Writer's Notes' Value in Early 2008 Nearing $90K
January 12th 2008 08:40
The New Year: A Perfect Time to Assess My Blog's Worth
As it had been a while since I 'd checked the monetary value of Writer's Notes--and since the beginning of the year seemed the perfect time for an assessment--I decided to visit Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog yesterday to find out how much my blog is worth these days. So I clicked on over to Dane's How Much Is Your Blog Worth? post, typed my blog's URL into the box, and waited with bated breath to see just how much my blog had grown in value since the last time I'd checked.
A Little Background on the Blog Value Calculator Tool
For those who may not have seen it before, a bit of background follows. It will allow you to delve more deeply into the rationale behind the calculations that are involved. And what better way to provide a little background than to quote the creator of the blog value calculator tool, allowing him to point you to the sources/formulas he used in its creation.
Here's what Dane Carlson has to say about the tool he himself has created and uses to determine a blog's worth:
Inspired by Tristan Louis's research into the value of each link to Weblogs Inc, I've created this little applet using Technorati's API which computes and displays your blog's worth using the same link to dollar ratio as the AOL-Weblogs Inc deal.
Writer's Notes' Latest Blog Value Calculation
Here's the graphic containing the latest value for Writer's Notes:
My blog is worth $88,632.78.
How much is your blog worth?
A Few Words About My Blog's Growth in Value
The value of my blog has grown considerably since the first time I used the tool back in late July, 2007 (July 23rd, to be exact), at which time it stood at $22,017.06--still impressive for a six-month-young blog, I thought. (My first post on the topic, How Much Is Your Blog Worth? contains the original graphic, as well as info on where I first learned about Dane Carlson's tool.)
Eleven days from today will mark six months since the first time I used the tool. This means that, in less than six months, my blog's value has increased by $66,615.72 (from $22,017.06 to $88,632.78)--which represents an over four-fold increase. Another way of looking at it would be that Writer's Notes' value has increased by an average of over $11,000 a month during the past close-to-six-month period.
As My First Year of Blogging Draws to a Close, I Feel Satisfied
While mine is far from the most valuable blog in the blogosphere, I'm pretty happy with my numbers! I would say without a moment's hesitation that, along with all the fun I've had finding and sharing resources, writing blog posts, and connecting with my readers via comments, those numbers constitute success for a blogger just about ready to celebrate her first blogging anniversary (January 28, 2008)!
And, do you know what? If I had it to do over again--I would! Thanks to all my readers for helping to make the journey so much fun--and for helping to make my blog's value constitute so much more than mere money!
I couldn't have done it without you!
Many thanks!
Jeanne
P.S. While you're at it, why not visit Dane's blog and check out your own blog's value? Just click the "How much is your blog worth?" link in the above graphic or the link in the first paragraph of this post.
Did you enjoy this post? Have any thoughts to share? Please feel free to comment!
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Comment by AmyHuang
Sydney Table
Sydney Fun
Project Job Search
Travel Debate
Travel String
Love Adventures
TravelString is worth $0
SydneyFun is worth $0
yet... my not well rated blog Amy's 2 Cents... is worth $564.54
I wonder how he calculates these values?
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Blog value is based on the number and value of backlinks to your blog. The "Tristan Louis's research" link in the quotation from Dane Carlson's blog, above, explains where he got the values he uses in calculating the value of incoming links to your blog.
The key to increasing your blog's value is in attracting a growing number of incoming links from high-quality blogs. You can do this by visiting and commenting on other blogs; joining blog communities like MyBlogLog, Blog Catalog, TheGoodBlogs, etc.; joining social bookmarking and other blogging-related sites like DMOZ, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and Technorati; entering your blog posts into blog carnivals that are related to your blogs' topics; writing guest posts on other hopefully more widely-known blogs; and posting articles in article directories.
Of course, you'll want to make sure you always post a link to your blog(s) wherever you leave comments, write posts, or contribute articles. Selling your work to various websites on the internet and including a link to your blog can also help.
In time, other people will visit your blog and also link to it when they find valuable content there. It takes time, energy, and effort, but it's well worth it! And you'll meet many wonderful bloggers along the way!
Commenting on other blogs and befriending other bloggers is a very big one on the list! When you get to know other bloggers and begin linking to them (possibly writing posts in which you include links to their blogs and/or blog posts), you'll find that they'll begin doing the same for you. When they find content they like on your blog, they'll sometimes write about it in their own posts and link to it, as well, which will not only add to your blog's backlinks, but also bring more traffic to your blog, increasing your potential for even more backlinks.
Getting links from any high-quality blog is helpful, but it's even better to link to quality blogs within your own blog's niche whenever possible. Google counts links from quality blogs that are relevant to your niche the highest, which will eventually help you move up in the search results, get more of your pages indexed, and attract more search traffic to your blog.
Best of luck!
Jeanne
Comment by Lynn Smythe
The Pagan Path
Freelance Online Work
I Love Herbs
Freelance Online Work (which I just took over on December 27th) is worth $0.00
The Pagan Path (which I took over in October)is worth $29,920.
And I Love Herbs, which is a brand new blog I started in October, is worth the most: $55,324.92.
Totally opposite of what I thought the blogs would be worth. FOW and TPP blogs were both in the blog cemetary but are both over 1 year old. I thought the old blogs from the previous bloggers would still count for something.
But FOW and TPP both rank higher on Orble than ILH. Weird.
When can I cash in my ticket and collect my $55,000!?!
Comment by tlcorbin
Coffee Quip
A Global Citizen
Paranormal Paranormal
Is Why
Alaska Chronicle
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Sounds like you've really done well with I Love Herbs! Its value has increased very quickly! Good work! TPP has also done well. I think you'll have to give Freelance Online Work a little time to get going, though, which is to be expected and certainly nothing to worry about, since the blog is so new.
I don't really think blog age per se has that much to do with blog value, since a dormant blog doesn't get many new backlinks. Blogs need to be updated regularly to receive any real attention in the blogosphere; so blogs that have sat in the Orble Blog Cemetary for any length of time probably wouldn't tend to rank very high in monetary value--even once they were revived. It would pretty much be like starting over--except for the fact that they would have some content already in their archives, some previously acquired backlinks, and possibly some pages already indexed by Google--which could speed up the process somewhat.
It's actually not that surprising that FOW and TPP rank higher at Orble than ILH does, because Orble's rankings are based on traffic to your blog (individual readers) whereas blog worth, as determined with Dane Carlson's tool, is based on the monetary value of inbound links (backlinks) to your site--two totally different criteria for measuring blog worth.
Ideally, a blog will rank high in BOTH areas: traffic AND inbound links; but it usually takes time to grow both. It's very fortunate that your inbound links to ILH have grown so quickly. You must be doing SOMETHING right!
Thanks for sharing your blog values!
Jeanne
P.S. You're not the only one wondering when you can cash in and collect your windfall!
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
I find it fascinating to use this tool periodically and watch my blog's value gradually increase. It's very encouraging! And it does tend to prompt us to get out into the blogosphere, discover new blogs, meet other bloggers, promote our own blogs, and do a little networking.
Hope you have as much fun with this tool as I have!
Thanks for the visit!
Jeanne
Comment by hotel-mark
I'm beginning to wonder now, who exactly IS this mystery man I'm refering to with all this money
Best wishes Mark.
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
One thing's for sure: Just because the Technorati tool says a blog is worth a certain amount of money, that's no guarantee that a blogger would actually be able to collect that much for it! Even $20,000 would be a lot to pay for a blog, don't you think?
I've often wondered about that, though, because a blog that's become popular because it's written by a certain blogger would seem to lose value after being sold to someone else. And, if that's the case, why on earth would anyone want to pay a large amount of money for it? I suppose that, if the blog were to keep the name of the former blogger, it might make a difference; but what blogger would want to entrust his or her name/reputation to another blogger?
At any rate, I consider the blog value tool to be a fun way of determining how much progress I'm making as a blogger over time, rather than how much I might actually be able to get for my blog. Besides which, I love blogging and really believe my blog has value as a way of gaining exposure for my writing, building my "brand," making friends, and networking with readers/writers/bloggers. I'd miss that if I ever sold my blog. (Though I won't pretend the money wouldn't be nice to have!)
Thanks for your input!
Jeanne
Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
I'm sure that's not at all the case! The only thing a zero value on the Blog Value Calculator means is that you don't have enough incoming links to your blog to get a monetary value. A bit of effort put into networking with other bloggers to get backlinks to your site will remedy that situation, though of course it will take time to build up a sizable number of links. If you keep at it, though, eventually you'll see your blog's value increase.
One way of looking at it is that, since you're blogging anyway and will presumably continue to blog, and since time will be passing anyway while you're continuing to blog, you've nothing to lose by using some of that time to build up your incoming links. (In fact, you've a great deal to gain.)
It's important to remember, though, that backlinks are only ONE way of determining your blog's value. If your blog gets a great deal of traffic and you've built up a loyal community of readers who visit regularly and many of whom comment often, your blog has value whether or NOT you have any incoming links. That's because backlinks are only ONE dimension of blog value, albeit an important one--since such widely regarded blog ratings as Technorati ranking and authority are partly based on backlinks.
Even if your blog DOESN'T have much traffic or many loyal readers YET, that doesn't mean it isn't a quality blog that brings value to the readers it DOES have. It also doesn't mean its traffic won't grow in the future, as you continue to bring your readers value through informative, inspiring, and entertaining posts.
So, hang in there! Do everything you can to make your blog the best it can be. Be responsive to your readers, and get out into the blogosphere and make friends. Leave thoughtful comments on other quality blogs, and you'll begin to attract not just traffic but backlinks to your blog.
Best of luck to you!
Jeanne
Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
Smiles
Well, right now, anything on the internet is brief, as I have little computer time at the moment because of that thing that gave birth to me.
Hopefully I'll eventually get things up and running and going well.
~Dianna
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Glad you were joking about your blog being worth zilch!
Wishing you the best!
Jeanne