As Ryan mentioned earlier, buying a blog can be a nerve-wracking process if you're doing it for the first time and especially if you're strapped for cash and are looking for a 'good deal'.
The first blog I bought was over-priced and I knew it. I still went ahead though and bought the brand and for the 'street cred' I'd get in that niche. This purchase taught me three very valuable lessons about buying blogs:
- Make absolutely certain that you have time to run the new blog or find someone beforehand to run it. I didn't do either, and as a result that blog was neglected.
- If the blog is not making money, do not spend your savings on it. You should have a definite plan of recouping your investment in a set period of time - don't jump in with a vague notion of 'slapping on AdSense and TLA to make some cash'.
- Make sure you have an exit strategy that will allow you to make a profit (after taking out the expenses (including value for time spent on the blog)). If you don't, then you may have a dead blog or if it's a big-money purchase, then you're fucked.
To summarise, you need to focus on Time, Money and the Exits.
If you don't have the time, don't jump in.
If the site isn't making money, don't pay that much for it.
If you don't have an exit strategy - good lord, what the hell are you going to do when you have to cash in?
Let's look at each of these three in more detail. Read the rest of this entry
