Labrocca - don't forget checking out the competition, also important.
Actually I agree.
The reason I started this thread was because I recently did the above (including looking at some competition).
100 + searches are no more really, all taken. Below, that would be effective.
That's only true if you register ONLY dot coms. There are plenty available in .net and other extensions. The point is KEYWORDS so having the dot com isn't all that important.
One part of the research above is to check if the dot com or other extensions are valid sites or are they parked crap.
Here is my recent example. I found a nice little Sudoku script. Something I can easily work with.
Wordtracker shows good results for Sudoku.
"free online sudoku" shows 136 (#14 on list) searches per day. Respectable...after checking some of the other top 10 I saw that the freeonlinesudoku.net was available. .net's are my favorite for this type of site with the cheaper reg fee. I pay $6 vs $7.24 for them. Every little bit helps right?
So anyways...took me about 2 hours total to make this site:
http://www.freeonlinesudoku.net
The dot com is parked. (org is still available)
I followed my above formula and within 3 days..traffic. Currently ranks top 10 in G. With a little link building I hope to be in top 3. This site will require NO additional work once it's making money. I have a couple dozen sites done with this similar formula. In a way there are MFA sites but I do make these sites as unique as possible.
easier said than done, on the sides you need to promote, promote and promote it.
Not really..that's the point of using wordtracker to get a domain. Promotion is for suckers. It's all about search engines. I could spend a LOT of money promoting or I can work on getting ranked well in SERPs. Take a guess which is easier? I have so many sites that I just have to pick a relevent one to place a link and BINGO...indexed.
For those that believe in the "sandbox" crap...I laugh at you. Reg date on my domain was less than 2 weeks ago.
btw..I also snagged 2 other Sudoku domains each in top 5 of wordtracker. Should be able to make a tidy profit over the years.
While making 50 cents a day doesn't sound like much...consider 5 years income. $900...or more...certainly worth my couple hours of work. Domaining is all about residual income. Create enough small sites (or good parked ones for lazy domainers) and you just make money every month.
edit: btw estibot gives domain $140 value:
http://estibot.com/results.php?domain=FreeOnlineSudoku.net
I could probably sell this today for $100+.
Enjoy.