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About a month or so ago, I published on my blog that I just sold one of my websites for $3,000. I promised to share my lessons on my blog, but on a second thought I feel like sharing the lessons I learned in the process here will reach a wider audience, as my blog is still just under 3 months old, even though we are averaging 300 unique views daily.
Ok here is how it actually happened…
image source: dorthy
The Process
Around January this year I registered a domain that was 6 letters and created a website on it. For some reasons I’d like to keep the domain personal for now. I initially wanted to give the website my best shot and within a month it had over 500 members. I monetized it with Adsense and had one person who wanted to buy ad space. That was the best I had as related to making money on the website.
Losing Interest Suddenly
After one additional month of working on the website I began to lose interest in the website’s business model. I wanted something where I could share business tips and ideas, something that sounded more like a community blog.
Must Read: Poor Online Reputation: A Pitfall for Small Businesses.
My initial thought was to destabilize the site content, and change it to a blog/forum. But after much thought I felt like it would be a betrayal to the members and the work I had invested in the site. So I simply left it and decided to create the Fortune51 blog.
Fast Forward.
Two months ago, I met someone who wanted to build a website with the kind of business model of that website I had lost interest in. He actually wanted me to build the website for him. In the course of trying to convince him or show him I could do it, I referred to the website I had built but lost interest to promote due to different direction.
There and then, he offered to buy that one. I didn’t believe it so I asked him to take 7 days off and think about it. He came back after the one week off and confirmed he would buy it. So we negotiated and few weeks ago, he made a down payment that was enough to make him take full ownership of the website.
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Wow! I just flipped a website, is that so? You guys need to clap for me then (lol).
Even though this is more like an informal deal, and $3,000 may not be that much, I learned a few shots from the opportunity and would like to state them as follows…
What you’re interested in today, may not be what you’ll be interested in tomorrow
In online marketing and blogging, we’re often told, do what you love, sell the products you’re interested in, write on topics that fascinates you. As much as that is a true maxim, the other side of the truth is that what you love today, what fascinates you at this time, may not really move you tomorrow.
Humans are dynamic beings and not some sort of robot. The foods you eat in your 20s are certainly not what you’ll eat in your 40s. This is just a fact and to add it up in your blogging and online business endeavors, here’s the bigger lesson…
Think “Brandable, ” “Buyable” and Professional from the Onset
If I had named that domain name, danielokpara.com,which is my real name, I’m very sure, even if it had 20,000 members it’ll still be a little difficult finding someone to buy the website.
There’s nothing wrong with personal domain names but the question is, are you using the name as just your personal page or you’re blogging and trying to build a bigger business out of it. I know there are some schools of thought that say go with your personal name, but believe me, that is only if the blog or web business is about you, your photos, events, occasions, etc.
If it’s really targeted towards making money, staying on top and building a big business out of it eventually, you might rethink at this time.
Why?
Simple. The internet is like real estate and your business should be built with a mindset of been transferable. A time is coming you won’t have time to run a one man show anymore. Will the name you have chosen today become transferable by then or just die.
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More importantly, assuming your interests change tomorrow, can you resell the present business taking your time and content on it to pursue other ventures or will it just be impossible due to branding purposes.
I always suggest that it’s okay to have your name used as a blog but that should be for your personal stuff. If you are really into content marketing with the intention to attract the big money, then think buyability from the onset.
That’s it guys!
I do expect this article to generate controversies but that’s okay. Let me know what you think and lets argue it out.
To your success.