{{deal.priceTagText}} {{deal.multipleTagText}} {{deal.ageTagText}} {{deal.newTagText}}There are so many opportunities among blogs for sale. Whether it’s building a large passive income, fixing a site that isn’t working to make it extremely profitable or creating value for a large website flip, someone with knowledge, skills, and experience can find amazing opportunities among the many blogs for sale online.
There is a lot to learn when it comes to consistently making money as a result of buying, improving, and selling blogs.
So let’s get to it!
3 Reasons to Buy a Blog
Multiple good reasons to buy a blog exist. Some of the best reasons in my experience are the following.
1. ROI Is Higher Than Other Investments
The return on investment (ROI) for buying blogs is outstanding. Assuming proper due diligence was done, you see immediate cash flow and hold an asset that is as valuable as when you bought it – and can be often made more valuable with just a little extra investment.
While retirement books talk about shooting for 8% a year as a good average, or stock returns fawning over 30% as a banner year (and quite rare), the return on blogs can be many times that. This can be through increased case flow, through a sale, or both.
The ROI comes with a steady cash flow while as a new owner you can sell the site for more down the line, especially if there are easy improvements that can improve traffic and revenue numbers.
At current market numbers, a $1 improvement in monthly average revenue is worth $30 to $40 on the sale. That definitely beats out 8%.
2. If You Have Skills, You Can Grow It
If you have the skills, or work to develop them, you can grow the site to be more profitable. This again works on two fronts since not only the monthly cash flow goes up, but each improvement in cash flow results in a higher overall worth if/when you decide to sell.
Buying a site for a few thousand making $100 a month and then growing it to $3,000 a month within a year pays huge dividends even if you don’t do anything else at that point. For some people, that’s a full-time income or close to it.
Developing the skills to grow sites opens up the possibilities for which blogs for sale online could be profitable long-term investments for you.
3. Potential for Bigger Website Flip
If you find a blog on sale that has multiple easy wins, or has room in the niche for a massive amount of content to get added, then the potential is there for a big flip. Take the example from the last section.
Even if you “overpaid” for the site earning $100 a month at 50x monthly earnings ($5,000), if you improved it so the average monthly earnings were $3,000 a month, then even at the low market average of 30x monthly income that becomes a $90,000 sale.
That’s a huge one-year ROI from a $5,000 investment, and that’s not even including the passive income earned from the site while building it up.
Starter Blogs vs Established Blogs For Sale
Why spend money to buy an established blog when you can build one from scratch? There are several good reasons including:
- Getting cash flow from day one
- Avoiding the Google Sandbox
- Avoid the possibility of choosing a bad niche or failing to rank
- Seeing a blog for sale that could easily be improved/scaled to earn much more than it currently is
- You don’t have the time to invest in a long bootstrapping-based build of a website from scratch
Buying established blogs is a huge time saver, has content and rankings (and hopefully earnings) already in place, and saves you the months of foundation work. That can be hundreds of hours of work, and thousands of dollars in outsourced content.
There are also many starter blogs for sale online. Blogs that are less than a year old, don’t have a lot of traction, and if they have very little earnings if they’re making anything at all. These can still be worth purchasing if the price is right.
If that starter blog is showing good traffic for a site that’s only 12 months old, has some decent backlinks, and some good in-depth content, it’s worth a deeper look.
Many sites like this are sold by impatient owners just months before they would have seen a big boost in traffic, or newbies only monetize with AdSense and nothing else.
If a starter blog has easy wins like this that can near-instantly approve revenue, traffic, or user experience then it might be worth the buy.
Top 4 Places To Find Blogs For Sale
There are blogs for sale everywhere, and certainly no lack of options to choose from. In my experience, four places consistently work best for finding blogs that are worth buying.
1. Online Marketplaces
Online marketplaces are an excellent option for locating good profitable blogs for sale online.
Empire Flippers
Empire Flippers built a strong reputation as the vetted marketplace where blogs and other online businesses are bought and sold. Each listing offers an excellent amount of information to find good deals and do advanced vetting on your own to confirm whether a potential blog is a good buy or not.
Flippa
Flippa is the largest online marketplace in the world. There are all kinds of blogs for sale and some potential great deals. Keep in mind Flippa is an open marketplace meaning they don’t do due diligence – that’s on you to figure out.
Investors Club
Investors.Club was founded by long-time website buyers and sellers who understand both sides of a deal. This focuses on bringing good vetted deals to buyers. This can be an especially useful setup for investors looking to convert a lump sum into several consistent sites for a large monthly passive income.
Motion Invest
Motion Invest was the brainchild of Spencer Haws and others who wanted to see a vetted marketplace that didn’t just focus on large sites, but websites at all levels of development. There are some very good deals for low-earning or new sites on here, but get on the mailing list because the good low-cost deals tend to get snatched up fast.
2. Website Brokers
Website brokers are another excellent source of blogs for sale. There are dozens of website brokers that offer deals, but two stand out in my experience.
FE International
FE International is one of the most well-known website brokers out there. They have been helping owners to sell websites, focusing on six figures and above, since 2010. Their focus is on the larger deals, so don’t expect to find anything here on a tight budget.
Quiet Light Brokerage
Quiet Light Brokerage is another broker that focuses on high-end online businesses but also has a mix that includes some good deals in the five-figure range every so often. This is another place where someone with a large budget could find some outstanding deals.
3. Facebook Groups
Many Facebook groups exist looking to build, buy, or sell blogs. Joining multiple Facebook groups and just keeping an eye out for people looking to sell can bring multiple deals to your attention.
These leads won’t always pan out, but following on social media isn’t hard and it only takes one home run to make all that time investment worth it.
Here are the two most popular groups:
4. Manual Outreach
There are many passionate hobby blogs where the person writes amazing content, but doesn’t know anything about monetization. There are also blog owners who don’t know that blogs actually get bought and sold.
Most outreach efforts won’t lead to anything and many won’t even get a response, but many of the best deals I’ve found came from making that outreach effort for a private sale.
Due Diligence When Reviewing Blogs for Sale
Whether doing a private deal, a vetted marketplace, or an unvetted marketplace, doing your own due diligence is critical before buying any blog.
1. Traffic Trends
The traffic numbers from the last month or two aren’t the only numbers that matter. The short-term and long-term trends are also incredibly important. Is the traffic stable? Plateaued? Growing?
The trends matter because a site still gaining momentum is in a much different place than a site that lost 80% of its traffic in the past year. You also want to look at longer trends for the niche or topic.
If you don’t think long-term trends matter, take a look at the traffic for “paintball” over the last 20 years on Google Trends here.
2. Traffic Diversity
Traffic diversity is important. How much comes from organic search versus social media? Are the traffic sources sustainable or do they require a high level of interaction and energy to maintain?
A site that gets reliable traffic from multiple sources is going to have built-in protection from losing traffic from another source.
3. Revenue & Profits
What’s the spread between total revenue versus total profits? Seeing the cash flow is important, but if large amounts of money need to be paid to maintain those numbers (like via Facebook ads) then that’s important to know.
Keep a clear line drawn between total revenues and total profits.
4. Revenue Sources
I’ve found many easy wins by looking at sites that had only one or two revenue sources. Especially if they were a low-paying display ad provider or affiliate I could just trade out with a higher paying option.
Look for all the revenue sources currently on the site and missed opportunities that could turn into easy wins for a buyer.
5. Content Quality
Google wants quality content, and having the best content on a topic is the best protection against future updates. If the content is ranking but not great, figure in the time or expense of editing it up to par.
If the content is exceptional and written by passionate hobbyists or professionals in the niche, that can be a major selling point.
6. Site Quality & Website History
The history not only includes the backlink profile, which is important, but how old the site is, what other iterations existed in the past. Was the domain name ever used for a “bad neighborhood” niche or is it clean?
The current state of the site is also something to look at. Does it load well? How does the site speed test with free online tools? Is the design good or does it look like something from 15 years ago?
7. Growth Potential
Has the website maxed out its growth, or is there still a lot of room left to grow and expand? A high growth potential makes for a better deal both for long-term passive income and for a potential flip.
Look at both the main topics covered (depth) and potential related topics (width).
6 Steps To Follow When Buying a Blog
Make sure to follow these six steps to make your blog buying experience go smoothly.
1. Identify a Good Opportunity
Don’t reach or stretch for just an okay or average potential site. Finding a good opportunity can take time, but you make your money with good and great deals. Take the time to find one that meets your criteria.
2. Do Thorough Due Diligence
Never assume the screenshots are true. Do your research on the site history, the traffic, the income numbers, and the niche. If you see any red flags there aren’t satisfactory answers to, walk away and look for the next deal.
3. Hire a Consultant to Evaluate the Website [Optional]
Sometimes getting another pair of eyes can make a big difference. Whether it’s looking at a specialty niche, a business type you’re not as familiar with, or just concern over various abnormal numbers or trends – a good experienced evaluator is worth every penny.
4. Make an Offer
Make an offer. This will differ slightly depending on whether it’s a firm listed price on a marketplace or a private deal, but figure out what makes sense for you and make an offer. Never make a deal before knowing your “walk away” number.
5. Utilize Escrow for Asset Transfer
Escrow is important and protects both parties in a transaction. Walk away from any deal where the seller balks at using escrow.
6. Complete the Purchase
After coming to terms, signing the contract, and using escrow, complete the purchase so the seller can begin the transfer process.
Actionable Takeaways
Even with more people looking at becoming website investors, there are still many great deals that can be found in all the blogs for sale online.
Remember the following before making a blog purchase:
- Look for deals in multiple places – don’t limit yourself to just one marketplace or source for website deals
- Know your long-term strategy (passive income vs website flip)
- Check for traffic diversity and trends
- Understand the site’s current monetization plan
- Look for easy wins
- Always do extensive due diligence
- Always know the maximum you’re willing to spend on any given deal
Keep these in mind and you will be much more likely to tell apart the treasure from the trash among the many thousands of blogs for sale.
