appraise I'm dumb.

Jordan P · Jan 22, 2016

I have no idea how much any of these names are worth. "Iraqattack.com," and "Isisattack.com." I know shits going down in the middle east right now and even in Africa. Should I hold on to these for a little bit or try to sell them for a certain price?

greg2013 · Jan 23, 2016

When buying, you always have to ask yourself what would such names be used for, and by whom? The only thing I can think of for something like "IraqAttack.com" would be a news site reporting things happening, or data collection site. And even then I think the major news sites win out as there is more going on than just Iraq etc.

Also, importantly, even "someone wanting to do a new site about Iraq", think how many people in the world that would be (0 to 20 at best), and how you would find them or they find you (very unlikely). They'd just hand register another domain.

I see no other use, and end users is low, consider "BuyShoes.com" the end user potential is people selling shoes, shops, retailers etc, however "IraqAttack.com" end users, those planning the attacks (urgh), are not going to commercially buy a name which has keywords advertising the fact. It would be something underground, or like lksdfjh34809ndsklfsdfd.com that no-one would find.

I see $0 value in this, sorry.

Don't register names solely based on keywords which sound good or are popular, such names are often valuable but also often popular words are not necessarily sought after in a name. The domain name market is not that black and white, with timing, niches, global events all having an effect on the value of a domain name and its keywords.

Register names which have high potential end user possibility and where possible a big potential end user market.

Again, think about who would want to own and use this name and why. Then you realise that even though you have popular keywords/phrase and something in the media, it's not worth anything to anyone.

All the best

Jordan P · Jan 23, 2016

That's where I keep going wrong, I'm not thinking about all the different parameters. I'm putting my thoughts and time in two or three angles of a name. When it needs to be trendy, have real use, etc. but overall needs to be sturdy. I was rushing my time spent and since these last couple replies from you it has allowed me to really sit down and enjoy the process and make some real magic here in the future. I wrote around eight pages last night on all Tld's ranging in alphabetical order and their past recorded sales within the last five years. Also adding top ten biggest sales, establish date, sold at, and recent activity. Though I am not done I feel this is a much better start in a much better direction than before. Thank you Greg.

- Jordan p

greg2013 · Jan 23, 2016

I'm not a totally seasoned domainer but seem to be ahead of the curve than you so just passing along my findings from my own experiences, which seem to be similar to most new domainers

One other tip I can give you which helped me tremendously:
All those great names you come up with, do not register them. Put them in a text file (or files as I have one each for .com, .net etc) and come back to them all 24 hours later. Look at them again when the excitement (or desparation, or combination) has worn off from thinking you've found a great name. Look over them again and immediately get rid of those you think "nah what was I thinking".

Then another 24 hours do the same, repeat until you have a name (or few names) you are happy with and have also found some relevant sales which support your estimated value of the domain you are going to buy - be sure the domain(s) is at least going to sell for what you paid, and it's not just another "hey why has no-one registered this?". That happens, but it's rare, like 1 in 100 you view will be possibly sell-able, the other 99 won't (as a rough guide).
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Then buy one, or two, and only buy more when you sell those ones.

If you cannot sell them, you are not weeding out the "big idea" domains enough which have no value. Or not working hard enough to sell them

it can be hard work to sell, certainly at first with lower value names. When you buy them for $100 to $1k or more then they should be worth that or more and so easier to sell (though this is a risk as a new comer)

Eventually this stage will pass and you will just be flying through potential names to buy and not even putting bad ones on your list, and just buying good ones.

Hand reg is not the best for newcomers either, but then outlay can also be risky. Do spend some time raking through the forums' bargain and auctions to find something cheap you could sell on, even if just for $10 profit, you can work from there as (at first) any profit is good..

All the best