Blog Herald Selling For More Than $60k
Duncan talks about the whys and Jeremy goes into detail. Now pricing blogs is always going to be a touchy subject, but I must say I am even surprised by the high bids being thrown around. Even more surprising was to see this comment by Paul Short:
The price is about right though, in fact, I’m surprised it didn’t squeak past 6 figures. For such a cornerstone site in the blogging community, the buyer is getting a great deal.
When I was auctioning Damn I’m Cute I put a Buy It Now price up for $25,000 and people wondered how I could come up with such a high figure for a site with less than $200 in monthly revenue. Honestly I didn’t use any fancy formulas, I simply came up with a price that I knew I would be comfortable with because I know the potential of the site. The auction has since been removed and the site is on pace for 600,000 pageviews this month and might hover around 1M next month.
The question Jeremy asks though that has me interested is whether people see a site like Blog Herald being valued at $65,000 or more considering the subject matter and the current revenue? I’m not sure the audience over there will offer too much of an opinion, but I trust everyone here to open the conversation up a bit more. In my opinion the site is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it, but that’s just me. When thinking about the question consider if you would buy it if you had that kind of money, not if you would be willing to bust your ass to raise the funds quickly to purchase it.
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Personal Thoughts
6 opinions for Blog Herald Selling For More Than $60k
Scrivs
Jan 16, 2006 at 7:29 pm
I am going to answer my own question here and say that it depends on what value you see in the site. Are you buying it for the brand name? Community? Revenue? Depending on that answer I think you can gauge what price is worth it for you.
Marco
Jan 17, 2006 at 4:40 am
I’ll admit, I’m a complete no-no when it comes to the business side of things. But still, without any knowledge in the field I wonder what the real value of a blog is without the actual blogger? I mean is it being sold including a long-term commitment from Duncan to keep blogging on it or is it just the site?
I mean heck, I could put my site up for auction as well. It’s got a technorati rank going towards 4000 which is kinda nice I guess. I have no idea what it’s value would be but I can see the value is increasing. But what would my blog possibly be without me blogging on it? I’d say just a nice domain with good pagerank and linkage.
I’m really interested in your thoughts!
Scrivs
Jan 17, 2006 at 11:31 am
I think that’s the most debated topic when it comes to selling blogs Marco. A big difference between a blog and a website is that the personality of the writers usually shines through greater on a blog and this is the reason many people return. Sure the content is great, but so much of the content is the same today that personality becomes the differentiating factor.
With any blog sell or writer leaving I think you will notice a dip in traffic for that blog because people lose interest and it takes time to get it back. Gizmodo saw it when Pete left and I’m sure Wonkette saw it when Ana Marie left (hmmm, great entry there).
On sites like Damn I’m Cute and It’s Useless however, I think they could be sold and carried on without a blip on the radar screen about what happened because the content lends itself to any type of person as long as they some wit about them.
Martin
Jan 17, 2006 at 8:34 pm
Scrivs, you are spot on: “personality becomes the differentiating factor.”
Blogs are really all about personalities - I guess if your exit strategy is to sell your blog, then you would have to blog reporting-style with a dash of personality but not too much, so you can sell the brand and not the personality.
Marco
Jan 18, 2006 at 6:47 am
That makes sense indeed. And things get even easier when the blog on sale is run by a whole collective of bloggers.
Sometimes I wonder whether it might be worthwhile to just launch a couple of blogs for the sole reason of selling them after a couple of months. If they don’t have ‘my personality’ and they get good traffic I guess they could be a nice way to make some money…
Yaro
Jan 23, 2006 at 12:24 am
Blogs have evolved way beyond what they used to be - personal diaries. Many of the most successful blogs are so because of the personalities behind them, however as some blogs have become more than diaries and closer to media and entertainment websites the personality has become less important.
In my opinion you can use your personality to an advantage (which is what I do) or you can deliberately choose not to and produce “anonymous” content. Either way you go, the content will decide your success ultimately. However if you are thinking of selling your blog as an exit strategy and that is your main goal then the personality factor is a concern worth taking note of.
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: