What is My Domain Name Worth?
What is My Domain Name Worth?
What is art worth—hundreds of millions of dollars for a single canvas or sculpture … or nothing? The piece might belong in a museum, gallery, or simply at the curb on garbage day. Likely, its value is somewhere in between. Whatever the highest bidder feels it’s worth.
You’ll get a similar answer when you ask about the market value of your domain name. It’s what at least one other person or entity believes it is worth and can pay the price.
The good news is that you’ve got free and low-cost digital tools at your disposal to give you an estimate before you begin sale negotiations.
Let’s break it down.
What’s a Domain Name and Why Is it Worth Anything at All?
Your domain name is simply the name of your website, not the individual pages or "URLs." It might reflect the name of your business, your brand, product line, or even your own personal name or interests. Sometimes the name simply gives web surfers an idea of the content found on that site.
In short, your domain name can be chosen based on whatever factors you determine, but the most valuable are those that draw traffic to the site because visitors expect to find content that’s pertinent. It’s what they’re looking for and what you’ve got.
Get an Appraisal
If you were trying to sell a real estate parcel or a work of art, you’d likely set an asking price based on an appraisal by experts in the field. You can establish the sale price of your domain name in the same way.
It has a certain intrinsic value based on a set of criteria that the experts find to be relevant. So let those experts see what you’ve got and put assign a ballpark figure price tag to your digital property.
Like an evaluator addressing other marketable goods, your appraiser might take a long view by basing their estimate on a website's commercial potential using your domain name.
Art or Commerce?
Answer: Yes. Meaning, the evaluations you’ll get from qualified appraisers are based on both factors and more. They’re business-related, and there are numbers that can and should be crunched. But they’re also subjective, based on the industry experience of the appraisers.
What Factors Are Used to Derive a Domain Name Appraisal?
This is where it gets interesting. Every professional domain name appraisal service uses its own set of determining factors, but you’re likely to see several of them using similar sets.
Your appraiser is likely to focus on the length and simplicity of the domain name. The shorter, simpler, and more able to be tied into a marketable concept, the better. Most also judge the business potential presented by the name and the geographic pull. Does the name lend itself to the global marketplace or just local?
Domain name appraisers are often also interested in the marketable oomph of the domain extension. In this regard, a .com site still commands top attention, though others are steadily gaining.
They’ll even look into how well the domain name rolls off the tongue (or doesn’t). Finally, most of these service providers search the sale prices of comparable domain names.
How to Use Domain Name Appraisal Services and Some Worth Exploring
As mentioned, all of the different domain name appraisal services use their own factors—as well as their industry experience and even a dollop of educated guesswork—to arrive at a number. Most of the most popular services are either free or very low-cost, so you can run the numbers in more than one digital tool.
In fact, it would be in your best interest to do just that. If you don’t like the results of one appraisal, get another. While what you get is merely a ballpark estimate, and the real value of your domain name is what you can get for it, this at least gives you a starting point in negotiations.
You can show your prospective buyer a promising appraisal and present the qualities that you think were most responsible for attaining the figure. With such an estimate, you’re less likely to insult your buyer with an unrealistic asking price or to cheat yourself by asking for too low a bid.
Some of our favorite domain name appraisal tools include EstiBot, Flippa, Sedo, and Domain Price Checker. Visit their sites, review their appraisal determination factors, and try them out.
Or Simply Let Us Help You Determine the Value of Your Domain Name
Reach out to us. At Aftermarket.com, domain name brokering is what we do. We help web domain investors buy and sell sites and determine value. Drop us a line here or send us an email at info@aftermarket.com. You’ll find us to be knowledgeable, responsive, and an easy partner to work with.
