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Interview with successful blogger and business woman, Chelsea Clarke from Her Paper Route
Have you heard of flipping blogs for profit? Buying and selling websites is a new twist on making money and is growing.
I, personally had never heard of it or even thought of it as another option to making money as a blogger. One day, I had an opportunity to guest post for the stunning Chelsea Clarke from HerPaperRoute.com and while checking out her site, saw that she was doing it – and making some killer coin!
I had to know more about it so I sent off and email asking her to be a guest for my live Blogger Spotlight series. Unfortunately, she’s a busy momma and we couldn’t arrange a time for a live so she sent in a video of her answers. (She’s so wicked!!)
In this interview write up, you will learn what blog flipping is all about, blog flipping tips and how you can get started buying and selling websites too!
How did you get into this crazy world of blogging?
I got started in the blogging way back in the early 2000s and back then I didn’t consider it a business, it was just a hobby. And although I was in University for marketing at the time, it was several years before I finally made the connection between marketing and blogging as a business.
When I finally got serious about blogging as a business and used my marketing skills to grow it, everything changed, pretty soon I was making enough money to quit my corporate marketing job. Which is pretty wild to say, that blogging is my full-time career. I get to stay home with my son and work in my pjs – what could be better than that?
I started buying and selling blogs a few years back. I always loved the thrill of the hunt, finding a failing blog or diamond in the rough and fixing it up, and turning into something that someone else would be excited to take over.
Tell us about your first experience in blog flipping?
Because of my marketing experience, I was able to generate traffic and income to these blogs pretty quickly, and I soon realized that the service I was providing was really of value to someone.
I was able to build a money-making blog where someone could just literally come in and take over and get to skip the trial and error phase of blogging. They could just come in and take over a blog that already was making money and had an audience.
How would someone start blog flipping?
Anyone can become a blog flipper, either build your own website or buy one that needs fixing. You don’t need to know any code or anything technical. As long as you are comfortable customizing WordPress themes, and you have the time to write content, and actively promote that content, then you can be successful.
How much money can you make buying and selling websites?
The more traffic and revenue a blog has, ultimately means the more it can sell for. But there’s no set rate or general rule for pricing when it comes to blogs.
I’ve sold a blog for $50,000 before which I think is pretty cool, but I’ve seen others sell for millions! So it really just depends on the individual website.
Do you have any tips for someone thinking about flipping blogs for profit?
If you are thinking about getting into blog flipping, I recommend focusing on the main thing that make a blog valuable.
- Revenue
- Traffic
- Site design
- Domain
- Additional assets (email list, social followers)
On the “flip” side, how do you find blogs for sale?
When looking for a website to flip, you want an underdeveloped or failing blog. You can go to website marketplaces like Flippa.com but you can expect to pay more there because those blogs are already flipped and up for auction.
So when I’m looking for a blog to buy with the intention that I’ll sell l later, I tend to look for blogs that aren’t actually for sale. To do that I will do a simple search online to find blogs that haven’t been updated in a while, and then I will just send the owner a message, to see if they are willing to sell it for the price I’m proposing.
I know that you’ve recently had some blogs of your own for sale. How can we find out more information about those and where can we connect with you?
I have a big toolkit of resources that you can grow and monetize your blog, you can get that for free at https://herpaperroute.com/toolkit. If you are interested in buying one of my starter or established blogs for sale, swing by BlogsForSale.co.
If you are wanting to learn more, I teach a course on blog flipping, It’s a big 5 part training series, that walks you through each step in starting and developing a blog and then selling it for profit.
We cover the legalities of it, as well as the selling process and what you need to know in order to get the best price for your blog at auction.
Friends of EverydayShesSparkling can get $100 off by going to herpaperroute.com/sparkling
Author Bio
Chelsea Clarke is a blogger and blog development strategist. After a decade working in marketing, watching her bosses get rich off of her time and effort for a measly paycheque, she finally grew the ovaries to quit her job, and get serious about turning her blogging hobby into her career. Chelsea developed her beauty blog into a lucrative full-time business, sold it one year later and has since developed several 6 figure blogs.
Chelsea now runs HerPaperRoute, where she helps aspiring bloggers and entrepreneur women make their work-from-anywhere aspirations a reality.
Wow this is amazing! I wish I was more comfortable with the development side but I do LOVE writing
Thank you, Ashley!! I’m totally looking forward to doing this course!!
I read something Chelsea wrote on her blog about this, once! It’s a really cool concept. I LOOOOOVE designing my own blog and I would like to do it… but I need to be successful with my own blog first haha. Thanks for sharing!
Isn’t this a cool concept!! I totally want to take her course!!
I did not know about this side of blogging. Its amazing how versatile Blogosphere can get.
Isn’t it crazy!!?? Every time I turn around there’s something new to learn!!
I find this fascinating. I love the idea of flipping things but I never would have thought of flipping a blog. This is pretty awesome!
I know!! I was like, “why didn’t I think of that!!!???”
Thank you, Sasha and Chelsea! I’ve heard of blog flipping, but I haven’t seen anyone offering a way to do it yet, until now.
You are welcome, Jeremy! Chelsea is a bit of a rockstar on this topic! So glad that you found it helpful.
Thank you everyone, for the comments! Blog flipping requires many late nights and a lot of patience, but it is a lot of fun and IMO well worth the time investment =)
I’d be really interested in how you look for blogs outwith Flippa? I mean what keywords would work best?
Thanks 🙂