Have You Ever Considered Selling Your Blog?

A few months ago, completely out of nowhere, I got an email asking if I’d be interested in selling my blog.

My immediate thought was “No. NEVER!”

I almost just deleted the email without giving it a second thought. But sure enough, not only did I give it a second thought, but I gave it a third, and fourth, and fifth…

Over the next few days, I re-read the email several time to make sure I was reading it right.

I hesitantly responded with a vague “I might be interested”. But I wasn’t really sure if I was or not, in case the offer was actually legit.

Selling my blog isn’t something that had even crossed my mind until I saw that email. I was still trying to process how I felt about the possibility of selling My Life, I Guess and what that would mean going forward.

And to be honest, I couldn’t believe that someone out there was possibly interested in buying something that I had built from scratch.  

Your Blog Is Worth Something

There were many times in the last couple of years where I didn’t know how we were going to afford to pay both our rent and eat.

When things were at their worst, my husband and I would look around the house trying to figure out of we had anything that we could sell. At one point, I even considered selling my car (before we bought our new one) as it was the only thing that I owned that was worth anything.

Because I never really thought of my blog as being an asset worth anything.

But it is!

People in the personal finance world talk a lot about net worths and building assets. But it never dawned on me that I was building an asset by building my blog.

Owning a domain name and hosting is a lot like owning a piece of property. My Life, I Guess is real estate that I own online.

Even though I don’t make a ton of money from it, it is a business (albeit a small one). It does generate revenue for me. And it is possibly worth something to someone out there besides me.

But What is Your Blog Worth?

After sending the response, I couldn’t help but daydream.

What if they offered me $5,000? Would I take it?

What about $10,000?

$10,000 would mean paying off my credit card in full. Or would help me reach the 50% mark of my student loan debt repayment. Or it could be used towards a downpayment on a house. Or pay off more than a third of our car loan. $10,000 could do a lot for us.  

But I had no idea what my blog was actually worth. To be honest, I had no real concept of what any blog or website is worth.

So I hopped on Google and found out. (Google.com is worth about $103 billion, btw.)

The results were… not great.

They ranged from only $756 to $1,910.  

Now I know I’m not a big blogger by any means, but the numbers surprised me. Because I make more than $1,910 per year off my blog. So selling my blog for that price would actually mean a loss for me.

Obviously, these sites only provide a general quote, as there are numerous factors to consider. But it did give me a more realistic idea of how others might appraise my blog.

However, everyone is going to come up with their own number. If someone truly sees value in your blog (or perhaps just desperately wants your domain name) they may be willing to pay more for it. So if there is someone out there willing to pay you a million dollars for your blog, then that’s what your blog is worth (to that person at least).

What my blog is worth really came down to what price was I willing to sell it for.

And I had no idea what that price was. Although that million dollars sounds amazing!

UPDATE! After publishing this post, a blogging friend of mine reached out to me and told me that she recently sold her blog. She says that a reputable person will actually pay 10-12 times your blog’s annual revenue. Meaning I could get offers in the $25,000 – $30,000 range, after all!

What Would I Do Differently If I Were to Start a New Blog?

Amongst my daydreaming, I wasn’t only thinking about the money. I also started to think about what I was going to do if I did go ahead with selling my blog.

I knew I wasn’t ready to give up blogging all together. So naturally, the thought of starting a new one emerged.

But what would starting a new blog entail?

I know a lot more about the blogging world now then I did when I started My Life, I Guess back in 2013. But I also know that there are literally a billion more websites today then there was when mine debuted.

(According to Internet Live Stats, there were 672,985,183 websites live in 2013. There are nearly 1.7 billion websites live as of the day I published this post.)

That’s a lot of competition!

Would I stick with personal finance? Or would I explore another niche?

Would I try to make a business out of it? Or would I blog “just for me”?

Would I be anonymous and not care quite so much about being too candid in my posts? Or would I go the opposite way, and actually use my real name and keep things professional?

I Never Heard Back

Turns out, all the daydreaming was just that.

Although the inquiry came from a reputable company that employs a few big names in the blogging industry, and partners with even more reputable companies, I never heard back.

(So maybe it was just a cold pitch or possibly spam, after all?)

The truth is, though, I was sort of relieved. I didn’t really want to sell my blog – and I still don’t. And I definitely wasn’t ready to negotiate, if it came to that.

I value my blog so much more than these online quotes do and likely more than this company would, too. While I haven’t invested a lot of money into my blog, I have invested a TON of time into over the last 6 years.

But if someone were to legitimately offer me 5-figures for it, I don’t know what I’d do.

YOUR TURN: If you own a blog, do you know what it’s worth? Would you ever consider selling your blog?

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