How to Pick a Domain Name

Isis · 02-17-2006, 03:46 PM

I was a domain newbie when the free .info wave hit. Looking back, i am so glad that the infos were free, because i picked some pretty BAD names thinking that they would resell for XX,XXX - HA! Today, a bit wiser, i buy names primarily for affiliate marketing, and eventual resale.

So, I thought i'd share the most important lessons in picking a domain name to domain newbies, after all, unlike the info's i got, most domains aren't free.

#1) When buying a name for resale purposes, buy only names that YOU would buy at a premium. That means, if the name sounds like cr@p to you, 9 outa 10 times the names will sound like cr@p to a prospective buyer. If you wouldn't by l0ts-of-bad-d0mains.org for XXXX, most likely nobody else will either.

#2) Is the name going to be brandable or niche related? brandable and niche domains are like apples and oranges. If you are going to go for a niche related domain, run the keyword/keywords through something like overture and see just how many searches are done for that particular word/phrase.

Good niche related names can take advantage of organic traffic (unpaid, natural traffic). The resale value of brandable names depend on how you develop the site. On first glance...you couldn't tell me what Walawalabingbang.com was all about. It's hard to predict the resale value of brandables....imo. For newbies, i recommend sticking with names that are niche related. As you start developing an eye for good names, then you can venture out to brandables.

#3) Which brings me to my next point. Don't expect a 1000% return on your domain name within the first month of purchasing a domain. Most newbie domainers tend to get disapointed when their names don't sell at XX,XXX right away. IMO, names that make big bucks have been registered for a long time, have a history of natural (unpaid) traffic, and make some sort of revenue (either adsense, ppc, affiliate, or real product)

#4) I've found that buying names from more than 3 registrars ads confusion to my portfolio. You see that Godaddy is having a 2.99 sale, Yahoo's selling domains for 4.00, and Registerfly is giving infos away.....you might think that you're saving big money buy going where the sale is, but i find that having 4 names at one registrar, 10 in another, 6 at another, 9 at another, just makes me loose track of where and what i have. Find a good registrar, or reseller, and stick with them. You might pay a little bit more per domain, but your saving yourself a TON of headaches 6-8 months from now.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/domain-newbies/168608-how-to-pick-a-domain-name.html

#5) New names are good for development, bad for parking. It takes a good 3 months for a name to get indexed by major search engines. If you want a name for parking purposes, consider buying an existing name with proven traffic and proven revenue. If you place a new name at Sedo, don't expect more than 3 cents a month for that name - and don't expect to be listed in many search engines either....

#6) Don't buy a lot of traffic for new names. Last year, when i first developed my art affiliate site CanvasFakes.comI started a Google Adwords campaign right away. I spent on average 30 dollars a month on the site. 3 months later, i made my first commission! but i had spent almost 90 dollars of advertising! from that month on, i'd spend 30 dollars on adsense, and make 40 dollars commission...leaving me with a net profit of 10 dollars-- whoap te do!

My point is, that you should first build naturall traffic with reciprocal linking, free link exchanges, blogs, and other ways before paying for traffic. By stopping my google adwords campaign, and building free traffic revenues...you keep more profit to yourself and increase the resale value of your name/site. I stopped my google adwords campaign all my sites and now get to pocket mid XX to low XXX from my affiliate programs.

#7) Be patient! It may be disheartening to see 0 traffic hits for 3-4 months, or 0 offers...but time plays a huge roll in a domain name's value. The longer you own your name, the more it will be worth.

#8) Quality not Quantity. It is better to have 10 good names than 100 sucky names. I say this because now and then, we'll all be faced with a free domain name deal. The first impulse of most newbies is to reg a million of these free names...regardless of the meaning and future potential. When faced with a free domain name deal ask yourself, would i buy this name if it cost me $200...or am i just getting it cuz it's free? When it comes to freebee domains, think of the long term...most likely, they will have 0 value untill the freebee sale is over.....Take your time, sit for a moment, think about the name, research other extensions, checkout overture, and then reg it.

#9) Becareful when buying existing names. In the midst of honest resellers, there are many money hungry, scamming scumbags out there waiting to take advantage of you. Do your homework before buying a name....Check the PR of a name, Check it's existing links, how long has it been around? has it ever had adult material on it? is the traffic inflated? Does the seller have a good rep? Check the scams section....you'll see even the best of buyers (and sellers) have been scamed at one point or another. You can limit your risk of being scammed by doing your due diligence and researching a name before you buy it.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=168608

#10) If you want to park a new name, choose a high paying keyword. That way even if it gets 1 or 2 clicks a month, you will get maximum revenue. Cute Kittens will most likely have a lower ppc than debt consolidation...REMEMBER you cannot buy traffic for parked pages...which is why i recommend parking older names that. If you want to park a new domain, don't use a domain forwarding feature. Instead, use the *iframe* option (if they give you one). THis will give you more controll over your website. For example, one of my websites is parked at sedo, but hosted on my server. This allows me to check traffic via my cpanel...and this also allows me to add on to my site. If i want, i can add a reciprocal link page to my parked page....for extra traffic via back links.
(what ever you do, check with your parking company to make sure you're not breaking any rules

)

Think of your domain names as a piece of cyber real estate. Good names, good development, will get you far. Take your time, start with one name at time...and you will be sucessfull

All of these tips are most of the things I learned in my domaining experience. You'll make good choices, and some bad....you'll learn by your mistakes. Granted this isn't everything you should know/do...and i'm sure you'll hear other opinions on domaining, but this is what's helped me make good choices when buying a domain. My 2 cents

{insert name here} · 02-17-2006, 04:01 PM

Very excellent post, rep added

gazzip · 02-17-2006, 04:43 PM

Great post - rep on the way

MissFlora · 02-17-2006, 04:57 PM

As much as I know about domain, I'm still new to ppc. What is a reciprocal link page?

Flora.

Halobitt · 02-17-2006, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by Isis

I was a domain newbie when the free .info wave hit. Looking back, i am so glad that the infos were free, because i picked some pretty BAD names thinking that they would resell for XX,XXX - HA! Today, a bit wiser, i buy names primarily for affiliate marketing, and eventual resale.

Can you share with us the names you first regged, so we can learn from your mistakes (or give us a laugh

)
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=168608

Great post BTW.

Isis · 02-17-2006, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by MissFlora

As much as I know about domain, I'm still new to ppc. What is a reciprocal link page?

Flora.

basically, most pple park there domains using a domain forwarding feature....ie, you tell your registrar that you want the domain name pointing to the parking company's site...

What i do instead, is use my own server to park the page....creating an html page with an <iframe =parkingsite.url>. I can add links to the bottom of the frame to other pages of my website, including a links page... that way i can exchange links with other websites
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=168608

does that make sense

cassius · 02-17-2006, 05:46 PM

Rep added. Very good post.

Phronesis · 02-17-2006, 09:24 PM

You forgot to add, if you want to make good ppc, don't park at Sedo...

Cyberian · 02-22-2006, 12:50 AM

Isis, this is the best, most comprehensive top 10 I have ever seen.
Very well done!!! This should be sticky'd by staff IMO.
Peace,
Cyberian

Chronos · 02-22-2006, 01:35 AM

Originally Posted by Isis

What i do instead, is use my own server to park the page....creating an html page with an <iframe =parkingsite.url>. I can add links to the bottom of the frame to other pages of my website, including a links page... that way i can exchange links with other websites
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=168608

does that make sense

Definitely as great idea as excellent tutorial

rep added

egkuan · 02-22-2006, 01:48 AM

Originally Posted by isis

What i do instead, is use my own server to park the page....creating an html page with an <iframe =parkingsite.url>. I can add links to the bottom of the frame to other pages of my website, including a links page... that way i can exchange links with other websites

Is that allowed?

sm · 02-22-2006, 07:46 AM

great post !

instead of parking domains, another way could be to develop mini-sites..... that's what I would prefer..

dongan · 02-23-2006, 02:59 AM

Well done Isis. Great post.

Originally Posted by ~ Cyberian ~

Isis, this is the best, most comprehensive top 10 I have ever seen.
Very well done!!! This should be sticky'd by staff IMO.
Peace,
Cyberian

My vote too to make it Sticky.

larky_starz · 02-23-2006, 03:14 AM

Thanks for that guide. I have been looking at getting into the domain game properly now, and guides like this are very helpful. Rep added, and I also vote to make it sticky.

staskul · 02-23-2006, 07:47 AM

Thanks for the post, Isis!

Isis · 02-23-2006, 08:11 AM

Originally Posted by egkuan

Is that allowed?

each parking program is different, but for an example, i looked at sedo's TOS up and down, left and right....there's nothing that says you can't.

i had a situation where i had to temporarily park one of my names because an affiliate wasn't paying up

. I had several reciprocal link partners that i didn't want to loose. So, I parked the name at sedo using the iframe feature, and then added my own links at the bottom of the page that would lead to my 'links page'.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=168608

I repeat, you should check with your parking program....

phyko · 02-23-2006, 09:05 AM

Wow this was a great read. thank Isis

yandig · 02-23-2006, 11:42 AM

...one of the best posts I've seen in this forum... +REP+

SimpleDomaining · 02-23-2006, 12:17 PM

what a nice post. APPLADS to you. thank you

navjotjsingh · 02-23-2006, 12:29 PM

Great Post...Rep Added!

allabout42 · 02-23-2006, 12:58 PM

A very nice and informative post Isis!

carltonleon · 02-24-2006, 07:37 AM

Quality Post Isis.
Lot of great info in there.

Rep added

DNabc · 02-24-2006, 09:48 AM

>What is a reciprocal link page?

Hello Flora. A reciprocal link page it's just a place where you put links only to sites that link back to you. Basically, it's just a link exchange page. Google frowns upon it now... it really prefers one way links.

khuldun · 02-25-2006, 12:27 AM

Great post, rep added!

fredo · 02-25-2006, 03:29 AM

Nice post! yes domains are more and more considered as the virtual real estate... Soon, it will be in the finance newspapers like the stock markets :-)

02-17-2006, 03:46 PM	THREAD STARTER #1 (permalink)
Isis Think for yourself Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Az Posts: 1,062	How to Pick a Domain Name I was a domain newbie when the free .info wave hit. Looking back, i am so glad that the infos were free, because i picked some pretty BAD names thinking that they would resell for XX,XXX - HA! Today, a bit wiser, i buy names primarily for affiliate marketing, and eventual resale. So, I thought i'd share the most important lessons in picking a domain name to domain newbies, after all, unlike the info's i got, most domains aren't free. #1) When buying a name for resale purposes, buy only names that YOU would buy at a premium. That means, if the name sounds like cr@p to you, 9 outa 10 times the names will sound like cr@p to a prospective buyer. If you wouldn't by l0ts-of-bad-d0mains.org for XXXX, most likely nobody else will either. #2) Is the name going to be brandable or niche related? brandable and niche domains are like apples and oranges. If you are going to go for a niche related domain, run the keyword/keywords through something like overture and see just how many searches are done for that particular word/phrase. Good niche related names can take advantage of organic traffic (unpaid, natural traffic). The resale value of brandable names depend on how you develop the site. On first glance...you couldn't tell me what Walawalabingbang.com was all about. It's hard to predict the resale value of brandables....imo. For newbies, i recommend sticking with names that are niche related. As you start developing an eye for good names, then you can venture out to brandables. #3) Which brings me to my next point. Don't expect a 1000% return on your domain name within the first month of purchasing a domain. Most newbie domainers tend to get disapointed when their names don't sell at XX,XXX right away. IMO, names that make big bucks have been registered for a long time, have a history of natural (unpaid) traffic, and make some sort of revenue (either adsense, ppc, affiliate, or real product) #4) I've found that buying names from more than 3 registrars ads confusion to my portfolio. You see that Godaddy is having a 2.99 sale, Yahoo's selling domains for 4.00, and Registerfly is giving infos away.....you might think that you're saving big money buy going where the sale is, but i find that having 4 names at one registrar, 10 in another, 6 at another, 9 at another, just makes me loose track of where and what i have. Find a good registrar, or reseller, and stick with them. You might pay a little bit more per domain, but your saving yourself a TON of headaches 6-8 months from now. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/domain-newbies/168608-how-to-pick-a-domain-name.html #5) New names are good for development, bad for parking. It takes a good 3 months for a name to get indexed by major search engines. If you want a name for parking purposes, consider buying an existing name with proven traffic and proven revenue. If you place a new name at Sedo, don't expect more than 3 cents a month for that name - and don't expect to be listed in many search engines either.... #6) Don't buy a lot of traffic for new names. Last year, when i first developed my art affiliate site CanvasFakes.comI started a Google Adwords campaign right away. I spent on average 30 dollars a month on the site. 3 months later, i made my first commission! but i had spent almost 90 dollars of advertising! from that month on, i'd spend 30 dollars on adsense, and make 40 dollars commission...leaving me with a net profit of 10 dollars-- whoap te do! My point is, that you should first build naturall traffic with reciprocal linking, free link exchanges, blogs, and other ways before paying for traffic. By stopping my google adwords campaign, and building free traffic revenues...you keep more profit to yourself and increase the resale value of your name/site. I stopped my google adwords campaign all my sites and now get to pocket mid XX to low XXX from my affiliate programs. #7) Be patient! It may be disheartening to see 0 traffic hits for 3-4 months, or 0 offers...but time plays a huge roll in a domain name's value. The longer you own your name, the more it will be worth. #8) Quality not Quantity. It is better to have 10 good names than 100 sucky names. I say this because now and then, we'll all be faced with a free domain name deal. The first impulse of most newbies is to reg a million of these free names...regardless of the meaning and future potential. When faced with a free domain name deal ask yourself, would i buy this name if it cost me $200...or am i just getting it cuz it's free? When it comes to freebee domains, think of the long term...most likely, they will have 0 value untill the freebee sale is over.....Take your time, sit for a moment, think about the name, research other extensions, checkout overture, and then reg it. #9) Becareful when buying existing names. In the midst of honest resellers, there are many money hungry, scamming scumbags out there waiting to take advantage of you. Do your homework before buying a name....Check the PR of a name, Check it's existing links, how long has it been around? has it ever had adult material on it? is the traffic inflated? Does the seller have a good rep? Check the scams section....you'll see even the best of buyers (and sellers) have been scamed at one point or another. You can limit your risk of being scammed by doing your due diligence and researching a name before you buy it. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=168608 #10) If you want to park a new name, choose a high paying keyword. That way even if it gets 1 or 2 clicks a month, you will get maximum revenue. Cute Kittens will most likely have a lower ppc than debt consolidation...REMEMBER you cannot buy traffic for parked pages...which is why i recommend parking older names that. If you want to park a new domain, don't use a domain forwarding feature. Instead, use the iframe option (if they give you one). THis will give you more controll over your website. For example, one of my websites is parked at sedo, but hosted on my server. This allows me to check traffic via my cpanel...and this also allows me to add on to my site. If i want, i can add a reciprocal link page to my parked page....for extra traffic via back links. (what ever you do, check with your parking company to make sure you're not breaking any rules ) Think of your domain names as a piece of cyber real estate. Good names, good development, will get you far. Take your time, start with one name at time...and you will be sucessfull All of these tips are most of the things I learned in my domaining experience. You'll make good choices, and some bad....you'll learn by your mistakes. Granted this isn't everything you should know/do...and i'm sure you'll hear other opinions on domaining, but this is what's helped me make good choices when buying a domain. My 2 cents Last edited by Isis; 02-17-2006 at 03:52 PM.

02-17-2006, 04:01 PM	#2 (permalink)
{insert name here} Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,304	Very excellent post, rep added __________________ You got no time for the messenger, got no regard for the thing that you don't understand, you got no fear of the underdog, that's why you will not survive!

02-17-2006, 04:57 PM	#4 (permalink)
MissFlora Epitome.Of.Pulchritude Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 3,136	As much as I know about domain, I'm still new to ppc. What is a reciprocal link page? Flora. __________________ %%- 29th May NP Auction at 8pm EDT/5pm PDT/12am UTC %%- Drop-by when you are free: 1-after-1 NP$ .info Auction Toronto Summer 2011: Book NOW! \| For Sale: CrazyScript.com - comes with some traffic!

02-22-2006, 12:50 AM	#9 (permalink)
Cyberian Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Emerald Triangle Posts: 4,558	Isis, this is the best, most comprehensive top 10 I have ever seen. Very well done!!! This should be sticky'd by staff IMO. Peace, Cyberian __________________ Remember who your loyalties are divided between, and choose for the right reasons who deserves them.

02-22-2006, 07:46 AM	#12 (permalink)
sm NamePros Regular Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: India Posts: 608	great post ! instead of parking domains, another way could be to develop mini-sites..... that's what I would prefer.. __________________ My blog (beta) Bachelor.co.in - Gemstone.co.in Assets.co.in - PropertyDealers.org MortgageFirms.org - eLearner.org

02-17-2006, 04:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
gazzip First Time Poster ! Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: GB Posts: 6,881	Great post - rep on the way

02-17-2006, 05:46 PM	#7 (permalink)
cassius Account Suspended Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 162	Rep added. Very good post.

02-17-2006, 09:24 PM	#8 (permalink)
Phronesis Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,777	You forgot to add, if you want to make good ppc, don't park at Sedo...

02-23-2006, 03:14 AM	#14 (permalink)
larky_starz NamePros Regular Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 478	Thanks for that guide. I have been looking at getting into the domain game properly now, and guides like this are very helpful. Rep added, and I also vote to make it sticky.

02-23-2006, 07:47 AM	#15 (permalink)
staskul Account Closed Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: domains Posts: 2,848	Thanks for the post, Isis!

02-23-2006, 09:05 AM	#17 (permalink)
phyko NamePros Member Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 56	Wow this was a great read. thank Isis __________________ how to cook tilapia

02-23-2006, 11:42 AM	#18 (permalink)
yandig Domain Bagger Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Coma Berenices Posts: 3,891 Follow @domainbagger	...one of the best posts I've seen in this forum... +REP+ __________________ Yandig Available Domains

02-23-2006, 12:17 PM	#19 (permalink)
SimpleDomaining Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Phoenix AZ Posts: 1,639 Follow @simpledomaining	what a nice post. APPLADS to you. thank you __________________ naturalskincareproducts.com

02-23-2006, 12:29 PM	#20 (permalink)
navjotjsingh BlahBlahBlah... Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: India Posts: 1,947 Follow @nspeaks	Great Post...Rep Added!

02-23-2006, 12:58 PM	#21 (permalink)
allabout42 Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Bay Area Posts: 1,538	A very nice and informative post Isis! __________________ Restoration Of Corvettes \| Restore My Camaro Article Directory \| Free quality content \| Computer Forum \|Ringtone Downloads Professional Design/Cheap Price!Logo-Banner-Brochure-Stationery-Flash-3D-Animation

02-24-2006, 07:37 AM	#22 (permalink)
carltonleon NamePros Regular Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Dublin Posts: 607	Quality Post Isis. Lot of great info in there. Rep added

02-24-2006, 09:48 AM	#23 (permalink)
DNabc NamePros Regular Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Central Domain Posts: 502 Follow @centraldomain	>What is a reciprocal link page? Hello Flora. A reciprocal link page it's just a place where you put links only to sites that link back to you. Basically, it's just a link exchange page. Google frowns upon it now... it really prefers one way links. __________________ Partnerships : DN abc - Looking for domain partners - My best partners will get many valuable gifts. FREE Hosting for 24 months at Jumpline - ($25 activation fee)! Spread the word!

02-25-2006, 12:27 AM	#24 (permalink)
khuldun Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: In front of my Dell Posts: 1,126	Great post, rep added! __________________ New mobile content website coming soon

02-25-2006, 03:29 AM	#25 (permalink)
fredo NamePros Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 179	Nice post! yes domains are more and more considered as the virtual real estate... Soon, it will be in the finance newspapers like the stock markets :-) __________________ All about .EU domains at http://www.eudomains.org Click here to buy .EU, .ES, .FR, .CO.UK and other European domain name extensions

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