How Much Is A Domain Name Worth?
March 27th, 2009 | by Conrad Walton |A domain name is worth whatever it takes to acquire it from it’s current owner. Is it worth that much to you? Maybe not.
The primary areas where there is value in a domain name for a business owner is in “ease of use” and in search engine traffic.
Ease of Use
If your business name is “Joe’s Bar and Grill”, then it’s easy for people to remember www.joesbarandgrill.com. It’s recognizable and easy to tell a friend. You don’t have to think too hard to know what to type in to find that web site. This domain name would be worth a lot to Joe, the guy who owns the bar and grill.
Search Engine Traffic
The stuff of SEO. If you have keywords that you want to be found for in your domain name, then you get points for SEO. Google likes to see those keywords in the domain name. Having them in order is even better.
As a business owner, those are really the only two factors that add value to the domain name.
Now, there are other factors that also add value, but perhaps not as a business owner. The less characters in the name, the more valuable. I can only imagine that it’s harder to get those and that more people want them, so supply and demand drives the price up. If a domain name can be used by more people, then the demand goes up with the price. None of these reasons interest me as a business owner.
If there is some sentimental value for the owner, then you will not be able to buy the domain name from them, even though it’s not worth as much to any one else. This whole post was prompted by a recent offer I got to by this domain name. It’s got a value on the open market, but it’s also my last name. I registered it on June 18, 1995. In those days, it was free to register a domain name. It was one of the first I had ever registered. (Wow. 14 years already? Time flies.)
I don’t want to sell this domain name. I can’t say I would never sell it, because realistically, if some rich person offered me enough money so that I didn’t have to work for a few years, I might take it. But in the meantime, it’s mine.
I’ve seen good domain names wasted by people who park them and hope to make a big cash score by selling them. There’s more value in developing them that in selling them. I own survivor.com, so naturally, as a fan of LOST, I talked to the guy who owns lost.com. He wasn’t interested in selling it or developing it. He’s done a bit with it now, but not as much as he could have. I also had a friend that was into Zydeco music. That domain is for sale on a parked web page. They want a bunch of money for it. Waste of a good name. Oh, well.
My advice is to get a good name that’s available. Make it unique. Make it yours. Make it easy to remember. Use keywords. Use your name. It won’t cost you much and you’ll get good results. Making money is the reason we’re in business, so keep your eye on that prize.
thanksforreadingmywebsite.com is available.
“There‚Äôs more value in developing them that in selling them”
I am not sure if I agree with this. I do a fair share of both and a good parked domain can be a great winner. You figure with a parked domain users have less distractions and tend to click adds more then developed domains. I average about one click for every five visitors on a page and about one click for every 75 visitors or so on a developed page.
If I look at my balance sheet over the last year parked domains were the clear winner over developed domains and that is counting the fact that I sell them also.
Now I just develop domains to build up traffic and then park them and sell later.
Some domains I keep for sentimental reasons, like you are, but it’s pretty easy to take a ten dollar domain and turn it into a few hundred over a years time. Time that by a few hundred domains and you will see my point there.
mike’s last blog post..How to Thrive with Internet Marketing in a Recession
Even if you get 15 time more clicks per visitor on a parked domain, don’t you get more than 15 times more traffic on a developed site?
Where do you get the content for a developed site that will be worth a few hundred in a year? It takes some time and effort to build that content.
Intriguing ideas that I’ll have to ponder. Thanks for the feedback.
On Nominet terms and conditions it says people can not infringe on trade names and brands, all the people who are sybersquatters don’t have brands or tradenames, so if someone legitamately wants your domain name because it is you company name, then surley they have the right to do so, I have protected my self and create a good web page with stuff for sales. But what about these other people that put a tiny square up with this site is for sales while it is underdevelopment. what does this mean, how does this work becuase i am confused. Thank you. SP