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Domain Valuation Guide – How Get A True Valuation of Your Domain Name

Since the early days of the Internet advise, successful domain names have held far more value than what most people think. A thriving domain is like a piece of digital real estate. If you own a sought-after piece of Internet property, there may be people who are willing to shell out a significant amount of money for it.

Some of the most expensive domains ever sold were purchased with eight-figure price tags! While the chances of your domain holding that much value are pretty slim, you may be sitting on a relatively profitable commodity.

To get a better insight into what people would be willing to pay for your domain, you’ll have to figure out its estimated value. Domain valuation is a crucial first step in the sales process. However, you don’t have to be actively pursuing a sale to do it. Many owners utilize appraisal techniques to see how they can improve their website and increase the domain’s overall value.

Evaluating a domain and coming up with a monetary value is a holistic process. There’s no magic formula that will provide you with a price tag in a few minutes. The process involves looking at several factors and understanding the market.


Why Domain Appraisal Is Important
Whether you own a simple blog or a thriving e-commerce site, knowing the value of a domain that you own can make a huge difference should you ever decide to sell. In our increasingly digital world, there’s a lot of money to be made by buying and selling domains. There are only so many good addresses to go around. Having a general idea of what your investment is worth can give you the upper hand during negotiations.

If you’re ever approached by a person or company that wants to purchase your domain, they’ve probably already looked at the hard data and appraised it themselves. The last thing you want to do is put the ball in their court and get ripped off. By knowing how much it’s worth, you can offer a fair price and negotiate from there.

From a practical standpoint, domain names are simply part of a web address. However, they also play a larger role that extends beyond the confines of the World Wide Web. Businesses rely heavily on domains for advertising and brand identity. The domain is also directly associated with the company and how it does business. You can use this to your advantage and gauge how much interest your domain name really holds with a potential buyer. If the buyer is very serious about making a purchase, your knowledge of the domain’s worth can help you get the most money possible.

Domain Basics
A domain name refers to the memorable part of the URL. It’s what web users type into their browser’s address bar to visit the website. Within the domain name itself, there are two elements that could affect the final valuation.

The first part is called the second-level domain, or SLD for short. This is typically the name of the website itself. Companies often use their own name in lieu of a separate identifier. For the address Googledotcom, “Google” would be the SLD.

Then, there’s the top-level-domain. The TLD is the short extension that follows the SLD. The most popular TLDs include dotcom, dotorg, and dotnet. However, hundreds of new generic top-level domains are also available.

Factors That Determine Domain Worth
As we mentioned earlier, there’s a lot to consider when you’re trying to determine the value of your domain name. To perform an accurate appraisal, you need to understand how these factors can make a website successful and why they’re important.

Relevant Keywords
Having solid keywords in your domain name can drive up the value significantly. Getting noticed online is all about Search Engine Optimization, which relies heavily on keywords. Keywords are what people use to find new products, sites, and services pertaining to their particular search queries. If you have a keyword right in your domain name, the website will appear higher up on search engine rankings. Thus, increasing visibility.

Companies can spend several thousands of dollars just to get their site noticed. Many will utilize Google AdWords and pay for exposure on certain keyword searches. All of that can be avoided with a solid domain name, which is why this factor is important.

The most lucrative domains have utilized broad keywords that can easily be adapted to the needs of the buyer. Some examples include Hotelsdotcom, Carsdotcom, and Insurancedotcom. Big corporations snatched these up for millions of dollars and have gone on to do big things, proving that the large investment was well worth it.

Checking the Popularity of Keywords
If you’re unsure about any words in your domain name, you can turn to Google for more information. Google Trends allows you to see how the popularity of keywords rises and falls over time. You can even see how many monthly searches are made. When you’re determining your domain’s value, use this tool to accurately gauge where those keywords currently stand.

While your domain may consist of a recognizable keyword, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s relevant to what end-users are after. Check to see how popular the word is to determine how it affects the domain’s overall value.

Top-Level Domain
There are numerous TLDs available. However, most people are only familiar with the generic ones. Domain extensions like dotcom, dotnet, codotuk, and more have been around for a very long time. They’re instantly recognizable. As a result, most people stick with URLs that end with these extensions. Despite all of the fun and quirky TLDs that have been made available in the past couple of years, Internet users still view the old favorites as more trustworthy.

Regular Traffic
The success of the domain can also be a driving force during valuation. Established websites already have an audience, which makes things much easier for anyone who purchases the domain. If the site is monetized, the value can go up even further. You would be giving a stream of passive income, so monetization efforts are always considered when appraising a domain name.

Age
Domains that have been around for a long time have a higher value because they help with SEO. Search engines tend to rank established sites higher up on results pages. Though, this only applies if the domain has been active. Parked domains or those that only display ads for monetization aren’t as valuable. Search engines like Alexa and Google pay attention to value-driven content, so parked domains don’t have as much leverage in negotiations.

You can also use the age of the domain and its contents during sales discussions. Sites with years of content hold a much higher value than those that were established only a few months ago.

Branding
This refers to how the domain name looks and feels. It can be difficult to apply monetary value based on branding, as your domain name’s appeal can be different from person to person. Like we mentioned earlier, the domain name is something that going to be associated with the company or person who buys it.

A unique attention-grabbing domain is much easier to market than one that’s just a string of letters. Think about how your domain name could be applied to different industries. It doesn’t even have to be a real word. If it sounds good as a company name, you may be able to find a generous buyer for it. There have been many instances where businesses changed their name to fit a domain rather than the other way around.

Number of Characters
When it comes to URLs, short and sweet is always preferred. Shorter domain names are easier to remember and can be used a number of different ways. Unfortunately, many short names have already been registered. This is especially true with a basic TLD like dot com. Most buyers would rather pay more for an available short domain than save money and have a new domain name that’s difficult to type out.

Source: https://makeawebsitehub.com/domain-value/
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Previous sales history would be the most important part in appraisals no point appraising $xx,xxx based on keyword data when previous sales history shows $xxx. There is a lot more value to be had in some available industries than others.
 
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Previous sales history would be the most important part in appraisals no point appraising $xx,xxx based on keyword data when previous sales history shows $xxx. There is a lot more value to be had in some available industries than others.


From where we can check the sales history.
 
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dnsal dot es I also have loads of links on my sites for domains and traffic.

This link is not working. I mean, when I type my domain in it, nothing.
 
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Might just be a server overload.
 
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This link is not working. I mean, when I type my domain in it, nothing.
It only shows sales history eg if you own phonebooth type in phone or booth one word for similar names sold.
 
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@lock I didn't know dnpric.es was your's - I like that site and have used many times, thanks!

Aman, try NameBio.com as well for price history research.

Good Luck,
 
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@DnameAgame

Oh it isn't I didn't even think I could be leading down that path....I can't self promote so didn't post PND.
and then the site actually was playing up dnpric.es when I was trying to post links.
sounds a bit that way reading back on it. but no I wish....
 
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@lock my bad, you post much good info - so it made sense to me that it could be yours (and a free service, would that be self promo, doesn't matter anyway haha).
Sorry if I caused confusion.
 
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@lock my bad, you post much good info - so it made sense to me that it could be yours (and a free service, would that be self promo, doesn't matter anyway haha).
Sorry if I caused confusion.
I always have to refrain from posting someone asks. Where to get backlinks and I think I have tools etc but all self promoting so I don't post the url of my own sites. When I do I get pulled up on it.
 
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I got it now. One should look for keywords. Not a whole domain. I was doing that before.

+ Kudos to both @lock @DnameAgame
 
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Well, NO!!!!!

The whole name matters - it matters the most, unless it'a 1 word hahah.

Golden + Coin = goldencoin., which would be very valuable

Coin + Golden = coingolden., no so good.

Make sense? Same keywords - very different value.
 
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Aman, One more follow up as I can see why we left a bit of confusion, apologizes.

In most cases you will not find an exact 1 to 1 recorded sale price to use as an absolute.

So, checking out reported sales here on NP (big thread), using Namebio / DNpric.es, etc. let you find "comps" or comparable sales (think what a real estate agent does for clients). Look for very similar names, based on the keywords. (length, tld, market, +++)(think like # of bedrooms, bathrooms, property size in real estate)

So maybe only look at .net sales if you are selling a .net - better yet you are looking at only .com.

On Namebio - play with the search parameters - if it's 2 words search based on location of the word to find matches. Try out the tools and post back with questions.

Best of luck
 
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Age
Domains that have been around for a long time have a higher value because they help with SEO. Search engines tend to rank established sites higher up on results pages. Though, this only applies if the domain has been active. Parked domains or those that only display ads for monetization aren’t as valuable. Search engines like Alexa and Google pay attention to value-driven content, so parked domains don’t have as much leverage in negotiations.

You can also use the age of the domain and its contents during sales discussions. Sites with years of content hold a much higher value than those that were established only a few months ago.

I agree. Age is very important. I want to ask if you have made a typo. Is Alexa a search engine?
 
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