How To Find Domain Names

Two excellent sources of domain names are forums and auction sites.

Forums

While you might think that domaining forums are full of highly experienced domainers who snap up bargains in a nanosecond… think again! There are, in fact, many valuable domains that go unnoticed in such forums.

This could be for a number of reasons. For example, the seller may not have posted enough information about the domain… Or the domain may not appear very attractive because the seller hasn’t been able to monetize it… Or the domain name and/or post has simply “slipped through the cracks”.

However, while the price of a domain name comes down to what the market will pay… its true value depends on how you can monetize it. Value is most definitely in the eyes of the beholder! If you can see an opportunity to monetize a domain name that isn’t obvious to – or even possible for – someone else, you may have a bargain on your hands.

The other great thing about buying domains is that you don’t have to buy them straight away. You can “taste” them. For example, if you’re interested in a given domain, send a message to the seller and ask if you can taste it by having them point the domain to your web server. This will allow you to get some statistics on the traffic to that domain. Based on the level of traffic – but subject to a few qualifications discussed later in this report – you’ll get an idea of how much money it might earn you depending on how you wish to monetize it. So too, you’ll be able to come up with an amount you think the domain name is worth. Of course, this should be the maximum you’d be willing to pay, not how much you offer to buy the domain for – which should be as low as possible.

Another type of post to look out for on a forum is an offer to sell a list of domain names. Unfortunately, these sellers are less likely to let you taste all their domains – especially if the domains number in the hundreds or more. But whatever the seller says about the domains… don’t believe them. You just can’t afford to take claims about traffic on face value. So presume they are telling you fibs and do what analysis you can do. I’ll be discussing some of the due diligence you can undertake below, but some of the key information to examine includes: search engine rankings, Alexa rankings, search engine links, type‐it‐in popularity, and any other data you can lay your hands on!

Auction Sites

While there are many domain name auction sites, TDNAM is good for new domainers because it tends to feature plenty of ultra low cost domains – some with reasonable traffic. Sedo tends to have high quality domains, but often at high prices.

If you’re using TDNAM, check out the names listed on the “expired” tab and sort them by traffic (click on “traffic” once, let the screen refresh, then hit it again).

Now, you do need to take these traffic statistics with a grain of salt – they can easily be inflated – but your own due diligence can reveal some hidden gems. It’s also important to make sure that the links going to the domain are relevant to the highest value use of that domain (usually based on what the domain name has most recently been used for). I know this may seem obvious, but I’ve seen many instances of domain names being used for all sorts of content. Over the years, they get links from a variety of sources. Therefore, when you see a domain name advertised on an auction site, check out where the traffic is coming from and ask yourself:

1. Is this the type of visitor I’m trying to target?

2. If I use x type of advertising on this site, is it going to be relevant to this visitor?

3. Can I really monetize it?