Looking at our top domain names, here are some patterns we may all learn something from:
1. One or two word generic (descriptive) domain names, all .com
Self explanatory.
2. Traffic is usually strong and/or constant.
Massive traffic on some of the single word domains (hundreds or thousands of unique visits per day) isn’t unusual however, the more traffic a domain has the less targeted the likelihood. It is unusual to find domains which have a lot of traffic and are also extremely targeted and commercial. Those domains, if you are lucky to ever find one, can do thousands of dollars per day with a simple PPC page.
3. Commercial keywords seems to perform the best, however, others may do well over time as well
What isn’t commercial today may be commercial tomorrow. This is the true hope of generic domain names which may have strong traffic but poor performers today. Reminds me of a domain we bought in 2002 for some 22K where back then, it would take 25 years to get ROI on. Five years later the domain is making x50 of 2002 numbers and I believe will do extremely well in years to come.
4. In most instances our best one word domains have less then six letters, two word domains have less then 12 letters
Self explanatory.
5. Our best domains do not have hyphens, numbers in them.
The best domains do not have hyphens, numbers. There are some exception to this rule if you own domains such as 411.com, 911.com, 360.com, or 365.com. Again, those would be the exceptions.
6. Our current best PPC performing domain was essentially bought for free.
Read more about it here.
7. Our best traffic domain was bought on eBay
A generic/descriptive domain that gets massive traffic due to an existing popular site. The way to keep such domains it to treat them with extreme care, avoid anything that may be related to the trademark owner’s content, usage.
8. Our best PPC performer long-term was also bought for 12$ when expired in 2000
More about it here.
9. Most of our best domains were bought regardless of traffic numbers
No secret we like simplicity. We got extremely lucky over the years focusing on what makes sense versus what gets traffic. Most of the old domainers in the space, those who got into the game early (Roy Messer, Rick Schwartz, Scott Day, Castello brothers, Greg McLemore, Garry Chernoff, Anything.com, others), since there was no market for traffic back then, have done the same.
10. We hardly ever quoted prices for our best domains, and we have never sold any.
Proud to say we kept all. Before being domainers, we are first collectors.
And one last point to note, doing the right thing pays and pays well. One of our best domains, a domain that if we put on the market today will fetch 3+ millions on a rainy day, was virtually given to us for pennies on the dollar simply because we went out of our way to help someone. This happened to us few times so far with other domains as well. I will write more about this story soon.
That was a great blog entry Sahar! Great motivation for the day!
Good post and interesting stats there.
360.com is awesome should get nice traffic
Great post.
Could you please give an example of “Commercial keywords” ?
Thanks
Harry
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Sure, from this week’s DNJournal’s sales report:
Exam.com, Autograph.com, GreeceHotels.com, CheddarCheese.com, ConsumerFinancing.com, DVDs.com. On the other hand, none commercial domains from the link above are domains such as itss.com, atombomb.com, raymeyer.com, mrrich.com, BCE.com, Hoax.com, KGB.co.uk, PLE.com. Commercial terms are basically keywords which describe products and/or services.
Cheers
Sahar
Nice blog entry, thanks for sharing. This helps give other domainers ideas. One of the things you pointed out that anyone can do, is to look for terms and words that aren’t popular now but may be in the future. Not something to base your whole strategy on, but if you watch the news and do a lot of reading, you can pick up on some terms like this.
$3,ooo per day PPC for Spyware.com. DAMM, that’s nice!!!!
Hi Sahar,
Thanks for the advice. Looks like I shall start investing in these type of domains from now on.
Funny thing is, before snapnames adopted the auction format. $60.00 could pretty much guarantee you a generic domain name once you put a snap on it. Granted, this was pre-summer 2004!
Excellent post, Sahar. Love the story about Spyware.com. That’s like going to a flea market and finding a twenty carat canary diamond in the custom jewelry bin.
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Thanks David.. yea, got lucky on this one however when you play with the volume we do, luck is inevitable.
Sahar