We often help clients choose a new url when building a website. We try and find the most direct link to their business without having to go outside of the original “.com” or pay the ridiculous prices re-sellers and speculators charge for good urls. We can’t always avoid these and will either have to got o a .net, .biz or others to find the name to make sense. As the web grows “.coms” will be like Michigan Avenue properties. They will be valuable on their own merits no matter what site sits on them and can grow in value like an investment property with the only real cost being the cost of yearly registration. SO IN REVIEW…..
Some of the things you should look at when trying to value and decide on a domain include:
- The length of the domain: The shorter the domain is, the more it will cost.
- How many words are in the domain: Similar to the length, domains with very few words cost the most, so a one-word domain is the most valuable.
- How long has the domain been live: Domains that have been around for a long time rank better in search engines, and so this increases their value. However, most sites that have been around for a long time aren’t for sale, so convincing the owner might take even more money.
- Spelling and use of the domain word(s): A domain that is a common word (or words) and has a common spelling that is easy to type and remember is going to cost more.
- Domain extension: The best extension for a domain is the .com extension. This is because it’s what most browsers default to, and most users assume that is the name of the domain. So the same domain name with a .com extension is going to cost more than the domain at .net.