Question about a domain I "think" might be worth something

[slbailey]

OK, I'm still reading and learning (haven't bought anything yet -- per the newbie rules) but I'm curious to see if I really have an eye for what is valuable and what isn't.

I found an expiring domain called IndianaWeddingVideo.com (I happen to be in that industry which is why I was looking) and I "think" that might be worth something to someone doing wedding video in Indiana. I checked google searches and it's a distant second in searches to indianapolis wedding video (which is already taken) but I have to think that a state level reference in a domain has to make this worth something.

It was purchased originally in 2004 (according to archive.org) but never developed. Google has no pages in cache and there are no inbound links to it so I can only assume the domain was never developed but I still think there's potential for it to be developed (or at least redirect to someone's wedding video site).

So I'm sticking to my guns and not buying anything yet but if I were going to buy it, my plan would be to buy it, park it, watch it for a couple weeks to gauge traffic and then reach out to wedding videographers in Indiana and tell them it's for sale for $200.

Would that be a reasonable plan?

Steve

 

[nielsencl]

Reasonable, but maybe not realistic. To start with, it's not a bad idea and you are on the right track with your thinking. The main problem is that most people dont' search at the state level, but the city level. Now if you can find a phototographer that doesn't realize that, or if they work in many cities, you may have a customer.

It's not hard to make a $10 investment that could be turned around for $200 or even $100. It's not a lot of money, but it's darned nice profit margin.

But a domain like that might be better developed as a directory. It's very targeted to a geographical area, and you can have categoeries for all the cities. I don't know how many photographers there are in the state, but just think if you had 20% of them paying even $1 a month for a listing. You can see how that can quick become some serious money.

Then if you consider that you can advertise your own business on the directory for free, you see how development of a domain like this really look attractive. True, you may not be located in Indiana, but most web sites get traffic from all over the world, and there's a chance people will hit the site looking for something and see your ads. The other option is you can have a lead form on the site and sell leads to the photography companies that are located in Indiana.

By the way, I think you are close to being ready to start buying some domains. You understand they need to have some value to other people, and have some idea how to verify this. Most importantly you know how to tell if a domain name has traffic potential from the keywords.

Good Luck!

 

[slbailey]

Thanks for the positive feedback. I actually let this one slide and bought IllinoisWeddingPhotographer.com ... My plan right now is to put a blog up that lists some of the main photographers who have purchased advertising under those keywords and see what happens to the listing in Google. If I can get a decent showing then I'm going to approach those vendors, show them where the site ranks on the keywords "illinois wedding photographer" and see if I can offload it for $100-200 bucks. If not, I'll probably develop it like you said.