There are
90,095 discussion lists (a/k/a news lists or mailing lists) listed on
the list of lists http://www.liszt.com. If you search by lawyer, you find 16 lists;
if you search by "law," 61 lists.
A list owner or moderator can spend
hours each week maintaining the list. Most do it for the
benefit of list members, often at the expense of lost billable time.
Let's assume you have a list with 2,000 members and you find you are
spending 15 to 20 hours a week. That's an expensive giveaway. So maybe
you decide it's time to get rid of the list. But how? What's it worth?
Discussion lists are being sold,
though not as frequently as domain names, and without the benefit of
intermediary brokers (at least for now). Discussion list names do not
have the vanity appeal of domain names.
The going rate for a discussion list
is $0.25 to $1.00 per name, according to Christopher Knight in his
List Tips
http://List-Tips.com discussion list, which is distributed to list
owners/managers (Chris is also considering a list brokering service).
If the discussion list has sponsors and generates revenue, that
increases the list's value. A Web site associated with the list also
adds value. Just as with selling a professional practice, cost is
usually a multiple of annual revenues.
But, it's still supply and demand
that drives list prices. Recently Webbers Communications (http://www.webbers.com)
sold The List Exchange (http://www.listex.com)
for $5,000. It had 600 members and generated no revenue. However, it
had a very unique membership (list owners) and was of value to the
buyers, a company wishing to position itself as a list authority in
order to sell list-related products and services. The package included
the Web site, the domain and the list.
The selling price was determined as
though Webbers had been hired to develop the Web site. A "For Sale"
sign went up, with an autoresponder carrying the details of the offer.
Within 90 days they had a qualified buyer and within two weeks the
deal was closed.
Another list with a Web site and
approximately 1,500 members could not be sold because it was too
generalized. That list could not be promoted to build membership
because it was not unique.
There is a very large list that
generates $96,000 in annual revenue from list sponsors (the list owner
asked that we not reveal the list). In addition it generates 75% of
the total billable revenue for the advertising firm and could be moved
anywhere. Twice the list owners were approached to sell the list and
business and were offered in the low to mid six figures for the list,
Web site and community. They would not sell for anything less than $1
million.
How much do sponsors pay? The going
rate for specialized lists is $30 - $40 per thousand impressions (CPM).
If you have 2,000 members, and send a digest three times a week, you
have 6,000 CPM per week. That means you have a potential of $180 -
$240 per week in ad revenue or $9,360 - $12,480 in potential annual
revenue.
Companies are willing to sponsor a
discussion list because they can reach their target market at a very
reasonable cost. In some cases the company may obtain co-op
advertising funds from the manufacturer, which mean they have very low
out-of-pocket expenses. For example, a time accounting software
company could offer co-op advertising funds to a dealer who would
sponsor your law list. It's a win-win situation for everybody. One
company spends $50,000 annually on Net advertising, with the bulk of
it being discussion list sponsorships. They get reimbursed $47,000 in
co-op funds, and they generate $1.5 million in sales from the Net.
Let's recap the potential value of
your discussion list (assume you can get one to two times annual
revenue for the ad revenue):
- $500 - $2,000 for the list
- $3,000 - $5,000 for the site
- $14,040 - $18,720 for ad
revenue
- ______________
- $17,540 - $25,720 Total value
It is too easy to start a list;
hence a list by itself has little value. Clearly, the value to list
purchasers is in lists packaged with well-trafficked Web sites plus ad
revenue.
Discussion list owners are having a
difficult time trying to grow their lists, never mind selling them. We
helped promote and grow five lists for list owners and two of our own,
and are speaking from experience.
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