One Way I Evaluate a Domain Name to Buy

One of the things I look at when evaluating domain names to acquire is how many other TLDs are registered for that keyword. Obviously, the more domain names that are registered, the better. In addition, I also look at very similar keyword domain names, including those that use the same keywords with additional words (ie DogWalker.com and BostonDogWalker.com).

Taking this a step further, I also have a look to see who owns the other extensions and when they were registered. It’s always good to see that Name Administration or another successful domain investor owns a keyword name in an alternative extension because that is  indicative  of a good name.

Even better, though, is when a company or person in that particular field owns one of the other extensions. If multiple companies own different extensions in the keyword, it’s even better, especially if the registrations are aged (5 years+).

First off, those are great sales prospects should you want to sell. Secondly, it shows the keyword has value to companies in the field, so you might either be able to sell it quickly, build on it if you want to spend the time/money, or wait for the right offer to come around.

Finally, when you buy the .com and there are other developed extensions, you’re likely to receive traffic as a result. This traffic is fairly well targeted and can be monetized in a variety of ways. It can also be used to show potential buyers the value of buying the domain name from you.

Buying the .com domain name when there are many other TLDs registered will likely cost significantly more money. However, there is considerably more upside to these types of names.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

10 COMMENTS

  1. I was deciding between my domain names, Lens360.com, New-Apps.com and FirstWeek.com for your previous post. In the end, I choose the one I think will fit your readers most though the keywords ” New Apps ” are taken in many extensions. I did a check on the number of search, CPC for FirstWeek.com and I think Lens360.com is more of a ” Future Domain ” where smart glasses are coming up so I made that decision.

    In my opinion, they are good domain names. Many countries use hyphen, especially Germany. Hopefully a smart buyer will come to me soon.

    • In German market, they also use english words and overall worldwide english words are still better for this kind of domain names. Domain name ” My-Apps.com ” was sold according to Dnjournal. Russian bought it. New-Apps.com do get type-in too. I acquired it from a seller some time ago.

  2. Elliot,

    Do you ever consider the different tenses as well for a term before making an investment decision. For example your site DogWalker.com before you pruchased the name did you consider DogWalkers.com or DogWalking.com?

  3. Hi Elliot,

    I have a question that’s a little off subject.

    Do you ever buy or hand reg firstlastname.com , ie. tomjones.com type domains that are not trademarked of course?

    I recently came across a couple of these drops, that were not too common of people who seem to be pretty successful executive level type folks.

    Pardon me if you’ve talked about this on another section of your blog, however I’ve looked around your site and didn’t find the answer.

    Thanks.

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