How do you determine value?

I came across a site recently, dnScoop.com, that claims to estimate the value of any website that you enter. Ok, just like all of you, I couldn’t resist. Yes, I typed in the sites of a bunch of my friends and the A-listers because of my own curiosity. Some of the numbers were staggering. The numbers were beyond ridiculous and I have no idea what kind of formula that dnScoop is using to determine value. I have always had a little personal saying that goes something like, “you ain’t got nothing thats worth a dime unless someone buys it.” There are variations of that also that I have been known to use, it depends on how much beer I’m drinking at the time.

For me, it all stems back to the baseball card craze where everyone claimed stupid values over cardboard cards with pictures of baseball players. Think about it. Unless it’s Babe Ruth, it’s a fairly dumb concept. Sorry all of you collectors who own Mark McGwire rookie cards where he looks like a bean pole. Mark’s steroid use and fake home runs have rendered that card pretty useless. Sorry to all of you Barry Bond rookie card collectors also. To me, value is what other people are willing to pay, not a number that you or other people put on something. Value is not actually determined until something sells. Once it sells, now you have something to go by.

I realize I am digressing but just trying to make a point.

Looking at the values placed on these websites got me to thinking a little. Starting a free Wordpress blog would have been the smartest investment the world has ever seen. Starting several would put you in the same league as Donald Trump and Warren Buffet. Those idiots actually used their own money to invest in things like the stock market and real estate. What losers. If they had only become professional bloggers, imagine what they might be worth today.

What would the Problogger put on his net worth statement? Should a bank require the CopyBlogger to list his $2 million dollar website as an asset? Should Seth Godin use his website as collateral when applying for a loan? What in the hell would the banks think if they even thought you had a website valued at these crazy values and did not list it as an asset when applying for loans? Would it be fraud?

Should the CopyBlogger list this on his net worth statement? See what a .pdf e-book aimed at noobs will get you.

The Problogger’s new forum site. Griz makes this in a month doesn’t he? BTW, it would not give me a value on Griz’s ugly blogger site that dominates the serps in which the new Problogger.com forum administrator advises against using.

Problogger.net is doing quite well. See what sea turtles can do to your bank account.

Seth is kicking ass. Seth is an A-lister who I think actually does give value.

The original Trust Agent. This begs the question.
Why would you build an A-list site with your name? How can you sell your name?
If he sold and walked away any so-called value would plummet I think.
If I was part of the herd of any site and I knew my master had sold out and left, I’ll find me another herd. Would you?

The Keyword Academy is probably grossly undervalued.

Wouldn’t most people think that Squidoo was worth less than HubPages? I guess not.

Sorry HubPages, you got schooled by Squidoo.

This is the one you have all been waiting on. Make me an offer folks.

This is B.S. The internet’s best internet marketing video blog is obviously undervalued.
I did not rig the number to be the same as mine.
Go to the site and check for yourself.

Are you kidding me? How long would it take to earn that kind of ad revenue?

I expect that BloggerLens will be worth a couple mil by 2012 and I’m willing to wait. What say you folks?

**Update** From my last post here on Bloggerlens about AWeber email marketing sucks, Josh Whitford from Marketing Ideas got my hint and acted on it. Thanks Josh. Whose your Trust Agent?