.

Selling blogs can be a great side hustle or a way to add an additional source of income to your current blogging business.

If you’re interested in learning how to make money selling blogs, read on for my best tips!

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How Much Can You Sell a Blog for?

Let’s get one thing out of the way first. This is the question that everyone has when they first learn about selling blogs (after, Wait, you can actually sell a blog?!)

The question is how much can you sell a blog for.

And the answer is… it depends! But generally, you can sell a blog for 24x to 40x its average monthly profit taken over the last twelve months.

So if you have a blog that has earned $1,000 a month on average over the last twelve months, you could potentially sell it for between $24,000 and $40,000.

There are a lot of factors that affect how much you can sell a blog for.

Some factors that can help increase the value of your blog are…

• Your blog experiences steady traffic and income without sharp fluctuations.
• Your blog is on an upward trajectory for traffic and income.
• You have additional assets to include in the sale, such as an active email list or established social media accounts for your blog.

Some factors that can negatively affect the value of your blog are…

• Your blog experiences insatiable traffic and income with extreme fluctuations.
• Your blog is on a downward trajectory for traffic and income.
• You’ve used “black hat” practices and your blog has been penalized by Google.
• The content on your blog is low-quality.

As you can see, a number of different factors go into determining how much you can sell your blog for. There are no hard and fast rules, but these are the current general guidelines.

Looking at the four blogs I have sold, I got between a 24x and 30x multiple on them.

Why Would You Want to Sell Your Blog?

If you already have a blog, you might be wondering what are some good reasons for selling it. There are actually quite a few reasons you might want to sell your blog.

1. You’re feeling burnt out by your blog, and rather than neglecting it and letting it fall by the wayside, you can sell it to earn a nice profit for your hard work.
2. You want to make time to start another blog or pivot to another business, and you want to use the earnings from selling your blog as “startup money” for your next venture.
3. You’ve simply reached a point where you’re ready to cash out on your blog!

No matter what your reasoning is, selling your blog can be a great exit opportunity that allows you to receive 24x to 40x your blog’s average monthly earnings upfront.

That can be a really great payday!

If you don’t want to sell your current blog, you can always start another blog with the intention to sell it later, which is what I did.

Running multiple blogs can present its own set of challenges (such as allocating your time wisely, staying organized, and not spreading yourself too thin) but it’s a great way to diversify your blogging income instead of putting all your eggs in one basket.

If you want to start a blog with the express purpose of selling it for a profit later, read on for some tips! These are the steps I followed when I started my four blogs I later sold.

How to Start a Blog to Sell

The first thing you will need to do when starting a blog to sell is get a domain name and web hosting.

Michelle has a great guide on how to start a blog that shows you exactly how to do this.

Choosing a Niche

You also need to consider your blog niche.

Some questions to ask yourself when choosing a niche include:

• Is this a topic I enjoy writing about and can see myself writing 50+ blog posts on?
• Is it viable? Are there other successful blogs already making money in this niche?
• What are the ways I can monetize a blog in this niche?

Choosing a Name

Once you’ve chosen the topic you’re going to blog about, you will need a domain name.

I recommend choosing a domain name with a .com ending, because it is more professional than alternative endings like .net or .biz. When it comes time to sell your blog, it’s going to be easier to do it with a .com name.

You should also choose a name that is short, catchy, and easy to remember. Since you’re going to be selling your blog, you don’t want to use your own name or pick a name that is really specific and personal.

Start Writing!

After you have started your blog, it’s time to start writing!

One of the blogs I sold only had twenty blog posts on it when I sold it, but I recommend aiming for more (think fifty plus blog posts published) before you can really expect to start seeing traffic to your blog and earning money from it.

What I’ve found the most helpful is doing keyword research (using a tool like SEMRush or UberSuggest, both of which allow a certain number of daily searches for free) to come up with blog post ideas that people are actually searching for.

I also look at other successful bloggers in my niche and see what kind of content they are writing for inspiration.

Getting Traffic

Make sure you have Google Analytics installed and set up on your blog, because when it comes time to sell it, potential buyers will want to be able to verify your traffic.

The two things I focused on to get traffic to the blogs I sold were Pinterest and SEO.

Pinterest is a great platform for bloggers, because you can get free traffic to your blog pretty fast. In several cases, I was able to start a new blog and get to 10,000 pageviews a month within the first month thanks to Pinterest!

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a longer game. It can take over 12 months to really start seeing good results, but it’s worth the effort!

I recommend focusing on these two channels in order to get the maximum amount of traffic to a new blog quickly.

Best Ways to Monetize a Blog

Obviously, in order to sell a blog, it needs to be making money first.

I’m going to tell you the exact ways I monetized the blogs that I sold.

As a reminder, I sold four blogs that were earning between $25 and $800 a month based on the monthly average calculation.

And I monetized all of my blogs the same two ways…

1. Display ads
2. Affiliate marketing

Display Ads

Advertising is one of the easiest ways to monetize your blog. 

You sign up for an ad network, they place ads on your blog, and you earn money based on how many people view those ads (this is known as RPM, or revenue per 1,000 views.)

I have used Monumetric and Mediavine for my blogs. Monumetric requires 10,000 monthly pageviews before you can apply. Mediavine now requires 50,000 monthly sessions before you can apply, but they are one of the best ad networks for bloggers.

Some ad networks, such as Google AdSense and Ezoic, don’t have a minimum traffic requirement, so that’s an option for smaller blogs.

Affiliate Marketing

The other way I monetized the blogs I sold is with affiliate marketing.

I mainly focused on the Amazon affiliate program, because it’s such a massive platform and works for every blogging niche.

Here are some examples of affiliate blog posts I wrote that were very successful…

• Packing lists for specific destinations (travel blog)
• College dorm room essentials (college blog)
• Best gifts for graduation (college blog)
• Gift guides for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc. (lifestyle blog)

I focused on writing lots of affiliate-friendly blog posts like this on all of my blogs.

There were a few smaller affiliate programs I used too, but I found it easiest to focus on Amazon.

It also makes it super easy for the new buyer to just go in and swap out your Amazon affiliate ID with their own when you sell the blog.

Related: Affiliate Marketing Tips For Bloggers – Free eBook

Tracking Your Income

One important thing to do is keep a good record of your blog’s earnings. This will make it a lot easier when it comes time to sell. You should keep a profit and loss (P&L) statement that shows your monthly earnings and expenses.

Potential buyers will also want to be able to verify your income, so be prepared to provide screenshots from your ad account dashboard, affiliate accounts, etc.

Acquiring an Existing Blog vs. Starting a Blog from Scratch

If you want to get into selling websites, there’s one other way to do it that doesn’t involve starting and growing your own blog from scratch.

While I have not personally tried it yet (it’s on my list to do next!) another option in acquiring an existing blog and then later selling it for a profit.

There are many benefits to purchasing an existing blog…

• You don’t have to do the upfront work of growing a new blog! This is huge. An established blog already has the content, is getting traffic, and is making money.
• You can dive right in growing the blog’s traffic and income, instead of waiting.
• The blog might be currently under-monetized. With a little tweaking from you, you may be able to quickly increase the earnings without too much work.
• You can even just let the blog sit and continue earning passive income, then sell it for a profit after a year or two if you’d like.

The drawbacks to taking this route are…

• It requires an upfront investment of capital you may not have.
• You need to make sure you are investing in a good-quality site so you don’t potentially lose your investment.

If you don’t have much money to work with right now, starting your own blog from scratch to later sell is probably going to be the best option for you.

But if you can afford to invest in an existing blog, this can be a great way to jump right in growing it further and selling it for a big profit later on.

Where can you find blogs to buy? Read on to the next section about where to sell your blog, because the answer is the same!

Where to Sell Your Blog

When it comes time to actually sell your blog, you have two options: sell your blog through a broker, or sell it independently.

Using a Broker

With the four blogs I have sold, I have gone through a broker. I have used Chelsea at Blogs for Sale every time and been very happy with her! She has found a buyer for me every time, and it has taken anywhere from just a few days to a couple months.

Some other website brokerages where you can sell your blog include:

• Empire Flippers
• Motion Invest
• Investors Club

Here are the benefits to selling your blog through a broker…

• They do the work of finding a buyer for you and fielding offers.
• They handle the legal side of things and facilitate the sale once a buyer has been secured.
• Some of them vet potential buyers thoroughly to make sure they’re legit.

The obvious downside to selling your blog through a broker is… You have to pay them a commission, usually between 10-20% of the sale price.

That can be a major cost and eat into your profit from selling your blog, but in my opinion it’s worth it because it makes things easier and safer for you.

It’s basically like using a realtor to sell your house!

Selling Your Blog on Your Own

Of course, it’s totally possible to sell your blog independently too. 

In fact, I have done this myself. I sold two non-monetized “starter” blogs on my own by advertising them directly to my email list and finding a buyer that way. I sold both of these blogs for under $1,000, so I felt more comfortable handling it on my own.

For a larger monetized blog, though, I would really go with a broker.

If you do want to sell your blog independently, you can look for buyers in your own audience like I did, or join Facebook groups dedicated to buying and selling blogs.

You can also use the website marketplace Flippa to sell your blog.

Selling your blog independently can be riskier. You will have to do your own due diligence on potential buyers. To ensure your security, you should also use an escrow service like Escrow.com for the transaction.

How to Get the Most for Your Blog

If you’re interested in selling a blog, here are a few final tips for how to get the best price and bring home the maximum profit from the sale.

First, consider the timing of selling your blog. 

If your blog has been experiencing some consistent upwards growth for the past few months, it may be worth holding onto it for a while longer to increase the overall value. Remember, you can usually sell a blog for 24x to 40x its average monthly income, so if that number is trending upwards you may want to wait a few more months to sell it.

Another easy thing you can do to increase the value of your blog is to make sure you are including all possible assets in the sale. Having a nice, premium WordPress theme installed, having active social media accounts for your blog, and having an email list are all assets that increase the overall value of your blog.

And finally, look around when it comes to brokers. Some have lower commissions than others, and some will reduce the commission based on how much your site is earning.

These are all things you can do to get the best price possible from selling your blog, and end up with more money in your pocket after the sale!

I hope this article about selling blogs was helpful for you, and if you have any questions about selling a blog of your own, please leave a comment for me below!

Author bio: I’m Dale, the founder of Blogging Her Way, an online hub for aspiring bloggers who want to learn how to start and grow successful blogs. I have started and sold four blogs in different niches. You can currently find me traveling the world full-time and working on my next venture!

Are you interested in flipping and selling blogs for income? What questions do you have about selling blogs?