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Does selling your blog = screwing your readers?
Filed Under (How to make money blogging) by shaners on 12-04-2008
I’m FREAKING mad as hell today. I’m going to sell my blog to somneone who doesn’t know anything about blogging? WHAT ARE PEOPLE THINKING.
Lately there’s been some buzz being created over the sales of some A-List blogs. And some other blogs.
Heres a question I want you to think about. Or maybe this is my own personal opinion coming out.
Would you feel screwed if your favourite blogger sold his to blog to someone who doesn’t know anything about the niche?
From my own point of view YEP I certainly feel screwed.
2 weeks ago WPDesigner.com sold his blog for $65,000 to some guy named pawel. Heres his intro to his readers.
“I’m Pawel Ciszewski the new owner. I’ll keep this post short and to the point and answer some questions the community has been asking.
Who are you and what are your plans with WPDesigner?
My names Pawel Ciszewski, the names Polish but I’ve was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI and currently reside in Miami Beach, FL. I’m an online entrepreneur who actively pursues many differenet internet ventures and actively acquire sites that I feel are valuable resources to the Internet and will be profitable long term.
What are your plans for wpdesigner?
I will try to keep the blog posts and blog designs as good as they where by SP but that will be a challenge and nobody will replace SP.
Expanding the themes club will be my main objective.I myself won’t be actively posting or building themes, not by expertise and leave that to those who are.
Currently in talks with some well know WP theme designers to take over the building of monthly new themes and blog posting but have not yet determined who will take over that responsibility.
Thanks,
Pawel”
OK let me read that again. Pawel and the previous owner haven’t determined who is going to be doing the posting or themes designing before the sale took place ??!!?? WHAT!!! Are you nuts ?? So now it’s been two weeks and theres been quite alot of comments some welcoming some not so much.
Look I dont have any beefs with someone selling a business and in this case this is one of the ways you make money blogging. Building something and then selling it (obvious huh)
I understand that small potato had some personal issues and couldn’t maintain his blog. I personally think it would have been better if he came out in a post and said due to conflicting personal issues I wont be posting or doing any theme designing until I find someone capable of maintaining the high quality content you have come to know and love from WPDesinger.
But no he sold to a Virtual real estate investor for $65,000. It’s pretty obvious from his opening statement that he wanted the 5 buck a month themes club. (so far there’s only 4 themes) Don’t know how many paying customers there are. While 5 bucks for 4 themes is a good price.
Check this comment out.
“Hi,
I just signed up and paid for the club membership…
When will my account be activated?
Thanks ”
WTF
So someone just got ripped off and it’s only been two weeks !!
So obviously nothing is being done YET .
Blog rips offs seem to be spreading like a plague.
Don miller over at making sales making money is following a very closely related other blog sale turning into the same fiasco. in his post h’s quite accurately calling it what it is. One mans goal……Score one man scammed
Yet another blog sold to someone who doesnt know the niche. What the heck are people thinking. Read the guys open admission do you think he might have gotten some PR advice before shooting his readers.
He knows nothing about wordpress, it’s his first blog and wants to make 3,5000/ month off of the site???
Ok i’ll just re-phrase his video post for you. Hey dudes I’m a snow boarder and mountain bike rider I really like doing that I have no idea what a blog is so when I’m not busy boarding and riding i’ll be trying to figure it out mean while please spend your money on this blog so I can keep snowboarding and bike riding, thanks.
The site has 616 RSS feed readers, 396 Aweber newsletter subscribers. And that who is running the show. A spaced out snowboarder.
Know what my answer would be to that. Goodbye and I’m un-subscribing.
Another A-list blog goes up on the chopping block. Not much info or details about this one though. Johncow.com recently sold for 65,000$ as well. It appears from reading his proposal posts that he was a bit more responsible about it, than the other few blogs I just mentioned.
Update: Mark over at 45N Details the current value of make money online blogs and how to value a blog a and lists out some of the blogs that have sold recently and what some blogs are currently valued at.
Speaking of mark galeazzi Vic over at blogger unleashed feels that this guy is just another dumb fuck who got suckered into buying a piece of crap blog for 10k. I’ll say this Ive been watching vic for a few months now and I’ll say this Vic nails alot of what he says right on the head. Vic is a video blogger as is mark over at 45n. Both with re-freshing viewpoint of the blogging world. I strongly recommend you read and or subscribe to both of their blogs.
SO what should you do when considering selling your blog?
Some tough questions need to be asked on a personal level I think.
- Do you value and respect your readers? Yep I do. (very important)
- Have you secured a person who knows the niche?
- Is your new owner a blogger?
- Whats their track record?
- if they’re not a blogger who’ll be doing it?
- Whats their content strategy?
- When will they start?
Can you think of any other points that should be added?
Whats your thoughts and how do you feel when your fave blogger packs it in and sells?
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Well, John Cow didn’t sell his blog yet but his BIN was $50,000 but the buyer backed out. Honestly, if the price was right, why not sell your blog though? You can take that money and re-invest in so many bigger projects!
Jay
Jay’s last blog post..Wow, Another A-List Blog Going for Sale!
I am not sure if it screws the readers or not, but I would guess there is a big change in readers though.
Hey, how do I get one of those ad spots your giving away in your side bar?
Also if you go to the first line of code in your side bar and add this to it ( ) and then this to the end of it ( ) you will line everything up nice and neat.
Collin - Feed Flare’s last blog post..Allergies are stopping you from making money online!
I disagree. It’s all business. Selling your business isn’t usually the best strategy, but if that’s what you have to do, it’s what you have to do. There’s domain names that go for over a million dollars. Having a blog with built-in recognition is worth a lot of money. Even if you lose half of that from poor handling, it can still be a worthwhile investment in the long run.
Luke’s last blog post..An Entire Week Of No Blogging!
@ jay. Hey Jay thanks for taking the time to comment I know how busy you are, I’m still mulling over what I want my 125×125 ad to look like, I’ll contact you probably today on that… In response: I partially agree with your idea that IF the money is right, then jump at it. Maybe it’s me but doing what some of the bloggers I mention in the post did just smacks me the wrong way, very irresponsible in my mind and I have the feeling that when they did re-surface that I might not be so willing to become a regular reader. I dunno I just don’t like be hung out to dry know what I mean.It just leaves me with a bad taste for them, bad name branding. At the very least have it all organized and set up with the proper resources in place before letting it go. Wanna buy my blog for a case of beer and pack of smokes
@ collin Hey buddy hows it going!! Collin has a cool blog go check it out! Good stuff there. Just send me a 125X125 ad box or ask Jay above you to do one for you, I’ll hook you up.
@ luke an entire week of no blogging? some one break your fingers ? Hey man Biz is biz and I get that and yes a million is a lot of cash. Some things I would have to consider are could I bring my list with me, there’s some pretty cool people I email frequently from my list and would hate to lose them. Maybe I’m just emotionally tied to my blog, and maybe I shouldnt be. But I wouldnt handle it poorly which is what really freeking drives me nuts.
Thanks for commenting, gonna go visit your blog now !!
Buying a domain for 10K is not good business, especially when you know nothing about the business, it seems he has held on to some of the contributors and of course he is still under the tutelage of Bryan.
If this one fails he could always buy another domain from him right Luke? I mean after all business is business. right?
Don’s last blog post..One Man’s Goal? Score! One Man Scammed
I can’t say for sure, but from the looks of it Marc should be able to weather this. The controversy of the alleged scam is probably bringing him a lot of traffic — this is my first time even hearing of the blog, and I may become a regular visitor based on what I’ve seen.
Another thing is that the site is still making extensive use of guest bloggers. So provided they can write halfway decent, and Marc doesn’t do anything too dumb, I don’t see why he can’t keep a large percentage of the subscribers on board.
It might take a while to get his 10k back, but it’s likely to remain an income-producing property for quite a while. Hardly in the “scam” category if you ask me.
Luke’s last blog post..Is It Personal Or Business? Bloggers Must Walk A Line
I was just over at Blogger Unleashed he has a little something to say about this blog sale heres the link http://bloggerunleashed.com/bloggers/another-dumbfuck-is-born-lmao/
Great read…We are feeling you! WP is no longer EVER going to be the same!
SEOBlogWire’s last blog post..Keeping up with your competition using RSS Feeds
As long as advertising doesn’t get out of hand, I don’t see the problem with make a side dollar
Great Programs!! I’ll be sure to check some of these out..
If your looking for some unique blogging tips, why not stop by my blog? The link is: http://bradblogging.com
Thanks for the good read.
Brad @ http://bradblogging.com
Brad Blogging.com - Making Your Blog Better Through Personal Experience’s last blog post..If You Enjoy This Post, Please Make Sure To Subscribe To My R.S.S Feed!
People change, lives change, and interests change; unless your blog reports on the news or pop culture (a la techcrunch or a gawker property) and has a constant churn in authors, it’s likely you’ll eventually have to part ways with your blog.
This seems to be happening to quite a few in the “make money online” space as bloggers realize they’re not going to be millionaires trying to sell the sh*t of the day to other bloggers in the same niche.
Blog sales are perfectly OK if the transaction is between two capable parties - publicly attempting to humiliate the kid who purchased “one mans goal” only furthers the idea that there’s too many people with too little knowledge of the industry trying to get a slice of the pie.
The ‘make-money-online’ pie is pretty close to falling face down on the ground.
IMHO this whole industry is a case of the blind leading the blind.
Interesting post!
whydowork’s last blog post..The Old Screw Job: What do you do now?
[…] louder and those defending the owner get more and more quiet. People are expressing their thoughts in written posts and in more comments, which have accumulated to over 150 by April […]