The Cow Might Sell His Blog
If you’re a fellow member of the John Cow herd, you’ve probably noticed that he’s been talking a lot about selling his blog. While I think this is a good business move, I’ll be sad to see one of the few competent members of the ‘make money online’ niche go. If he does sell, I’m hoping he’ll start a new blog in a month or two.
I can understand why someone would want to sell a popular blog, but I can’t see why anybody would buy one. If the Cow leaves, so will 90% of his herd (unless the new author has a similar writing style). Most likely, the buyer will immediately over-monetize the site, and it will fall apart like a house of cards. Oh well, the seller gets his thousands, so no big deal.
I’m wondering how much he’ll be able to sell it for though. In his most recent post, he cries out against the ‘10x your monthly revenue’ rule and uses a much more diverse rule set, which prices his blog at over $340k. If I were to follow the rules he laid out, this blog would be worth around $18,500. Tell you what though: If anybody is interested in buying this blog, I’ll let it go for an even $10,000 (that’s 46% off! Better act fast).
Ask yourself: At what point would you sell your blog? If somebody approached you with an offer, how big would it have to be for you to take it? I have no plans to sell this site, but I have assigned a value to it. If someone came to me with that value on a check, you can bet I’d sell without any hesitation. Could I make more six months down the road? Sure, but some money now is worth a lot more than lots of money later.
What happens after you sell a blog anyway? Do you tell your readers? “Hey guys, I’m selling this blog to some other guy, but I’m starting a new blog at www.newblog.com. I’ll just pick up where I left off there.” Something tells me that the buyer wouldn’t be too happy with a post like that, as all of his new readers would vanish within a week. Maybe you have to sign something saying that you won’t blog in the same niche for the next six months. I’m actually curious now. Does anybody know?
Anyway, like I said, I’ll be sad to see the Cow go, but I’ll completely understand. Sell the blog for $25,000 (actually, sell it in Euros. The dollar isn’t doing so hot right now), buy a pet kangaroo (send me a Joey please), and invest the rest into other online projects.
Completely off topic
My traffic has been pretty stagnant for the past few weeks. I want to have another contest, but my last one didn’t do so well. Anybody have any good ideas for a prize?
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April 10th, 2008 at 9:11 am
News update, we are selling!
Oh, and 5% commission to whoever gets us the best deal.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:54 am
John Cows comment above has the url misspelled
April 10th, 2008 at 10:51 am
If I had a popular blog like Cow’s, I wouldn’t sell it. I believe all the business opportunities and security of income without having a 9-5 is great. I would only sell smaller blogs that be easy to start over with if I decided I still wanted to blog even after I sold it.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:53 am
I’d find five figures near impossible to turn down @ TUK.
Bank half, invest a quarter in a new blog and treat yourself with the rest
April 10th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
If you can build it once, you can build it again. Take the money and run Cow!
April 10th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
@Adam
Fix’d.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
If I had the funds, I would snap up that site for $50k in a heartbeat. It’s bringing in $30k per year - that’s a 60% yearly return on your investment. My stocks aren’t doing quite that well these days
Sure you’ll have some fallout, but the vast majority of readers would stick around. If the new owner sticks to the formula that worked for the Cow, then success should be *nearly* guaranteed.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:20 am
I’m sure John Cow will go on to create another blog just as successful in a few months!
April 11th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Sorry cow, not a subscriber of yours. I would like the move of him selling his blog because it would make him post everyday and post good stuff to get a high reader count again. Then you have to think, 30k a year. I mean really, 30k a year and you’d sell that for like 50k? While it could prove to be a smart move, I think you can only go up in profits at this point, and why not start a second or third successful blog while your at it. Once again not a reader, maybe the 6 figure yearly salary would be a realistic thing provided you didn’t sell this and started another one or two successful blogs.