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Introduction
In the world of domain investing, we can sometimes get too caught up in how good a name sounds, without really thinking about the commercial viability and the probability of demand on a domain. Sometimes a domain name can look and sound great but may actually have very little if any demand.
How then do we research end user demand? Then based on this demand how much should we be willing to spend on the domain as an investor?
The following is for .COM domains only. Writing a guide that caters to every other TLD would take a really long time, so unfortunately I am going with what is still the number one sought after TLD in my opinion. If you disagree with this, stop reading now.
The Factors of Demand
The following list is ordered in what I perceive as priority order for working out demand, so 1 being weighted strongest and so on.
So how much should you be looking to spend if you take into account the above, in addition to the quality of the domain.
This is a really tough question to answer, and each investor has their own limits on what to spend, and knowledge of certain niches and markets.
All I know is that the more developed alternatives, companies etc there are, the more chance you'll have of selling a domain name.
I personally don't mind spending more on a domain when many of the above factors are at least true and have good numbers.
NOTE: This guide is not investment advice. It is my own personal opinion on domain investing. Spend your money wisely, and only spend what you can afford to lose. It is also NOT legal advice in regards to trademarks. I am not a lawyer, I merely understand the above mentioned statements to be true, and thus I am sharing my thoughts and opinions with you.
In the world of domain investing, we can sometimes get too caught up in how good a name sounds, without really thinking about the commercial viability and the probability of demand on a domain. Sometimes a domain name can look and sound great but may actually have very little if any demand.
How then do we research end user demand? Then based on this demand how much should we be willing to spend on the domain as an investor?
The following is for .COM domains only. Writing a guide that caters to every other TLD would take a really long time, so unfortunately I am going with what is still the number one sought after TLD in my opinion. If you disagree with this, stop reading now.
The Factors of Demand
The following list is ordered in what I perceive as priority order for working out demand, so 1 being weighted strongest and so on.
- The quality of the domain name itself. Read my domain investing guide to help you figure the quality and sell through rate of your domains.
- The number of developed websites operating with the same or very similar names, either on other tlds or variants of it on .com.
- The key here is that they must be developed. Not a parked page or unused.
- For example if you own Tomato.com you'd want to see developed sites on other tlds or variants of it, so something like TomatoUK.com, TomatoWorld.com, TomatoPlanet.com and so on.
- Include hyphenated version of your domain in any calculation as well
- The number of companies with the same name, or very close to it.
- There are tools and databases out there to help you research this. This guide will not go into depth on how to do this, you'll have to figure this one out yourself.
- These must be active companies that are still in business, disregard all others
- If the keyword(s) are generic (not made up) then the number of trademarks is a bonus, not a negative
- Yes, trademarks are not some binary definition. If you own a generic domain and trademarks exist this is more than likely good for you.
- Multiple trademarks in various classes is what you really want to see
- Generic keywords are words that have meanings that have a relatively wide scope
- If its a dictionary word, it is generic
- I am in no way endorsing trademark infringement here. There is a big difference between owning a domain with no bad faith intended, and obvious trademark infringement.
- These must be active trademarks, disregard any inactive ones
- The number of other TLDS registered
- More weighting to be given to tlds that are registered by end users but are unused, so you may want to research whois and history
- I know this can be difficult to figure out, but anything with private WHOIS that has an offer landing page or for sale message on it will need to be considered another domain investor
- The length of the domain name in question. The shorter it is, the more likely it is to sell, since shorter names work really well in branding and advertising.
- The number of social media handles taken that match your domain minus the tld. I personally would only base this on Twitter and Instagram.
So how much should you be looking to spend if you take into account the above, in addition to the quality of the domain.
This is a really tough question to answer, and each investor has their own limits on what to spend, and knowledge of certain niches and markets.
All I know is that the more developed alternatives, companies etc there are, the more chance you'll have of selling a domain name.
I personally don't mind spending more on a domain when many of the above factors are at least true and have good numbers.
NOTE: This guide is not investment advice. It is my own personal opinion on domain investing. Spend your money wisely, and only spend what you can afford to lose. It is also NOT legal advice in regards to trademarks. I am not a lawyer, I merely understand the above mentioned statements to be true, and thus I am sharing my thoughts and opinions with you.
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