DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com, one ugly blog sold for $10 million

DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com is not the first news blog to be sold on such a huge sum of money. By contrary, Bankaholic was sold to bankrate.com for 15 million dollars (one blog, written by one man). Another example is ContentNext.com (which we all know today as paidContent.org) which was acquired last year by The Guardian for 30 million dollars.

But DHD.com is special. And that’s because it’s one of the ugliest blogs ever. I know, maybe this was important:

Deadline Hollywood Daily is the 24/7 Internet version of well-known showbiz journalist Nikki Finke’s uniquely candid and informed LA Weekly column. She never pulls her punches. Come for her cynicism. Stay for the subversion.

Still, it really needs a fast redesign. But that’s not point. The cool thing about this sale is that despite the looks, content will always rule. This could be a starting point for a long conversation about how newspapers won’t die, for example. Basically, DHD.com respects Justin Tadlock’s first rule of WordPress SEO (which is a joke, but it’s not that funny ’cause it’s the real truth).

In my opinion, Mail.com Media Corp. should invest in a new design for Deadline Hollywood Daily. Keeping its present basic structure, keeping few of the present elements, that would make a great change in a good way. Giving the blog a (some sort of) quality tabloid look, that could bring lots of new visitors.

Of course, one thing I would modify would be the headings, which look really unprofessional. And I’d work more on the titles, they’re really long. But that wouldn’t be Mail.com Media Corp.’s choice. Anyway, this is a really good example of success. Despite ugliness, content rules. That’s a lesson every blogger should learn.