The Value of Your Domain Names:
Here are a few guidelines to help you understand the potential value of your domain name…
A) Do you receive unsolicited offers to buy the name?
If you get emailed offers to buy the domain name without it being listed for sale anywhere, that clearly shows it has SOME value to somebody. Essentially, you have a new base price when trying to establish a valuation: the amount of the unsolicited offer.
B) Is the domain name a “.com” name?
.com is still king of the domain name hill. Generally, a .com domain name will have 5-10x or more the value of the same name with any other extension. Cars.com may be worth millions – but nobody’s going to pay millions for Cars.net!
C) How long is the domain name?
Generally, the shorter the better when it comes to domain names – as long as this shortness doesn’t come through throwing away words or letters, or substituting numbers for letters. GoForIt.com is a nice little domain name, with some value. Go4It.com is worth less than that. GoFrIt.com is essentially worthless.
D) Is the domain name hyphenated?
Sometimes, hyphens help to preserve clarity, but generally they reduce the value of a domain name. Sports-Cars.com will most likely sell for less, even much less than SportsCars.com…
E) Is the domain name spelled correctly?
If there are any misspellings in the domain name, you can knock 99% or more off the price of most domain names. SportsCars.com (to wear this example a little thinner) is a nice domain name. SpertsCars.com most likely wouldn’t fetch $50. If in doubt, always consult Dictionary.com
F) Is the “thing” the domain name refers to generally a singular or a plural “thing”?
This is one of the hardest value factors to consider, given how subjective it is. Still, the effort can be rewarding. BuyTicket.com is most likely worth less than BuyTickets.com, but Chat.com is most likely worth more than Chats.com.
G) Does the domain name resort to prefixes or suffixes?
Prefixes or suffixes can REALLY hurt the value of a domain name. For example, add an “e” or “i” or “my” in front of the domain, or a “site” behind it and you’ve just destroyed most of its value. (Exceptions exist of course, such as EBay.com which is worth millions of times Bay.com, but that is because of the tens of millions of dollars poured into branding the domain name. Seen totally independently of the site/service it relates to, eBay.com is worth much less than Bay.com)
H) How many words are there in the domain? How common are these words?
Generally, the more words in the domain name, the less it is worth. But common two-word expressions are worth more (sometimes MUCH more) than rare one-word expressions. And common three-word expressions can be worth more than rare one-word expressions. Example: SportsCars.com is worth more than Semantics.com. FreeEmailAddress.com is worth more than Superiority.com.
When comparing domains with the same number of words, think of the likely audience and the commercial applicability of the domain name. Example: Cars.com is a very obviously commercial one-word domain name. Semantics.com, while having some value, doesn’t have a very clearly defined audience or potential use, and is much less commercial. Cars.com might ultimately be worth more than a thousand times the value of Semantics.com, yet they’re both one-word domain names.
Just because a domain name is in the dictionary, it doesn’t automatically make it valuable! It’s a frequent myth on many domain name discussion and auction sites that any one-word domain name must be worth thousands – WRONG!
If the domain name has no COMMERCIAL value, it generally has little or no value, period.
Example: “Gerontocracy” is in the dictionary, but you’re not going to get rich off Gerontocracy.com
Armed with the answers to the above questions, you can at least get some idea of the value of your domain name.
At one end of the scale, if you receive frequent unsolicited offers to purchase your correctly-spelled one-word commercially valuable .com domain, then you may be sitting on a real winner.
FAR off to the other end of the value scale (at the $0 point), if your domain name has 4 words in it, one of which is misspelled, you’re out of luck.
You may be feeling frustrated at this point with the whole concept of trying to establish a value for your domain name…; It’s worth persevering, since without even a ballpark idea of value, you’re going to find it much harder to locate a buyer for the name and close a deal. And if, after taking a long, hard, as-objective-as-possible look at your domain name, you come to realize that it’s not worth anything, then either:-
A) Develop a website using the domain name (this adds value to it)
B) Sigh, make a mental note that the domain name is not worth RENEWING (!) and move on to considering other domain names.
(Written by Igoldrush)
