Too Lazy to Blog From Scratch? Purchase One from Sitepoint
written by Anthony Dinh
Before I built DiariesOfABlogger a little over a month ago, I contemplated the possibility purchasing an established site that was already generating some decent traffic and revenue, but just needed that extra little boost from a wide-eyed and eager newbie blogger like myself to pump new life back into it. You’d be surprised, but there are many blogs out there that have been abandoned by their owners due to personal issues, new business ventures, lack of time or simply because the owner just lost interest. Also, many blogs are built by serial domain flippers with the intent of making a quick sale a few months down the road. Whether you opt to build one from scratch like I did or decide to purchase an established one, here are some things to consider in weighing the pros and cons of each:
Advantages
- established traffic and RSS readers
- already generating revenue
- indexed and ranked
- aged backlinks
Disadvantages
- requires a lot of time and effort
- design not exactly the way you want it
- domain name not to your liking
- takes time to index and get ranked
- possibility of getting sandboxed by Google
- takes time to establish loyal RSS readers
After doing a bit of research, I stumbled upon Sitepoint. Not only is Sitepoint a marketplace where webmasters come to buy and sell domains, but it’s also a great resource site for web developers, offering an array of books, web kits, articles, scripts and training videos. The domains listed for sale range anywhere from just a few dollars to 5 figures. Some of the more notable blog acquisitions that have transpired within the past few months include MomsCashBlog, JohnCow and BobMeetsWorld. GamerzReviewz and DebtConsolidationBook, owned by blogging heavy weights JohnCow and Garry Conn, respectively, are two upcoming blogs that will be listed in a few weeks once the Cowpetition winner has been announced. If you’re leaning more towards purchasing a mature niche blog rather than starting from scratch, I would recommend you check out the following affordable sites which have great potential that are currently up for sale at Sitepoint. If you want an even bigger head-start, they also have a Premium Sites section with sites boasting higher page views and income for those of you with deeper pockets.
Description: This Small yet growing community is running on phpfox. The site was custom skinned for the tattoo theme. Also, I purchased a vbulletin license and integrated it with phpfox. The site gains visitors/members without any advertising, however I’m sure that with the right advertising (on places like tattoodles or others) that this place could grow exponentially.
I just recently emailed about 60-70 tattoo artists to start the process of link swapping. So far a few have agreed. But the opportunities are endless.
Established: Sat Sep 30 2006
Page views/month: 45,000
Monthly Revenue: 10
Revenue Sources: Adsense
Google Pagerank: 0
Uniques/Month: 1,200
Price: $1200
Description: USAblogger.us is an automated internet business blog, launched on December 28, 2007, This automated site grows rapidly without advertising. All new feed items are banked and stored for life! USAblogger.us was built with Wordpress system that allows complete control of the website. We are including the unique website with complete ownership, all source files, the outstanding domain name (free transfer with godaddy) plus hosting which is paid until December 31, 2008!
The website is outfitted with google adsense ads and CJ ads. This website is being sold as a turnkey business, therefore treat as no/minimal revenue and traffic.
Website Launched on: Dec 28, 2007
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Created on: Nov 2, 2006
Domain Expires on: Nov 1, 2008
Revenue Details: We estimate $10 to $150 in revenue with ZERO marketing. The site could earn $500+ per month with only 5 referral hosting signup via the link in the header.
Price: $249
Description: I’m selling this site because I have no longer time to update it. Site is not monetized, but I think there’s a huge potential with adding affiliate links to the products reviewed.
More information upon request.
Revenue Details: There’s only text-link-ads currently on the site and it has been there only a few weeks.
Traffic Details: 92% from other sites, 7% from search engines. Good rankings for keywords like funny gadgets, weird gadgets.
Price: $2000
Description: I want to sell this site because of this 2 reasons
- I don’t have time to update it every day
- I need money
I guarantee this site can bring more revenue and has very good potential. I can also provide screenshots.
Established: Mon Apr 30 2007
Page views/month: 6,000
Monthly Revenue: 120
Google Pagerank: 4
Uniques/Month: 3,000
Revenue Details: site currently makes money from the banners sold on the site.
Price: $1225
This is just a small sample of what’s out there, but if you really take the time to look, you will surely find one that falls within your niche. Many of these sites have great potential and are very interesting with great content, a loyal user base, high page rank and are already generating some revenue.
The reason I ended up building my own site is because I’m very meticulous and particular in nature, so I needed to have complete control of every aspect from beginning to end. Also, personal satisfaction and knowing that I did it myself was a big driving force. I wanted the challenge of being able to build a blog from scratch, generating traffic and eventually earning money from it. I accepted the fact that it was going to take some time to establish a loyal user base and the possibility of even getting sandboxed, and I was willing and prepared to put in the long hours that it would take to nuture DiariesOfABlogger into a thriving money making machine. Whether DiariesOfABlogger ultimately ends up succeeding or failing miserably, at least I will know that I was in control of my own destiny.
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I prefer starting them. I like the satisfaction you get when you have built a successful blog from scratch. But there are some quality blogs up for sale at the moment..
tom, i’m with you on that one, it’s all about personal achievement and self satisfaction. there are definitely some quality blogs up for sale at the moment on sitepoint though!