Guide to making a buck in the world of domain names (Part 3)

3. Appraising Your Domain Name In Preparation to Sell.

In this part, I’m going to give you a system to help you appraise a domain that you’re getting ready to sell.

So anyway, now that you own a domain name, you’re probably wondering how much it’s worth. It’s easy to find out this worth, and after a few simple steps, you can appraise your domain name in as little as 10 minutes. If you sell domain names, follow this 300 point list as a guide to what price you should sell your domain for.

1. Branding. How well is your site branded? If someone is going to visit your site, will they be able to tell what it does before they actually click on a link and open up the page? Basically, does your domain stick out as something memorable. If it does, give yourself 20 points. If your site is memorable, but sounds or looks a little ‘odd’, give yourself 10 points.

2. How well is the site developed? A fully developed site adds 25 points to your score. If you have only a simple splash home page, give yourself 10 points. {If the site has ever reached more than 1000 unique views per day}, add 35 points. If the site has no splash page and has not been developed, take off 10 points.

3. What type of web address is it? .com’s add 15 points, .net or org add 10 points, any others add 5 points. Generic endings like .tv, .ws, .info, .biz, or .cc are awarded no points.

4. How well does a keyword related to the domain rank in google, yahoo, or ask? First rank, add 30 points, second through fifth, add 20 points, fifth through last, add 10 points. Anything after that gets 0 points.

5. Is the domain name grammaticaly correct? killingsboredom.com sounds bad and incorrect, but killboredom.com sounds great. If it’s grammatically sound, add 10 points. If not, remove 10 points.

(Nearly half way now! Feel free to take a break if you like. Although, if you need to take a break you’re probably not doing this right. If you can’t do this simple activity, you probably shouldn’t sell domain names, either.)

6. Does the domain already make money? If it does, add the total revenue and a half to the final appraisal price when you sell domain names you might own. (Ex. if my domain made 100 dollars, I would take 100+100+50 for a total of 250.)

7. Compare to other domains. What similar domains have sold recently that are close to the site in your niche? If a similar domain has sold for $1 to $250, give yourself 5 points. $250 to $500, 10 points. $500 to $1000, 20 points. $1000+, 30 points.

8. Length. How long is your domain name? If it’s under 5 characters, add 30 points. If its 6, 7, or 8 characters, add 20 points. If it’s 8 to 20 characters, add 10 points. If your domain is longer than 20 characters, take off 5 points.

9. Natural Traffic. How many people type your domain into the navigation bar looking for information? If it’s anywhere from 1 to 100, add 5 points, from 100 to 500, add 10 points. 500 plus, add 30 points.

Now that you’ve got your score, it’s important to know that if you have a low score this doesn’t mean you’ve got a bad domain name. If you sell domain names, you know that some of them just can’t be appraised with a list.

Once you’ve done all the math and you have got your final score, look here for results.

Lowest score: from -1 to 0 Points. Sell for $10 at the most.
Low score: from 1 to 75 points. Sell for $10 to $50.
Mid rank: from 75 to 150 points. Sell for $50 to $100
High score: from 150 to 225 points Sell for $100 to $500
Top score: from 225 to 300 points. Sell for $500 to $1000 or more

Check back soon with part 4.

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