Keyword Value

Short memorable domains, devoid of numbers or hyphens, and consisting of high volume keywords that drive sales are the most valuable domain names. I like to think of this as ‘keyword value’. Keyword value is the single most important thing I think about when buying domains. Backlinks erode over time, Google PageRank gets recalculated, Alexa rankings fall, and DMOZ gets updated, but Keyword weight never goes away. Examples of domains with the best keyword value are laptops.com, shoes.com, rentals.com, hotels.com. These are keywords that consumers frequently type directly into their browser or search engine with high purchase intent. They drive sales. Unfortunately all the best domains have already been registered, but hundreds of them expire every month that are sill worth bidding on at the drop catchers. And hundreds of them are available for sale on forums and at auctions in the aftermarket. The best way to identify domains with high keyword value is to use the following tools. You want to find keywords that are searched frequently and that have high CPCs.

I use the following tools when scouting for and deciding whether to buy domain names.

Premium Drops
Excellent dictionary terms filter to identify names that match dictionary terms.

NicheBot Classic
To get access to predicted daily searches on the major search engines.

Google AdWords Keyword Tool
Predicted search volume from Google search engine.

Google AdWords Traffic Estimator Sandbox
To get estimated average Cost per Click and Clicks per day.

Legacy Value

Every day thousands of domains expire. Many of those domains represent the culmination of thousands of hours of hard work and effort by a dedicated web site owner. Fortunately for us, lots of web site owners don’t know any better – and they drop their names when they give up on their web sites – and they forfeit all that web site value to drop catchers like ourselves.

We understand the value though, so we pounce when we find good names with stats such as Google PageRank, Alexa Rankings, DMOZ listings, backlinks, and/or aged domains. And so, domainers like us, pick up those domains for cents on the dollar, only to repurpose them with parked pages, 301 redirects, or as small developed web sites, often recouping the purchase price in a matter of days or weeks.

Legacy Value refers to domains that have Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, DMOZ inclusion, backlinks, an aged domain status, etc. Each of these things is important for SEO and raw traffic. Most of the list filtering software mentioned above will have tools that enable you to sort drop lists by these criteria. Or you can visit the Google, Alexa, DMOZ, or your favorite Whois tool to manually check prospective domain purchases yourself.

If you’re confused, or want to learn more about any of these terms, Premium Drops has an excellent Domain Terms Explained Dictionary that I recommend visiting.

At this stage in the game, you can safely assume that 99.9% of the good names have already been registered and that you’re not going to become the next Rockefeller by going out and hand registering a bunch of names. I learned this the hard way. Don’t make the same mistake. The renewal fees will kill you.

If you have $1,000 to invest in domain names, it is always better to take your time and buy just one or two really great domain names for $1,000 than to hand register 125 names for $8 each. From then on, you’ll be on the hook for $1,000 per year to renew your 125 names instead of just $8 or $16 per year to renew your one or two great domains.

Since so many domainers are overextended right now, if you have a little bit of cash, you can buy some great domains in the $500 – $1,000 range from domain investors in the aftermarket or at auctions. The only time you should hand register a domain is if you are 100% sure you’ll develop it.