That's not even enough money for one month worth of advertising in a forum. ET is probably worth a few millions at this point in time.
The issue isn't the actual number. What you want to do is compare Elitetrader.com to it's competitors. ET's value metrice, web recognition and social metric has been declining consistently the past few years mainly due to the competition embedding more social networking tool connections (e.g. digg, delicious, facebook, reddit et cetera) at their forums while ET has none...as in social network tools here at it's site. In addition, although traders are posting links to EliteTrader.com...most of those links are old and few in comparison to ET's competitors when examining social networks like twitter, facebook, myspace, digg, delicious et cetera). For example, check out Traderslaboratory @ http://bizinformation.org/us/www.traderslaboratory.com I use stuff like youtube, digg, facebook, twitter et cetera...of the links I see traders posting to forums on those social networks...Elitetrader.com is at the bottom of the barrel. Simply, the more social network friendling a discussion forum is the higher it's value is for things such as advertising, marketing and to attract higher paying sponsors that wants to see more viral interaction beyond the usual debates/arguments. Here's a few others... http://bizinformation.org/us/www.trade2win.com http://bizinformation.org/us/www.fool.com http://bizinformation.org/us/www.forexfactory.com http://bizinformation.org/us/www.babypips.com If you've been a member or visitor of many different forums since their birth like I have been...you'll notice that the ones that have embraced recent changes in social networking (e.g. twitter, facebook, myspace, youtube et cetera) are the ones that have more quality members and more viral interaction...stuff sponsors are paying more close attention to past 1 - 2 years in comparison to years prior where pageviews and daily visitors was the main criteria to decide a website's worth. By the way, Baron once promised he was releasing a new discussion forum a few years ago during a time when the competition were embracing social networking tools along with embedding them at their forum. I made the assumption in error that Baron was going to do the same because it's obvious today he never did. It's even odd that many sponsors have their own presence (social network tools) while ET does not. Baron really should just higher some low wage part-time employee to post links to the few quality message posts at EliteTrader.com all day long at dozens of social networks to raise it's worth and to make it more known because social networks is a HUGE thing now...it's catching the eye of sponsors. P.S. There are other websites out there showing similar like stats as bizinformation. Mark
One thing I like about ET is how things are organized. Baron did a good job which shows his business sense. T2W is a nice website too, but there are way to many little sub-forums and sometime you don't even know which forum you should go to. I think website valuation has a bit more to do with how a website is run and the target audience. I could have a website that gets a lot of traffic and it gets mentioned on a lot of social networking site, but if my website is about frugal living and the target audience are all low income earners with tight wallets, then I doubt the website would worth much.
http://bizinformation.org/us/www.bodybuilding.com $16.44M Where is the revenue for this website? The valuation is a bit off, I think.
I too like how ET is website is lay out but the moderation and registration process is problematic but that's not why ET has a low web site valuation in comparison to it's competitors. Here's a generic example of what I see on social networks involving ET and it's competition. For example, a website for traders with only 3 links at reddit that takes traders to quality information about trading in comparison to 25 links at reddit that takes traders to the chit chat section about CNBC's maria's boob size or the latest discussion religion will have less value than those 3 links. My point is that there are more links out there to quality information about trading that's taking traders to ET's competition instead of to ET even if those other sites aren't as well organized or simple to use. Just as important, those quality links are being shared more on social networks in comparison to links not of quality info. Also, a lot of ET former quality members that don't post here any more is not because they blew up their accounts...it's because they wanted a more quality audience to read their messages which is why they post elsewhere. Regardless, the main issue is that the competition is embracing social networks while ET is not and this site to Baron is about advertising dollars for his pocket...eventually he'll have to embrace it especially as more sponsors themselves began diverting their advertising dollars to social network sources. Like I said, ET needs to get more social network aware as it's sponsors and competition and doing something as simple as having the option to send a link for the message post to different social networks at the bottom of each post and/or trader's profiles is a big plus for evaluation worth and it's a simple coding. For example...check out the bottom of each of these message posts at Traderslaboratory @ http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f56/profit-target-levels-7315.html You'll see that there's a direct link to send the message post to either digg, delicious, technorati or furl. That's a very simple coding to do and easily can embedd stuff like facebook, myspace, twitter et cetera or even a send link via email. Also, I've seen those other sites (competition) when they were first born...they now have sponsors when in prior they did not and I strongly believe it's because those sites have embraced social networking when ET has not. P.S. In your bodybuilding example...dont' look at one site alone. Instead, compare it to the evaluation of other bodybuilding sites and the evaluation is not based upon revenue or sales although they do well in sales or bodybuilding products and ad space...nor does it implies their sales is +16 million. http://www.bodybuilding.com/ http://bizinformation.org/us/www.bodybuilding.com Mark
Those social networking links are quite cool. I haven't caught up on them yet, but I think they could increase the awareness of ET. I like ET a lot. It is full of rich history (eg. Hitman, Szeven, Jack Hershey, Profitkgfool, etc.)and I sure don't want to see it deteriorate. As for the valuation of a website, it is exactly the same as the valuation of a business. We got to take the PV of future cash flows. Site that don't have much advertisements/revenue will not be worth $16M....unless they sell it to Google/Yahoo? PA
The owner of this website seems to be content to make no changes other than to re-organize categories every now and then. This is what the website looked like some 7 years ago (a lifetime in the context of the Internet): http://web.archive.org/web/20021201050907/http://www.elitetrader.com/ It's virtually identical to how it looks today. It's his website and his money. He can do what he wants with it. However, he would be wise to invest in a genuine major update/overhaul some time soon if he's interested in longevity.
It looks like someone has set up an elitetrader page at facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=2387707643&ref=search&sid=1062866773.4193199279..1 They are even using the ET logo. It would be a good idea for Baron to set up pages at facebook and youtube. If you search for elitetrader at youtube you get some bizzare videos by someone who claims he is emotional and tried very hard to be a succesful trader.