Wyatt

I see hundreds, even thousands of cheap domain names all over this forum and available to register. However, I'm hesitant to register these domains because I don't know if they are worth more than reg fee.

What is a good quick way to see if a name is worth buying/regging? How can I easily learn the value of average domain names, and be able to tell apart a 20 dollar name and a 100 dollar name?

Thanks!

SimpleDomaining

oh you have got long way to go. at least read this forum for couple weeks first.

__________________
Visit http://SimpleDomaining.com. All newbie domainer needs to know to start domaining. Submit link to Simple Links Directory http://links.simpledomaining.com My last developed sites Century Plaza, Allgon , Kids Books Warehouse, Anthem Classifieds.
LOOKONG FOR AN OFFER for DryCleaningCompany(.)com

scrsteven

Read every page linked on this site in it's entirety
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/dom...es-archive.htm
Then you will be all caught up.

__________________
SKDomains.com
Distance Learning

sashas

This is probably the hardest part of domaining: learning a name's value, something even the best struggle to grasp.

While some names have a set resale value (like LLL names), for others, you'll just have to do your research.

This is especially hard for cheaper, sub $100 names. You might find many such names that sound good, look good, but have low Google and no OVT. For these names, you'll have to either go by gut instincts, or bypass them completely.

Names with OVT are always the best. Names that define an entire industry are good too (say BusinessGift.com). Its with names like BestBusinessGifts.com that you tend to become confused. Yes, such a name can make for a great website. But its got no OVT, very low google. What do you do in such a case?

I tend to think from the end users point of view in such cases. As an enduser, if I want to sell business gifts, and I contact the owner of BusinessGifts.com, and he asks for $20k, the second best domain for me would probably be BestBusinessGifts.com.

So the best way to valuate names like these are to think like an end user, as if you're gonna start a business on every name you see here. Would you sell Business Gifts on YourBusinessGifts.com, or BestBusinessGifts.com? Think it over, and what seems logical, choose that.

Finally, I'll just say that experience and knowledge are your best tools, besides intuition. The more you see name sales, the more you'll know what a name's potential could be. Even the best make mistakes sometimes, overpaying for names. But don't be shy of taking a gamble once in a while...

__________________
Rappers

evilopinions

well said sashas ... can't + rep but great post...

the best way to judge a domain is read , read ,read and know the trends...

also if it is still available and is a .com then it is less likely that it is worth anything because if it was it would already have been picked up long ago....unless it was dropped and not noticed...

sashas

I wouldn't completely bet on that. There are some great names that drop everyday. Bannen's 'Available Dot Com List' is one such example of high quality names that are still available.

But really, what I would recommend to anybody starting this business is to just stay away from hand regs initially and focus on names with guaranteed resale value - LLLL.coms, LLL names, etc. I personally lost money hand a lot of names initially without knowing what they are worth.

__________________
Rappers

artfuldodger

Where can I find Bannen's 'Available Dot Com List'?

sdsinc

I think that the #1 newbie mistake is registering domains that are not really usable but just because the sound 'cool', I mean obscure dictionary words like unpainstakingly.com or names that sound negative such as mycrapholidays.com.
The funny names could still be developed if they are not too bad but resale potential would be virtually nil.
No self-respecting business is ever going to trade under names like that.

To be successful you have to put yourself in the shoes of an end user and ask yourself if the name is really usable, descriptive and commands respect.

__________________
Buy now - MassDeveloper.com $500

RWAC

Someone above said to read, read, read which I totally agree with.

I'm a relative newcomer to this business as well, I admit I do not know that much about it yet, compared to many of the very experienced hands here, yet everyone has to start from somewhere.

Depending on your background, you can too, pull in other resources from your life and history.

Just because one is fairly new to domaining, does not mean that you have no intuitive knowledge upon this subject. Myself, I was in business for a great many years in the cut and thrust world of life in the United Kingdom, where at the best of times, you generally live life on the edge of the envelope, or get eaten up by some bigger shark. This teaches you shrewdness and gives you the ability to trust your gut instincts when coming across a name or any business propisition, which you feel may be worthy of some further action.

To evaluate such a name is difficult I agree. On the one hand, you want top dollar for it, because you see the vision of how it could be used, whilst on the other hand, connecting with your absolutely ideal potential end user, is altogether a different matter. In the meantime you may have to part with your name for a sum of money that does not meet your expectations, but at the end of the day, many trades are caught in this predicament. Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, it's better to simply do a quick flip, which at least will give you further income upon which to reinvest in other names, as you hone your specific skill and/or niche area.

As for the argument of handpicked names and new hand registrations not being worth very much, without causing offense, I think this line of reasoning is complete poppycock and balderdash.

What is mean't here is that certainly, yes, many of the most popular names have gone, fair dinkum, however, the english language is vast enough and the key domain prefixes, are plentiful enough that I can hardly see how it is possible to actually run out of very good key names, which too, could still command a good price.

The limiting of imagination to look at niche markets across a broad spectrum of subjects makes available a myriad of possibilities, without even delving into the world of crap name choice. Add this to the number of language options at your fingertips and the world can still be your oyster.

On coming to deciding a price, usually commonsense will give you a very good indicator, as I said, this is perhaps easier, if you have been in business for yourself and you can then, usually attach what you think is a fair value on an item at both wholesale and retail.

DNJournal offers a wealth of knowledge and I would encourage you, like me, to simply read as much as you can on high quality material related to this subject. Before long, you will come more to grips upon how to price names accordingly.

Even mistakes are good at the beginning, for at least they teach you in the early stages, what could perhaps be, a more costly mistake later on.

Best thing you can do if you are new to this, is to be as shrewd as possible, keep a level head on your shoulders, approach all of this with a good degree of commonsense, to avoid needless and wasteful risk taking exercises that do not pay the dividends you are searching for. Do not worry, those dividends will come, with the more knowledge that you acquire.

Read, read and then read some more and you will do just fine. Just believe in yourself.

Wishing you all the best and good luck.

Mark

DADomains

This is an absolutely excellent response. Thank you for motivating all us newbies.

__________________
SkiWearDirect GasRangeInfo SciFiCollectibles

:talk: :talk:What America needs right NOW.:talk: :talk:

evilopinions

yeah great one

krx

This is all great info and is much appreciated. But I wonder, could we get some numbers on what some of you experienced domainers consider good OVT and google scores? For instance, what do you consider:

1. acceptable numbers
2. good numbers
3. excellent numbers

I think a lot of us newcomers would greatly benefit from this info.

DADomains

That's a good question, I'm curious myself. But lately I have been using KeyWordDiscovery more than OVT:

http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

Anyone got a feeling for good numbers there as well?

__________________
SkiWearDirect GasRangeInfo SciFiCollectibles

:talk: :talk:What America needs right NOW.:talk: :talk:

krx

Keyword Discovery confuses me. It consistently gives numbers that are a fraction of OVT numbers, but it supposedly includes more search engines in its database and is for a year of searches, not just a month (as in OVT). Can anyone explain this?

sashas

thats because keyword discovery gives searches per day, not searches per month. Just multiply the number by 30

__________________
Rappers

krx

Well that would certainly explain it! Thanks!

Somehow I had the notion it was for a year... ?

As I'm after the award for "most stupid questions by a Newbie" I'll ask this too:

When you search OVT looking for "a domain name w/good OVT" do you search with or without the extension? I ask because it strikes me that "type in traffic" would require the extension, too. For example, "CFL bulb" (with space between words and no quotes) gets 960 on OVT. But "CFLbulb.net" gets zilch. When people talk about domain names with good OVT, to which are they referring?

GILSAN

I'm also curious to see this list. Been looking but can't seem to find it?

GIL

__________________
Madeira Island - Madeira Wine - Madeira Embroidery - Golf in Madeira - Affiliate Programs

sashas

Here's what they mean:

Orlando Travel has an OVT of 86000. OrlandoTravel.com has an OVT of zlich, however. Does this mean that the name is worthless, since it has no OVT with extension?
No, the name is still worth 50k+ in the reseller market. Why? Because it has such amazing OVT. For such names, the OVT with extension does not matter.

Typically, OVT with extension for a generic term gives an idea of the kind of traffic the name will receive. If say, a name has an OVT with extension of 30, it means that it'll get approximately 25-50 uniques daily.
When searching for a keyword, you don't usually search for the OVT with extension, just the keyword. Thus, if I was to search for Orlando Travel, I would type in "Orlando Travel" into the search box. If later, I want to know if Orlando Travel gets any traffic, I might type in OrlandoTravel.com.

Try typing in some random generics into the OVT search box. Try sex, then try sex.com.
Typically, developed websites have good OVT with extension. Google.com has a very high OVT with extension, for instance.

Here you go: http://www.namepros.com/available-do...coms-list.html

__________________
Rappers

GILSAN

Thanks Sachas. When you talk about OVT do you mean Overture, the Keyword Selector Tool?
I thought that tool was no longer working. If this is the case what other tools do people use?

GIL

__________________
Madeira Island - Madeira Wine - Madeira Embroidery - Golf in Madeira - Affiliate Programs

sashas

yes, we talk of OVT. though its no longer updated, its still the industry standard.

Other tools you might use are wordtracker. The free wordtracker is at freekeywords.wordtracker.com

keep in mind that wordtracker gives numbers by the day, while OVT gives the numbers by the month

__________________
Rappers

krx

But they also search different databases, no? Cause even taking the day vs month differential into account, the numbers I get on identical searches are still pretty far apart.

For instance, "lighting" gets 264,000/mo (8800/day) on OVT and 65,000/day on KD. "Orlando travel" gets 86,000/mo (2800/day) on OVT and 413/day on KD. And "sex" (my personal favorite) gets 6,188,000/mo (206,000/day) on OVT and 5,300 on KD.

Do you know what accounts for the differences?

GILSAN

Why the enormous diference in numbers between OVT and KD ? I tried going to OVT but it's no longer available. So these numbers you're giving me are not today's stats, right?.

Am I correct to assume then, that KD (Keyword Discovery Free) and Wordtracker Free are the most popular tools presently being used?

GIL

__________________
Madeira Island - Madeira Wine - Madeira Embroidery - Golf in Madeira - Affiliate Programs

SimpleDomaining

where is also google keywords

__________________
Visit http://SimpleDomaining.com. All newbie domainer needs to know to start domaining. Submit link to Simple Links Directory http://links.simpledomaining.com My last developed sites Century Plaza, Allgon , Kids Books Warehouse, Anthem Classifieds.
LOOKONG FOR AN OFFER for DryCleaningCompany(.)com

sashas

I'm not sure where WD gets its numbers from. Perhaps some other members would know.

Regarding going to OVT, you can use some site like: www.keywordhere.com, which can give you OVT searches by country

__________________
Rappers

krx

The OVT stats are from January, which is where the version I use is stuck in time. Still that can't account for the sizable difference in findings.

Sashas, thanks for taking the time to clarify this. It's a tremendous help. The thing I'm not clear about is why the extension doesn't matter for domains w/large OVT. For example, in your example, OrlandoTravel.com would get no direct traffic from type ins, correct? If I understand it, they would have to place very high in search results in order to get much traffic from all the "orlando travel" searches. But placing high in search results depends on keywords, popularity, links, etc - none of which would seem to have much to do with the domain name. This would explain why 9 of the top ten results for, say, "flight attendant" do not have "flight attendant" in the domain name.

The other thing that confuses me in this is, if the ext doesn't really matter for names w/high OVT, why does it matter so much whether it is .com or, say, .net or .us? I picked up DiscountHotelDeals.us because, without the ext the name gets 50,000 OVT. It's worth nothing (I'm told) but if it were .com it would be worth a LOT. Why is that if it's not getting direct type in traffic - and either site could just as easily establish through development high search result standing?

Do you mean it will get 25-50 a MONTH? An OVT of 30 means 30 searches per month, right?