Making $2M building and selling blogs

Since he started building content companies, Marc Andre has had six 6-figure exits totaling $2M. In 2023 alone, he sold three blogs for $800k.

I caught up with him to discuss content businesses — how to grow them and how to sell them. 👇

$2M in acquisitions

James: Let's go back to the beginning.

Marc: I started my first blog as a side project in 2007. I had a full-time job at the time and was looking to make some extra money, but I didn't have big aspirations.

The project was a design blog and it wound up growing pretty quickly. Once I saw some growth, I saw the potential to do it full-time, and that became my goal.

James: How long did that take?

Marc: It took about a year and a half, but in late 2008, I left my full-time job and I've been running my business full-time since then.

James: What happened next?

Marc: I had a big "aha" moment when I was reading about other blogs selling. There weren't a ton of blogs selling back then and the transactions you'd hear about were usually fairly small, but it was still mind blowing at the time.

Then a blogger I knew sold his blog on Flippa for $40k and it really opened my eyes. Ever since then, I've built my websites and blogs with the intention of selling them at some point.

James: So you sold that first blog?

Marc: I wound up selling it in 2013 for $500,000. By the time I sold it, it was making about $25,000 per month in profit. After that, I had a few photography sites, my wife and I ran an Amazon FBA business for about two years, then I had a personal finance blog, and two more design blogs. All of those websites/businesses have now been sold.

James: How many sales is that now?

Marc: In total, I've had six different six-figure exits, totaling over $2 million.

In 2023 alone, I sold three blogs for a combined total of about $800,000.

James: What are you up to in 2024?

Marc: Currently, I'm working on two projects. FlipMySite.com covers topics related to buying and selling websites and online businesses, and FounderReports.com is a site I just launched with a partner.

How to choose your niche

James: How do you decide what type of blog to start?

Marc: I basically pick something that I want to work on and something that provides monetization options.

Now that Google puts more weight into expertise and authority, I also consider my own strengths and experience.

James: That's it?

Marc: I've had difficulty growing email lists with some blogs. So when I was thinking about the types of websites I want to run in 2024 and beyond, I considered the types of content that people would want to get in an email, and the types of content they’d want to share on social media. That content is usually different than what you’d create for SEO.

James: You mentioned expertise. Do you have to be an expert?

Marc: I don’t think you have to be an expert, but it certainly helps to have some idea of what you’re talking about.

I’ve tried a few niche sites over the years on topics that I didn’t know. I hired freelancers to do the writing. But that’s hard because I really can’t edit a freelancer’s writing without researching every fact. I’ve never done well with those sites.

James: Do you look for big or small markets?

Marc: When it comes to blogs and online business, a lot of people say you should focus on low-competition niches. But all of my successful blogs and websites have been in popular, crowded niches like design, photography, and personal finance.

James: Why's that?

Marc: The monetization possibilities in popular niches are usually a lot more significant than what you'll find in lower-competition niches. I don't attempt to become an industry leader. I just try to take a small part of a bigger pie.

How to grow

James: How do you grow your blogs?

Marc: I've always used content for traffic generation. The past few years, I've focused heavily on SEO, but with the frequency and severity of Google updates, and changes related to AI, I'm focusing more on other sources like an email list and social media now.

James: Is SEO something indie hackers should be wary of these days?

Marc: I still think SEO is important and I still value organic search traffic, but not exclusively. Over the past five years or so, I did very little to get traffic in any way aside from SEO. Today, I don’t think that’s a safe approach.

One of the sites I sold took a big hit from the Google updates after I sold it.

James: Okay, so SEO is still relevant — what's your process?

Marc: My approach involves keyword research to find topics and keywords to cover, and the creation of optimized content. I use tools like KWFinder and Semrush to find keywords. I’ll look at the keywords that competitors are ranking for, plus try to find other keywords that may be more “hidden”.

I also do link building. My best links have come from HARO and networking with other bloggers

James: Tried and true. Do you do anything unusual?

Marc: I’ve never been a big fan of simply choosing all the low-competition keywords and creating content. I like to create content clusters that cover a sub-topic thoroughly.

If you’re just finding individual keywords, I feel like the content is kind of all over the place and the site lacks personality. So, if there’s a topic that I think makes sense to cover based on the content cluster, I’ll write about it even if the competition is high or the search volume is non-existent.

James: I like that. Anything else that worked for you?

Marc: When I was working on established blogs that had a lot of published content (my finance and design blogs), I spent almost as much time updating old content as I did creating new content. I had great results improving posts that were ranking at the bottom of the first page or on the second page of the search results.

James: Okay, and why did you decide email and social are best for you now?

Marc: Different types of sites and different niches come with their own opportunities.

I felt like both Flip My Site and Founder Reports have target audiences that are passionate about the topics. People who are really passionate about the topics will be more likely to subscribe to an email newsletter and look forward to the emails. And they’ll also follow on social media. But they won't do well on Google.

How to monetize

James: Let's talk about monetization.

Marc: My monetization methods have varied depending on the site, but I have experience with digital products, affiliate marketing, and ad revenue.

James: Is there a "best" way?

Marc: I don’t think there’s one way that’s always the best, but I will say that selling digital products is my favorite monetization method.

James: Why?

Marc: I like digital products for several reasons:

• Your income is much less dependent on traffic levels.

• Your products can generate revenue for years.

• Growing and scaling is easier and more lucrative.

• There are lots of opportunities for collaboration.

• You don’t need a huge audience or high traffic to make good money.

• More of the details are in your control (compared to affiliate marketing or monetizing with ads).

But what’s best really depends on the topic, the audience, and your own personal interests.

James: You started off using ads, right?

Marc: Yes but, while I liked monetizing with ads, I hated the fact that I was constantly chasing traffic.

Creating and selling products allowed me to make money without being so dependent on traffic. I could sell products on marketplaces and deal sites or run sales and promos if I ever needed revenue. And as I got more experience with products and improved conversions, I made more money without getting more traffic.

James: What was something you did that helped you increase product revenue?

Marc: After I was about a year into my photography site, I decided to start a second photography site that was similar to my first one. This may sound like a weird decision, but I had a specific reason.

By this point, I had good contacts with about 10 different deal sites and marketplaces where I sold my products. They were always looking for new deals to promote, but my opportunities were limited because they couldn’t promote the same deals on my products all the time.

Creating another brand that sold similar products essentially doubled the number of promos — and sales — I did at these sites.

How to get acquired

James: How long does it usually take you to get from idea to sale?

Marc: I worked on most of the sites for 4-6 years before selling. The exceptions would be the blogs that I purchased and flipped. They took under 2 years.

James: How do you sell your sites?

Marc: I’ve sold websites privately, on marketplaces, and through brokers. Some sellers avoid brokers because of the fees, but I’ve found good brokers to be well worth it.

Two of the last three sales I’ve had have been through Quiet Light. Brad Wayland was my broker both times and I highly recommend him. In both cases, it was quick and I got way more for it than I would have been able to get on my own.

James: Are there any situations where you wouldn't go with a broker?

Marc: In my opinion, a broker is usually the best choice unless you have a specific buyer in mind and you know you’re getting a good price.

The downside is that most brokers have minimum requirements, so they’re not an option for smaller sales. Something like Empire Flippers could be an option for sites making $2,000 per month or more. Otherwise, marketplaces like Investors Club and Motion Invest are good options.

James: You mentioned that you always build with the intention of selling. What does that entail?

Marc: A few things I consider:

• Avoid heavy personal branding. Potential buyers will worry that people follow you personally and not the site itself.

• Limit your hours. Most buyers don’t want to buy a job. They want to hire others to run the site. The fewer hours you work on the site, the more attractive it will be.

• Stick to products, affiliate programs, and ads for revenue. For content sites, these are the monetization methods most buyers prefer. Buyers generally aren’t as interested in revenue from sponsored content.

• Diversify your traffic. This is more important than ever.

• Diversify your revenue. Buyers don’t want to see all of your revenue coming from one product or one affiliate program.

• Keep things clean. Make sure the site will be easy for someone else to run. Don’t have tons of custom scripts and other things that will be difficult for a buyer to grasp. Also keep good records of all your affiliate accounts so you can easily pass it on to the buyer.

• Build a team. For content sites, have freelance writers, editors, VAs, or whatever is needed to run the site. Buyers like to see that there’s a team in place to continue running the site.

James: You do all that from the get-go?

Marc: A lot of these things don’t need to be in place until you’re closer to selling. For example, there’s nothing wrong with personal branding if you have no plans to sell the site anytime soon. But if you’re thinking of selling in the next year or so, it makes sense to ease off of the personal branding gradually.

The same thing is true with building a team and reducing your working hours. That doesn’t impact your ability to sell until you get close to a sale. If I’m looking to sell a site in the next year, I’ll aim to reduce the time I spend on it and get some freelancers in place.

James: What are blog valuations based on?

Marc: Profit is by far the biggest factor, and the monetization method.

Other things like the age and history of the site, traffic, trends, an email list, and a social media following can have an impact, but nothing compares to profit.

How to mitigate risk from AI (and leverage it)

James: You mentioned AI earlier. What are the threats?

Marc: If you go after organic search traffic, there are two basic threats from AI:

1. Competing with AI-generated content in the search results

2. Google and other search engines using AI in the search results instead of pushing people to websites to get information

For the past year, I’ve felt the threat from #2 is much more significant than #1.

James: How so?

Marc: AI writers have come a long way very quickly, but it’s still possible to manually create content and outrank the competition. Website owners can also adapt and incorporate AI into their own content creation. But if Google answers more search queries with AI and sends fewer visitors to websites and blogs, there’s not much you can do.

James: What can you do in that scenario?

Marc: Targeting searches that AI can’t answer is one option. Or stop relying on search.

James: How can you mitigate the risk overall?

Marc: Two things:

• Create content that AI doesn’t currently do very well.

• Build diverse traffic sources instead of relying on search.

I’m trying to focus on content that I know AI can’t currently reproduce as well as I can write it. For example, I wrote a guide to website flipping that’s pretty detailed. There’s no way AI could currently cover this topic effectively without a lot of human involvement.

I’ll avoid basic informational content that answers a question unless I feel like it’s an important topic that needs to be on my site. That content is among the easiest to create with AI, and it’s also more likely to be replaced by Google using AI in the search results.

Also, the interview content at both of my sites is not something that AI can replicate.

James: Okay, and how do you leverage AI?

Marc: I don’t like AI for writing full articles, at least not yet. I think all AI-generated content should at least be edited by a human.

I love using ChatGPT and other programs for brainstorming, idea generation, outlining articles, and breaking through writer's block for intros.

And I’m currently looking at ways to use AI for social media. I’m hoping to start a YouTube channel for my sites and AI technology can turn video/audio content into written blog posts and social posts very quickly.

The viability of blogs

James: Any parting words?

Marc: I don't think I'm an outlier. Blogs are very viable options for indie hackers.

A few years ago, I was in a networking group with about 10-15 personal finance bloggers. Most of them were new to blogging. Out of that group, about 5 or 6 of them have been very successful, including a few who have been far more successful than me. And that’s in one of the most competitive niches out there.

But it does take a lot of work. Most people want quick results and it usually doesn’t happen that way.

James: Where can people find you?

Marc: You can find me on LinkedIn and X. Or check out Flip My Site and Founder Reports.