Blog value madness
I've seen the "My blog is worth…" box for a long time, but never cared to test my own calculated blog value. I don't really care, but seeing that I've made it to the Technorati Top-100 Popular Blogs list I couldn't resist trying the value calculator. And according to the test, the calculated value of my blog was $2,108,556.90.
Now, if anyone want to make a smart investment, I'll let you buy it for less than a third of that amount: $700.000! Special price, only this week! Don't wait, contact me and we'll discuss the arrangements.
Edit: I took the test again and got an even higher number, so I updated it. I am now a virtual millionaire! To see the current value, visit this link)
Edit 2: As I predicted, the mentioning of the Top 100 Blogs list was a trigger. To save the world from evil injustice, some brave hero have reported to Technorati that my high rank has come from "forced" credit links in themes - which has resulted in me not only being removed from the Top 100 Blogs list but also being blacklisted from all searches. I have no problems with being removed from the list, because I don't need a list position to know that I'm doing good things here. But if they blacklist me because many of my links come from themes built from my templates, they are making a bummer which I will not accept. It doesn't make any sense. I have already written a long post about it but I want to wait for Technorati to reply to my e-mail before I publish it, just in case there has been some mistake somewhere. I'll give them a day.
Edit 3: I'm back in the search results again. Good, very good.
Comments
Comment from Dan Eriksson
Time: May 8, 2006, 11:45 pm
Snart är du rik! Grattis! :D
Comment from Andreas
Time: May 9, 2006, 12:03 am
Aaron: Oh, don't underestimate the IT bubble! Haha…
Dan: Jag jobbar på det. Jag har jobbat på det i 26 år nu. Det har aldrig gått särskilt bra, haha. ;)
Comment from Carl Galloway
Time: May 9, 2006, 1:20 am
I'd be wanting at least 30% ROI, but maybe we can talk if your site has potential, question is, is it going anywhere or … :lol:
Comment from Carl Galloway
Time: May 9, 2006, 1:23 am
Hmm, is that offer still valid, it seems your blog has increased in value to $2,108,556.90, so now $300k seems like a very good deal!
Mine is only worth $94,278.18 - must be doing something wrong…
Comment from Andreas
Time: May 9, 2006, 1:28 am
Carl: It was valid, and I would have sold it for $300k. A few hours later I took the test agian, and the value had gone up to over 2 millions. So I raised my price to $700k. The show must go on!
Comment from Mark Olson
Time: May 9, 2006, 3:40 am
Aaron, can I join your $0 blog worth club? I guess it could be worse … it could have shown up as my blog as a liability :) Maybe I will do like Andreas and take the test later and see some positive returns … and just maybe my blog will make a gain from zero to $1.00.
Comment from Carl Galloway
Time: May 9, 2006, 3:42 am
Oh man, I am so bummed, I coulda got a bargain.
Comment from RJ
Time: May 9, 2006, 5:52 am
I did a search on google using "design by andreas viklund". Results turned out to be 1,440,000. Now imagine if they all donated a buck or two in return =).
Comment from seanrox
Time: May 9, 2006, 6:35 am
RJ: Speaking of donations, I wonder how much Andreas has received from his donation button? Like you said even if everyone using his designs sent him a couple of dollars, he'd be doing pretty good.
I've donated to his cause before and plan on doing it again.
Comment from CoolGoose
Time: May 9, 2006, 12:38 pm
Sell some advertising space :)
Comment from Andreas
Time: May 9, 2006, 1:46 pm
seanrox: I have recieved $1388 in donations since the launch of this site six months ago, and that is much more than I could ever have expected. That has of course been a great help to keep this site running. As promised, all donations are used to keep the site online and improve it in various ways. I'm planning to add a "thank you" page with a list of donators, where I explain how the donations are used. But there are a lot of things I want to do with this site, so it may take a while before I actually get it done…
CoolGoose: I will. I already offer the possibility to place text ads (through Text Link Ads) on this site, but I am investigating possibilities for larger sponsor deals right now. I won't fill the pages with non-relevant ads though, because that is just annoying. Anyone interested in sponsoring me? Let me know!
Comment from seanrox
Time: May 9, 2006, 4:23 pm
Wow! $1388 in six months. That's great!
So they removed you because of "forced" credit links in themes? That's dumb. From what I know, you don't force anyone to link back to you but you do ask if they'll keep the design by link in the footer and most seem to do it, so how is that a forced link?
I hope it was just a mistake because you do help a lot of people and your work is great, so you deserve proper credits from time to time.
Comment from Andreas
Time: May 9, 2006, 4:30 pm
That is the only reason I can think of, really. I know that people have reported this to Technorati. I expected Technorati to take me off the Top 100 Blogs list. But blacklisting me is a personal insult against me, my work and my intentions to provide the world with free templates and themes. And again, it makes no sense.
I expect Technorati to reply to my e-mail today. I'll move on from whatever point I'm at tomorrow…
Comment from seanrox
Time: May 9, 2006, 4:48 pm
Well you have my support for what it's worth. I agree being blacklisted for doing something that seems to be a web standard (having links to you in footers when you make a design) doesn't make sense.
Side note, I just replied to your email :)
Comment from Aaron
Time: May 9, 2006, 5:02 pm
I agree. . .a link in the footer of a website designed by you is as valid as anything else. Plus, you totally deserve being in the top 100 :)
Comment from Carl Galloway
Time: May 9, 2006, 5:02 pm
My support too, that seems like a cheap shot on their part. Annoying thing is I'd written up a post on my blog about buying other blogs (like this one), I'd even researched other valuations, thought it was funny enough to publish, but this leaves a sour taste in the mouth and I would have also mentioned t o p 1 0 0…
Comment from Ainslie
Time: May 9, 2006, 6:58 pm
Seems a bit hypocritical of Technorati. If you want to claim your blog you have to put a link to them on your website. Isn't that practically the same thing?
As for forced links, is there any designer that doesn't put a link on the footer. Is it too much to ask for a link back for all the work you put in. No it is not. I bet there are a few more in that top 100 that get a lot of linkage in a similar way.
Comment from Andreas
Time: May 9, 2006, 7:01 pm
Ainslie: Yes, there is even another WordPress theme designer on the same level as I was, around #30. It would be a shame to see his popular blog go down just because he has made a really good theme… But more importantly: There were hundreds (if not thousands) of designers to be found among the search hits. But I was not there. Yet another time: it makes no sense.
Comment from calaf
Time: May 9, 2006, 7:07 pm
Technorati blacklisted you? Did they? So let me sing with Ultravox: "This means nothing to me, Oh, Vienna… " I'll read your blog every day anyway.
Comment from Ainslie
Time: May 9, 2006, 8:16 pm
I just checked and technoriatisucks.com has already been bought. I was just about to set up the "Return Andreas to the Top 100" campaign ;-)
Comment from Andreas
Time: May 9, 2006, 8:29 pm
Ainslie: Don't do that, I'm back in the search results now. That's all I really ask for. I don't belong in the Top 100 Blogs list, but it would be strange to not find me if you were searching for website templates. But it will be interesting to see how long Denis will stick to his top spot with [Semiologic.com->http://semiologic.com/, because he has got a lot of links from users of his brilliant Semiologic CMS theme.
Comment from Ainslie
Time: May 9, 2006, 8:55 pm
haha, no I didn't - good job somebody else has already bought it! Glad to see they have reinstated you.
Comment from madbull
Time: May 14, 2006, 12:58 pm
I actually agree with the 'Top100 technic'. Of course it is a link, but technorati should really try to restrict the ranking to 'content links'. Otherwise there is always the TTLB if it's just a matter of 'number of links (on the mainpage)'.
Btw Michael (http://binarybonsai.com) is not ranked either. He would be Top5 otherwise with 10k+ sites linking.
Comment from Aaron
Time: May 8, 2006, 11:44 pm
My blog is worth $0. Yippeeee!
Congrats. . .that's quite a bit of money. I'm not sure how this thing could work though. . .I mean, who'd pay that money for a blog?