How Selling a Site is Like Getting a Divorce
December 12, 2007 - Written by Gyutae Park
In the United States today, 45.8% of all marriages end in divorce. Marriage has become something that is treated casually and is done without proper thought or planning. It’s really no wonder why the divorce rate is so high. In the same way, webmasters are now selling their sites at a faster pace than ever before. Reasons for selling a site and cashing in vary but I’ve found that there are many parallels to the reasons why couples get divorced.
Gold diggers
- Getting a divorce: Some people marry for money. Once they are legally entitled to the 50% or have whatever it is they want, the con artists will quickly leave with the goods. It’s a pretty horrible thing to do, but it does happen.
- Selling a site: Similarly, webmasters will create websites for the sole purpose of flipping them for some quick cash. Not as horrible of course, but you get the idea.
Financial troubles
- Getting a divorce: Nothing breaks up relationships more than financial troubles. Who would want to stay with a lazy deadbeat loser who smells bad and has no income?
- Selling a site: Site owners may be forced to sell if they are low on cash and need money to pay the bills.
No love
- Getting a divorce: What happened to the passion, the love, and the zeal in the relationship? Couples break up because there just isn’t anything there anymore.
- Selling a site: In the same way, webmasters sell because they no longer have the drive and passion that they once had to maintain and grow their sites.
Cheating
- Getting a divorce: Marital unfaithfulness breaks hearts, shatters trust, and ruins lives. It’s not long before a spouse finds out about infidelity that he or she quickly decides to file for divorce.
- Selling a site: If a webmaster “cheats” on a site to go work on another, it’s not long before it’s time to sell the site to focus time and attention.
Workaholism
- Getting a divorce: Many professionals work long hours and just don’t have the time or energy to work on their marriages. Hello career and goodbye marriage.
- Selling a site: Many webmasters work long hours on their sites to the point of exhaustion. At a certain time they will get burnt out and be forced to sell it all away.
Family strains
- Getting a divorce: Family issues and differences are always tough to deal with but in many cases are causes for divorce.
- Selling a site: Partners or companies who own web properties may be sell because of differences in goals, visions, or strategies. Also, a bad reputation or stress related to community-based sites can cause webmasters to call it quits.
Abuse
- Getting a divorce: People stay in abusive relationships because they are either delusional or know no other way. Divorce is inevitable.
- Selling a site: Webmasters who neglect or treat their sites badly will oftentimes have their sites bought out by a more caring owner who can see potential.
Mid-life crisis
- Getting a divorce: During a mid-life crisis, people need change. To them, divorce may seem like the answer.
- Selling a site: Webmasters may need new projects to bring the excitement back. Selling their sites and doing something new is a viable option.
Addictions
- Getting a divorce: Drug habits and gambling are huge threats to any marriage.
- Selling a site: Addictive TV series, obsessive Adsense stats checking, and constant email and IM chatting can waste valuable time and cause webmasters to sell sites.
Long distance
- Getting a divorce: Tender love and care is required for a thriving marriage. Not providing a spouse with regular attention causes tension and is cause for divorce.
- Selling a site: Sites are often created with high expectations, only to be left alone for months at a time. It’s better to sell than to neglect.
What about the kids?
As you can see, going through a divorce and selling a site have many things in common. Looking on the bright side, many married couples with children try to work things out and stay together for the kids. In the same way, unless the initial goal is to sell, webmasters should try to manage and keep up with their sites before giving up. You owe it to the loyal readers!
![[Post to Twitter]](http://www.winningtheweb.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
If you like this post, subscribe to the RSS feed. Get the latest updates FREE.
Loading ...
Well, if you want to make sure not to disappoint your readers, even if you really must sell a site, you should agree with the buyer that he will continue to develop the site, further improve it and continuously write new content, in the same niche…this way, the transition will be smooth
Hmm.. it’s sort of hard to imagine selling MY site but I guess it depends from person to person. Even if it’s going to be the same niche, post topics, etc, without your OWN writing style it’s not the same.
“It’s better to sell than to neglect.”
I agree and that’s why I added a “Blog For Sale” category on 1 Cool File. So, if a blogger is tired of a blog or has too many, he/she can sell it while it has still some value. It also help to decrease “dead blogs”.
P.S. no new letters in this post
“No Love” and “Cheating” are the reasons why I’m selling my site. This post was really fun to read
just what I needed to wake me up.
Besides being so true, I actually found these comparisons to be hysterically funny
Thanks for the great post!
Nice one. Gold digger all the way…
Those comparisons are real good.
You can make a site , work on it till it makes 1k per month go on DP and sell it for 10k.
You will find many deals like this and people really buy them.
“Cheating
* Getting a divorce: Marital unfaithfulness breaks hearts, shatters trust, and ruins lives. It’s not long before a spouse finds out about infidelity that he or she quickly decides to file for divorce.
* Selling a site: If a webmaster “cheats” on a site to go work on another, it’s not long before it’s time to sell the site to focus time and attention.”
I’ve noticed this going on with the Million Dollar Wiki founder moving on to Entrecard. Heh.
Nice post. Great ideas.
@sylv3rblade
I definitely agree with you. Writing style is probably most important when dealing with blogs.
I guess I would be classified as a con artist by you.
Good comparison between the two.
It’s an ugly comparison, but it seems to be pretty true. Still a selling a site is completly different because you do not create your wife/husband like you do with a site, it’s not like you own it and that stuff, so it’s a pretty fruitless image unless you think of your wife/husband as something you created. Still, fun to read
Huh. Thanks for the info.
@hts
That’s the ideal situation. Unfortunately it seldom happens. I site is rarely the same after owners change hands because the webmasters use different styles. This is especially true for a blog that is closely tied to its main owner.
@Steve McGrath
Hm, I don’t see that section on your site. I think the dead:alive ratio of blogs is about 1000:1.
@Adam McKerlie
Glad I could wake you up!
@Dereck
Thanks for reading.
@The University Kid
Now I’m not saying she’s a gold digger…. dun dun
@Dan Florin
A little work can go a long way. Do you have any experience flipping sites like that?
@Tevin Anderson
It seems to be pretty common. Entrepreneurs start a project then move on to the next. It’s probably easier to leave a site like Million Dollar Wiki because all of the copycats now.
@Jerlene
Welcome to the club, con artist.
@QuarterWiki
Thanks. Can you think of any other comparisons that might work?
@sven
It’s an ugly comparison indeed. I have no idea how it occurred to me to make a blog post about it. But it does work. You don’t own your wife? Haha, just kidding.
@Josh
No problem.
It’s here but empty. Better to make it available now and offer that option.
Blog For Sale
Anyone wanting to sell an old blog
I can’t remember where but I seem to have read that 10Millions blogs were updated frequently.
First blog: agloconnected.com Yup, got rid of that three weeks ago, quick as I could, lol. Gotta admit though, I wasn’t too passionate about updating that one…probably because the Agloco development team wasn’t too passionate about updating us…..
@Steve McGrath
That probably includes all of the blogspot, myspace, and wordpress.com blogs that aren’t monetized.
@Jason
Yeah I heard about the whole agloco flop. That’s unfortunate but it really goes to show you that you can’t rely on anyone or anything to run your business online.
Ha, I love the Gold Digger one, great post
There sure can be a few negatives to selling a site that relate to the separation process. The site-creator is separating himself from his creation, and this can result in the part of one’s mind that is dedicated to the site to look for a new place to become active.