Hello! Here’s a great article from Dale. Dale has made $80,000 selling blogs. Today, she is going to talk about how much you can sell a blog for, the best ways to make money blogging, where to sell a blog, and more. Enjoy!
Hi, I’m Dale, the founder of Blogging Her Way. I started blogging over four years ago as a way to get clients for my web design business, but I quickly discovered that I enjoyed blogging much more than web design.
I enjoyed blogging so much that I launched four additional blogs in my spare time over three years. These were in travel, lifestyle, and college niches so I could write about topics outside of Blogging Her Way. I successfully monetized and sold all four blogs I created, earning over $80,000 when you add their sale prices and the income they generated before being sold.
Here’s a summary of the blogs I started and sold:
- Blog A: Sold for $4,000 profit, earned $5,600 total from blog (lifestyle)
- Blog B: Sold for $1,800 profit, earned $2,450 total from blog (travel)
- Blog C: Sold for $17,600 profit, earned $27,250 total from blog (college)
- Blog D: Sold for $18,250 profit, earned $44,500 total from blog (travel)
I accomplished this working very part-time on those projects, usually spending no more than 5–10 hours per week on each blog. For most sites I only actively worked on them for two to six months before they generated steady income and became sellable assets.
Selling blogs can be a profitable side hustle or an additional income stream for bloggers. If you’re curious about how to make money selling blogs, below are practical tips and strategies based on what worked for me.
How Much Can You Sell a Blog For?
The most common question is: how much can you sell a blog for? The short answer is: it depends. A typical guideline is to price a blog at roughly 24x to 40x its average monthly profit over the prior 12 months. For example, a blog earning an average of $1,000 per month could sell for roughly $24,000 to $40,000.
Several factors influence the final multiple and sale price. Things that can increase a blog’s value include:
- Stable traffic and income without extreme swings
- Consistent upward trends in traffic and revenue
- Additional assets included in the sale, such as an active email list or established social accounts
Conversely, factors that can reduce value include:
- Highly fluctuating traffic and income
- Declining traffic or revenue trends
- Penalties or de-indexing from search engines due to “black hat” practices
- Poor-quality content or thin pages that provide little value
There are no absolute rules, but these guidelines are commonly used by brokers and buyers. From my own sales, I received multiples in the 24x–30x range.
Why Sell Your Blog?
There are many valid reasons to sell a blog:
- You’re burned out and would prefer to cash out rather than let the blog decline.
- You want to free up time and capital to start a new blog or business and use the sale proceeds as startup funds.
- You’ve reached a point where you want to take profits and move on.
Selling allows you to receive a lump-sum payout equivalent to 24x–40x monthly earnings, which can be a meaningful payday. If you don’t want to sell your main site, you can start additional blogs with the explicit goal of flipping them later—this diversification can reduce risk and create multiple exit opportunities.
How to Start a Blog to Sell
To start a blog with the intention of selling later, begin with the basics: purchase a domain and reliable web hosting, set up WordPress, and install a professionally designed theme. Choose a niche you enjoy and that has monetization potential. Ask yourself:
- Is this a topic I can write about consistently (50+ posts)?
- Are there other successful blogs in this niche, proving demand?
- What monetization methods can work here?
Choose a short, memorable .com domain if possible. Avoid highly personal names or overly specific identifiers that could limit the buyer pool. Once your site is live, focus on producing quality content. While one of my sold sites had only twenty posts when I sold it, I generally recommend aiming for 50+ posts to build organic traffic and authority.
Perform keyword research with tools like SEMrush or Ubersuggest to find search-driven topics. Study successful competitors for content ideas and structure.
Getting Traffic
Install Google Analytics immediately so potential buyers can verify traffic. Two channels I prioritized to build fast, reliable traffic were Pinterest and SEO. Pinterest can deliver quick, high-volume traffic to new sites—on several occasions I reached 10,000 monthly pageviews within a month. SEO takes longer (often 12+ months) but provides sustainable, compounding search traffic. Focusing on both accelerates growth and demonstrates diversified traffic sources to buyers.
Best Ways to Monetize a Blog
To sell a site for a solid multiple, it needs to be monetized and show documented earnings. I monetized the blogs I sold using two primary methods:
- Display advertising
- Affiliate marketing
Display Ads
Display advertising is straightforward: join an ad network, place ad units, and earn based on impressions and RPM (revenue per 1,000 views). I’ve used Monumetric and Mediavine. Monumetric requires 10,000 monthly pageviews to apply; Mediavine typically requires higher traffic (50,000 monthly sessions) but often pays well. Smaller sites can start with Google AdSense or Ezoic, which have lower traffic entry requirements.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate income pairs well with content that recommends products and tools. I mainly used the Amazon Associates program because it fits many niches and is easy to transfer to a new owner (they can swap the affiliate ID). Affiliate post types that worked well included packing lists for travel blogs, college dorm essentials and graduation gift guides for college sites, and seasonal gift guides for lifestyle blogs.
Focus on creating many affiliate-friendly posts that match search intent; these often convert well and provide consistent revenue that buyers appreciate.
Tracking Your Income
Maintain accurate financial records: keep a profit and loss (P&L) statement showing monthly revenue and expenses. Buyers will request verification, so be ready to supply screenshots from ad dashboards, affiliate accounts, and bank statements as proof of earnings.
Acquiring an Existing Blog vs. Starting from Scratch
Another path to flipping sites is buying an existing blog, improving it, and selling it later. Benefits include skipping the initial growth phase, working on optimization and monetization immediately, and potentially flipping faster. Drawbacks include needing upfront capital and the risk of purchasing a poorly maintained or penalized site. If you have limited funds, building your own blog is usually the safer, lower-cost route. If you can invest, acquiring a quality site can accelerate returns.
Where to Sell Your Blog
You can either use a broker or sell independently. I used a broker for my four monetized sales and worked with Blogs for Sale; brokers can find buyers, handle negotiations, and manage the legal aspects. Other brokerages include Empire Flippers, Motion Invest, and Investors Club. Brokers charge commissions (typically 10–20%), which reduces your payout but often speeds up and secures the process.
If you sell independently, you can market directly to your audience, use marketplaces like Flippa, or join buyer/seller groups on Facebook. I sold two small starter blogs myself for under $1,000 by advertising to my email list. Selling independently can save on commissions but requires thorough vetting of buyers and the use of escrow services like Escrow.com to protect the transaction.
How to Maximize the Sale Price
To get top dollar:
- Time your sale: if revenue and traffic are trending upward, consider holding a few months to boost the 12-month average.
- Include all assets: an attractive premium theme, active social accounts, and an email list add perceived value.
- Shop brokers: compare commission rates and services; some brokers scale commissions based on site earnings.
These strategies help increase the multiple you’ll receive and maximize your net proceeds after any broker fees.
I hope this guide on selling blogs is helpful. If you’re curious about flipping blogs or want to ask specifics about your own site, leave a comment or reach out—I’m happy to share more insights from my experience.
Author bio: I’m Dale, the founder of Blogging Her Way, a resource for aspiring bloggers who want to start and grow successful sites. I’ve started and sold multiple blogs across niches and now travel full-time while working on new ventures.
Are you interested in flipping and selling blogs for income? What questions do you have about selling blogs?