Green Llama

If you’re a reader of Technosailor.com ( and you should be, if you’re not now ) then you already know about it. Just in case you’re living in a cave, then you should know that Technosailor is for sale. The sale is running through a Sitepoint auction, with a Buy it Now price of $30,000. Bidding has already reached a little over $23,000.

Now, Technosailor is a bit of a mish-mash site, in that it ranges over a pretty wide variety of topics. Aaron Brazell, the owner and writer of Technosailor, has a distinct style about his writing. It’s hard to put into words, but reading through just a few posts will give you a feel for what Aaron’s all about.

With Aaron putting Technosailor on the auction blog, it begs the question,

Can a blog flourish when the main author cashes in and leaves?

The last big blog sale I know if is the famous Blog Herald. Back when Duncan Riley was the owner / writer, Blog Herald was *the* place for blogging news. Since Duncan sold it, it’s already changed hands again, and I no longer have it in my Bloglines account. The new owners just weren’t.. well… they weren’t Duncan. And that’s the problem I see with Technosailor – the new owner, no matter how good, won’t be Aaron. I’m sure some people will stick around to see how the new guy handles things, but many will likely leave and just reminisce about the good old days when Aaron was running the site.

Is $30,000 a reasonable price for what is basically a personal blog?

Thirty thousand dollars is a lot of coin. A whole lot of coin. It’s more than many people make in an entire year, before taxes. Only interested people with very deep pockets will even have a chance at Technosailor. And, according to the Sitepoint auction page, the site brings in just $250 per month. At this rate, if nothing changes, it would take 120 months – 10 years – to recoup the investment.

Granted, the advertising on Technosailor is minimal, and could easily be increased. Given the subjects on the blog, and the traffic it receives, I’d think that $500 per month would be cake, and $700-800 is probably within reach without too much trouble. At $800 per month revenue, that puts the break-even point at a little over 3 years. More reasonable, yes, but still a little heavy IMHO. A lot of hard work has gone into Technosailor, that is apparent, but going for 3 years of potential revenue is reaching for the sky.

I think Technosailor will find a home. I just hope that the new owner is ready for the challenges ahead, and has really thought through the purchase. He will have a lot of work ahead of him, and some big shoes to fill.