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You should choose whether to pursue each domain from your NameFlipper list based on the following six criteria, written here in descending order of importance:
While NameFlipper makes every effort to evaluate these factors (among others) automatically in computing its resale value figure on each domain, you can probably draw on your life experience to assay these six specific factors better than any computer program could.
We now elaborate on these six considerations, providing examples to help guide you.
Fit of keywords with TLD
.COM fits commercially-oriented keywords; .NET commercial keywords with heavy search traffic, exceptionally strong brandability, or with a high-tech/IT motif; and .ORG cause, informational, or "free stuff" type domains. Certain types of keywords, such as geographical locations and personal names, fit all three major TLDs.
The importance of TLD fit in determining domain value is a fairly obvious and most NameFlipper users arrive at the correct judgment intuitively. If you're new to the domain game, however, this table might help hone your hunches:
| .com | .net | .org | |
| ITConsulting | Strong fit | Strong fit | Poor fit |
| CouponCodes | Strong fit | Strong fit | Strong fit |
| GalapagosIslands | Strong fit | Strong fit | Strong fit |
| HansonFoundation | Poor fit | Poor fit | Strong fit |
| AutismAwareness | OK fit | Poor fit | Strong fit |
| AustralianPostcards | Strong fit | Poor fit | Poor fit |
Is the domain commercially generic?
Generic products, services, and well-known geographic locations are automatic "shoo-ins" for pursuit -- that is, whenever you notice of of these domains in your NameFlipper report, you should always add them to your to-chase list, even if the number of keyword searches on that domains is not particularly impressive. Products, services, and GEOs are the most liquid types of domains in existence because prior industry offerings of that product/service or the corresponding size of the GEO-location's population have coined these keywords with definitive commercial value. Businesses have profitted off these terms in the past. And in the event you fail to flip one of these domains to end-users, you could easily liquidate it for a profit on NamePros or BuyDomains.com.
Examples of product-type domains:
Examples of service-type domains:
Examples of geographical domains:
NOTE: You should generally avoid pursuing domains in which the keywords are reversed from their best-known orientation (RestaurantsCharlotte.com or PadMouse.com) as these sorts of names are highly speculative, domainer-type names.
Domain market-cap (.COM, .NET only)
If you are considering whether to pursue a brandable-type domain, you should, first and foremost, consider the "wealth" of the underlying market it serves. Artists' websites are often professionally designed but few could afford (nor would appreciate the significance of) purchasing your GypsyRoses.com domain for $500 on a mere $15,000/year salary, even if they operate a studio named "Gypsy Roses". On the other hand, $500 is pittance for even an up-and-coming car parts manufacturer to offer for a domain such as DieselFilters.com if they sell diesel particulate filters. Domain market-cap is a far more important consideration than the quantity, or even quality, of sales leads listed.
Do note, however, that despite their seemingly high market-cap nature, law firms, real estate agencies, doctors & mental health professionals, bankers, business consultants, and venture capitalists are difficult clients to flip domains to unless you are an experienced salesman or are offering them a premier keyword domain. Practitioners of well-stratified professions would rather approach you and deal with you on their watch than the other way around. Take heed of this advice before choosing to spend $300 on a domain name only because it contains a high-PPC (pay-per-click) keyword such as "Lawyer", "Investment", or "Brokers".
Examples of safe high market-cap domains:
Examples of risky high market-cap domains:
Types of domains to avoid:
Quality and fit of sales leads
This is the factor that you can only judge by visiting the websites of the sales leads we list for every domain, one by one (how to simply this process). This endeavor will probably take at least an hour of your time per list, but that hour will prove very much worth your while as the maximum cash amount a NameFlipper domains can commandeer will be capped at the most the wealthiest of your prospects is capable of paying.
Consider a domain like CustomerInsights.com, for example. The domain itself does not reveal too much about whether it serves a high or low market-cap. industry. You need to examine the websites of the sales leads NameFlipper lists for it to determine whether the domain is worth grabbing:
* brockmann.com (Brockmann & Company - Customer Insights):
=> Match Type: Organic
=> Description: Brockmann and Company customer insights consultants, market research, industry analysts,
enterprise communications - email, Video, VoIP, Mobile UC, ...
=> DMOZ: YES Y! Directory: YES
=> Alexa Rank: 1.8M [niche] Compete.com: 6088 U.S. Visits/Mo
=> Created: 1997-03-04 Expires: 2013-03-05
=> ADMIN CONTACT: BROCKMANN, PETER [E-mail: PETER@BROCKMANN.COM, Phone: (972) 396-0049]
* customerinsights.net (C U S T O M E R I N S I G H T S - Home):
=> Match Type: Organic
=> Description: Customer Insights helps startup and established companies with new innovative product
technologies achieve success through market positioning, messaging and ...
=> Created: 2003-03-24 Expires: 2010-03-24
=> ADMIN CONTACT: Michael Hulfactor [E-mail: mchael@ix.netcom.com, Phone: +1.4159694535]
* customerinsightsconsulting.com (customer insights consulting):
=> Match Type: Organic
=> Description: Enter Site. Customer Insights Consulting ...
=> Alexa Rank: 25.8M [low]
=> Created: 2006-04-18 Expires: 2012-04-18
=> ADMIN CONTACT: Admin PrivateRegContact [E-mail: contact@myprivateregistration.com, Phone: +1.5105952002]
* customerinsightsresearch.com (Customer Insights Research):
=> Match Type: Organic
=> Description: At Customer Insights Research, Inc., every study we undertake is directly handled and
managed and executed by our principals. When you hire us, ...
=> Alexa Rank: 6.5M [niche]
=> Created: 2005-02-10 Expires: 2010-02-10
=> ADMIN CONTACT: Rutter, Robert [E-mail: professional@customerinsightsresearch.com, Phone: 8286923763]
Brockmann.com, with their online presence established since 1997, their domain renewed well into the future, their listings in both major web directories (Yahoo! and DMOZ), receipt of a regular stream of visitors, and best of all, use of the expression "customer insights" as their company motto, already looks to be a powerful candidate. Visiting the Brockmann.com website itself reveals an exceptionally polished online facade and a company which conducts much of its business over the web. A read-through of their About Us page, which begins with "Where else can you get customer insights? We have always been a big fan of learning from and learning about customers...", intimates that they specialize in the collection and monetization of customer insight. To top it off, the company CEO's e-mail address is embedded directly within Brockmann.com's whois. The only gotcha here is that Brockmann's revenue statistics are not listed in the Manta.com business directory (or any other publicly accessibly location) and it's therefore be difficult to gather precisely how large a company you're dealing with, though Brockmann.com appears most likely to be a mid-sized business that generates $10M-$100M/year in sales.
Pay a visit to CustomerInsights.net now. While not as precocious as Brockmann.com, CustomerInsights.net displays all the signs of a professionally crafted website. Most importantly, their precise company name is "Customer Insights" and they utilize CustomerInsights in the second-best commercial gTLD as their web URL. They almost certainly attempted to register CustomerInsights.com before settling for their current address.
CustomerInsightsConsulting.com and CustomerInsightsResearch.com point to smaller companies, but they neverthless specialize in the lucrative field of communications consulting and would likely take keen interest in purchasing a close-matching, shorter domain like CustomerInsights.com.
IMPORTANT: When sifting through the prospects inside your NameFlipper report, you prioritize catching domains with few, high-quality sales leads over domains with large numbers of mediocre sales leads. We would even go so far as proposing that you opt for chasing domains with a single candidate of Brockmann.com's caliber over a domain with 7 candidates of CustomerInsightsConsulting.com's.
Now let's examine the sales for DigitalOrange.com, another domain that could be either hit or miss:
* thedigitalorange.com (The Digital Orange Photography - by Mike Cunningham):
=> Match Type: Organic
=> Description: orange county wedding photography photographer mike cunningham huntington beach portrait
family photography southern california lds weddings ca.
=> Alexa Rank: 8.2M [niche] Compete.com: 1291 U.S. Visits/Mo
=> Created: 2007-08-25 Expires: 2009-08-25
=> ADMIN CONTACT: Private, Registration [E-mail: THEDIGITALORANGE.COM@domainsbyproxy.com, Phone: (480) 624-2599]
* digital-orange.net (Digital Orange):
=> Match Type: Organic
=> Description: This site is currently Unavailable!
=> Created: 2000-12-26 Expires: 2009-12-26
* digitalorange.org (Digital Orange logo):
=> Match Type: Organic
=> Description:
=> Created: 2003-07-30 Expires: 2010-07-30
=> ADMIN CONTACT: Byron Mook [E-mail: digitalorange@mook.org, Phone: +4.94214318658]
* digitalorangetexas.com (Orange, TX):
=> Match Type: Organic
=> Description: Area Guide - Digital Orange City ... Digital Orange Texas is. A Digital Texas City Guide
for the City of Orange, TX Wherever you are - Whatever you do ...
=> Created: 2006-10-27 Expires: 2009-10-27
=> ADMIN CONTACT: Norwood, Tex [E-mail: tex@digitaltexas.com, Phone: 4097678135]
* digitalorange.cn (digitalorange.cn | it means digital orange):
=> Match Type: Organic
=> Description: Tiger Awards honor Orange Cove area students (Orange Cove and Mountain Times) ... HP,
Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages and AMD unveil Pinch Yourself Offer in ...
=> ADMIN CONTACT: cn [E-mail: namechina@Live.cn]
The statistics on TheDigitalOrgange.com appear promising, but the website description states the owner's expertise to be photography, a very low market-cap. field. Clicking on the website's Info page pulls up a blurb that starts with "My name is Mike, and I like to party. The website is under construction. It will be completed soon. I promise." This pargraph gives TheDigitalOrange.com more the air of a personal homepage than of a business website. If Mike has been unable to devote enough time to finish his website in 2 years, it is unlikely he would even invest $100 to obtain a shorter URL.
Digital-Orange.net is unavailable and has been so for months; the owner most likely abandoned the website. A visit to DigitalOrange.org reveals that company has shut down as well (never mind the SEO consequences in allowing "Digital Organge logo" to become the title). What about DigitalOrangeTexas.com? It's a simple city directory -- a website type that's tough to monetize -- and the website's title is Digital ORANGE, TEXAS, not than DIGITAL ORANGE, Texas, so clearly DigitalOrange.com would represent a meaningless fragment in their eyes. DigitalOrange.cn is a Chinese website with AdSense pasted all over it. So clearly, DigitalOrange.com would be a very high-risk catch as it's unlikely any of these its five candidates would purchase it.
Examining domain prospects one by one is especially important for discerning personal name domains you could cash in on quickly from those which are difficult to sell. Clearly, realtors are capable of paying substantially more cash to establish their names as web presences than artists and photographers are.
Potential trademark conflicts
Avoid pursuing domains which have registered trademarks on their keywords (or a variant of their keywords such as "Keywords INC" or "THE Keywords") and only one standout sales lead. Consider NameFlipper's report on StandAid.com, for example:
SAMPLE PROSPECTS:
* stand-aid.com (Stand Aid of Iowa):
=> Match Type: Organic
=> Description: Standing frames, power toilet lifts, wheelchair toilet,power toilet aid, standing
frame, power wheelchair attachments, power wheelchair drives, standers, ...
=> DMOZ: YES
=> Alexa Rank: 7.5M [niche] Compete.com: 446 U.S. Visits/Mo
=> Created: 1998-07-19 Expires: 2016-07-18
=> ADMIN CONTACT: Kleinwolterink, Mike [E-mail: standaid@nethtc.net, Phone: 712-324-2153]
* standaid.biz (Stand Aid Home Page):
=> Match Type: Organic
=> Description: Stand Aid is a nifty little unit that fits into any guitar or bass case or gig bag.
... These features enable Stand Aid to rest in an ideal support position for your ...
=> Created: 2006-02-21 Expires: 2010-02-20
=> ADMIN CONTACT: George Urbaszek [E-mail: creativeav@iimetro.com.au, Phone: +1.266886143]
* ststands.com (STStands.com::: Home of Strapless Transport Stands):
=> Match Type: Organic
=> Description: motorcycle transport stands and motorcycle accessories-Te motorcycle transport ...
Home | Fitment | Order | Stand Aid | Contact | Stand In Use | Links | FAQ ...
=> Alexa Rank: 21.9M [low] Compete.com: 0 U.S. Visits/Mo
=> Created: 2004-07-05 Expires: 2011-07-05
=> ADMIN CONTACT: Straplesstransportsystems [E-mail: tpgreen@starnetdial.nt, Phone: +1.4693637086]
SIMILAR TRADEMARKS:
* "STAND AID" (Serial #73134474)
By far, the closest matching and best-established of these prospects is Stand Aid of Iowa (stand-aid.com), but note that NameFlipper warns there exists a registered trademark on "STAND AID". A quick glance at the uspto.gov trademark database reveals "STAND AID" to be a live trademark held by none other than Stand Aid of Iowa, our top sales lead for StandAid.com. The fact a tiny guitar stand manufacturer based at StandAid.biz also employs "stand aid" as the name of its product would not stand as a valid defense in court because Stand Aid of Iowa is the sole nationally-known holder of the "STAND AID" mark. Please see our list data FAQ for a more in-depth discussion of trademark conflicts and how you can help avoid them.
Domain's prior usage
Finally, you should examine who owned the domain name prior to expiration and how he/she used it. At minimum, the results of this investigation will suggest whether the domain is likely to perform well in domain parking.
Let's take a look at AlumnimumClipboards.com ("aluminum clipboards"), a product generic with decent keyword search traffic. A quick lookup of AluminumClipboards.com on DomainTools' Domain History Tool reveals that prior to dropping, AluminumClipboards.com was owned by another domainer. You can tell this is the case because AluminumClipboards.com's registrar was Fabulous.com -- a popular parking provider -- and the registrant organization written in the domain's whois reads "aluminimumclipboards.com is FOR SALE". In cases of most dropping names formerly owned by domainers, however, the fact the domain was available for purchase is not so blaringly obvious. Rather, you will probably need to examine the domain's name servers (e.g. is it parked at PARKED.COM or hosted with HostGator?), Google the owner's e-mail address to determine how many other domains he/she owns, and glance at the doman's Archive.org history to gather the intents of its prior owner. It is important to decipher this intent because if a domainer owned AluminumClipboards.com and later decided to drop it, he/she likely did so because the domain performed poorly in parking and he/she was unable to sell it to end-users, hence you should probably avoid snatching this domain for the same reasons. We decided to capture AluminumClipboards.com anyway as an experiment and, not surprisingly, Sedo.com has reported an average of just 3 pageviews and 0 monthly cclicks on this domain name's parked page.
Contrast this example to that of SuburbanDoor.com, a not-so-extraodinary sounding domain. Examining SuburbanDoor.com's Archive.org history reveals that a fairly well-established door manufacturer based in Livonia, MI formerly owned and used this domain name. We decided to grab SuburbanDoor.com off GoDaddy Auctions and park it with Sedo, optimizing SuburbanDoor.com's parked page to display ads for the high-PPC term "storm doors". Taking these simple steps resulted in SuburbanDoor.com generating a commendable $15 per month in parking, and within several months we sold this domain for $675 via an offer we received on Sedo.
Because researching a domain's ownership history is mildly time consuming -- not to mention that even domainers frequently allow valuable names to expire -- prior domain usage represents the least important of the six factors you should consider in selecting domain names to secure from your NameFlipper list. Prior usage best serves as a tie-breaker, i.e. if you are trying to decide between two NameFlipper domains to chase and they seem equally strong as per factors 1 through 5.
Traps
There are eight types of domains which occasionally appear in NameFlipper lists that you should avoid pursuing under all circumstances. We normally edit these domains out prior to delivering lists but occasionally miss them. The types of traps are as follows:
Happy hunting!
