Blog, Web, Domain, and Business Online Articles

All the hype about the sale of Weblogs Inc. to America Online (AOL) has given rise to the now famous question – How much is your blog worth? In acquiring Weblogs Inc., AOL has provided some concrete metrics to future valuation of blogs. How much will traditional media be willing to pay for a blog? Conversely, how much would you sell your blog for?

AOL-Weblogs Inc. Deal – Benchmark for Future Blog Valuation

Weblogs Inc was established by Jason Calacanis and Brian Alvey in 2003. It is a network of blogs which includes under its wings successful blogs such as Engadget and Autoblog. Jason Calacanis pointed out that Weblogs Inc. earns in excess of $1 million yearly in Google Adsense revenues alone.

AOL purchased Weblogs Inc. for a confidential sum assessed at somewhere between $25 – $40 million. After said purchase, Tristan Louis came up with a blog valuation scheme based on the deal. He created a chart of blog value using the value of each inbound link to Weblogs Inc. as the basis. It is common knowledge that blog readers follow links. Search engines also act as users and primarily determine blog quality rankings based on linkage data thus direct and indirect value links are a great proxy for value measurement. In the blogosphere, conversations that nurture connectivity represented by links and indexes like Technorati give a vantage view of the value of a blog.

Tristan Louis itemized the publicly available data (list of blogs indexed) at Weblogs Inc. network including the number of inbound links (Technorati blog numbers) per blog divided by the purchase price to determine the value of an inbound link to a blog. At the rumored price of $25 million, the estimated value is $ 564 per link. At $30 million, it is $677.57 per link and $903.42 at an acquisition price of $40 million. Interestingly, the consumer segment chalks up the biggest percentage of linkage. Engadget represents over a third of the overall network traffic.

Applying Tristan Louis’s Weblogs Inc, sale, Dave Winer has also sold http://Weblogs.com to Verisign for a rumored price of around $2 million. Blog entrepreneur Nick Denton, founder of Gawker Media has signed a deal with VNU Media to publish Gizmodo (gadget blog) across Europe in six languages. VNU Media is a leading worldwide information and media company which owns ACNielsen, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, among others. With this deal, blog publishing has hit big time.

However, the value of a blog is not calculated based solely on links using AOL’s purchase of Weblogs Inc. Jason Calacanis, the man behind Weblogs Inc., disputed using links alone as proxy for the value of the blog network. He reiterated that the acquisition price was based also on the ever reliable revenue, earnings, management and other metrics.

Tristan Louis based his valuation scheme on links to a blog but he also acknowledged the significance of technology, talented management team, financial performance and growth. There is direct correlation between links, traffic, revenue and earnings capacity of a blog or blog network but it takes sound management to maximize all these potentials.

Value of a Blog – Some Metrics to Consider

How much is your blog worth? There is no one standard gauge yet. But one way to measure the value is to look at certain factors to gain a better perspective on how to measure the future value of a blog.

Aside from number of links as mentioned earlier, traffic level is a key factor in determining blog value. Highly trafficked blogs definitely have a bigger potential for earning compared with those blogs with few readership. A blog’s success is highly dependent on visitors/readers. However, ascertaining the value of traffic is a thorny issue. Some bloggers value traffic anywhere from $3 to $10 per hit a day. From this data, a blog with 2000 unique visitors (page views) would be worth between $6000 to $20,000. The downside to this valuation approach is that some traffic is more valuable than others. A personal blog might have 1000 unique visitors but more difficult to convert to revenue than a blog with 1000 readers that blogs on the topic of digital cameras.

Aside from diverse traffic streams that come from bookmarks, direct links or RSS subscribers will make risk of losing traffic low. Social bookmarking sites are inching their way to becoming prime sources of traffic, with peer referral at times carrying more weight than search results. There are a number of well known bookmarking sites you should link to. Top bookmarking sites include Furl, http://del.icio.us, Diggs, to name a few. By leaving an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed, you can feed you readers’ desire for information. Visitors can get automatic updates whenever you provide new content. Having a fairly good base of bookmarkers and subscribers ensure a steady flow of fans and repeat readers – the all-important traffic.

In the blogosphere as in any other field, revenue or earnings is a major focus. a logical approach to blog valuation would be to base its worth upon current and projected earnings, assuming that your blog is earning something to start with. Again, there are varying views on how to use current earnings to measure a blog’s value.

Some bloggers opine you should expect six to eight months earnings as your blog value. A blog with a daily income of $150 would be worth between $27,000 – $36,000. Still, others determine a blog’s value as being two years of current earnings. A blog earning $150 a day would be worth $108,000. Again, there is a huge disparity between these methods of assessing value. Having diverse streams in the form of multiple affiliate programs also increases blog revenue. An affiliate program is an advertising model in which a blog owner markets via his blog a given product, on behalf of another company. The blog owner is reimbursed a percentage of all sales sold thru his affiliate link. Reimbursement rates can vary from 1% and upwards. Google Adsense is a prime example.

Visitors access blogs throughout the Internet primarily through search engines. If your blog does not have a post appearing in the top ten search engine rankings, the chances of visitors reaching your blog is low. A blog’s presence on relevant search engines is a significant medium for maintaining a blog’s success. Search engine ranking and pages indexed in search engines is critical for generating traffic to a blog. Having your blog among the top results of a search or receiving a high Google PageRank (a system for ranking blog posts) would increase your blog’s overall value.

High quality content will always be a key factor for determining a blog’s value. As has been said time and time again – Content is King. Moreover, search engines can only “read” a blog. What attracts a search engine are the words, the content of a blog that explains, informs, shares and educates readers. Good content increases blog value.

All these aforementioned objective metrics can be considered in assessing the value of a blog. Added to all these, a talented management team behind a blog, its underlying tools and blog technology in use can further help to estimate the future value of a blog.

Recession was a big blow for the IT sector and even today there are companies which are in the process of recovery or are facing worse situations. Recovery can be fastened with the use of business solutions which add more accuracy to the processes and speed the operations of the company. While companies understand this and want to develop a business solution they are always on the lookout of reasonably priced and high quality web development services.

With stakeholders demanding solutions which are cost effective it is becoming more difficult for offshore software development companies to provide web development services at low rates while competing with other outsourcing to India companies involved in providing web development services. Here are 5 different tools, technologies and ideas through which a web development company will be able to provide low cost web development services :

1) Grip the Basics : Speed in web development is the need of the hour but while going with speed it is also important that a web developer remains rooted to the basics of web development. This will help them easily ascertain areas where something has gone wrong as well as reduce dependence on web development tools which often lose accuracy in complex situations.

2) Use front end web development frameworks :  Website development without coding is not possible and web development frameworks are meant to simplify coding. Less time is required for web development and so they make web development services cheaper.

3) Use back end web development frameworks : This is very much similar to the above point related to web development services with the only difference of their being front end and this being back end. Back end frameworks like Ruby on Rails and Python can make web development 10 to 20 times more productive and accurate.

4) Open source development :  One of the most effective ways to cut cost on web development is to use open sources like PHP. A web development company using open source does not have to expend on software resources. Hence they can pass on the savings to stakeholders while providing web development services. Lot of new things are happening in the open source world. These advances aim to make web development easier and cost effective using open source platforms.

5) Lessen the gap between developers and designers : Web development services can be effective only when web developers and designers work collaboratively. If the balance is proper there are less chances of confusion and so better results in less time can be achieved.

By following abovementioned 5 steps to reduce cost of development it will be possible for any offshore software development company to provide better services at lesser costs. Offshore software development companies already have the advantage of lower costs and these tips can further lower their cost and help them make bigger profits providing web development services. Each day we are observing technology is advancing at a very rapid speed. Soon there will be time when we will be using technology and various methods which will further help us reduce cost of services.

Brick and mortar businesses are learning that the Internet is a powerful ally in perpetuating business.

Certainly most online buyers understand that many traditional stores also supply the ability to purchase online. In fact many stores will make the online store more inviting by either making purchases available with free shipping to the nearest store or by making certain items available only online. At least one retailer allows customers to select a variety of free products to try and then make them easily available in their retail outlets for those who connect with the product.

While this scenario is played out everyday online there is another form of connection between traditional business and the online environment.

Webkins, a company selling stuffed animals in traditional stores, has tapped into an incredible selling tool by creating an online environment for the owner of the stuffed animal. In essence when you give the gift of this stuffed animal toy the recipient also received a free one-year membership in this highly desired online destination.

Other companies have followed suit including the popular Build-A-Bear chain who debuted a beta version of their online community in 2007. Children who visit the brick and mortar storefront to build an animal are then able to connect with this exclusive online community for safe interaction as well as fun and learning.

These are examples of how already successful companies are expanding their desirability by making it possible for the purchase to have benefits that last long after the sale has been concluded.

Businesses are beginning to catch a glimpse that even a more direct hands on purchase can be enhanced with the premium of an online benefit.

Coffee shops and retail outlets invite customers to fill out an exclusive online survey that may include discounts, free services, free products or the potential for a cash award. This enables them to enhance list building opportunities and alert customers to their own online presence.

If this concept is gaining such a profound following in traditional retail why isn’t it being done more in online stores? The truth is online retailers pioneered the idea with free memberships with a purchase that allowed them to an online community forum or an ebook download. Customers might be given the opportunity to select a free product from the online store or choose from steep discounts on other merchandise.

Customers learned to look for value added features – online. Now that brick and mortar stores are making it possible for their customers to gain specific benefits online the buying public has come to look for businesses (on and off line) that can deliver a value added punch.

The value of the Internet cannot be ignored. This is a tool that enables business, but it also allows traditional business to extend a variety of benefits to new and existing customers.

By finding ways to appeal to a connected customer you can find greater opportunities to advance your business objectives while giving the customer more than a product and nothing less than your best.

Sensible expired domain traders always realize the immense value of expired domain traffic, and also understand them, run as domain traffic, the total value of the domain in providing a premium value, ultimately helping them to add in the best possible monetary gains . You can expired domains rich, richer and healthier if you import and add additional traffic to your domain, quality links and an organic type of traffic can help you protect your domain automatically add better value and a premium tag. An expired domain with a large list of quality traffic and inbound links could be a great addition to your domain name trading business. But to make your ambitions a big reality, you might want to find a practical way to enhance traffic and links Pool, the domain expired.
Now the big question is how to bring quality traffic to your web domain Expired domain traffic will suggest not only trickled down to your web domain. To pass it, you have a solid plan of action to get people to visit your web domain to create goals. , There are different strategies and techniques that you add to help transport and links to your web domain. Here are some of the best strategies and methods to import better quality traffic to your domain expired enable:
Approach No. 1: The purchase of a domain that is already expired, a certain amount of traffic and inbound links is a viable option. However, this domain will find is actually a difficult task because of the intense competition surrounding that domain. To ensure that you can run out to buy a good domain you ask for an expired domain appraisal report from the owners. In many cases, an expired domain names have small amount of traffic attached to it; under such a scenario, you have to look closely and check for the uniqueness and special nature of the domain.
Approach No. 2: This is a detour on the development of expired domain traffic that a certain amount of time and money needs. It is also quite tedious and complicated task for traffic and add links to your domain expired. Domain parking is probably one of the easiest ways to bring good quality traffic to your expired domain. The most positive aspect of this approach is part of the low cost of the exercise. Web portals like Sedo offer cheaper services domain parking, that even a simple web template to make your prospective visitors, click on the page and lead them to another site.
Approach Number 3: But the quality of the generated traffic is rather low and can evaluate many search engines never had this kind of traffic. In order to attract high quality expired domain traffic to your domain, you may also want to set a well-designed and well-designed web portal. If you promote your web portal, in a systematic and organized way to get people to visit flocking to your website by the actual URL in the address bar of your Web site, this type of traffic is true and real and it is highly organic in its nature. An effective pay per lead program is another additional and lucrative program, a potentially powerful formula to create the domain traffic and a small amount of income could be.
Approach No. 4: If you are short of good quality traffic, you can even buy a pack of quality expired domain traffic from a vendor. However, they are never quite sure of the inherent quality of the traffic purchased from you. In many cases, it may not even work to your advantage and expectations.
Added value for your domain expired by the import of high quality domain traffic means:
Creating a premium web domain that an initial assessment is the commercial class.
Setting up a well-coordinated business opportunity, you can deploy the lucrative profits.
Learn and understand the insider secrets of using the expired domain traffic fully possible.

Knowing the value of an internet domain name is crucial in today’s business industry. Altough there is no exact formula to appraise a domain, there are a group of things to consider before putting a value to a domain. A majority of people will base their immediate appraisal on TLD extension, word length and keyword popularity but won’t really consider backlinks, brandability or emerging trends part of the equation. There are a few factors that a person must be aware of before they can feel they have thoroughly assessed the domain and attach a valid appraisal amount. The first thing a person can do to is recognize that there are many subtle components that need to be assembled and viewed as a whole to get a comprehensive perspective on the domain. It seems every domainer has their own method used to appraise a domain so I’ve listed a few factors that I feel are necessary in being considered before a domain can be appraised.

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TLD Extension

TLD or Top-Level Domain is the ending extension attached to a domain such as .com, .net or .org. The .com extension is considered the most sought after even though there are other TLD’s that are gaining huge popularity and acceptance. CC’s or Country Codes are also seeing their fair share of registrations.

Name Length

Now that all the 2, 3 and 4 letter .com’s have been registered, the letter count on a domain is fast becoming a huge factor in a domain’s worth. The desire for a short domain is at an all time high and values are steadily climbing due to the limited supply of shorter length domains. Seems shorter names are easier to remember and with that a value increase.

Characters, Numbers and Hyphens

Hyphens integrated between letters are often viewed as separators between keywords. Although there is much dispute whether or not the hyphens negatively impact a domain’s search engine optimization, there is considerable preference that a domain not include anything extra in it’s name. Number digits are beginning to see their popularity rise and can be included with relevant keywords or letters to make a great domain.

Keyword Popularity

Marketable search terms and keyword popularity are extremely relevant in appraising a domain name. The frequency of a given search term helps to indicate the brandability or popularity of the keyword. Generic word domains, such as flowers.com or poker.com are the strongest in their keyword popularity genre.

Traffic and Revenue

Traffic or visitors to a particular domain is one of the most important factors to consider when appraising a domain. More traffic usually means more revenue due to pay-per-click income and possible advertising opportunities, therefore increasing the value of the domain.

Brandability and Trends

Any domain that is easily memorable, short and non-descript is considered brandable and therefore increases it’s value. It would be easier for a person to remember TVrepair.com instead of the longer fix-my-broken-television.com . Not only is the first choice shorter and has better word flow but also there is less of a chance of someone incorrectly typing in the URL. Also keep tuned in to current trends that may seem to increase an otherwise meaningless domain into a treasure. An example is when Apple Computers began to incorporate the letter i into their products descriptions, such as iPhone, iPod and iLife.

Automated Domain Appraisals

This is a tricky one. Although I feel automated domain appraisal systems such as Estibot are helpful in assisting to appraise a domain, I don’t feel they should be the “end all” decision used to obtain a domain’s value. If used more as a reference tool, they can be one of the greatest resources that help determine an appraisal value. Any script/applications can have some bugs, especially ones with complex algorithms as Estibot. Make automated domain appraisals one of the tools to find an appraisal, not the only tool.

Future Potential Interest and Overall Appeal

As time goes by, new words, trends and fads explode onto the scene, and with each new word or trend created, a domain is born. Stay up with current events and become a regular visitor to news aggregate sites, such as Digg and domain industry specific DNHour to stay on the cusp of emerging potential interests.

Backlinks

I like to keep my eye on the number and quality of backlinks to evaluate an domain appraisal. While tons of irrelevant backlinks might negatively effect a domain’s search engine optimization, it can still be a positive thing for a domain names’ value. With more and more domains being “parked”, the links tend to lean towards relevant backlinks and therefore less likely to be bogged down in the SEO nightmare of page rank. And, it’s hard to argue that backlinks don’t increase traffic.

Relevance, Region Specific and other Fuzzy Logic

As said earlier, there is no exact formula to appraise a domain name, and therefore the not-so-exact elements must come into play. An example would be that veteran domainers tend to skew their entire method of appraising when it comes to country specific or region specific domain names. Different factors are incorporated to determine non-English domain word values and domainers across the globe are becoming better in detecting future potential interests in foreign markets. Another example is the continuously growing popularity of “long-string domaining”, or stringing multiple words or keywords to achieve a brandable and memorable domain name. TacoBell has ThinkOutsideTheBun.com and Amazon has the domain BuyABook.com. By definition, these would not be very valuable but that’s when the fuzzy logic creeps in. A domain’s value can be perceived in multiple ways.

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So keep in mind that even though there isn’t one exact correct formula being used by the domain industry to appraise domains, a reasonable appraisal can be determined by anyone if they keep all the factors in mind and how they each interact with each other.

I’d suggest you monitor the pulse of current domain sales by frequently visiting

DNJournal’s Domain Sales Chart. This will show you weekly and even yearly to-date domain sales for the industry. And don’t forget to visit the front page of Sedo to view ongoing live auctions. Each of these great resources will help you in creating your own customized method of domain appraising by seeing what domains are selling and for what amount.