closed Model for Domain Appraisal

[URLtrader]

Hi Friends,

I have thought of the following parameters for appraisal of domain name values . Please suggest what else should be taken into consideration.

01. TLD .com .net .org .us .biz .info etc
02. # of characters -- Less is better
03. Number of words -- Less is better
04. Hyphen No hyphen is better
05. Spelling Correct or misspelling
06. Recall Value High , Medium or Low
07. Generic or not
08. Present Industry prospects
09. Future Industry prospects
10. Type in value
11. Industry specific Very Specific or General
12. International or Local appeal
13. Language English or others
14. Likely buyer Corporation or Individual
15. Do you have all the three major TLDs
16. Search Engine Response Picked up by major search engines
17. Name conveys some meaning clearly
18. If you were the buyer and had money, would you buy it
19. # of persons who may have thought of registering this name
20. Have you got offers/enquiries for your name
21. Other TLDs like .US , .CA etc this name gone or not
22. The name is used in day to day language Yes or no
23. The name is hosted/pointed to a site Yes or no
24. Is it free from TM violations ?
25. How much would you pay for this kind of name.

Your inputs are welcome. Cheers.

 

[CEO-AIS]

It's really simple like grading a diamond

1. Uniqueness of name (what the name is worth by itself, biggest commercial factor is IF USED TO ADVERTISE A BUSINESS IS IT RELEVANT TO A MAJOR INDUSTRY AND EASY TO REMEMBER) anyname that is a key word in a MAJOR INDUSTRY is worth big bucks. Examples Law.com is worth in my opinion way more than Business.com. Why? What is the commercial use potential of Business.com Law.com and MD.com or Doctor.com are commercially the best names around. Now extensions in front of these names are commercially important like NYLAW.com NJLAW.com CALAW.com etc.

Most of you will only deal with this factor, and most of you from the posts I've been reading never take into account THE POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL USE of the name. Is the name relevant to a major COMMERCIAL INDUSTRY and is it easy to recall if used in advertisng? That is all you need to know.

2. Alexa Ranking, I don't see much here in analyzing stuff like Alexa Ranking, IT IS THE BIBLE for third party traffic, there's 30M reg names yet only 3 Million have enough traffic to score a rating at Alexa. A 3M rating at Alexa means you got a top 10% domain name, 300K you got a top 1% domain name for TRAFFIC, now that still means little if the traffic is not targeted and something a major business buyer wants. If you have a website with a strong Alexa rating and it is TARGETED viewers then bang you got a valuable asset to someone in the targeted industry. For instance, you have a 100K alexa rating for some fan site of some band. Your buddy has a 300K alexa for a boat site. The 300K Alexa is worth a ton to a corporation in the boat industry, the 100K fan site is so what.

3. REVENUE AND PROFIT if the site has revenue great, if it makes a profit WOW, 10 times Profit is a fair esitmate of value but not necessarily real market. If you produce something like software, or content and people BUY IT you are on the right track. If your profit comes from some BS affiliate program you want get 2 times the Net, why? YOU DON'T CONTROL THE PROFIT, the affilate owner does.

4. Asset of a public or major company. Before eBay.com became eBay.com that domain was worthless. Yet it is now one of the most valuable domain names in the world. Domain Names relevant to any public company are worth FORTUNES.

Now that's my own method for evaluating any domain name.

I hear all the time oh I make X Dollars. I look and say you don't make anything, you get paid from a third party, you don't have a revenue stream, YOU HAVE A JOB, you get paid by a third party. Now do you have a product or item that is sold on the net and you control the profit? Then you have something that is very valuable. Do you get a commission check from some BS plan? So what, these programs come and go all the time.

Bottom line for 99.9% of domain names, HOW CAN A COMMERCIAL BUSINESS USE THE NAME TO PROMOTE A REAL BUSINESS. All the rest is BS about lenght of characters and extensions, or hypens, etc.

Movie companies use hyphens all the time

I make a ton of money with businesses that use the number 1 in front of a key word

The four variables I've listed are the only ones I've seen that really determine any value to a domain name

Just my humble opinion

 

[tripstar]

In my opinion, EXCELLENT list you have concocted!
I cannot add anything, at this time, except that, according to your list, the following domians have value, perhaps great value, which is contrary to the opinion of **MANY** in this forum.
So, as has been pushed upon me by common belief, your list has a MAJOR flaw! But Maybe I overlooked something. If you feel I did please state what.
Thanks

These domains, according to your criteria, have value, but according to common belief of forum members have no value. Something is obviously wrong.

If you're interested, the names are:
AcneFAQ.com, AcneSIG.com
ADDFAQ.com, ADDSIG.com
HealthSIG.com
CameraSIG.com
ComputerSIG.com
DVDSIG.com
(SIG = Special Interest Group)

 

[tripstar]

My bad, I posted the wrong DNs, though the above DNs were also valued at $0, what I meant to post was:
MechaGlobal.com
MechaWorld.com
RoboBots.biz, RoboBots.info
RatBot.biz, RatBot.info
SmartDust.biz, SmartDust.info
All valued at $0!
("mecha" is short for mechanical)

 

[CEO-AIS]

The problem with the list is they are specialized names with no mass appeal to a commercial interest. So what are they worth to you? 250? 500?

If you developed the names and can target the sites to traffic that is appealable to a major industry they could become valuable.

People would have to know you exist to get even one person to those names. So someone has to develope the names, there is no instant value to them for type-in's etc.

They re specialized names with no big commercial use.

If they were coupled with say a software Program to do something like the ratbot or robobots names, then bang you have a product that can make money and a simple domain name

right now you have low commercial use names

they may have a minor value (under 1000.00) but you have to find that person who thinks they need the name

If the names were more appealable to a large industry then they could be valuable

You have niche market names

They have to be developed to be worth anything

Could be good trade bait though or a kicker closer

Say you have a deal going and theother side is stuck

You throw in the name and explain the use

 

[com]

I just have one thing to add...

In order to appraise a domain, ask yourself this: If my life depended on it, would i be able to deploy, market and sustain a profitable online business under the name?

These days, 95% of the domains being registered would get "No" as an answer.

Edit: Also, dont forget, one man's grabage is another man's gold!

 

[namedropper]

Alexa is complete crap to be making any sorts of judgments on. It only measure traffic from the people stupid enough to install their software, which is not a representative sample of most of the users of the web.

The people doing the Neilson ratings at least try to get a representative sample. Alexa just fumbles along getting who they can and then multiplying that out as if it means anything.

And tripstar -- how many threads do you need to post your names in before you start believing people that they just aren't very good? You made at least three threads on your own with the same names and now were trying to take this thread over.

 

[EmDub]

Originally posted by namedropper
Alexa is complete crap to be making any sorts of judgments on. It only measure traffic from the people stupid enough to install their software, which is not a representative sample of most of the users of the web.

I have to agree with this. I recently picked up a domain name which I'm pretty sure has never been used. Didn't have an Alexa rating. I have done next to nothing to the site, yet it now ranks around 1,200,000. I seriously doubt it's in the top 5% of sites (as a previous poster has indicated).

Also, my personal home page ranks right around 900,000. Definitely not in the top 5%.

Michael

 

[tripstar]

CEO-AIS: excellent response! I agree with everything you said!

QUOTE: "So what are they worth to you? 250? 500?"
Definitely the $7.95 I paid for them! In the end, even if I get ten bucks for them, i'll be happy!

They're for sale, if you're interested.
(not the .biz' though - that's against the registration agreement)

QUOTE: "Also, dont forget, one man's [garbage] is another man's gold!" Well said!

 

[URLtrader]

Thanks to all of you. I am particularly tankful to CEO-AIS and
Point8T . More inputs please .

 

[URLtrader]

Originally posted by tripstar
My bad, I posted the wrong DNs, though the above DNs were also valued at $0, what I meant to post was:
MechaGlobal.com
MechaWorld.com
RoboBots.biz, RoboBots.info
RatBot.biz, RatBot.info
SmartDust.biz, SmartDust.info
All valued at $0!
("mecha" is short for mechanical)

The Mecha...and Robo... are misspellings .
RatBot... do not convey sense (till you explain it).
SmartDust... well , what will a buyer do with it ?
Sorry, but I do not see value in these names.
None of them is worth renewing.

 

[URLtrader]

Hi CEO-AIS ,

I like what you wrote. How would you appraise DNAmap.com ?
If you go to google.com and search for dna map , see results.
Human Genome Project was completed in June 2000 and in few
years most of the diagnosis and treatments will be based on dna map of the person. This word relates to Biotechnology is is smaller
than the word Biotech. I have .com , .net , .org , .us and .ca

And yes. I keep on getting good offers for it. I am holding till I sell it to retire myself...

 

[tripstar]

thanks for your opinion!

QUOTE "SmartDust... well , what will a buyer do with it ?"
[Smart dust refers to tiny sensors, about the size of an eraser head, used for logistics, monitoring and preventative maintenance. These intelligent, active sensors are already in limited use, with one Australian company deploying the technology to detect hot spots on train wheels and to identify aging wheel bearings.] http://msn.com.com/2100-1103-980843.html
Smart dust will also be used in building construction, car manufacturing and in computers, one day.
These miniature sensors will be used whereever people and other methods (mainly due to their size) cannot be used.

DNAmap's value will increase every year. I would keep it for a long time.
I won't even try to appaise it. It's only worth what some one pays. (a lot of the time that is forgotten here)
Twice now, more than 5 forum members have appraised a name of mine at $0 and I sold for $40 and $85.

 

[URLtrader]

Originally posted by tripstar
thanks for your opinion!

QUOTE
[Smart dust refers to tiny sensors, about the size of an eraser head, used for logistics, monitoring and preventative maintenance.]

See , you have to explain what it meams. Till you do that it does not make sesne. In few years when Smart Dust would have become a common term, it should get good value. Hang on to it.

 

[system0]

Originally posted by CEO-AIS



2. Alexa Ranking, I don't see much here in analyzing stuff like Alexa Ranking, IT IS THE BIBLE for third party traffic, there's 30M reg names yet only 3 Million have enough traffic to score a rating at Alexa. A 3M rating at Alexa means you got a top 10% domain name, 300K you got a top 1% domain name for TRAFFIC, now that still means little if the traffic is not targeted and something a major business buyer wants. If you have a website with a strong Alexa rating and it is TARGETED viewers then bang you got a valuable asset to someone in the targeted industry. For instance, you have a 100K alexa rating for some fan site of some band. Your buddy has a 300K alexa for a boat site. The 300K Alexa is worth a ton to a corporation in the boat industry, the 100K fan site is so what.

i cannot disagree strongly with this point.

alexa is a very very poor way of gaging traffic. 99% of toolbar users are webmasters checking their own sites stats. I could moer than double any one of my sites stats just by browsing using the alexa bar.

I really cant believe that people quote alexa and overture results so much when selling a domain. They are very poor ways to rate a domain name

 

[URLtrader]

More ideas please. Thanks.