What do you like to see in a blog for sale?

by icun
23 replies
Hi guys,

I'm working on some blogs to sell in the "websites for sale" section and I just thought I'd aspect my potential customers - what features do you like to see in a blog?

For example, if you were to buy a blog what are the essential features you'd want it to have?

I am mainly using wordpress but I am developing my own library of custom code (not WP plugins) thhat I can integrate to give added value to each blog and too make them stand out.

Thanks for any feedback.

Regards,
Martin
#blog #sale
  • Profile picture of the author mattalways
    Are we talking established blogs?
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    Quit wasting your money! If you need a website, get me to do it right! I'll probably even do it for less! Design/Development/Software, I'm your guy! matt@snidge.com
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  • Profile picture of the author icun
    No, I'm talking about a blog package for sale with an article and eBook package where say, 25 copies are sold. Customers then use these to get started with their website in a particular niche.
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  • Profile picture of the author jaykay21089
    Hi icun,

    One of the most coveted things in IM is traffic, so I guess if your blogs already had a small yet steady stream of traffic, the battle's half won.

    Naturally, the traffic would have to be buyer traffic, people who already want something that the blog is offering.

    It would also be great if the thing which they were looking to buy was included in the blog package, which it is as an Ebook like you mentioned.

    That's what I think anyway.

    Cheers,

    -Johnson.
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  • Profile picture of the author mattalways
    I don't understand how you're selling these. I can't seem to get any interest on sites earning money already. If you're that good at selling, maybe we should partner up lol.
    Signature

    Quit wasting your money! If you need a website, get me to do it right! I'll probably even do it for less! Design/Development/Software, I'm your guy! matt@snidge.com
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by mattalways View Post

      I don't understand how you're selling these. I can't seem to get any interest on sites earning money already. If you're that good at selling, maybe we should partner up lol.
      There is a market for affordable ready-made niche blogs because many newbies simply don't know how to get started. The Sites for Sale section is getting a bit saturated with them and you'll really need to stand apart from the crowd in order to sell them, but for those who are spinning their wheels trying to get something going, they're great.
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      • Profile picture of the author mattalways
        Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

        There is a market for affordable ready-made niche blogs because many newbies simply don't know how to get started. The Sites for Sale section is getting a bit saturated with them and you'll really need to stand apart from the crowd in order to sell them, but for those who are spinning their wheels trying to get something going, they're great.
        I guess I just don't see the value in them because I can develop them so easily. Makes sense if someone needed something to get started. I just don't see a place to sell that kind of a thing. As you mentioned, it's saturated. That's for sure.

        I have a site that at one time was making over 5k a month. It was just a domain when I bought it. To get back to that level, the site just needs content. It's now only making like $10/month, but still getting a bit of traffic. If someone just added content, who knows where they could take it. I have only seen offers around $400 for it though. The thing is a PR4. I think it's probably worth at least $750.

        My point is though that I used to sell sites that make $2/month for $800. Not a lot of good buyers anymore, at least where I'm listing lol.
        Signature

        Quit wasting your money! If you need a website, get me to do it right! I'll probably even do it for less! Design/Development/Software, I'm your guy! matt@snidge.com
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        • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
          Banned
          Originally Posted by mattalways View Post

          I guess I just don't see the value in them because I can develop them so easily. Makes sense if someone needed something to get started. I just don't see a place to sell that kind of a thing. As you mentioned, it's saturated. That's for sure.

          I have a site that at one time was making over 5k a month. It was just a domain when I bought it. To get back to that level, the site just needs content. It's now only making like $10/month, but still getting a bit of traffic. If someone just added content, who knows where they could take it. I have only seen offers around $400 for it though. The thing is a PR4. I think it's probably worth at least $750.

          My point is though that I used to sell sites that make $2/month for $800. Not a lot of good buyers anymore, at least where I'm listing lol.
          Those days are gone ... the $2/mnth for $800. It has become a lot harder to sell sites on Flippa. I sold startup sites on Flippa with no traffic or revenue for $320 for a good while, based on excellent design and content alone.

          As for the startup packages, there are so many newbies who have never set up a blog, don't have a clue how to ftp a file anywhere, have never made a blog post and is intimidated by all of that. For $27-$37, they can get into a niche that is already set up and start to learn. Some of them do very well at adding the content and making it their own. Some just let it sit and hope it somehow magically will make them money.
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  • Profile picture of the author icun
    I don't understand how you're selling these. I can't seem to get any interest on sites earning money already. If you're that good at selling, maybe we should partner up lol.
    I've only started work on these after discovering this forum a few weeks ago but there's a market for them. Like sbuccariel says, they are for people to 'get out of the starting blocks' so to speak and, given the low cost, the can be just what a budding IMer needs to get them started. There are a fair few of these around at the moment which is why I'm trying to a bit of market research on what features people might want included.

    I have about 10 years experience as a web developer and used to work in that area for Intel, amongst others. I'm just getting started in the IM area and providing blogs/design services on the WF so I don't have any up and running blogs for sale. I'm just sticking to the 'out of the box' solutions that people might find useful at a reasonable cost.

    Johnson - I plan on including a free report or a PLR rebranded eBook with all the blogs. I was thinking for along the lines of, what specific coding features (page peels, fancy tab effects, footer pop up ads....etc.) What are the tools that Internet Marketers want on their site? Once I have an idea of that I can code up some elegant solutions and integrate them into my blog packages.
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  • Profile picture of the author lgirardgk
    I think a large number of inbound links is important
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  • Profile picture of the author JTor
    What I'd like to see: Highly configurable Theme back end area.

    It's not widgets. It's really a theme back end where I can set up breadcrumbs, date/time format, embed ad codes, add Twitter feed, upload my logo and favicon, define home page layout, and so on.

    I can't find it anywhere but it paid themes and if I found it on a blog for sale, it would surely be a plus.
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    • Profile picture of the author AsnFor Life
      I do prefer to see a products or services that give visitors any free incentives even without buying the products or services.
      we have one the incentives menu
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    • Profile picture of the author Samuel Baker
      Originally Posted by JTor View Post

      What I'd like to see: Highly configurable Theme back end area.

      It's not widgets. It's really a theme back end where I can set up breadcrumbs, date/time format, embed ad codes, add Twitter feed, upload my logo and favicon, define home page layout, and so on.

      I can't find it anywhere but it paid themes and if I found it on a blog for sale, it would surely be a plus.
      I really like this idea actually come to think of it something unique and original like this would definitely be an added bonus $$ maker if you are flipping blog sites for example. This defies the standard 'Auto Blog' flipping and adds your own developmental work. I'd rather purchase a blog off you with a feature as said above than an established "Full content, Monetized etc" blog. As those following 3 I can easily put into action myself. But for the novice beginner they are indeed important factors.
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    • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
      Originally Posted by JTor View Post

      What I'd like to see: Highly configurable Theme back end area.

      It's not widgets. It's really a theme back end where I can set up breadcrumbs, date/time format, embed ad codes, add Twitter feed, upload my logo and favicon, define home page layout, and so on.

      I can't find it anywhere but it paid themes and if I found it on a blog for sale, it would surely be a plus.
      You'll find all that and more with the Atahualpa theme.
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  • Profile picture of the author bobratcliff
    I would suggest several small niches in the dating and relationship area...then market the blogs away from the Warrior Forum since sbucciare is right about that area being saturated...it is only a matter of being on page one, otherwise you will have few sales after you drop off of page one!
    Sell on ebay? I believe other warriors here and suggest a few more sites to sell his bogs at?
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  • Profile picture of the author icun
    Thanks guys....a few good points here to get me thinking. My blogs so far have had options to customise the banner ads, the 125 x 125 ads, the logo and the background image. It wouldn't really take much work to have an option to modify the background colours and stlyes. Where would you recommend selling these apart from here? Ebay?
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  • Profile picture of the author JTor
    I guess if you sell it on eBay, after the 1st sales there will be another person selling exactly what you spent some time preparing. It is very usual on eBay.

    Sell it here and build a hotsite just for selling it.
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  • Profile picture of the author TrafficGuy Claude
    Hey iCun,

    I sell lots and lots of sites on that section here and Flippa, and here's the best tip I can give you. Add in lots of features and immense value to your packages.

    Don't just sell them a blog, give them as much as you can in the form of bonuses and website features. Be creative and don't follow the trends, as you should be trying to set them. Make the transfer as painless as possible and keep in constant communication with your buyers all throughout the deal.

    Traffic is always nice when you're selling a site, but if you're going for the start-up market you need to have a great package to offer. Remember that most people you are selling to are newbies so they will need tech support and marketing guidance as well.

    Send me a PM if you have any more questions about this.

    -Claude
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  • Profile picture of the author icun
    Thanks for all the replies guys.

    I'm working on some stand-out features for a general theme to use for my blogs. It'll take a while to code it but hopefully it will make it stand out a bit.
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  • Profile picture of the author icun
    Just thought I'd revisit this thread guys after discovering the 'headway' theme being discussed on another thread. As a programmer and designer, I don't really need an interface to control colours, layout, graphics etc. but, do you think this would be a valuable addition to potential clients?

    Here's one of many youtube videos about headway:
    There's a lot of features and you can really customise a site as much as you want using only the interface. My question to the warrios is: would the headway theme be a big plus in deciding to buy a blog? I'm thinking of developing some sites with it and want to check out the appeal of the theme before laying out the $ for the developers version.

    Looking forward to your insight.
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  • Profile picture of the author icun
    How does Atahualpa compare to headway? Are there similar features?
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    • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
      Originally Posted by icun View Post

      How does Atahualpa compare to headway? Are there similar features?
      I'm afraid I can't answer that as I've never used Headway. The prices has always put me off.

      I would, though, be interested to see any sites that anyone here has developed using it.

      Edit: I just looked on their site and followed links to some sites. The end results are similar - I'm guessing the biggest difference would be in the theme editing areas.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jute
    Hi,

    what I look for in a theme is that it loads quick, and that all the code validates.

    Cheers

    Jute
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  • Profile picture of the author icun
    Doing a bit of thread resurrection here: anyone else had any experience of the headway theme framework? Don't want to blow $164 on the developer version if it doesn't appeal to people.
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