Domain Evaluation

Although you may think there are literally millions of available "valuable" domain names, you have to be aware that there are an infinite number of domains out there. More importantly, it is impossible to guess a particular domain's value without going through the process of domain evaluation. Domain evaluation can help you assess which domain will make the most for your investment. Unfortunately though, most of the time people purchase worthless domains because there is no standard method or values set for pricing domain names.

Evaluating domain names can help in determining what value a certain domain might have. Since the value of domain names change continuously because of market condition and other factors, it is important to seek advice from professionals who could assess a domain and set a price based on research and proper evaluation.

Domain evaluation is no exact science; evaluating domain name prices is a process where several important factors are carefully considered to have a pretty good idea of a domain's worth. The seller can seek the advice of companies that offer domain appraisal services for a fee ranging from $5 to $50.

How exactly does one evaluate a domain's worth?

The first thing you need to consider is how search engines define a domain's worth. For instance, one of the bases for Google's search engine algorithm is to evaluate a domain name's age. Mostly, older domains give search engines an indication of longevity and thus, receiving a high relevancy score from Google.

A mature site usually indicates that a particular business can withstand the novelties of time. Since domains pop up and disappear all too quickly, evaluating a domain based on age can give visitors a feeling of trust because it has been online for a longer period of time. In a domain evaluation process, one needs to consider two things about a domain's age — age of the website itself and the duration of a domain's registration.

The age of a website is important in domain evaluation because it determines how long its content has been online, how long the seller has been promoting the website and whether or not its content is up to date. The duration of domain registration measures the actual date a domain name was registered and how long it has been registered. Some domain names are registered for one year at a time, while other people register their domains for five to ten years.

Other important factors considered in domain evaluation are: market potential, memorability or its level of recall, keywords, length and spelling, among others. Once a seller considers these factors during domain evaluation, he or she can make an educated estimate and set a price for the domain that will yield optimal negotiations between him or her and the buyer.