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So What Is The Value of Tebowing?

Ron Jackson just ran an article on the value of Tebowing here in the last few minutes but since you can’t comment I thought I would open the floor to discussion.  Back in October we ran an article on Jared Kleinstein and tebowing.com and he emailed me and we had a chat on the phone.

As a former site owner with lots of traffic he wanted to pick my brain on how to monetize his site.   My answer was simple.  Build another site that has long term stability and send traffic to it so that when/if the Tebowing phenomenon wears off ,he would have another site that could continue the growth.  The Gawker method.  Feed the other sites from the traffic of the the hot site.  But here’s where our conversation ended.  He asked what I thought the value of the site.  Remember this was over 6 weeks ago.  I never in a million years thought that Tebow would keep winning.  My answer was $10,000.  He was upset.  He thought for sure it was much more (and surely is now) and acted like I was a fool.   I told him the reason it wouldn’t sell for as much as he thinks is because of the longevity and the fact it may be a fad. Secondly, there could be some legal issues.  Tebow could want a piece of anything sold on the site with his likeness or name.  That and just the monetization of it in general.  The traffic is the real value.

We didn’t carry on the conversation after my valuation.  He pretty much dismissed me at this time.  Now here we stand and Tebow is still a sensation.  What has he done with the site to monetize it?  Not much.  Still selling T-shirts.  Kleinstein has become famous but he wasted millions of visitors that he could have used to build that other site.  Sure there could be more but you won’t get the past back.  Once the first playoff loss comes, it’s over for the next 7 months and the star has faded.  So here’s the question we started with.  If you were to buy the site, what would you pay or what do you think it’s worth?

PS: Tebowing is not even my favorite tebowing site.  Naked Tebowing Is NSFW   Kidding,  I love tebowing.com

Edit:  Jared was not rude and did not mean to imply that he was.  I just felt he thought my quote was way off. Also, My price was 6 weeks ago. Had great traffic but nowhere near what it did now. Tebow had only played two games. It’s completely different now.

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13 Replies to “So What Is The Value of Tebowing?”

  1. There’s probably a lot of traffic, but it’s garbage ‘meme’ traffic.

    How to monetize garbage traffic?
    CPM, or throw up enough PPC and hope that enough are dumb enough to click on something ‘mortgage’ related… or work some cookie related angle with targeted ad networks.

    Can tebowing.com sell enough Tebowing tshirts to reach the valuations this guy probably has in his mind? I doubt it.
    What’s the site worth?
    Hard to guess, but some supernova meme sites can be short liabilities more than assets, since the traffic is just SO low converting and it can cost a good bit to keep them up.

  2. *

    It’s a fad, and like all fads, the domain will lose value fast.

    I think your valuation is dead on, and will lose value soon.

    Don’t lose any sleep over the domain owner’s rudeness. He’s a clueless numpty who doesn’t appreciate someone’s expert opinion and doesn’t understand the lifecycle of a fad.

    Even if he didn’t agree with you, he should have been polite to you; you gave your time to him for free.

    *

  3. Tebow has proven so many naysayers wrong… and he as been a winner and a success since he was a kid….. so wouldn’t bet big against Tebowing being a totally short term fad…however I wouldn’t bet the entire ranch on it the other way either.

    Top sportscaster & journalist Bob Costas did special segment on Tebow during halftime of Sunday Night Football (Cowboys vs Giants)….. and he summarized the “whole Tebow story & phenomenon as “Uplifting”

    IMO Tebow will get better too.. as he gets more seasoned & experienced in the NFL… especially when his “passing” mechanics get refined and tweaked by good coahes n’ trainers….his incredible ability to run like both the wind and a tank as well as fearlessly & turbo motivated is super effective and impressive….. and this is coming from a diehard Oakland Raider fan !!!

    However, all that said… I think putting a true or accurate valuation on that domain name now is about as difficult as predicting which way a football will bounce during a Fumbleroosky

    May the TEBOW be with You !

  4. How did you pick $10k?

    The site has site based on traffic. Basic match would say that he can place CPM ads on his site for a charge of $5 per 1000 unique views. If he gets a million uniques that is $5,000 in revenue for 1 ad placement. His site right now should be pulling in $20k+ a month, and if he’s not then he should hire someone to monetize it for him.

    As to the value of the site, hard to say without knowing how long the fad will last. I’d say $40k if he sells it today.

    1. Chris,

      My price was 6 weeks ago. Had great traffic but nowhere near what it did now. Tebow had only played two games. It’s completely different now. $50k isn’t farfetched right now

  5. I disagree that when the fad dies, so will the domain. The owner would just need to pivot and change from monetizing with shirts to something less exciting like link renting. It’s a PR6 with links from cnn, npr, and other sites that link builders could only dream of getting. I would not be surprised if it fetched $20k at an auction.

  6. Easy way to find out. Auction that sucker. Put a reserve on it and go for it.
    Now is your time to get the most out of that bad boy.

  7. TEBOW has now been brought into the mix of discussion of the GOP Prez Debate airing on FOX News right now…. the power of Tebow is growing and still unstopable !

    Let’s see what the NY Jets can do about this on Sunday.

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