When you register a new domain name and signup for a hosting plan, you’re making a tiny investment in a piece of property.
Not unlike traditional real estate investing.
With a new domain, you’ve got a slab of property in the desert that’s completely undeveloped: no house, no plumbing, no electrical hookups.
You’re starting from scratch and you’ll need to invest a lot of time and effort into this thing before it will begin delivering a return on the investment you’ve made either renting it out, building a business, or flipping it for cash.
Build the Blog Infrastructure
To start developing your URL into a piece of valuable real estate you must always begin by building out the foundation of the website.
In the beginning, you should release a website with a minimally viable amount of content that will adequately solve a select group of problems about a specific topic.
Of course, while you’re creating all that content don’t forget to setup an email intake form collect leads or put something to buy on your website.
You want to at least create the opportunity to make money via your website right away.
Build the Blog Traffic
After the foundation of the website has been established, it’s time to build sources of traffic to the website.
Building the traffic and authority of a website will be a never-ending job for you as the owner.
Some simple ways that you can begin developing traffic to your website includes publishing content on your own website so you can begin capturing traffic from search engines.
Other traffic opportunities continue to exist in social media venues like Twitter, Facebook, and even relevant forums.
Build the Blog Authority
This is highly related to the build traffic recommendation above. In fact, I almost lumped them under the same headline as Build the Traffic.
When I talk about building authority in this article, I mean building inbound links to a website.
The quality and quantity of inbound links that point to a website are a very important factor in Google and other search engine’s ranking algorithms even in 2013.
Not to over simply this topic, but the more high quality links you receive higher rankings you’ll get for different keywords in search engines. Don’t trust anyone that tells you otherwise.
In addition to getting better search engine rankings, you’ll also be creating additional traffic sources with each new link you create.
Build up enough links and all these little traffic sources will begin to add up increasing the value of your digital asset.
A great article to make money blogging, by Jon Morrow of BoostBlogTraffic : Make Money Blogging: 20 Lessons Going from 0 to $100,000 per Month
Creating an Asset
After you’ve built the infrastructure, traffic, and authority of your website then congratulations!
You’ve got a valuable asset on your hands.
Even if you’re only able to develop, say 50 visitors to your website per day: you’ll be able to start generating leads and converting some of those leads into sales.
After you accomplish your goal of capturing leads and making sales you’ve got a decision to make:
1. Grow it
Invest time and energy developing content and adding to the value, traffic, and authority of your website.
Over time you will be able to generate even more leads and revenue with your blog if you continue to grow it correctly.
2. Let it Sit
Not typically recommended.
Take a break, let the website continue to collect traffic, leads, and make you a little bit of income each month.
3. Sell it
Thanks for websites like Flippa.com, sort of the eBay.com of website buying and selling, if you’ve got a website that’s making $50 – $100 consistently each month you can often sell the domain for 10X – 15X it’s monthly earnings.
It’s not uncommon for websites that make a paltry $100 per month to sell for $1500.
That’s not a bad return on investment.
In fact, there are many guys that make a nice living by building up and selling websites through Flippa.com.
No matter what you decide to do with your website, understand that every website has a real value after you begin to build traffic and authority.
And just like most areas of life, the more you put into the website the more you’ll get in return.
What do you think?
Are you viewing your blog as an asset?
Are you making money online?
Please share your views in the comments below, thanks!
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Hi Erik,
Great post!
In order to turn a blog into asset, one has to rethink the purpose first.
The buyers will look forward to it when it will do something valuable. Just a simple blog with simple intentions might not be able to get sale in better rate.
I personally think, “thinking large will make large”. That’s the rule I follow.
Hi Abrar,
start little, but think big. I like the meaning!
It’s all about building a site to stand out from the million of blogs out there.
And of course, you need to have a monetization plan.
Thanks for sharing your views.
Hi Erik
I love the way you use real estate principles to tie with this post. It reminds me of when I started my blog. It was like a land with no plan and then I began to build the foundation, create a plan and now I am investing.
I also agree that there is a difference between building blog traffic and building blog authority even though they seem to follow the same process.
Creating an asset with one’s site is a dream for all bloggers. I would like for my blog to be invested by others. That would be nice and so awesome. Thanks for sharing.
As usual you have created an awesome post.
Hi Ikechi,
that’s right.
Having a plan is indeed really important.
Set goals, and work to accomplish them.
Building traffic may require little time, at beginning, but building blog authority requires much more efforts.
Glad you liked the input here, thanks for commenting.
Hey Erik,
There are many bloggers making money from Flippa also there are making living out of it they work on team on some projects and then sell their website and make huge money.
Thanks for sharing
Regards
Suprabhat
There are many ways to make money online, also with your blog.
I’m doing good with banners, sponsored posts and freelance writing.
Thanks for commenting,
have a good one!
Hi,
Thanks For Guide it is Really Help Full For me Thanks For Sharing keep up it
Glad you liked the post, Janessa!
Hi Erik,
We all ove our blogs, don’t we? But what happens is we sometimes don’t get on the right track. Your post truly shows what is needed to be done to make your blog valuable as an asset.
Though I would vote for keeping one blog and maintaining it to earn even more income, selling is also not a bad idea for the fast cash. Then we can work on another.
I have seen many pro bloggers like Adam Connel do it too and it is not bad after all we want to be happy and rich, isn’t it?
Hello Swadhin,
that’s why is important having a plan since beginning, if you want to take blogging seriously.
I mean, starting a website just for passion and for sharing personal stuff is one thing,
but creating a blog for the sake of making money with it is another story.
What do you mean, when mentioning Adam Connell?
I’d keep my blog to grow it, but for some projects, selling may be a good opportunity.
Thanks for commenting.
Hi Erik,
When mentioning Adam, I meant that bloggers including him also build blogs and sell them ultimately, so its a good idea to build blogs and sell them in order to make quick money 🙂
Great tips here….Although it contains useful keywords but my blog is not yet an asset for me… would make use of this tips. Thanks
Hi Hadharm,
it’s all about the reason why you started your blog to make it look as an asset or not.
Appreciate your visit and comment.
Hi Erik,
Making our blog into asset is possible if you take care of three things as you said, by building blog authority,by growing the blog traffic, by building infrastructure of the blog.
Selling your blog for less price is foolishness, if you have a blog that earns 100 $ per month and selling it for 1500 $ is not a good idea in my opinion.
Anyway this a good article about making our blog as an asset.
Hello Siddaiah,
normally you can sell a good blog for 12 times your monthly earnings,
but for great ones you can go even for 18/20 times.
It’s all about the quality!
Thanks for leaving your thoughts here.
Hi Erik,
Love the way you have covered all the aspects of building a blog into an asset. Right from buying a domain and hosting to nurturing it into a quality blog, improving the quality to give it a brand name so that it can be called an Asset.
I personally would not want to sell my blog because I have put in a lot of hard work to reach this far and the future has immense possibilities. But yes, people tend to sell niche blogs for a profit and that’s a good way to make money.
Keep up the great work.
Hello Arpit,
glad to hear you liked my post.
Seeing your website as an asset is essential, if you want to take blogging seriously.
I dig your view.
I prefer keep building the blog, and not sell it.
There is not enough money to pay all my efforts! 😉
Thanks for commenting,
have a great day.
Sadly, I have stopped doing this for a long time. I used to buy and sell sites (yep, like real estate) in the past but it takes a toll. I never really developed a passion for it.
I’m planning on trying again later this year when I finish establishing some sites this first half of the year.
Great post as always Erik!
Well, at least you made some good money.
Right, Dennis?
Thanks for leaving your thoughts here,
have a great rest of this week.
Haha, just a little though those sites had a good effect on the others I had 😀
Enjoy the weekend my friend
Glad to hear that.
Enjoy your weekend too, Dennis! 🙂
Hi Erik
I totally see my blog as an asset and have put a lot of effort into creating quality content that really connects with my readers and addresses their concerns. I write about personal development and offer coaching services, and my posts really give me an opportunity to express what I have learned in my own journey, and give them a sense of what it might be like to work with me.
Hi Kelli,
great to see you! 🙂
Glad to hear you confirm my view.
Considering a website as an asset is the way to take blogging seriously.
Let me take this occasion to congratulate with you for your wedding.
You guys make a great couple!
Say hello to Ryan. 😉
Thanks for visiting and commenting today,
have a great rest of this week, in that side of the world.
Thanks for the lovely post, Erik.. I am a newbie in this blogosphere. This post is a booster for the beginners. My blog is my asset as it is very close to my heart. I love writing topics related to self-improvement. I want to your advice on collecting emails . Though, I have placed email subscription box on the top of my home page, I am not able to collect emails. Can you please, have a look.?
Hi Yatin,
the subcription box looks nice, but I think you are missing some traffic.
I mean, you just started your blog, just be patient and write relevant/interesting content. And your visitors will come, who will then turn into subscribers.
Keep up working!
Thanks for your time. Erik, I will keep these things in mind.
Anytime, Yatin.
Good luck! 🙂
Every blogger should treat their blog like an asset. Once a blog reaches a particular level and starts to grow, it can be viewed as an asset. Blogs are actually more valuable than a domain. A good and unique domain can sell for thousands of dollars, though they are rare. However, a blog has both visitors and authority. That’s why they also sell well with minimal effort.
Correct Brian.
Well explained.
That’s why we use to say having an “Online Empire”. 😉
Thanks for taking the time to visit and comment here,
have a great friday.
Now days many bloggers earn hefty money by doing domain flipping. But as abrar said we have to do it smartly, if we want to earn some handsome money.
Thanks for sharing this post erik 🙂
Hello Hamim,
I’ve never being into flipping domain names.
I believe more into building valuable websites, which can be also considered as assets.
Thanks for taking the time to visit and comment here,
have a great friday.
Hi Erik,
Nice share. This post is really helpful for newbies like me to get ideas to convert your blog into an asset.
Thanks for sharing this post 🙂
Glad you liked the post.
Thanks for visiting and commenting, Kuldeep.
Hi Erik,
Beautiful post.
A blog is a big asset which becomes through rigorous hard work. All the pointers like mentions and link comes naturally and sometimes as a result of direct hard work.
True, the importance o link is still relevant and it has a long way to go.
Everyone has their way to build the blog into asset. My goal is to grow it into my authority as of now. Take care. 🙂
Reading blogging blog encourage me to write better… At the beginning, I just write for fun…
Visiting, reading and commenting other websites within your niche is a part of the blogging journey!
Thanks for sharing your views here, Aim.
Hi Erik, i really liked the way you presented this article. I too consider blogging as an asset. I look at it as a very profitable business. I understand that blogging was never started as a business. But it was started to share ideas and knowledge with like-minded people around the world.
But these days blogs are mostly being used as a powerful method of earn online. I’m no different and i’m sure there is nothing wrong about it.
And i just realized that you have put great effort to build such a big 6500+ words blog building guide. It’s amazingly informative and i just shared it on Twitter. Why don’t you turn it into a PDF and let people download it and read it even offline? You can just have the download link inserted anywhere near the beginning.
Hi Tamal,
great suggestion.
It’s a feature I need to offer to my readers.
A PDF version of the blog posts I publish here.
Thanks for visiting and commenting today.
Blog is a big asset for any blogger. To make it the big asset, traffic building, ranking, followers should be there so that its resell value can be more. Nice write up Erik.
Keep writing.
I see my blogs like assets too, Atish.
Thanks for visiting and commenting here.
Have a great rest of this week!
Hi Eric,
Wow…great tips.
Thanks for sharing some of the best tips for converting the a blog in a an asset.
One should write great content and share the blog post to social media to get the quick traffic for building the blog.
Hi Sabrez,
glad you liked the post.
Thanks for leaving your views.
Hello,
Great post. I didn’t about creating an asset.I’m very happy and read the great information that you present and I got lots of important points like Build the Blog Traffic, Creating an Asset.I will definitely save this post and use it for a future.
Thanks to share this great post with us:)
Regards,
pinki Chaurasia
Websites are like assets, they can generate revenue, and even more money over time.
With the proper work, of course.
Glad you liked the post, thanks for commenting Pinki.
Hey Erik, i truly enjoyed the way you exhibited this article. I excessively consider blogging as an advantage. I take a gander at it as an extremely beneficial business. I comprehend that blogging was never begun as a business. Yet, it was begun to impart thoughts and information to similar individuals around the globe.
That’s right.
It’s definitely an investment of time and efforts.
I have a website I haven’t been paying much attention to since I’m spending most of my time on another website I own.
I just get started blogging in local languages. The most obstacle is everything about SEO. I just create good articles for my reader.
hi Erik, I’m a new blogger and I wanna know if it’s possible to generate money with a blog using a Free host and free domain? Is a good choice to create my blog with these conditions what you suggest me?