At the time of this writing, 5 of the domains above are taken:
Eavesdrop.io
EveryAudience.com
OpinionBird.com
RecentArrival.com
UpcomingLife.com
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Today's drop
MovieAmbition.com
FarmerPassion.com
FameFollow.com
FederalBonus.com
ThinkAnytime.com
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As always, it is recommended to do the following for each name you're considering purchasing:
BARE MINIMUM
- Is it pronounceable? Unless you are selling LLLL's - these are 4 letter .coms - make sure you're selling a pronounceable name. Some other exclusions are short names like Secur.ly and such, but I will stick to only talking about .coms. Make sure the domain can be said on a radio and won't need further clarification. OpinionBird.com, rather than OpynionBird.com. Kapish?
- Check for similar sales on Namebio (these names are mostly 2 word domains. Enter 1 of the words into Namebio and observe, then enter the other and observe. Keep in mind the year the domain was sold in - recent sales are more relevant. Lastly, pay special attention to good names as opposed to average or below average names. Then, mentally determine a price range and draw conclusions based off the data you saw)
For example, let's look at
OpinionBird.com (already taken) - I'll do one keyword as an example here.
*** I will proceed with the assumption that OpinionBird.com is a website for paid surveys, much like Survey Monkey
I enter '
Opinion' into Namebio and filter by
.com.
I get the following domains:
OpinionAnalytics ($352),
PaidOpinions ($211),
OpinionPower ($401),
TrueOpinion ($348),
ChangeOpinion ($116),
SocialOpinion ($360),
GetOpinions ($102), and so on. Further investigation shows me names like
OpinionPoll selling for $1836, and
OpinionsApp for $2999.
This data actually shows me that there isn't such a close connection between keywords and the price. In my opinion,
OpinionsApp is a much weaker name than
PaidOpinions, yet the price of the first is $3k and the second only $350.
How is this happening? This makes no sense! It is possible that end users have already chosen their name and simply go on marketplaces to purchase them for $$$$. Another possibility is really good pitching by a reseller or broker. Regardless, you must dive deep into this data &
look at it in context - don't just take it plainly.
If you are serious about making money on a domain, you must go very deep into your research. You have to think like an end user - why would you pay somebody $3000 for a domain? What would that name provide for you? Why is a subjectively good name like
PaidOpinions selling for only $352? For me personally, I can see a huge company being built based on that name alone.
In summary, seeing all these varying price points showed us that there isn't such a clear distinction between 'high profit' and 'low profit' domains. I won't go further in this example, but more information is definitely needed to draw conclusions. This is a good example of a landscape that isn't fully figured out yet!
You would then repeat this process with the second keyword. The second keyword could actually help you uncover more information about the overall landscape, helping you make a more educated decision about your purchase. ALWAYS look at the big picture! Don't get sucked into concentrating on all the small details.
This process could take about 15 minutes, which is really not much. So be thorough.
- Check for trademarks. Type in the domain name and check if any companies are registered under that name. If you see a company but it has an "ABANDONED" status, you're probably good to go. But if there are lots of entries and the results are more complex, you might want to consult an IP lawyer. Of course, only do that if you consider the domain worthy since the costs can add up (though I have never done this myself)
RECOMMENDED
- Check Google Trends to see if a niche is on the rise or if it's falling. Taking our OpinionBird.com example earlier, I think of the niche this name deals with - to me it's surveys. To you, it might be something else - great! Having different ideas is good for creating more opportunities. Just make sure that you know what most people will assume the name means - you will need good awareness and common sense for this.
In
Google Trends, I type in
paid survey, set the country to the
US, and set the timeline to
last 5 years. The
graph actually shows us a slight decline, from about 70% average interest to 60%. You could check variations on this keyword -
paid surveys, paid polls, paid studies, etc. The results surprised me a little bit, but after thinking about them, I believe it's because the hype about getting paid to do surveys is slowly dying.
Now... do you see how knowing the popularity of the domain's niche could help us price and sell it? This can help you make a more accurate appraisal, find end users (since you understand the niche), and so on. It is important to know your niche!
- Check Google Keyword Planner to get search volume. Search volume means the amount of people searching a specific word or phrase on Google. How might this help us, you might ask? By knowing the search volume, you can further determine the popularity of a niche, and even the popularity of a domain's exact keywords.
For example,
Opinion Bird is currently getting 0 search volume a month. This means that nobody is searching for it. So... it's a bad name, right?
Well, just because no one is searching for it doesn't mean it's a bad name. It can be a
brandable name - meaning you can set up an end user with this name.
Why do I say this? Well, although
Opinion Bird is getting 0 search volume, the niche
Opinion Bird is in receives 49 500 searches A MONTH! Impressive, huh? It's the paid
surveys niche! Now if you tried to sell this domain to an end user, your leverage went from "Opinion Bird gets no searches a month" to "The niche Opinion Bird is in gets searched by 50 000 people A MONTH!". What shift.
Try it out: sign into Keyword Planner, click the wrench for Tools, then choose the first option - Keyword Planner. Click on Get search volume and forecasts. In the table you will see a Vol column - this is your search volume. Alternatively, choose
Find new keywords to get more ideas about your niche.
This tool is a godsend - it will show you keyword volume on Google, Amazon, and other sites. It's a Chrome extension.
- Lastly... what does your gut say about this domain? Don't try to justify it. If you don't vibe with the name, don't bother. You have to believe in the name!
I remember buying
AboveJourney.com by accident because I was acting impulsively and forgot to cancel my order. The next day, my gut was telling me it wasn't a good name. Of course, at first glance it's a 2 word domain with good potential in the travel niche. But in reality this name does not really make sense to me. Above journey... journey above? Like a flight? It's not a common way to describe flights. To be honest, it's hard to put my reasoning into words except to say that my gut does not approve, haha.
So,
follow your gut!
IN CONCLUSION - A Practical Guide
Please note, by no means this is a full checklist of things to check for - for that check out the thread posted by Eric. The checklist here is my personal checklist, some of the most common things I look for.
Without further ado:
0. Is it pronounceable?
1. Check Namebio
2. Check trademarks
3. Check Google Trends
4. Check Google Keyword Planner
5. Gut feeling
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Or... you could just YOLO it.
Your choice
Take care, everyone. Hope you found this guide useful!
