A long time lensmaster asked: how do you value a squidoo lens? It turns out that TheFluffanutta has made a lens valuing tool that at least has the right factors in there. Here is what it says about my top lens:
http://www.squidoo.com/spirituality-quotes
Estimated value of ‘spirituality-quotes’
Current Lensrank: #104
Average Lensrank: #85
Worth $160.62 over 6 months (inc. InfoLinks).
Topic Lensrank: #2 in Religion & Spirituality
Rating: 307 thumbs up
Worth $30.70.
Favorited by 225 Lensmasters
Worth $22.50.
Traffic: 356 visits per day
Worth $256.32 over 6 months if ECPM=$4.0.
Backlinks: 258.98 score
Worth $129.49.
Lens Age: 39 months
Worth $7.73.
Total Value: $612.36
Based on the data shown above.
Let’s start with the assumption that you’re working online for the long run. You’re not in it to make a quick buck, but to get income for years to come. Perhaps you’re even online, like me, to share your knowledge, your writing, your inspiration.
That income on squidoo can come from two things: lensrank and sales.
Starting with lensrank:
A consistent top tier lens made $21,- last month. Lensrank has been consistently rising over the past several years, so that lens will make at least $250,- this year. Fluf’s tool takes only 6 months into account but that just won’t cut it for me. I’d only sell a lens for at least a years revenue- and the projected revenue, not just the revenue it made last year.
Traffic: that only helps as far as it’s a sales lens, or by keeping that lens in top tier. This is why Fluf mentions EPCM – the amount made per 1000 visitors. Well, for most of my top lenses that’s directly related to lensrank, so this metric doesn’t add much. But for my sales lenses it’s more important than lensrank.
Popularity: that’s really only relevant as an indicator of future possible backlinks. And even there it’s not worth much.
Age: the older the lens, the better. An old lens is more likely to do well in Google. It needs less extra links to improve Google rankings. It has a certain Google ‘trust’. That’s worth money.
Backlinks: these are actually part of the reason I started on squidoo. I didn’t so much want to make money as make use of the link potential TO my own site. Because squidoo has made me money, I am now linking from my old site TO my lenses, but that’s another story. Anyhow, existing backlinks make a big part of a successful lens’ worth.
Would I sell that lens for $600,- ? I would certainly be tempted, but I think I’d pass. Let’s look at that online income again:
That lens is part of my online strategy. If I loose it, I loose the links to my original site I built the lens for originally. I would loose the traffic (and potential PR as well as income off that traffic) to my other online ventures. I would loose many of the links I got TO that lens on squidoo and elsewhere as part of my link-graph (the links pointing towards my online property collectively). And last but not least, I would loose the residual income off that low maintenance lens for years to come.
Making money online is not a short term adventure: it’s a long term one. And a lens that makes 250 dollars a year is (in terms of interest – at current low interest rates) the equivalent of having $2500 in the bank at least. For the sake of this explanation I went with an interest rate of 1% – which is low even by todays standards. Unless you need the money real bad, why sell it for anything less than that $2500?
Of course the reasoning is only valid for a lens that’s in top tier consistently and has backlinks.
A consistent second tier lens might, by the same reasoning, be worth $1000,-. Which is not something anybody would be willing to pay. So just keep it.
Lower tier lenses are another story: they generally don’t make significant money, so I’d be willing to sell some of them for as little as $50,-. But even that’s more than anybody is willing to pay. Fine by me… I don’t need the money. Why that much? Because I value my time. It’s a rare lens that I spent less than an hour in making. I make $70,- an hour doing webdesign. Why would I sell a lens for less?