Hi Bubbaswayzee,
I am a fellow newbie domainer and I would like to share my perspective on some of the questions you asked. You said that you have already done lots of reading about domaining, therefore much of what I’ll share is probably familiar to you but here is my spin.
1). You asked “They say to buy good quality names?? I've seen names that when I look at them I don't see anything special at all, but they sell for big money??”
Creating or recognizing “good” domain names can be a science and an art.
The science of a domain name involves understanding the statistics of the keywords in the name and the market the domain relates to. To do this you have to answer questions like these:
• Does the domain relate to a clearly defined market or industry
• What is the number of advertisers for the keyword or market
• Is the market new and emerging, stable or declining
• What is the exact search volume for the keywords
• What is the cpc for the keywords
• Does the domain have any traffic or quality backlinks?
• Does the domain name make it clear what the website would contain or be about
• Does the name contain “extra “words; for example Cars.com vs. BestCars.com vs. TheBestCars.com or BuyCars.com vs. BuyCarsHere.com vs. BuyCarsHereNow.com. The more “extra” words that are included in the name, the less valuable the name generally becomes
• Do the words make sense together and are they grammatically appropriate (is a word plural when singular would be better or past tense when present tense would be better?)
• Does the domain pass the radio test (meaning if someone hears the name for the first time, will they be able to spell it correctly without error; for example could there be confusion about whether the domain name contains 2 vs. two vs. too vs. to or 4 vs. for)?
• Is the extension .com? Generally anything other than .com has less value. If the extension is not .com, does the extension make sense for the name; for example .org is great for a charity or special groups but usually not for ecommerce or money making websites.
• Could someone build a viable business around this single domain name?
• How old is the domain? If you hand register the domain it is brand new, even if the name was previously registered but has expired; you cannot hand-register an aged domain (I will not embarrass myself by explaining how I learned this LOL). The age of a domain is something domainers seem to care a lot about, but my newbie mind is inclined to believe the age of a domain is not very important to most common end users
• Is the domain phrase easy to remember after seeing or hearing it only once?
• Again, is it memorable???
The Google Keyword Planner is a great tool for getting some of this basic data; you can watch a video about it here:
http://www.domainsherpa.com/google-adwords-keyword-planner/ )
The art of creating or recognizing a high quality domain name is slightly less data driven and more about evaluating how marketable a domain is and what it makes people feel (though there are still some “scientific” issues that need to be answered). To do this answer questions like these:
• Does the domain relate to a clearly defined market or industry?
• Is the name composed of real, commonly used dictionary words that people are familiar with?
• Is the domain phrase a commonly used phrase or something obscure that most people will be unfamiliar with?
• Is the name pronounceable?
• Do the words make sense together and are they grammatically appropriate (is a word plural when singular would be better or past tense when present tense would be better?)
• Does the name roll off the tongue easily and sound good to the ear?
• Is the name somehow clever, witty or funny? Is it catchy or does it rhyme?
• Does the domain pass the radio test (meaning if someone hears the name for the first time, will they be able to spell it correctly without error; for example could there be confusion about whether the name contains 2 vs. two vs. too vs. to or 4 vs. for)?
• Do the words paint a picture or evoke an emotion?
• Is the domain phrase easy to remember after seeing or hearing it only once?
• Again, is it memorable???
Obviously there is lots of overlap between the science and the art of a domain name so when you are evaluating a domain or a potential domain you have to look at both areas to evaluate its quality. But in the end the quality and value of a domain is all in the eye of the end user and what use they have in mind for it.
You also have to realize and accept that no one knows everything, and that includes me and you. The domains that you have seen sell for lots of money and that you do not believe are high quality could be valuable for any number of reasons such as:
• They could relate to an industry or product you are unaware of
• They could have a specific relevance in a culture outside of the USA
• The buyers could be planning to build businesses around the names and wanted them no matter the cost
• An uneducated newbie domainer could believe he will flip the name easily to make a quick $100,000…LOL
• There could be all sorts of reasons or factors that make a domain valuable that we just will never understand
Like I said, I am a newbie as well, but I will share the strategy I am now trying to use for my names. Before I buy or register any domain name I make sure I understand how a potential domain can be used by someone to help them make money. I visualize what would be on the website and what it would look like. I describe in detail who potential end users would be, what specifically they would do with the name and why the name I am considering would be a better choice for them than the other thousands of names they could create or buy. I ask myself how the website would make money and try to quantify the potential (in a rough range). The challenge here is to do these things objectively. Once we fall in love with a domain name or concept our minds will rationalize or justify what we want to do and simply prove how great the domain we love is. If you have someone in your life you trust and who will give unbiased input discussing these things with them can be helpful (although I would personally be reluctant to discuss a specific domain name I considering buying with someone I only communicate with online).
Even after I do all this there is no guarantee I will be able to sell a domain but I feel like going through this process gives me the option of building out the domain myself if I am unable to sell it or if I like it enough to choose to keep it for myself. It’s worth noting that not many (or any LOL) NamePros members have been impressed by the vision I have for the domains I have listed for appraisal thus far so only time will tell how this strategy will play out for me
The bottom line is that a domain name is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it and every name we buy is a gamble. You can reduce the risk to some degree if you make sure any domain you buy:
• Really and truly makes sense (to someone other than just you)
• Is grammatically appropriate (which does not always mean grammatically correct)
• Relates to a market people care about and spend money in
• Fits well into a business and website you would be proud to own yourself (a website that could make money). Why would someone want to buy a crappy domain that you yourself don’t want to own and have no use for?
Many experienced domainers who own high quality or premium domain names have the luxury of simply waiting for buyers to find them but that is not a luxury afforded to most of us who hand register domains today. It’s unlikely that end users are going to come looking for us to buy our recently hand-registered domain names, we will have to list the names for sell on sites like Afternic, Sedo and Godaddy. But even that will often not be enough so we have to find creative ways to promote our names so they can be seen by the right people (in non-spammy ways!!!).
Although this is probably the longest post in the history of NamePros, I have by no means described everything that goes into recognizing a good domain name. These are the basic things I am currently paying attention to when selecting domain names to invest in (with the exception of the backlinks).
2). You asked “And building a website for each Domain?? at $20 a month a pop that’s expensive for domineers who have thousands of domain so what am I missing, or not understanding other than everything?”
If you get a hosting account at a reputable company you can get an account that will allow you to build and host as many websites as you like for a single flat monthly fee (usually much less than $20 I believe).
I hope this wasn’t too redundant and helps. Best of luck!
