Buyer Beware: Buying Domain Name Based on Traffic Stats

[the_poet]

Sadly there really is no accurate tool to use as a guide to how much traffic a domain name is actually getting, without actually owning the domain name and using a trusted stats provider. The simple thing to understand when buying a domain name is not to base your purchase solely on the reported traffic stats.

Traffic can be some domain names lone asset but the real factor in that traffic is the source providing the traffic and the quality of it! Does the domain name rank in the search engines for a popular term and that is where the main source is coming from? Maybe the traffic is "bot" traffic? Maybe somebody paid for some sort of traffic? Maybe a paid ad on a site is sending the traffic?

Read more...

 

[exsedo]

It's amazing how many fall for Pump and Dump domains based on their traffic.
I bet there are a lot more than we hear about because the buyer is too embarassed to report it.

 

[the_poet]

I bet there are a lot more than we hear about because the buyer is too embarassed to report it.

I absolutely agree!

 

[realtimeregister]

When you buy a good domain name and it has traffic then it is a plus.
I never would buy a domain name that is crap but has tons of traffic.


But as stated in the article it is a bit of a disappointment to buy a domain that costs more then 4g and see the traffic stats being way off then it was published at Sedo.

 

[Premiere]

Generally, all the info you need to valuate a domain is available to you online. Compete, alexa, quantcast all give valuable info on traffic type, search field, inbound links etc. Checkpagerank.net also supplies good info on where the backlinks are if any as well as rank and history of the site.

If these items do not fall into place, and if you can't find any search terms related to the domain traffic, it's most likely a dud. It doesn't take a vast amount of experience to learn how real traffic stacks up against fake sources.

 

[DubDubDubDot]

Interesting quote from the article...

"One of the things Sedo is apparently doing is counting requests to specific files (ie: images, videos, etc.) as visitors, even though a visitor never actually went directly to the domain name."

Very shady of Sedo.

Generally, all the info you need to valuate a domain is available to you online. Compete, alexa, quantcast

Don't put too much stock in those tools. Noobs believe the data, but they are mostly a novelty to everyone else.

 

[hollywood]

see the traffic stats being way off then it was published at Sedo.

I too don't believe those Sedo numbers

 

[Premiere]

Don't put too much stock in those tools. Noobs believe the data, but they are mostly a novelty to everyone else.

If you learn to read them, instead of blindly trusting them, you can buy domains on the very cheap and sell them on the very high end.

They are certainly not a novelty if used properly.

 

[ecigs.net]

I don't know about the other sites mentioned, but Alexa can be easily manipulated. All you have to do is add the Alexa tool bar to a browser and then set up an automatic page loader. Many page loaders allow a person to open a dozen different pages at different time intervals. I doesn't take a lot of effort to manipulate traffic stats.

 

[Premium-Domain-Names]

I'm at sedo and have never tried any tricks to get visitors, but would be willing to try something that wouldn't be objectionable to them. Any ideas?

 

[studio500]

There are also scripts out there that can give pages many thousands of hits a day/ hour etc I wont name them here but it is as easy as typing in the domain name and pressing go!

 

[Premium-Domain-Names]

Sounds great! Feel free to PM me with a link.
I might use it to see if it works, out of sheer curiosity, and for a good laugh.

---------- Post added at 12:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 AM ----------

Oops! That didn't sound right. I'd better clarify...when I say use it, I mean try it on one of my crappy .info domains that never gets any traffic, and see if it gets hits, and laugh about that to myself, not try it to sell to some poor unsuspecting soul, and have a good laugh about that. That's not me. In fact, someone tried that on my when I first started. But I pay no attention to those stats any more, except on my Sedo, who I evidently can't trust, which explains my low income there, and will probably be switching to Parked.com soon because of it. I would never try to fool them. They would shut me down and I'd lose my parking revenue so fast! Not worth it.

 

[John Baron]

This is very much true , if you don't know or not sure where the traffic is coming from , it can go away just like that , just getting the stat about monthly hits is not enough when there is a big sum of money involve , stat like Google Analytics is crucial to look deep inside the source of the traffic etc

 

[DotWeekly]

Thanks for posting my article

Sadly people buy domain names solely on "stats" all the time! Look at the expired domain section on GoDaddy and you can see what I mean. Completely useless domain names that GD shows "traffic stats" for sell for crazy prices based on the keyword and TLD.

It is sad, but the buyer soon finds out the number displayed as an "estimate" by GD is rarely accurate or even near accurate. If the domain does get traffic, it often dies quickly.

Quality of traffic is the biggest factor in any traffic.
Keywords are the most important in any domains value.

These stats are more like a push-up bra. The truth is revealed when you see them. They are often much smaller than they appear! :o

 

[the_poet]

@Yofie: you're welcome, it's a great article indeed! Rep added!