How do I know if a domain holds any value? Ask yourself why would your domain be appealing for potential domain name buyers.
Usually desirable domains meet some of the following criteria:
The shorter the better:
A short domain is easier to remember for the end users of the website. Hence potential domain buyers will be interested in shorter names rather that the long ones. In some cases domains consisting of multiple words can still hold value. If you’re a beginner in domaining it’s not advisable to go with longer that three word domains.
No numbers, no hyphens:
This follows the same criteria as the rule above, a name that doesn’t contain numbers or special characters is easier to remember and looks nicer and more professional in the eyes of the visitors. How many huge websites that contain these characters in their domains can you think of?
Stick to the popular extensions:
“.com”, “.net” and “.org” in that order are way more valuable in domain markets that all of the other extensions. Again, they are easy to remember and look more professional. If you’re a domaining newbie you should focus on “.com’s” and avoid purchasing domains with other extensions that the three mentioned.
Keywords:
Domain buyers may value to have keywords related to their business or their websites topic in the domain name. This is usually aimed for as a part of their SEO (search engine optimization) strategy. Keywords in low competence niches or niches that have higher price conversions will hold more value.
Brandeable domains:
These are words that don’t exist on the dictionary but may be desirable with the objective of building a brand under that name. Despite the name doesn’t have an actual meaning in some cases it may resemble to a certain industry. If you’re looking to register one of these with the intention of reselling it, you have to make sure to pay special attention to the first two rules: make it short, good sounding, use popular extensions and make it easy to remember. This kind of domains may have a higher value in domain markets, but also usually takes longer to find a buyer.
If you’re a newbie in the domaining industry, I would recommend sticking to the rules above. For more experienced domainers there are other considerations that may make a domain name valuable:
Outbound domains:
These are domains purchased with the intention of actively looking for a buyer for them. Instead of listing the domain for sale in domain marketplaces and waiting for buyers to take action, domainer will try to reach business that may be interested in this domain name. This is the case for example of GEO domains, which makes reference to a certain industry in a certain area.
Typo domains:
These are domains that visitors may access accidentally by mistyping a different domain address. If the website gets traffic, even being unintended and low quality traffic, the domain will hold value hence domain resellers may find this an interesting category.
Traffic statics:
Backlinks, page rank, spam score, past uses of the domain, past traffic and it’s quality. These are some attributions that may affect the price of the domain and for this reason the most experienced domainers look into these statics before investing in a domain name.