DN Evaluation

[dubesor]

This is a dumb n00b question (I've been out of the domain game for too long) ... How can you tell whether a given DN is likely to generate traffic?

I know the Overture method (inventory.overture.com) is one way. People mention Google results, PageRank and some others which I forget as options. What about Alexa and Compete.com? Can they be utilized in some way?

As far as Google goes, how do comparisons work? If the keywords in the DN produce many Google search results, the traffic is bound to be high?

Any other ways to tell how a given DN compares to others in terms of potential?

 

[RJ]

Are you mainly referring to type-in traffic, or old website/link popularity traffic? If we're talking about type-in traffic, I could give you an easy answer. They're all taken, so just ask the current owner what his parking stats are.

But seriously, this is a tough question and I'm going to have to give a vague answer. It's generally impossible to estimate with any accuracy what kind of traffic a domain gets.

You mentioned using Overture to estimate type-ins.
FAQ answer on that: http://www.namefaqs.com/question/qstId/28.html

I use Google to find out the relative popularities of keyword usage, but there's no way to convert those numbers into traffic figures. Alexa and Compete numbers would be more useful in indicating traffic to a domain (lower score the better), but be aware that both are easily manipulated.

In general, use common sense and try to find out for yourself where the traffic would be coming from. Is it a term that people would naturally type-in? Are the existing backlinks to the domain on active websites?

If you want to discuss specifics on anything, just reply back.

 

[dubesor]

Thanks for adding a little clarity to my murky question

When you mention relative popularities of keyword usage in Google, you're talking about the # of results? (eg. a term or series of terms with millions of results is likelier to have traffic than those with thousands of results)