Comments on: College-Startup for Sale!

By: Halfdeck

Halfdeck — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 05:41:57 +0000

Aaron, I do see there’s a potential to be exploited with any acquired domain. The question is how easy is it to monetize on someone else’s blog targetting a micro niche as I see it? College Startup, which I read regularly, thanks to Darren, rode on Ben’s insight and personality. I’d ask what good is Matt Cutt’s blog, for example, without Matt Cutts? Needless to say, I’m keeping a close eye on what David does with College Startup.

Ben, in my niche, 10x the monthly revenue is too much risk. Traffic, design and content has some value, agreed, but in the end, I look at a site’s potential daily revenue. If I could buy a site generating $1000 a month for 6~10K, why gamble that money away on a site making $40 a month? A bird in hand is better than two in the bush.

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 20:47:46 +0000

Well, hosting bills are about $10 a month…the site is making $40.

And if you’re not selling your site for at least 10x’s the monthly revenue you’re screwing yourself. Your friends site is worth at least $4,000. Maybe as much as $8,000 depending on the design. Valuing a website based purely on revenue is a mistake, anyway. Unique designs, unique content, steady traffic, etc. all have value.

By: Aaron Brazell

Aaron Brazell — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 12:39:34 +0000

Halfdeck: Personally, I think that’s silly. Even if Ben is not monetizing, if there is solid content, it CAN be monetized. That’s where the value is. You’re talking about going into a house, saying “I don’t want to buy this house because the walls are green”. You could always paint.

By: Halfdeck

Halfdeck — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 11:22:09 +0000

High PR and Alexa rank mean nothing if the blog’s not generating revenue. A friend of mine is selling her site that makes measely 400 bucks a month for 2k, so I figure for 6k College Startup should be pulling it at least 3x that (1,200 a month) for it to worth the price. I think Ben said his blog is covering his hosting bills? Assuming 100 bucks a month on hosting, College Startup is worth no more than 500.

By: Aaron Brazell

Aaron Brazell — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 23:10:47 +0000

Perhaps, this tool? According to it, ProBlogger is worth nearly $2million.

By: Brian Breslin

Brian Breslin — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 22:23:08 +0000

So what is the magic formula for appraising a blog?
and where is this technorati api for price determination?

By: Darren McLaughlin

Darren McLaughlin — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 12:26:15 +0000

It’s interesting. Isn’t the blogger the main asset of the blog? If he sells it and leaves, then you have a blog without its’ main asset? Maybe it’s smarter to build one from scratch.

By: peter lee

peter lee — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 10:28:10 +0000

why should we buy?, start the new one and builb it up. blog is all about hard working.

good luck

By: Stanley

Stanley — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 11:14:04 +0000

Re: Peter

Have another look. Darren is on patternity leave, you are commenting on an article written by Aaron. He even says: “College Startup is a wonderful little blog that I was turned onto some time ago by Darren.”

Besides that, the fact that Darren is a six figure blogger does not necessarily mean that he makes a 6 figure profit. Think taxes, costs, investment in b5media etc. You can only spend your money once you know…

By: Aaron Brazell

Aaron Brazell — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 11:13:29 +0000

Peter: I wrote the entry. I am not Darren.

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 07:52:17 +0000

come on darren dont kid us with that “if I had the cash” talk. You are making so much money off your blogs and ur telling me you cant afford it? Darren why dont you just buy that blog and stop playing with us with your remarks.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 07:24:02 +0000

Thanks for the link, Aaron :)

And to everyone questioning the value I’ve assigned it – if you read the post at College Startup you’ll understand that I put more thought into it than traffic and revenue.

By: The risks of selling your blog | Money Matador

The risks of selling your blog | Money Matador — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 04:03:59 +0000

[...] Now it is put up for sale. Starting bid $1000. The price includes a Google PR rank of 5, unique design, pages indexed in Google, all the posts, a high technorati rank, links from high profile sites like ProBlogger and a monthly income of about $100 if I remember correctly. [...]

By: site flipper

site flipper — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 02:23:18 +0000

Dirk, what standards are you talking about?

As I see it, he’s about 700 undervalued at $1000.

By: Aaron Brazell

Aaron Brazell — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 01:33:37 +0000

Jason: What is the link to the Technorati value tool? I’ve seen it before but I can’t find it now?

By: Leon

Leon — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 00:57:39 +0000

Another blogger that made it big. Congrats. You bring hope to us all.

By: Dirk Vansina

Dirk Vansina — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 23:43:42 +0000

Is it really 2550 unique visitors a month or is it in millions? Isn’t $1000 wayyyyyyy to much for 2550 uniques / month? According to standards, it’s worth about $520 (maximum!).

By: Jason Clegg

Jason Clegg — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:31:22 +0000

Interestingly enough, the Technorati API widget claims the College Startup site is currently valued at over $25k. Maybe Ben should up the “buy now” price…

By: mattherzberger.com » Blog Archive » College Startup for Sale

mattherzberger.com » Blog Archive » College Startup for Sale — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 17:00:55 +0000

[...] College Startup which is a pretty cool blog that I read has recently decided to sell. It is a site that talks about how to make money in college or otherwise. Here is more about the sale from problogger [...]