There are currently over 600 million active blogs across the web. You might have one yourself. The beauty of blogs is that they can be about anything. And you can turn your passion into a business. Love puppies? Blog about it. Can't get enough of Star Wars? There's a blog for that. But creating a successful blog is complex, and the point comes when you want to begin something new. However, there are some common mistakes made when selling a blog.
Asking for Too Much
If you have worked hard at your blog for any amount of time, it has likely become worth something in terms of monetary value. Many factors determine a blog's value, including organic traffic, affiliate links and PPC campaigns. And like any business, you want a fair shake. When deciding what price to offer your blog for, you can use tools (WorthOfWeb, UpBeat and SitePrice) to calculate the value for you. Numerous metrics are used when calculating a blog's worth, but each tool gives you a rough idea of what you should ask.
Assuming It's Good Enough
One of the hardest things to determine is whether your blog is good enough to sell in the first place. If you have put in years of effort, you will undoubtedly hold a strong bias towards assuming your blog is the best there is. But the fact is that competition on the web is so high that you may not rank in the top ten. Of course, that doesn't mean your blog doesn't hold reader value. Still, reader value and monetary value are two entirely different things. However, that shouldn't put you off. On the contrary, your blog may become worth more as traffic and revenue increase if you keep working.
Expecting a Quick Sale
Like selling anything expensive or complex, such as real estate, selling a blog can take a while. And also, like real estate, various factors determine how fast it will sell. The current market, interest, and valuations are all things a buyer needs to consider. Since a blog is pretty much a business, a business-like attitude is adopted when someone looks to buy. Long-term viability and the potential for an increase in value over a decrease are significant sales metrics. What is popular today might not be tomorrow.
Too Many Links
Over the course of creating your blog, you might make it your business. And like any business, you rely on the income from your content. There are many ways you can make money from your blog, such as affiliate links, Google Adwords and increased traffic via backlinks. Some links to avoid include:
- Lots of Nofollow links
- Links to press releases
- Blog Comments
- Links to the discussion forums
- Social Bookmark Links (Followed & Unfollowed)
- Guestbooks from foreign countries
Not all links are made equally, and why it is tempting to litter your blog with links, you may do more harm than good. Irrelevant backlinking will also harm your domain authority, leading to a drop in SERPs ranking. Use links wisely and only when necessary since it is time-consuming and expensive for a buyer to address all the issues and remove them.
Going Off-Niche
It's all too common these days to find blogs littered with dozens of topics, making it challenging to identify precisely what the blog's actual niche is. For instance, what seems like a cooking blog has hundreds of posts on parenting, toys and DIY. Going off-niche like this convolutes your blog content and will decrease your SERP ranking and authority. Of course, it's tempting to try your hand at this when you run out of ideas or notice a decline in organic traffic. But traffic can decrease for many reasons, such as algorithm changes, not necessarily that people have lost interest.
Poor SEO
Search Engine Optimization is the lifeblood of the web. Sites like Google and Bing use SEO to help determine what posts and pages are the most relevant following a search query. You can manipulate this result with SEO throughout your blog. On-page SEO is the most common and focuses on pertinent terms of content such as titles, headings and keywords. However, there are other SEO types such as off-page, technical and local. The ins and outs of which can become complex. A buyer looks for well-optimized blogs to save them time and money later on.
Letting It Go
The time and effort it takes to build a successful blog are akin to flipping houses. You can spend years putting your heart and soul into a blog, and it becomes your life. However, with so much work, it can be difficult to let it go when the time comes. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is becoming attached to your blog. If you feel you want to sell later on, you need to think of it as a business and a business only. If you become too attached, you will likely reject good and fair offers while they are there, and time becomes your enemy as value or interest decrease.
Matt Hoffer is a crypto enthusiast and gamer. When he's not de-constructing the blockchain, you can find him chilling with some lemonade in the shade or playing a round of golf.
