How to Successfully Sell a Blog: Part One

By guest contributor Maddy Hague, who successfully sold her site, Inspired Bride, earlier this year. Photography by Lackluster.

If you've decided it's time to move on from your blog or website, you're probably considering selling it rather than just shutting down. After all, you put in long hours, and there's a lot of great content on there. It would be a waste to just let it disappear from the face of the Earth. It takes a little bit of advance work, but with a little effort, your blog or site could be in the hands of another; continuing your legacy of great content. Here's how you can get started:

1) Gather Your Information
Potential buyers, as well as domain sales websites, want to know all of the fine details about your site in order to give it a thorough vetting. In addition to monthly unique visitors and page views, you'll need the following information:

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How to Make the Most of Alt

By guest contributor Erin Loechner. Photography by Geoff Mcfetridge.

Now that you've purchased your ticket to Alt, I'm sure you are busy prepping packing lists and printing business cards. Right? Listen, conferences can be a serious investment for entrepreneurs and bloggers. Here's how to make sure you get the most out of your Alt experience:

1) Plan in advance
Is your dream advertiser a sponsor at Alt? Is your favorite blogger speaking? Pen a thoughtful note prior to the conference, asking for five minutes of their time. Meeting face-to-face can solidify any relationship, and is a great way to guarantee you'll get a purposeful chat with them.

Extra Credit: If you ask for five minutes, be respectful of that time, Avoid pitching, be complimentary, and send a follow up thank you note when the conference is over.

2) Schedule accordingly
Watch for schedule updates and peruse the various panel topics in advance. Choose ideas and lessons that you'll find helpful at this stage of your blogging career. If you have trouble deciding which panels to attend, ask a friend to attend a different panel than you. You can compare notes with them over lunch.

Extra Credit: There are plenty of breaks between panels, so be sure to stop by each sponsored suite and get to know a few of your favorite companies. You just might plant the seed for a budding partnership!

3) Connect, connect, connect
Although the information you'll be gaining is invaluable, it's the people that are the true gems of any blogging conference. Make an effort to foster new relationships while re-connecting with a few older ones. Blogging can be a fairly isolating gig, so look for friendships you can maintain long after the conference has ended.

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Branding: Deciding Which Passion to Follow

By guest contributor Mariah Danielsen. Photography by Caleb Brown Everitt.

When you’re a multi-passionate entrepreneur, it can be difficult to decide on a path to follow. Which path will let you have the most fun while making the most money. Here are a few things to think about when you’re trying to decide what to focus on:

What Will People Pay You For?

The secret to growing a brand that you love is getting paid to do what you love. Take your passions and incorporate them into aspects of your business.

Write down all the things you love to do in your free time; all the things people say you’re the best at, and all the things you have a passion for. From there, think about which of these things people will actually pay you for. Focus on growing those offerings in your business.

Choosing a path that you love will make your work so much more fun, and won’t feel like work at all.

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The Costs of Doing Business

By guest contributor Helena Swyter. Photography by The Purl Bee.

The small expenses of running a business can add up quickly. Be sure to keep track of the expenses you can deduct (i.e., subtract from your profits for the year when determining your tax situation).

In order to deduct business expenses, an expense must be ordinary and necessary. This means that they are common to people in your line of work, and are necessary for you to do business. Keep in mind that business expenses that are ordinary for one person may not be for another, so be sure to evaluate your specific situation.

Below are some common business expenses that many business owners may overlook.

Internet - Your deduction for your internet connection cost depends on your specific situation. For those who work from home, the IRS knows we are not using the internet connection for business all the time (we’ve got to take Pinterest breaks). You won't be able to deduct the entire cost of getting your home office connected to the web. However, you can deduct a portion - the “business portion."

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Illustrator 103: Color

By guest contributor Melissa Coleman.

Working with color should be simple, but it can often the biggest hang-up when designing. Today we're going to tackle color palettes and how to implement them into your design. It's far less technical compared to last week, but it can make or break your design.

Whether you're designing for your blog or a special project, it's good to start with a color palette. Illustrator has a lot of preset Swatch Libraries you can choose from. Make sure your Swatch Palette is available by going to Window> Swatches. Click the down arrow on the top right of the window and select Open Swatch Library. You'll see a multitude of palettes to choose from. This can be a little overwhelming. I always seem to find myself at Design Seeds for inspiration. She has a site full of beautiful palettes. Let's start there.

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