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In early 2008, I began a deal blog. It was fun. It was growing. And I loved it.

But then the work hours it demanded grew, and my family seemed to grow at an even faster rate. Eventually, I found myself tired, stressed, and stretched far too thin. I weighed my options and decided it was time to sell. Not long after, I began a second blog and flipped that one after just over a year. After selling two blogs in 15 months, it’s safe to say I’ve picked up a few tips on how to flip a site.

How do you know if it’s time to sell?

• You feel done for more than a few weeks. You’ll know it when you are. It’s more than just a rut.
• You cannot keep up with the work load, and you can’t contract out the work load any more than you are already.
• It’s no longer healthy for you or your family.
• You feel as if you’ve grown your blog as far as you are able and that someone else could take it to the next level.

If you answered yes to some of these questions, it may be time to sell your site.

Once you decide to sell, there is a lot to consider.

Value of Your Site

Business entrepreneurs may tell you that a business is worth three to ten times your average yearly earnings, but at the end of the day, your business is worth what someone will pay for it. What would you realistically pay for your business? Ask trusted business owners in your inner circle what they would pay.

How to Find a Buyer

There are a variety of ways to find a buyer. For starters, you can let your network know you would like to sell. If you don’t mind your readers knowing, you can advertise it on your site as well. If you’d like to be a little more discreet, like I perfer, eBay, Craigslist, and Flippa are great places to find buyers, as well as better determine a realistic asking price.

How to Sell

Once you find a potential buyer, I recommend signing a mutual non-disclosure agreement. This gives you a little peace of mind when sharing confidential information, like earnings and traffic.

A potential buyer will want to see proof of revenue from all revenue streams. Be prepared with this information. Also be prepared to share your average yearly expenses.

You’ll also need to define all the properties you are selling. Are you just selling the site, or will your buyer also receive your Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts? Will you transfer your newsletter email list to them as well? Are they buying your whole business including the business entity’s name or just the assets of your blog? These questions need to be negotiated, along with your selling price, with the potential buyer.

You will also need to agree upon the financial terms. Will you require the purchase amount on the day of the sale, or will you accept it in payments over an extended period of time? Do you trust one another enough to send payment through the mail or will you use a third party escrow service?

Once you are ready to move forward with your buyer, you’ll need to draw up a contract. In the case of my blog sales, I consulted with different business attorneys who told me how to draw up a suitable contract using for-a-fee online templates. This saved us thousands of dollars in legal fees and was a fairly easy DIY process. Whether you go this route or have an attorney write the contract for you, you will need a contract of sale with the buyer.

While connecting with a buyer, setting contract terms, and finalizing the sale may seem daunting, the most difficult and unexpected part of selling a blog was, for me, letting go. A blog can become like a lesser loved child. You birthed, nurtured, and raised it into a fine thing, but when the contract is signed, you have to let that child go.

For better or worse, no matter what the future of the blog may bring, it’s not yours anymore. You can’t control design or content changes anymore, because those decisions no longer belong to you. So instead of incessantly checking the site under new ownership for changes or reader comments, just close your laptop and move onto other projects- like creating your next blog to flip.

Dana Adams is the owner and editor of the new online community for moms, ChumMom (chummom.com), and a social media entrepreneur. She is also knee-deep in diapers and Cheerios as a stay-at-home mom to three little ones, ages four and under. Dana is married to her high school sweetheart, and they reside in a beautiful college town in Virginia. She is also a NPR-aficionado, yoga newbie, Christ-follower, and sucker for a good story.