What’s your domain name worth?

Perhaps it is better to ask how much a potential buyer would be willing to pay to acquire your domain name. If there was some interest in your domain name, you ought to, at least, have some kind of idea of its value. Generally, is the domain good or bad? If good, how good is it?

If you were to visit any domain reseller sites, you will find literally thousands of ridiculous names. If you scrutinize their asking prices, it will leave you shaking your head in amazement. They run into the thousands and even millions. Names like ApeChatsWorth.com…..It would be better to let them expire or sell cheap if you can find a ‘fool’.

So how do you tell if you have a winning name?

I know someone will be quick to say, "That’s easy. Get them appraised."

Well, you could do that. But the problem with domain appraisals is that there are no industry standards. And you simply cannot put a market value on it and give an accurate appraisal by any standards. Perhaps, in that sense, a domain name is different from real estate because it is not something you can see or touch.

There are numerous companies and sites on the web that will evaluate your domain and give you their opinion on what your domain name is worth. Their services cost anywhere from between $10 to $50. They give you a nice certificate online. But let me tell you that, an appraisal certificate may not necessarily do anything for your domain name.

As can be expected, a single domain name can have vastly differing values when evaluated by different appraisers. Values can differ by tens of thousands of dollars.

You have probably heard it being said over and over again that a domain name is only really worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it. Or what the buyer and seller can agree on to make a deal. So even if a domain name has been evaluated at $2,000 but if no one wants to pay out more than $200 for it, it is obvious the real value of the name is far less than the perceived value that it was originally appraised for.

If you have absolutely no idea what your domain name is worth, getting a professional appraisal may be useful as well as to give you a basis for an asking price if there was indeed someone interested in the name or simply to decide what you want to do with the domain name. A potential buyer already interested in a domain name you have, may be further swayed towards your position by an independent appraisal.

However, let me caution you to be careful. There are a number of thriving scams on the internet designed to play on your emotions and get your money. One instance is when a so-called "buyer" feigns interest in your domain name but requests first for an appraisal from a particular appraiser, just to be sure of the market value, he claims. Then, insists that no other appraisers will do. It doesn’t take a genius to see through this. If you pay for the appraisal, the so-called ‘buyer’ suddenly disappears, no doubt to fleece his next victim. Many fall for this cruel trick in their ecstasy imagining that finally, there was actually someone wanting their domain name. Before you spend any money, check out feedback on the website’s services from other customers. You can do this at Alexa.com. Simply enter the name of the website and you can see reviews and feedback from other customers.

A genuine buyer who wants your domain name is interested in it, NOT because some appraiser says it is worth a princely sum. But only because he himself sees it’s intrinsic value and/or has specific plans for the name. Keep this in mind.

There are a number of free domain appraisal services you could try just to test the waters around your name.

A number of domain name forums have active appraisal boards where you can post your domain names and someone will evaluate it for you. A search on your favorite engine will give you several options.

You may also have come across automated computer scripts online that give you a free instant evaluation of your domain name when you put in certain required details about your name. Those give you a ballpark figure but sometimes do grossly inflate the value. It is after all a script.

If you do decide to get and pay for a professional appraisal, make sure you are engaging a reputable company or you would end up blowing your money.

If you’re still undecided, let me take a look at your domain name and I’ll evaluate it for free. No obligations. See http://www.OpenForSale.com/ to submit your domain name.

Copyright 2005 Edwin John

Edwin John is the author of the top-selling domain ebook, "How I Sell My Domain Names." A guide that teaches domain owners how to find buyers for their domain names. Visit: http://www.OpenForSale.com/

Do you have domain names that you are not currently using?

Did you know that these domains can actually become a source of revenue for your online business?

There are several companies on the internet that will pay you to redirect your domain to a landing page, filled highly relevant PPC (pay per click) links. The links displayed on your landing page will be optimized based on what keywords are in your domain, and what links previous visitors have been interested in looking at. You can earn real money every time one of your visitors clicks a link on your landing page, in addition to guaranteed ad revenue for each and every unique visitor that you recieve. All this revenue building up month after month can form into a very nice income stream for your business.

Considering the fact that you can earn up to $5.00/click (depending on your domain, and what country your traffic comes from) with this type of program, there is no doubt that domain parking can be an extremely lucrative practice. If you would like to learn more about how to start earning money with your unused domain names and be recieving paycheques by the end of next month, please click here…

For more internet marketing articles and online business resources, please visit WealthStream.info…

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About the Author: Jeremy Maddock has been a successful internet marketer for over three years, and is the webmaster of http://www.WealthStream.info.

Read this brief article that reflects what we learned about subdomains and their important role in effective internet marketing.

A sub-domain is a section of your main web site, set up and recognized as it’s own cyber real estate. There is usually no cost or very low cost to set up multiple subdomains on your hosting account. Sub-domains are folders located within a directory of your main site and carry a pre name to your existing domain.

Example ..

http://www.masteradvertising.com is our main domain name.

But we use many sub domain names for our research areas, script testing and growing development areas.

Such as ..

http://traffic.masteradvertising.com

(for our traffic exchange)

http://mail.masteradvertising.com

(for our members free mail service)

http://team.masteradvertising.com

(for our admin team members) and so on …

To best utilize your subdomains, it is important that they all remain o­n the same subject area or theme. Our site pertains to online advertising. It would not benefit us to launch a pet store under pets.masteradvertising.com.

Each subdomain can serve as another gateway into your main establishment, for visitors, testing marketing strategies, and search engines too!

Since creating content for a website takes time, often webmasters simply modify the existing text of the main site and reuse it on the subdomain site. It is important that the content is not exactly the same and that the subdomain does not simply redirect to the main site. Otherwise, search engines may not index them and you may even may even get tossed from the engines database.

Subdomain websites can be submitted to the search engines just like your main site. If your website is doing alright in the search engines, then imagine having five more websites out there for the spiders to find. Five more listings means that web surfers have five times as many ways to find yournetwork of websites.

More and more search engine algorithms take into consideration the number and ranking of sites that link to you. By linking your sub-domains to your main site and to each other, the ranking of all of your sites is improved.

Your subdomains provide a great area for testing banner exchanges and other advertising resource mediums, without cluttering up the main site. Each sub domain will carry it’s own traffic statistics, and campaigns can be tracked efficiently by ones self with server stats or other preferred tracking methods.

Get creative and branch your services and products out between your subdomains yet centering them around and connected via your main site. It will increase your keyword density and rankings per sub domain and most consumers are more comfortable working with a specialized area then a o­ne-stop shop.

About The Author

Dawn Wentworth

http://www.masteradvertising.com

Resources and Research into Traffic Generation

submit@masteradvertising.com

The domain name is one of the most important decisions you will make when trying to win over the search engine dilemma. Try using at least one of your best keywords within your domain name.

The search engine and the directories give higher preference when your domain name is relevant to your site content or theme.

Let me give you an example of three different ways you could look at your domain name and how the major search engines will view them for indexing.

www.trafficnmore.com

www.trafficNmore.com

www.traffic-N-more.com

Which one would you have chosen?

www.trafficNmore.com, Right!

The search engines may not necessarily see it that way.

Even though trafficNmore.com is easily understood by the eye of the visitor, the search engine will not see the difference between trafficnmore.com and trafficNmore.com.

Both are good ranking for a site dealing with traffic issues.Even though you have the approval of your visitor looking for your information, you could get a higher ranking with the search engines by using www.traffic-N-more.com and still keep the eye appeal for your visitor.

Here is why.

The hyphen breaks up a longer domain name to reveal the major keywords that describe your website content or theme. This makes it easier for the visitor to understand and most importantly allows the search engine to detect your keyword for indexing right off the bat. Cool, huh?

Moral of the story, give your visitor a break, be nice to the search engines and they’ll be nice to you and give you lots of reoccurring traffic for free.

Debra Gravelle
Free Traffic. Free Download.
http://www.traffic-n-more.com/toolbox.htm
admin@traffic-n-more.com

About The Author

Debra Gravelle has been a business consultant and planner for 22 years.

Every day thousands of domains ‘expire’ and are put back into the pool of available domains that anyone can register. They can be very valuable if you are looking for a quality domain for your online business, or if you want to re-sell them for profit. But wait! There is another huge advantage to a domain that was previously owned — Instant Traffic!

As I said above, expired domains have all been owned by someone in the past. Many of these previous owners built Websites for these domains, advertised them, registered them with search engines, and even exchanged links with other sites. All translating into traffic to that domain name.

Now, why would someone who took the time to do all that work let the domain expire? It could be one of several reasons:

* the author simply lost interest * an online venture ran out of funding * poor management of the domain * they couldn’t afford the fees

Whatever the reason, it happens. And you can reclaim some of the wasted traffic and use it to your advantage. You can either point it to your existing site or use it to jumpstart and add value to a new site.

How do you know if an expired domain has traffic?

While there is no way to gauge the actual amount of traffic going to an expired domain, you can find out its link popularity in the major search engines. This will tell you the number of Web pages listed in a particular search engine that link to that domain. The more links, the higher link popularity and the more traffic that domain is getting (in some search engines, the higher ranking, too).

A free online tool to help you find the link popularity of an individual domain at five top search engines can be found at http://www.Webofsuccess.com/popularity/popularity.cgi

Another way I recently discovered is to use this powerful software program called Popular Domains. Among other features, it allows you to import a list of expired domains and automatically check the link popularity of each one. To learn more about it, check out http://www.Webofsuccess.com/domainsweekly/popular.html

As you can see, this can be an affordable way to gain instant traffic to your site. Be nice, though, and do not abuse this technique, make sure the site you are sending traffic to relates to the domain. For example don’t register the expired domain ‘ehairplugs.com’ just because it has a high link popularity and then forward the domain to your site about Internet marketing. Other than that you may use your new domain with ‘built-in’ traffic however you wish!

About The Author

Wayne Ford, info@domainsweekly.com, is the founder and president of DomainsWeekly.com the leading supplier of daily expired and soon-to-expire domain lists. He also publishes a free weekly newsletter packed full of domain-related information and a list of quality available domains. You may subscribe by sending a blank email to domainsweekly-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Just like any business, your identity is very important. On the World Wide Web, your domain name is your identity. Of course, you can opt for a subdomain name that comes with many free web hosting like http://yourdomain.netfirms.com. But if you are serious about being successful on the Internet, you have to get your own domain name, like http://www.yourdomain.com.

Top 10 reasons to have your own domain name

Please note that all domain names listed in italic are ficticious:

1. It is cheap and easy to get your own domain name (less than $15/year in most cases)
2. You own the name (as long as you pay the annual fee)
3. You are not dependent on one web hosting company to let you use a subdomain, or worse, a subdirectory
4. Your web site promotion effort does not go to waste if you change your web hosting company (because the domain name remains the same regardless of what host you use)
5. The domain name can be optimized to your business, like www.best-used-cars.com
6. Your web site is more professional
7. The domain name is easier to remember. For instance, www.best-used-cars.com rather than www.geocities.com/web/public/business/auto/best-used-cars/
8. It is much easier to sell a web site with its own domain name
9. A good domain name can be an asset
10. It is cheap and easy to get your own domain name (this one is worth repeating)

How to register for a domain name

Please note that all domain names listed in italic are ficticious:

1. Think of appropriate name for that suit the theme of your web site. For instance, an online dating service may find domain name like www.loveconnection.com, more desirable than say www.best-used-cars.com
2. Search for domain name availability. Every domain name registrar will provide you with a search tool; although some search tools are better than other. You will have to do a lot of searches because a lot of domain name that you wish to have is probably already owned by someone else (very common).
3. As you come across available domain names that you like, jot them down. Keep searching until you have about 3-5 different domain names to choose from.
4. Choose a domain name and register it at a domain name ICANN Accredited registrar.

Other factors to consider

• Initially, you will want the .com version of your domain name. If your internet business takes off, you may want to consider registering other first-level domains (i.e., .net) of your domain name and perhaps even similar domain names to prevent mistaken identity
• Use domain name registrar that will register the domain under your name under all contacts information (perhaps with the exception of technical contact). It should be clear that you own the domain name.
• Use domain name registrar that provide good online account support.
• Use automatic domain name renewal if you are planning to own the domain name long-term

Pinyo Bhulipongsanon is the owner of GreatNexus Webmaster Resources offering visitors with features such as webmaster forums, webmaster directory, webmaster dictionary, programming scripts, and webmaster articles.

A good domain name is, and will always be, essential for any online business. If you ask me, the internet is still only just evolving from infancy. It’s a long way to maturity.

Still the world has come a long way since Ken Olson, president & founder of Digital Equipment Corp. etched his name in history, when he proclaimed less than 30 years ago, "There’s no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home."

How technology has changed our lives within a span of a single generation. Sooner rather than later, more and more businesses will want to go online and cater to a global market instead of being content with the local neighborhood. And one of the first steps after deciding what business you want to do, is getting a good domain name for your business.

A domain name can make or break an online venture. A domain name is a company’s identity online. It is your brand, your personality, your trademark. So, choosing the right domain isn’t easy.

BuyDomains.com argues that:
"Today .COM and .NET names have established recognition and can identify your company on the Internet forever. For this reason, they have considerable resale value and serve as excellent investments.

Over time, most, if not all companies will conduct a considerable portion of their business over the Internet. A domain name that is easy for your customers and prospective customers to remember is the key factor in generating new business and conducting business on the Internet.

Having relevant "keywords" to support your domain name is also an important consideration and will enable customers to find your online business effortlessly through Web based search engines.

Another excellent marketing tactic you should consider is to have multiple URL addresses (including your domain name) point to the very same Web site. This is very simple …..This will allow you to keep your legacy domain name, while multiple new e-business names conduct commerce and are listed in the search engines, significantly increasing your Web site’s overall traffic."

A web site is a worldwide advertisement that runs 24/7. For the price of one print ad, or one-tenth of a 30 second commercial, you can have a solid web site designed and running every single minute of every single day. Show a company how a few thousand dollars invested in a domain name & a web site now can translate into 100 years of sales and effective promotion, and they will all be scrambling to get in line.

Most companies, even small ones, will tell you that having a web site is no longer an option. It offers the business owners the opportunity of having potential customers view their products or services day or night, without needing to an outlay of huge sums of money.

But then, many small and medium sized businesses that are already online have poor or difficult sounding domain names. Names that they would readily change in an instant if they had the right domain name. So there will always be people and companies who will be looking at the domain resale market for a better name for their business. This is key.

When Anysoft, a Massachusetts company, acquired any.com for $30,000, their vice-president, Emily Shain, said it was worth the money because the domain name was such a vital marketing tool that would help customers find them easily.

If you are at the right place at the right time with the right name, you could find yourself pocketing some nice cash.

Even governments are getting in on the act. The New Zealand government shelled out NZ$ 1 million for newzealand.com. As a result, there was understandable criticism in the NZ parliament over the purchase as being a waste of tax payers money.

What was the government’s response? Mark Burton, the NZ Tourism Minister had this to say, "There is no question that this domain will provide an invaluable portal for… commercial entry into New Zealand for those interested in tourism, commerce, and industry.

The South African Government offered US$10 million for southafrica.com. It has also been reported that korea.com was sold for US$5 million to True Net, Korea’s largest Internet service provider."

Author, Tariq Ghafoor writes, "I feel that there’s still reason for optimism in the domain aftermarket but in order to profit there’s a crucial need to alter one’s perception and strategy just like our brethren have been forced to do in other web-based businesses."

It’s true. The heady days of the domain gold rush has seen its final sunset. We are seeing shifting trends in the arena. To cope with the changes, a domain speculator needs to see himself as a domain entrepreneur and begin to organize his domain names and increase their value and prepare them for prospective buyers.

Edwin John is an author and webdeveloper
He is the author of "How I Sell My Domain Names"
http://www.OpenForSale.com

Find out if your domain name is wanted:
http://www.DNames.org

Aero Registrar Secura GmbH proposes to the IT departments of airports to sell aero-domains to companies at the airport. Airports can build a portal of the airport and forming by this a kind of virtual airport.

The advantages:

1. Search engines are today focusing link popularity. If airports would build a portal of the airport with interested companies and ask the companies at the airport as a condition for getting the aero-domain and the link to their websites that the companies link back to the airport’s website, the airports will get many links back to their own website.

By this they increase the success of their website. Especially Google,the most important search engine of the world, is working with link popularity. If you assume, that the website is important for your marketing, you should try to improve your ranking at Google and other search engines.

2. ICANN accredited Registar Secura will sell to airports the domains for other companies at reseller conditions. The IT departments can sell the domains at the price, which they think is fitting. The IT departments of airports will have an economic advantage at every sold aero-domain.

We also propose to airports they you should realize the shortcut initiative of SITA. One of many examples: If somebody is entering at the PDA parking.youraeroport.aero, there are hints how to go and/or drive to the parking lot. Secura GmbH is also ready to make free subdomains in order to help to realize the shortcut initiative.

Hans-Peter Oswald

The author is the CEO of Aero Registrar Secura GmbH

About The Author

Hans-Peter Oswald

CEO

ICANN accredited Registrar

http://www.com-domain.com

secura@domainregistry.de

As the editor of DomainNameWire.com, I’m frequently e-mailed by people asking for domain name advice. Specifically, what should they look for when registering a domain name for their company? This may be basic for some of you, but I hope some of my readers gain value from this.

Let me start with the things to avoid when registering a domain name that will be used for your main company web site.

1. Never use a hyphen. If your domain is some-name.com, many people will forget the hyphen when typing your name into the browser or sending e-mail to you. This can result in lost business.

2. Avoid digits if possible. Using digits requires you to spell the domain name out to people. For example2.com, you need to tell people it’s the digit “2” rather than the word “two” or even “to”.

Here are the positive things to look for in a domain name.

1. .Com extension. It’s imperative that your domain name be available with a .com extension. I’ve seen businesses and major web sites try to get away with .net or .org, and perhaps half of their intended visitors land on someone else’s web site. Or worse, confidential e-mails are sent to the wrong domain.

2. Easy to spell. Keep in mind that your spelling might be better than most people!

3. Short. Try to keep it to 2 words, 3 maximum and 20 characters or fewer.

These are general guidelines applicable to your main company domain name. There are instances where hyphens, numbers, and non-.com domain extensions are fine for secondary sites and search engine-optimized sites. But your company’s main domain should follow these general guidelines. Good luck!

Andrew Allemann is editor of Domain Name Wire, a news and opinions site for the domain name industry.

Searching for public domain works can be a tedious job and take several hours just to find one or two good publications.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of quality databases online you can use to search for public domain content, but are you aware of the places offline you can visit starting tomorrow morning and walk away with a handful of public domain publications you can duplicate.

The best part is you don’t even have to purchase the books.

I’m referring to your local public and university or college library. There are thousands of public domain books right on the shelves waiting to be revived.

This is by far the simplest way to get your hands on hard-to-find public domain works.

I did a quick search of my libraries database online and found over 20 interesting publications I think will be good sellers online such as “How To Speak And Write German”, “The Official Guide To Knots And How To Tie Them”, How To Play A 5-String Banjo”, How To Star In Baseball”, Gemcraft: How To Cut and Polish Gemstones”, Kites: Hot To Make and Fly Them”, Your Lawn: How To Make It and Keep It”, “How To Make Your Own Picture Frames”, and the list goes on and on.

Once you find public domain material you’re interested in conduct a quick copyright search to ensure these publications are in fact in the public domain.

Then visit your library, sign out the books and begin using the content. There are companies who offer scanning services relatively cheap so you can create a digital version.

You can also create audio and/or video portions of each publication and sell the videos under your copyright.

So now you have enough information to start your public domain search offline starting tomorrow morning.

Mike Hill is the creator of the Public Domain Sources Directory, dubbed: “The Most Profitable Book In The World” because of all the hard-to-find secret sources he lists inside this incredibly detailed directory. For more… http://www.publicdomainempires.com