Thread: How do People Assess The Value of a Domain Name?

I always wondered, how exactly does one come up with the asking price for their domain name?

What factors are used to determine the price?

Or do they just make it up?

I doubt that there is a domain name appraisal service.

:surprised:

I read on myhosting.com's forum that most of it is market-demand driven. A domain is only worth how much someone is willing to pay for it.

If someone offers $700 for a domain, that is how much it is worth.

Surely there are some people who have developed some calculative programs that derive values but...I find those gimmicky.

Originally Posted by simplyamazing12

I read on myhosting.com's forum that most of it is market-demand driven. A domain is only worth how much someone is willing to pay for it.

If someone offers $700 for a domain, that is how much it is worth.

Surely there are some people who have developed some calculative programs that derive values but...I find those gimmicky.

Yes, I agree.

Those online domain assessment tools are rather gimmicky, I used one the other day and it required my email to to mail me the report, a day later it said my site is worth over $100,000, lmao.

I way dying, because i know my site is no where near that famous. so I think they inflate your results a bit just so you can like them and then subscribe to one of their services.

I wouldn't doubt your site is worth $100,000. :P

The domain name is pretty good. Of course there are domain names out there that are worth SOOO much more like youtube.com or google.com

I might register some more domains from my host once I get my checks cashed in. They are so darn cheap from my host! I love it.

Originally Posted by simplyamazing12

I wouldn't doubt your site is worth $100,000. :P

The domain name is pretty good. Of course there are domain names out there that are worth SOOO much more like youtube.com or google.com

I might register some more domains from my host once I get my checks cashed in. They are so darn cheap from my host! I love it.

I mean man that would be great, if my site was really worth over $100,000 but I do not sell links or even have any advertising on my site.

My site is not monetized at all, so I am not making anything off of this site.

Plus, it is only one years old so I really think that estimate is way off.

Oh and thanks for complementing my domain name, just came to me one night and it was available awesome!

Haha, I am surprised a lot of biology corporations or text book companies haven't picked up the domain yet!

Since you are so good with domain names, mind PM'ing me some good ones? I cashed in my checks and I now can register my domains at myhosting.com!

Originally Posted by simplyamazing12

Haha, I am surprised a lot of biology corporations or text book companies haven't picked up the domain yet!

Since you are so good with domain names, mind PM'ing me some good ones? I cashed in my checks and I now can register my domains at myhosting.com!

maybe because my current domain is not getting the full online exposure that it deserves, but anyhow no offers for my domain as of yet.

Not really even sure if I would consider selling it, not at this point anyways.

I am pondering a few ideas around as to new domains, maybe create a new domain not related to biology just for some diversity

I went ahead and registered a domain with my host. So cheap! I love them!!!

I'll keep the domain a secret for now because the name has to do with a top secret site I am making. It is a real unique one.

Pioneer!

Keyword rich domains that contains not more than 3 words will command more value over the time.

Phrases will probably render better values as well. A domain like myhosting.com or gotmilk.com are going to have very nice value.

Hi,

Here is the little that I know and that is not much.

Tools are a joke and just for fun.

The shorter the domain name the better.

"-" and numbers bring down the value.

Most of what I have seen sell, use the rule of 10 - 12 times what the site makes a month. So if a site make $10 a mo it on the average will bring $100 -$120.

Others ideas when you are hunting for names check for freshly dropped names. Might even come with pr and backlinks.

:flower:

Sami

the root of this cause is search engine ranking. there are domains that people wants to bye so as to be in the top 10 of SERP. Apart from this many people have their desire to catch a particular domain. So in such cases the price of the domain increases as a result of demand supply ratio.

1 to 3 year income, depends on stability of traffic, otherwise there are plenty of factors like a keyword, tld type, age, typo traffic, liks, se traffic, potential, future perspectives and so on...

Originally Posted by BadAss Webmaster

1 to 3 year income, depends on stability of traffic, otherwise there are plenty of factors like a keyword, tld type, age, typo traffic, liks, se traffic, potential, future perspectives and so on...

That first point is an often overlooked one. If the domain is making money, it is a huge incentive. A lot of popular parked domains that display ads make lots of money and their values can be in sync with the popularity.

Like for me, one of my sites I sold but the person who bought it didn't want the domain so I kept it. What my host's forum members smartly suggested was that I park it with ads since it was a popular name. The value sky rocketed because of the revenue generated.

If i was in the market for a special domain, i would be looking to strike a balance between securing a short name and including keywords.

There must be a huge number of domains without content sat idle because the owner does not use something like sedo parking to generate revenue.

Unless you pay estibot is a free service you can use just search them on google.

Originally Posted by simplyamazing12

I read on myhosting.com's forum that most of it is market-demand driven. A domain is only worth how much someone is willing to pay for it.

If someone offers $700 for a domain, that is how much it is worth.

Surely there are some people who have developed some calculative programs that derive values but...I find those gimmicky.

Yes..i agree with it..

Originally Posted by simplyamazing12

The value sky rocketed because of the revenue generated.

So if I read that correctly, if a Domain Name is not making any money currently then it has no value?

Then once it starts generating revenue, then the Domain Name magically is worth something just because you are making money off it?

Even if a Domain Name is not generating revenue, would it still not have a certain value to it?

My site is not currently monetized, because I purposefully have not monetized it, it is not making money because I did not set it up to make money.

I am sure if I put some ads on the site, I would generate some revenue, but simply have not because i do not want to yet.

What about if we remove the "Money Generated" factor for assessing the value of a domain name and strictly just stick to the domain name itself?

What factors then would make a Domain Name Sellable or Give it Monetary Value?

Aren't The Domain Name and Site Content Separate Entities?

The domain name isnt what makes money, it is the content on the site that allows the Domain Name to make money?

Hi,

Time for a dummy to chime in.

Originally Posted by BiologyWebmaster

So if I read that correctly, if a Domain Name is not making any money currently then it has no value?

That is the general thought of people who flip sites for a living. Not always the case but you find a lot of site flippers on forums.

Originally Posted by BiologyWebmaster

Then once it starts generating revenue, then the Domain Name magically is worth something just because you are making money off it?[/B]

Yes, back to my above post.

Originally Posted by BiologyWebmaster

Even if a Domain Name is not generating revenue, would it still not have a certain value to it?

Yes, but here is the hard part about that. Someone needs to want it. The name by it self is just blue sky. Unless it is a really hot keyword that is searched a bunch.

Originally Posted by BiologyWebmaster

What factors then would make a Domain Name Sellable or Give it Monetary Value?

Back to the amount of times the word is searched. Also TOMA (Top Of Mind Awareness) is important.

Originally Posted by BiologyWebmaster

Aren't The Domain Name and Site Content Separate Entities?

Yes and No In most cases they work hand in hand. Without content who will stay at your site? What will the search engines have to rate?

Originally Posted by BiologyWebmaster

The domain name isnt what makes money, it is the content on the site that allows the Domain Name to make money?

Yes that is correct. Having the right name with the content just helps them both. Make the site brand-able. IMO I don't think dogfood.com would work well for a lingerie site. Better to have content and sell food for you dog.

Now if your pockets are really deep you can make any name TOMA. Example You need to blow your nose. Do you ask for a facial tissue or a Kleenex?

:flower:

Sami

P.S. I thought at one the ideal site would be nothing.com just 5000 blank pages. Downside once you put an ad on the page it is no longer blank. Plus the searchengine would have no content to send people your way.

Thanks Sami,

Great answers to all of my questions on how people assess the value of a domain name, and the importance of balancing the domain with the right content.

I recall another member here on WebTalkForums, stating that they sold one of their sites, however they remained with the domain name.

That is where I got the idea of the Domain Name being one thing, and the site content being something else.

So I am guessing that, maybe perhaps the site content could have more value than the Domain Name it is under. Or vice versa, the domain name being what is sought after and the content currently under it is just mediocre and not wanted.

I mean you can buy a crappy site with a good domain name, and just change the content to make it a great site/domain name combination.

Originally Posted by Sami4u

I thought at one the ideal site would be nothing.com just 5000 blank pages. Downside once you put an ad on the page it is no longer blank. Plus the searchengine would have no content to send people your way.

Lol that is funny nothing.com...now that would be a really easy site to do SEO for lol, I dont know maybe if you optimized all the title tags of the blank pages lol

Hi,

I did forget something. This is why people hunt for dropped domain names. Some people work hard on a site and just give up. In those cases the domain name would have backlinks and might even have some pr. That would make the name have some value.

:flower:

Sami

I think it's a matter of gut feel, if it feels right I just go for it. There's still a lot of good domains available.

S

Originally Posted by Sami4u

I did forget something. This is why people hunt for dropped domain names. Some people work hard on a site and just give up. In those cases the domain name would have backlinks and might even have some pr. That would make the name have some value.

Cybersquatters do this all the time. Ever go to a site and see a crappy advertising portal? That's them. It's happened to a few of my domains years ago. There is a guy who calls himself 'ultsearch' who is supposedly the biggest and best at the expired domain game. He sends all of the leftover traffic to a junk ad portal. Though, it's better to come up with an original and meaningful idea instead of a business model based on taking advantage of other people's losses.

Originally Posted by Sami4u

Hi,

I did forget something. This is why people hunt for dropped domain names. Some people work hard on a site and just give up. In those cases the domain name would have backlinks and might even have some pr. That would make the name have some value.

:flower:

Sami

Absolutely true. Sometimes though the hunt goes dry for months or years. Now a days with people so intune with the tech world, everyone knows well enough to manage their domains (valuable ones) and not let them go.

I did eye a domain for like 2 months and it eventually expired and I registered it via my host for 1 year and I am going to make sure I renew it EVERY single time.

The price will vary depending on the domain name. Suppose if you consider .com it will range high as there will be more traffic to it.