I posted last month that after selling my poker discussion forums I wasn’t sure what to call myself as the websites which I have left are nearly all blogs (apart from a few forums and article sites which still make me a little cash every month).

At the moment my main site is probably BloggingTips however I am looking to establish a UK tech blog and a joke blog. I don’t want to place all my eggs in one basket so I’ve been thinking of a non-blog website I could start. I’ve looked at various scripts and I’ve looked at a lot of other sites for inspiration however blogs still continue to sell very easily on SitePoint so I’m tempted to stick to blogs for the moment.

For example, JohnCow is currently for sale on SitePoint with a buy it now of $50k. Someone quickly offered the ‘Buy It Now’ price but it turned out to be a timewaster. Still, I reckon it will still sell for about $30k which is fantastic for a blog with 1600 subscribers.

Mark Wielgus wrote a post yesterday discussing this phenomemom and worked out that making money online blogs have been selling for an average of $18.42 per subscriber. I’m confused why these making money blogs are selling for thousands after just a month or two of posting. For example, RyanShamus.com had only 90 subscribers and sold for $2,500 and with only 200 subscribers, BloggingFingers managed to sell for $6,000. Have the buyers of these blogs wondered how they will break even with the site?

The reason this has surprised me is that some of these blogs were not even making any money. Also, it surprises me that people are paying more for this type of site than an online niche with higher commission levels (eg gambling). For example, I sold my poker discussion community for $40,000. It was making between $2,500-$3,000 a month and it had 17,000 members. It was an active community which had been established for around 4 years. Is a making online blog with 2,000 members worth the same amount? Personally I don’t think it is however the market tells a different story.

As someone with a blogging related website maybe I should be really happy with all these overinflated prices however I paid over the odds for a few websites in the past so I can’t help but feel for the people making the same mistakes I did. I have no intention to sell my blogging site in the next few years but no doubt if I did the market would collapse and this post will come back to haunt me!!! ;)

Do you think these blogs are worth the money? What’s the most you would pay for a blog with 200 subscribers?

:)

10 Comments

  1. #1. Luke, April 14th, 2008


    I’d figure maybe $5 per subscriber. $1000 would be reasonable for 200 of them. The blog’s content and design also would factor in though. I’d want to make sure I have the ability to continue it’s legacy properly, or else hire someone who could.

  2. #2. 45n5, April 14th, 2008


    I don’t think I’d ever buy a blog unless it was dirt dirt dirt cheap

    I’d much rather start my own and spend the thousands on advertising and acquiring new readers who care.

  3. #3. Kevin, April 14th, 2008


    I would definately buy a blog if it was priced right - ie. one which was priced according to the revenue it was making and the subscribers it has. However, most of these blogs are selling because of their potential or because they have a little traffic.

  4. #4. Should You Start a New Blog, or Something Else? - eXtra For Every Publisher, April 17th, 2008


    [...] Kevin Muldoon has asked on his blog, System0 if his next project should be a blog, and while I am a full time blogger, and big fan of all things blogging, but I am leaning more towards “no”. Before you all lynch mob me, let me explain myself. [...]

  5. #5. Ryan, April 19th, 2008


    Hows the online shop site of your coming

  6. #6. Kevin, April 20th, 2008


    very good question. I’ll cover that in a post the next few days :)

  7. #7. An update on my ecommerce site, April 21st, 2008


    [...] from Love Inventions left a comment a few days ago asking how my online shop is coming along. I haven’t spoke about it in a while and [...]

  8. #8. Matt Jones, April 21st, 2008


    Hey Kevin, I think it depends what you are looking for really. If you want a quick few $k ($2000-8000) then building a MMO blog over 3-6 months wouldn’t be too challenging.

    The main problem I see with doing that is it could give your name a ’sell out’ image.

    After doing it once myself, I know I could do it again but I just don’t see the point. Move on to bigger and better things I’d say!

  9. #9. Kevin, April 21st, 2008


    I spent about 5 or 6 years building websites and selling them though I’ve never sold a blog. I don’t want to build something and then sell it on, I want to build a steady monthly income through advertising. Of course, I’d never rule out selling any of my sites in the future as sometimes when you move onto different projects or whatever you need to priortise what your doing online.

  10. #10. Josh, May 4th, 2008


    With the prices that some of these blogs are selling for it makes me want to start one.

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