The Best Of Blogtrepreneur In 2007
January 3, 2008 by
Adam
Filed under
Me & My Life
Here at Blogtrepreneur, posting has been pretty sporadic. I know I’ve said in the past that bloggers should never apologize for their lack of regular posting, however I feel that I must say sorry for the way things have been around here.
Since the beginning of October 2007, there have only been 15 articles for you to read (some of them weren’t even written by me) and as a result, I’ve seen traffic numbers fall and RSS numbers have also decreased a tiny bit. The main reason for the lack of posting, was the fact that I appeared to be selling the site.
So, Is The Site Sold?
Well after a month and a half, the site is still with me and has not been sold to anyone. There were a few reasons for this. Firstly, I encountered many non-serious buyers, who shot me the one-off email in the hope that I was selling the site for $3k. Secondly, my traffic levels were (and still are) really low in comparison to what they were a few months back, and this put people off quite a bit. And finally, most of the potential buyers generally thought that I had put too big a price on the site.
However, I wasn’t prepared to sell for anything under $9,000 as it turned out.
What’s Next
These Christmas Holidays, I’ve had quite a think through about where I want Blogtrepreneur to be in 2008. Many of these ideas will be heard in my next post about my goals for this year, however, to let you guys know, I will continue to press on with the site as far as I know (and there could be other plans for me around the corner which I have no control over).
Therefore, I urge everyone to get subscribed back to my RSS feed (if you decided to go for a little wander) as Blogtrepreneur is going big in 2008!
The Best Of Blogtrepreneur In 2007
In the meantime, and in the usual spirit of the New Year (oh yeah, Happy New Year by the way!), I would like to present you with the best parts of 2007 for this blog. I’ve broken it down month by month listing the best posts in that timeframe - so grab something to drink and read on!
January
- Minimize the scale of your dependency
- Breaking the $100 Adsense Barrier - a great achievement for the young entrepreneur
- Babysitting - Is It Easier Than Online Income?
February
- Boosting Online Productivity: Google Reader
- Review - NorthxEast Business Blog - and to think that it’s so big now (maybe because of my review
) - 1 Quick Tip To Get More ReviewMe Reviews
March
- 10 Reasons Why TextLinkAds and ReviewMe are Kicking Blogging Butt - this post got linked to from the official TLA blog!
- What’s Your Rubber Band?
- When Is It Time To Change Blog Themes?
April
- My Best Adsense Layout Ever! - this has gone on to be one of the most-loved Google posts - thanks Mark!
- For the love of $$$
- Blogtrepreneur - A PageRank 5 Production
May
- Welcome To The New Look Blogtrepreneur - this post marked the start of the theme you see before you today!
- Top 5 Forms Of Website and Blog Monetization for 2008
- 101 Essential Blogging Resources - my most popular post ever.
June
- Why Tony Blair Could Be An Awesome Internet Entrepreneur
- How to Invest in Text Link Ads
- Blogging As a Business
- You Launched Your Blog, Now What?
July
August
- How I Increased RSS Subscribers By 142% By Being A Purple Cow
- How I Made $506 Blogging In July 2007
- blogLOUDER - Blog Consulting Competition
- Building A Static Site Using WordPress
September
- Street Smart Internet Marketing Book Giveaway
- What’s Your Best Source of Web Traffic?
- An Interview With Marc Quarles, Owner Of DealDotCom
October
- TNX.net – The Long Awaited TLA Slayer?
- The Myth About Internet Marketing
- The Art Of Planning: Making Before Taking The Plunge
November
- Start Testing Your Designs With and Without ClearType
- The Economics Behind Selling Blog Advertising
- Blogtrepreneur.com Is For Sale!
December
- Website Buying Tips and Insider Secrets
- Buying And Selling Domains: A Quick Guide
- Online Business vs. Offline Business: Pros and Cons
I hope you enjoyed reading those posts as much as I enjoyed writing them. Thanks to all for such a wonderful year, and let’s hope for bigger and better things in 2008.
I think that you’ve made the right decision as far as not selling your blog is concerned and I am convinced that 2008 will be a great year for you.
Best wishes,
Alan Johnson
happy New year back at ya, Adnan, and I’m sorry things didn’t work out the way you wanted them to, but like Alan, I feel you made the best decision.
I’m not prepared to buy any sites in the $9 or $10k range, but believe me, if I were, you would have gotten an offer from me. At the time you announced the sale I think $9k would have been a bargain for the quality you have build up here.
There is always so much argument about the x times monthly revenue scheme of valuation, but from a founder/owner standpoint, $9k is too little … this bog has not reached its limits and is worth, I think, to you a lot more. Monthly income and such may vary as you have to work your way around the rest of your life, but the blog and the community you’ve established is like money in the bank … or semi-developed real estate that you can build up in the future.
$9 sounds like a lot of money but it would be gone in a heartbeat … and you would have been in the position of bloggers like Kumiko who is, I’m sure, very disappointed to see what her cashquests.com has become under new, negligent owners. Hang in there, guy.
Sounds good Adnan! Glad you’ve decided to stick around and continue Blogtrepreneur. I look forward to more good stuff in ‘08.
BTW: I updated my icon set with some new redesigned flags. May want to use them in place of the ones you’re currently using?
Dave, I couldn’t agree more, $9k isn’t really that impressive compared to the potential of this blog. If Adnan keeps up the good work…well let’s just say that he will congratulate himself for his decision in the long run
Alan Johnson
Exactly, Alan. I think a better way to ilustrate things would be, let’s compare a blog like this to a rental property.. say a duplex or fourplex in a decent area. One that is already paid for … the actual running costs are low, no big mortgage pasyments to meet.
Of course the owner would like to see all the units rented out at top dollar. But if the business of life prevents doing that, he’s money ahead to hang on to the property and just pay the modest “keep alive” costs, and wait until he can devote time to property management, rather than sell for way less than what one year’s rental income would be. even vacant a good property is worth a lot.
Correct, if you own a property with low maintenance costs but great potential, you are definitely better off holding on to it (even if things are not exactly running great at a certain point), rather than selling it for a price you know is extremely low compared to the income it is capable of generating in the long run.
Alan Johnson
Great post. I’m not a regular reader here, but this post pointed me to some good articles. I’ll be reading in 2008, so glad to hear you’re continuing.
Shame things didn’t go as planned, but I wouldn’t be up in arms about it
Blogtrepreneur has everything needed for blogging greatness. A solid subscriber count, loyal readership, great articles and more importantly a fantastic blogger in charge!
@ Alan: Thanks for the nice comments, and wow, you sure do post a lot of comments (I’ve seen you around on other blogs too!).
I’m glad I have held onto this blog - I was thinking of selling for $8k at one point, but realised this was going way below what I would be happy with.
@ Dave: Happy New Year to yo too, and glad to see you’re still reading! Yeah I think it’s really difficult trying to put a price on something I’ve invested so much time and energy into - and I’m better off now that I’ve still got the blog.
And yep, Cashquests has really deteriorated with the new owners - it looks bad on Kumiko and the brand she managed to build up unfortunately.
@ Deron: Thanks buddy, and awesome - when I get the time I’ll try and make the change over.
@ David: Thanks very much mate - I’ve been to your blog numerous times and it means a lot to me that you’ll be sticking around. Looking forward to having you as part of the regular crowd!
@ Matt: Great to hear from you (glad you’re back at BloggingFingers as well!). Thanks for the kind words.
Adnan, thanks, I have seen you around as well (I think I remember noticing one of your comments on Zac’s blog).
Commenting on other blogs is a great way to network with bloggers and meet some interesting people, while helping them out as well by providing value to their community.
Best wishes and be sure to drop me an e-mail if you need anything,
Alan Johnson
Interesting post. I’ve always had the impression that if I ever tried to sell a blog the valuation I put on it will be questioned, and there would be pressure to drop the price. Which sounds like your actual experience. I think sticking with it is the best option.
Just out of interest, do you think confessing that you wanted to sell the blog to your readers, and then didn’t, will hurt the blog at all? I’ve always wondered if readers would then go on to question the bloggers commitment to the site if this happens. (I don’t, by the way!)
@ Alan: yeah definitely - and it’s one of the key concepts that I preach to my clients at blogLOUDER. It’s a great way to network and build contacts (which you then may be able to go on and leverage).
@ Simon: thanks buddy, and I’m glad you brought up that point. I said in the post that as far as I know, I’m not going anywhere. However, there’s always the chance that someone will come along tomorrow and offer me $20k for the site (hypothetically speaking).
It did hurt the blog when I announced that I would sell up, however, I think that people miss posts the most - so hopefully if I start producing great content again, people will come back and continue to follow my journey.