What Is An Appraisal

A domain name appraisal is an evaluation of the value of a domain name. This evaluation is an opinion based on factors such as traffic, brand recognition, and marketability. There is no exact science, standard methodology or industry codes of conduct, for domain name appraisal.

Domain name appraisals are often performed by:

•    Dedicated companies
•    Industry experts
•    Domainers (both experienced and inexperienced)

Some charge a fee for providing an appraisal, while others are free.

Alternatives To Appraisal Companies

There are many alternatives to getting your domain name appraised by a dedicated domain name appraisal company. You can:

•    Post your domain name in industry forums and ask for an appraisal.
•    Post your domain in aftermarket sites such as Sedo and Afternic.
•    Use an automated tool such as Estibot.

If you do end up posting in forums, be sure to include as much detail about the domain as possible. The more information you provide, the more accurate the appraisal will be.

Thoughts On Domain Name Appraisals

There are a number of “schools of thought” in relation to domain name appraisals including:

•    Appraisals are a waste of time as they can’t possibly take into consideration all the factors to come up with an accurate figure.

•    A domain name is only worth what “the market” will pay for it.

•    Appraisals are a scam to con newbies (people new to the industry) out of their money and/or their domain name.

Know Thy Traffic

You might be surprised to know that many domainers have no idea where their traffic comes from. If you’re aiming to monetize your domains via parking, you are well advised to find out! There are two main reasons for this:

1. The value of the domain name will vary not only based on how much traffic it receives, but also where that traffic comes from. For example, an expired domain that previously received a lot of traffic from search engines but has since been de‐listed will be worth much less than a domain that retains a search engine ranking. However, what about a domain name that barely ranks, if at all, but gets a lot of traffic from backward links might be worth the most…

2. Your entire monetization strategy – from whether or not to park the domain to how to optimize your home page – will vary according to your major traffic sources.

In particular, you need to consider the quality of the backward links to the domain name you’re considering buying. At a minimum, type the domain name into the major search engines and see what results come up. See if you can answer these questions about the backward links.

1. How many of these links are for sites that are “made for advertising”?

2. How many of these sites are “directories” (i.e. “link farms”) filled with links that nobody is likely to click on?

3. How many of these links result from someone (or more likely, a robot) posting links in blogs (i.e. “blog spam”)?

4. If the domain gets de‐listed from a major search engine, or deleted from a given directory, how much traffic will it continue to receive?

So before you bid on a domain at an auction or buy from someone in a forum… make sure you do your due diligence on what you’re buying!