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Domain Appraisal Guide

Discussion in 'Appraisals' started by Nick_Mayhem, May 11, 2006.

  1. #1
    Many members are unable to place domains prices properly. They sometimes hire professional services for appraisals. The main goal for writing this domain appraisal guide is to help newbies to learn how to value your domain names without the help of professional appraisals. Now without wasting further time let me give you a quick overview of the major points taken under consideration while determining the value of a given name.

    Here are 10 Points:

    1) TLD. (Extension of the domain name)
    2) Keyword itself (The domain name without extension)
    3) OVT (The Overture of the particular name with or without extension)
    4) Length of Domain name. (Like 3 letters or 4 letters)
    5) Dictionary word or not.
    6) Pronounceable (The sounding and the pronounce ability)
    7) Brand able (Best example Google.com)
    8) Singular or Plural
    9) Keyboard relation (Some people look at it that if the domain is easily type able or not)
    10) Google results (This also some people consider while buying the domain name)


    Now let me explain you in detail:

    1) TLD .com is the commercial TLD and most widely used TLD. Even a newbie can understand what .coms stands for. If some one wants to go to some site then naturally type in the site name and .com extension after it. So .com version of the domains names are highly priced compared to the other version of tld's for the same domain.

    2) Keyword Itself The keyword means the domain itself. If it is poker or casino then great. If it is greatestcasinos then it is weaker compared to the casino or casinos. Keywords usd for the domain name itself are very helpful to establish a brand and market it easily.

    3) OVT The overure data shows us the number of searches performed on that particular keyword. So it gives a basic idea that what kind of traffic to be expected if we build a site on this kind of domain name. This is not 100% fool proof. Bcause after launching your site your site must also be well structured and should have better content then your competitors to get a better placement in search engines.

    4) Length Of Domain The length also plays a major role in valuation of the domain name. Shorter the better. If the domain is short say 3 or 4 letters then it can fetch high prices. Compared to the other long domains. (Here also there is a catch: fhur.com is short but it cannot get more then hotappz.com) Because the Hotappz one has general keywords and is brandable compared to the domain name fhur.com which is shorter one.
    Another point in shorter domain is that there can be only 17576 combinations in 3 letter domains. So they are rare and are like some antique pieces so they are highly priced. For 4 letters there are 456976 combinations out of which all the nice ones have been regged for next 4 or 5 years. And even just combinations of 4 letters without any meaning are selling for $xx prices.

    5) Dictionary If it is a dictionary word then it is good. And it can get better prices. Say a furniture company wants to sell furniture online on their website. So they buy furniture domain and redirect it to their company domain. Why? Because whenever a normal guy who wants to buy furniture types in furniture and places the .com extension after it in the address bar he navigates to the company’s site. And this way company can have more benefit for targeting more and more customers compared to their competitors.
    So this is the value of dictionary domains.

    6) Pronounceable If the domain is pronounceable then it will be easy for the users to memorize it and so more and more users can return to your site without going and searching it every time. This also helps establishing a brand name in the market.

    7) Brand able Now if the domain is not even pronounceable and doesn’t have any major TLD then it will be very hard to brand it. The best example as I mentioned above can be google.com Because google didn’t had any meaning some years ago. But now every one knows what google means. Some examples for brandable domains can be like juhy.com, vhuv.com etc etc.

    8) Singular or Plural Now if the domain name is a singular one then it will get more price then the plural version of that particular domain name. Like digitalpoint.com is better then digitalpoints.com Some times there is an exception in this kind of domains also. EX: LatestGirls.com is better then LatestGirl.com Because the End user wants to see girls not a single girl :D In this kind of situation the plural one get more $$’s then the singular one.

    9) Keyboard relation Now some company which is spending good amount on the domain name and wants to brand it will also take in smaller points like this one. EX: fhur.com is easily type able on the keyboard compared to jyos.com (I don’t go 100% with this theory but then also it has a little weight when valuing a domain name)

    10) Google results Some people also see google results for a given name. Now this also doesn’t has any relation with the domain name google will just show you the results of the pages which contains that particular word. This can be helpful to do some SEO afterwards though.

    If you have any questions then please let me know I will try my best to answer them.
     
    Nick_Mayhem, May 11, 2006 IP
  2. ahkip

    ahkip Prominent Member

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    #2
    juhy - i know it is llll.com. Please tell me how is it brandable? i can barely pronounce it.
    Beside you are the owner of the name i believe
    http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=62999&highlight=juhy

    also there are some other factor like age of domain, # of type-in traffic, if the domain used before, hyphen
     
    ahkip, May 12, 2006 IP
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  3. Nick_Mayhem

    Nick_Mayhem Notable Member

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    #3

    Well juhy is brandable bcoz In india it is very famous name.

    Next Yes I am the owner of most of the names that I have used in the article as an example. Because I didn't wanted some guy shouting at me for using his name as an example for this guide.
     
    Nick_Mayhem, May 12, 2006 IP
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  4. ahkip

    ahkip Prominent Member

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    #4
    Ovt is useful to estimate # of type-in that you would get. You will not get any "idea" for the number of traffic since SE traffic has nothing to do with domain name. OVT & OVT w/ext is useful only if the domain name is the exact search term imho.

    in most case plural worth more than singular

    never heard of name gain value becase it is earier to type. Unless it is typo of popular name

    can you explain more about point 10? i am totally lost...

    also it is overture not overure

    just my 2c
     
    ahkip, May 12, 2006 IP
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  5. websys

    websys Active Member

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    #5
    i posted my domain appraisal for my tv site , havent got any replies to it , but ur post gives me hope :)
     
    websys, May 12, 2006 IP
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  6. Nick_Mayhem

    Nick_Mayhem Notable Member

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    #6
    Welll I have been in domain market from a long long time. And This were the points which took me slowly but steadily towards the success. I wanted to share it with other users. And Admin also thought it looks neat so it is stickied.

    You say in most cases plural is more expensive then singular. And I totally disagree with it. You can go and have a tour on some domain name forums and you will see that most domainers have that kind of feeling in their mind that singular is more costly then the plural one. That's Why I have mentioned it there.

    Point number 10 is useless as I have already mentioned in the guide itself. But still whenever a domain is placed for sale the seller puts the number of results it get in google search engine. It has nothing to do with the popularity of the domain name. But still 50% of buyers go for it.

    And yeah overture is not overure It is overture.

    http://www.inventory.overture.com

    ^^^ See :D
     
    Nick_Mayhem, May 12, 2006 IP
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  7. ahkip

    ahkip Prominent Member

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    #7
    Oic, i am just a newbie and just point out what is obvious right to me. As i said it is just my 2C , so correct me if i am wrong
    For singular plural, most word go better with plural IMHO
    http://www.v7n.com/forums/domain-name-forum/29381-singular-plural-domain.html
    http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum25/2475.htm
    http://www.igoldrush.com/sell1.htm
    http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum25/614.htm

    And since it is a guide and became "sticky", is it right to put something that even you are not sure about?

    Once again i am just newbie and willing to learn, hope i can learn a trick or two from you
     
    ahkip, May 12, 2006 IP
  8. Nick_Mayhem

    Nick_Mayhem Notable Member

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    #8
    HE EHHE. Yeah samskpunk. Lets put both of 2C together. And make 4C

    My point was based bcoz of what I have read and what people preffered.

    http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...al-or-singular.html?highlight=singular+plural
    Post #12.

    http://www.namepros.com/dot-tv/188901-plurals-vs-singular-premium-tv.html?highlight=singular+plural

    And as I have already said in the guide there are exceptions when plurals are better then singular.

    So the plural and singular thing will go on and on....
    I think this decision the buyer will have to make himself if he wants to go with plural or singular.
    And you can also see that in example digitalpoint.com looks better then digitalpoints.com :D

    And about learning. You can PM me if you have some queries. I will try and help you out.
     
    Nick_Mayhem, May 12, 2006 IP
  9. redhits

    redhits Notable Member

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    #9
    What about Yahoo/Google SERP?! or pagerank?! or even alexaraning?!
     
    redhits, Jul 17, 2006 IP
  10. Correctus

    Correctus Straight Edge

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    #10
    I believe that is incorporated with Websites, softgroups.

    This guide is for plain Domain Appraisals.

    IT
     
    Correctus, Jul 18, 2006 IP
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  11. TangoUK

    TangoUK Guest

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    #11
    Very surprised to see no mention of domain age.

    The way Google works right now, I'd have that top of the pile when appraising any domain.
     
    TangoUK, Sep 21, 2006 IP
  12. Nick_Mayhem

    Nick_Mayhem Notable Member

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    #12
    Some people are copy pasting this article on the other forums.

    So please don't do it. If you don't know how to write an article then take a stick and smash your PC to pieces but don't copy my articles.
     
    Nick_Mayhem, Jan 6, 2007 IP
  13. Hossam

    Hossam Peon

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    #13
    an offtopic question, would there be any site apparaisal guide around?
     
    Hossam, Jan 26, 2007 IP
  14. Nick_Mayhem

    Nick_Mayhem Notable Member

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    #14
    Good idea. I will research some things and then write one for it.

    Thanks.
     
    Nick_Mayhem, Jan 26, 2007 IP
  15. jdR!pper

    jdR!pper Peon

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    #15
    Two good sticky threads about Domains...

    DP really makes life a lot easier for us! lol Great post Nick! :D
     
    jdR!pper, Jan 27, 2007 IP
  16. briguy

    briguy Well-Known Member

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    #16
    Great guide I basically agree with your statements
    But as for every rule there are exceptions..If a domain name has no commercial value, then it little or no value at all! Example words like "ailuromancy" or "abacinate" are listed in dictionaries but have little value as domain names
     
    briguy, Jan 28, 2007 IP
  17. Nick_Mayhem

    Nick_Mayhem Notable Member

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    #17
    That's true but still in reseller market if you have abacinate.com and any other domain name to go with it. abacinate.com will get sold for atleast Reg Fee.
     
    Nick_Mayhem, Jan 28, 2007 IP
  18. briguy

    briguy Well-Known Member

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    #18
    As I only bought 5 domains so far (from this forum) for less than registration fee..I am in no postion to argue with you. Being a reseller is one of my long term goals..My strategy (today) is buy domains, re-register them, park them, wait a year and sell the ones that aren't profitable, (or show no long terms signs of being profitable)!
    Another point I would like to express my views on point
    Even though Google is the "big boy" and "most daily searches" and also the toughest to get "page one" listing on! I believe that a person shouldn't discount Yahoo, MSN, etc results either! No matter how you look at it, page one listing (preferably top 5) still bring traffic to your site, no matter what search engine! So basically what I am saying is instead of
    I believe "10) Search Engines result" would be better!
    On a side note, I find it kinda ironic that people use Overture (a Yahoo product) for keywords to optimize Google for!
    Anyway no matter what I say, I still think this is a great tutorial!
     
    briguy, Jan 29, 2007 IP
  19. giovanni

    giovanni Peon

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    #19
    Nice guide

    How do you get the stats for overture?
     
    giovanni, Jan 30, 2007 IP
  20. briguy

    briguy Well-Known Member

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    #20
    briguy, Jan 30, 2007 IP