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Domain name speculation is the art of determining the value of web domains and/or buying and selling domain names for profit. The domain speculation industry is rapidly growing as thousands of web sites are established every day. Thus, establishing a reliable domain speculation business can be an extremely profitable and lucrative endeavor. Most people do not know how to judge the value of a web site, and in order to set a fair selling price for their site they will hire the help of a domain speculation professional. Web domains are the hottest and most profitable form of real estate in existence at the moment, because every day the value of internet domains increases consistently. If you’d like to earn your share of this amazing industry then you may want to consider the following tips for aspiring domain speculation professionals.

Quantity vs Quality

Most amateur domain speculators have aspirations of making thousands of dollars from the sale of a single web site. While this is possible, it is not likely, especially if your are simply selling the domain name without an established web site. There is a lot of work involved with building profitable web sites and selling them, and there is no guarantee that the site is going to generate a profit. Therefore, it is better to focus on many domains at once, rather than putting all of your efforts into a single project. In the domain speculation industry it is more common for someone to make about $20-$100 profit from each domain than $1000 + from a single site.

Avoid Competitive Lawsuits

The domain speculation industry is highly competitive, and legal disputes are actually quite common. In fact, copyright issues and DMCA claims are often filed against webmasters that are infringing intellectual property rights online. Unfortunately, there is a fine line between what is legal and what is considered copyright infringement. If you are unsure about the legality of your decision then your best bet is to consult with a lawyer, or avoid any conflict whatsoever. Most of the legal disputes involve domain names being purchased that include copy written terms. For example, a domain name with the term “Coca-Cola” in it could be sued by the Coca-Cola company for using their branded name in the domain name.

Acquiring Expiring Domains

One of the best ways to generate a profit in the domain name industry is through the acquisition of domain names shortly after they expire. Using this technique it is possible to purchase a domain name that still has a lot of page rank and/or valid backlinks. Some recently expired domains will also retain their age statistics in the search engines, making them very profitable for domain speculators. If you want to get a head start and make as much money as possible with domain name speculation then you should strongly consider the benefits of purchasing expired domain names that still retain many of their desirable qualities.

Although there are different ways to assess the value of your website, this doesn’t include time and money spent for creation. Unfortunately those are difficult to incorporate into each website assessment. When choosing to retail the site, sellers price it higher than assessed. On the other hand buyers want to purchase the site at less than its worth.

Buyers vs. Sellers

Finding a common price of a website is becoming an issue with both buyers and sellers. This is due to the lack of a standardized process that prices a specific domain. To rationalize this procedure, domain name valuation has become more popular on the internet. This market is growing by leaps and bounds each day.

Facts about Appraisal

A thoroughly reviewed appraisal helps the owner realize the actual worth of their website. The process is based on speculation and factors relative to the appraiser. Generally the categories for valuation include brand recognition, marketability, traffic statistics, domain name value, business segment and site extensions. The process focuses on specific selling positions that the domain name carries.

Other important characteristics include a domain name that’s easy to remember by the users and one that’s short and easy to spell. Since the whole domain is evaluated, the core characteristics are spotlighted with the ultimate object being value assessment.

Those that are in the market to buy or sell a domain name should request an appraisal from a professional. Although appraisal sites are available, they differ greatly so it’s complicated to verify which is correct. The whole process is speculative so even using professionals for appraisal could result in slightly different prices.

Website vs. Domain name

Since domain names and websites are appraised separately, it’s difficult to verify whether the actual website content or domain name is driving the traffic. This makes the appraisal market extremely hazy and speculative with the overall price being relative to the appraisers collaborative decision.

Regardless, having the site and domain appraised is an effective idea for both buying and selling. This will at least result in a starting point for negotiations. The seller should factor in amount of time spent on the site as well as the amount of money already put in. The buyer should focus on the credibility of the site and the estimated amount of money generated by the website.

Buying and selling a website can be an arduous task. You never really know if you’re selling the site for too little. On the other hand, the buyer never knows if they purchased the package for too much with little return on investment.

The name of a domain directly affects the overall success of a website, not only through search engine optimization, but also through the eyes of the visitors themselves. A memorable domain name will ensure repeat traffic in many cases, based simply on the fact that most visitors will find it easy to return to a site with a domain name that is easy to remember. Nonetheless, there are many other factors to consider when judging the overall worth of a domain name.

It is important to distinguish the difference between the worth of a domain name, and the value of an entire web site. A domain name is simply a web address that represents site, even so, this title has value in and of itself. Judging the value of domain names can be quite confusing. To simplify the process, consider some of the following factors.

Keyword Optimization

Perhaps the most important aspect of a domain name is the keyword that it is targeting. The most valuable kind of domain name is one that is an exact match of a keyword that is commonly searched for. Also known as an exact match domain, these names are sought after because they tend to go straight to the top of the search engines for specific phrases, with little or no effort. For example, if someone searches for the term “credit cards,” it would not be surprising to see creditcards.com in the number one spot, even if the content and on-page design has not been search engine optimized. Registering a domain name with one of these phrases is becoming increasingly rare, however it is possible.

Domain Syntax

Another important factor to consider is the syntax; the arrangement of words or letters within the domain name. A domain name with numbers that substitute words are generally less valuable. For example, the domain name keywords4ranking.com would be less valuable than the domain name keywordsforranking.com. The reason for this is simple, when someone executes a search for a particular keyword, the chances of them typing in the number 2 or 4 instead of the words “to” or “for” are very low. Following the same reasoning, dashes also take away from the value of a domain name, as most people do not include dashes in their search queries.

Name Length

The length of the domain name is also very important, as it directly affects the memorability of the name. If a domain name is 30 characters and 4 words long there is a very slim chance that someone will remember it. Thus, it is very unlikely that you will receive repeat organic traffic unless you are highly ranked for a common keyword.

Domain Extension

The domain name extension or TLD is another crucial factor. The extension of a domain is simply the letters that follow the dot, for example – .com, .net, and .org – are all domain extensions. Dot com domains seem to outperform their counterparts in almost all instances, however .org and .net domains also rank well in the search engines. Surprisingly, even though they only cost about a dollar, .info domains can often rank #1 in Google if the right keyword is targeted.

Simply registering a good domain name in today’s domain market can present a significant amount of challenges, especially if you are trying to find a domain name that contains commonly searched for keywords. Once you have a domain name that is suitable for your online endeavor you can begin focusing on the promotion of that domain. In some cases it can take years for a domain to obtain a high Page Rank, or authority in it’s niche. One of the reasons why it is so difficult to find good domain names is because people are simply looking for names that are not registered. This is also the reason why it takes so long to establish authority with your site.

Aged Domains and Site Authority

As a site ages it acquires backlinks from around the web, and it’s overall web presence expands, thus attracting attention from search engines and gaining a higher PR (Page Rank). Every indexed site on the internet gets a Google Page Rank, ranging from 0 to 10, with 10 being the best possible Page Rank and 0 being insignificant. The age of a domain is one of the factors that contributes to the site’s overall authority. The older and more established a site is, the higher the PR will be, and when a site has a high PR there is good chance of the pages on that site going to the top of the search engines fairly easily.

Where to Find Aged Domains

Finding aged domains online is actually fairly simple, however the prices charged for these domains vary greatly. In fact, they can cost anywhere from $5 to a quarter million or more. When it comes to purchasing aged domain names online you have two options;  You can either buy them on an auction site, (which in many cases you’ll also receive content and a fully built website along with the domain), or you can buy them from registry sites that specialize in buying domains that are about to expire or have recently expired. One such site is FreshDrop. FreshDrop provides a friendly interface that lets you search through a massive database of recently expired domains in real time. Using this database you can find a plethora of information about each prospective domain, and then use this information to choose the most suitable domain for your endeavor.

How to Know What Aged Domains are Good

Assessing the value of the domain based on age alone can result in some very faulty decisions being made, especially if your intentions are to purchase a domain that will give you instant authority in the search engines. Instead, you need to focus on a variety of factors, such as PR, and most importantly backlinks. For example, at FreshDrop you can see how many Google and Yahoo backlinks are indexed for each site. A 3+ year old site with a decent amount of backlinks, a PR above 3, and a keyword optimized domain name would be the ideal aged domain to purchase.

Domain names are by far one of the most important aspects of the website industry. Without the right domain name, even the most advanced website will fail to produce results. Web surfers tend to prefer websites that have catchy, easy-to-remember domain names that pertain to a particular keyword or phrase. However this does not mean that a domains value arises from these attributes. In fact the value of a domain really has very little to do with these features. Domain name value is a very complex issue and it should be noted that the real value of a domain can only be decided by the buyer of the domain. As always, what one person may regard as useless, another may find to be priceless. Although there is no way to place an exact value on a domain, there are ways to boost the value of your domain.

Search Engine Optimization

Perhaps the single most important aspect of your domain in regards to value will be it’s search engine ranking It is an undeniable fact that websites that are ranked higher in the search engines, generally tend to sell for more money. The reason for this is obvious. In fact, even domains with terrible names can sell for a good price if they have a solid search engine ranking. One of the most important search engine optimization attributes in regards to domain value is the amount of incoming links your website has. Incoming links, also known as backlinks, are links placed on other websites that lead to your website. Generally the more backlinks your site has the more traffic it will receive. Potential domain buyers are looking for domains that can be acquired and then monetized with as little effort as possible, so high traffic means high value in the domain game.

Domain Age

The age of the domain will also play a tremendous deciding factor in it’s overall value. The older a domain is, the more valuable it is considered. This is because older domains have an established web presence, which means they have had a longer time period to gather traffic enhancing attributes such as backlinks, search engine ranking, and overall popularity and recognition. Newer domains are considered relatively useless because they lack these qualities and are essentially bare projects that would need larger investments to grow. Although this is true in most cases, there are some cases when the name of a domain alone can cause it to sell for a high price. For example, you may own a domain name that matches a popular phrase or slang. Even though the domain name may be brand new and the domain itself is completely blank, the name alone could inspire a more fortunate buyer to spend an exuberant amount of cash for the name alone.

Name Value

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of your domain’s values is it’s name. So, what makes a domain name valuable? Names that are short tend to be more valuable, and names with four letters or less or considered the most valuable. Names that are popular keywords carry a lot of value as well, however any key phrases that contain hyphens should be avoided. Site names with hyphens generally hold a lower value. The extension of your domain name also matters as well, as .com domains tend to sell for more.