Why is domain appraisal important to get the best price for your domain?

Domain appraisal in simple terms is understanding the worth of your domain name based on certain factors that prove a domain to be of good value in the domain marketplace. You can do your research based on market trends or seek the assistance of a professional domain appraisal service to estimate the value of your domain.

What you will learn…

1. Why is domain appraisal important?
2. How to determine the value of your domain name?
3. What Causes a Domain Name to Lose Value?
4. How to get the most accurate domain appraisal?
5. Let’s Wrap Up!

Why is domain appraisal important?

There are millions of domains available in the marketplace, however only certain domain names have the potential to reach your target audience and earn you a profit if you’re planning to utilize or resell the domain name. That is why it is important to know the worth of a domain name in order to pay the right price and make a good investment for your business. In any case, you will first have to understand what factors contribute to adding value to a domain name in general.

How to determine the value of your domain name?

• Extension: The domain extension, most commonly known as top-level domains (TLDs) play a significant role in making a domain name valuable. Certain TLDs that have been in use for many decades like .com, .org and .edu have a higher possibility of being easily recognized. However, certain new TLDs like .book, .shop, .food have also gained popularity owing to their service-specific nature.
• Traffic: Domain names that have been previously registered and utilized usually have an audience base which becomes an advantage to building your site with existing traffic. However, it is important to make sure you sell similar products or services otherwise, the existing audience might not visit your site as frequently as before.
• Keywords: Keywords add maximum value to a domain name with regard to appearing in search engine results. For instance, www.bestshoes.com has a greater possibility of reaching the target audience because of the keyword ‘best’ rather than www.silvershoes.com which might not be a common term people use to search for shoe brands or a showroom.
• Brandability: A short, unique and memorable name adds value to your domain because users can easily remember and access your brand without much hassle. Domain names like ‘google.com’ are more valuable than ‘searchforanything.com’. Though certain domains don’t have a keyword, memorable domains like starbucks.com, nike and twitter achieve the same results as keyword domains.

What Causes a Domain Name to Lose Value?

• Level of Difficulty: If a domain name is hard to spell, pronounce or too long to type, then it loses value as people cannot remember the domain name. For instance, “skatingshoesatskatingplaza.com” is difficult to remember compared to “skatingshoes.com”.
• Lack of Familiarity: If the domain extension is not familiar to the target audience they might miss out on the domain name. For instance, .com, .in and .edu are familiar extensions. People can also relate to .book, .cars and .shoes as it specifies the services. But other domain extensions that are less familiar and not relevant to the domain will cause the domain to lose value.
• Previous History: The previous history of a domain name if it is a spam site or a site selling illegal products or services affects the reputation of the domain. For instance, if the domain name you’ve chosen has previously been used as a site for selling pirated copies of books then your domain name might lose value.

How to get the most accurate domain appraisal?

• Predict Market Trends: Analyse the price for which similar domain names are sold in the domain name marketplace and study the market to predict the demand for certain types of domain names and build your portfolio based on those names.
• Professional Appraisals: There are domain appraisal tools available online where you can get an estimate of the value of a domain name. But if you are looking for an accurate appraisal, it is best to consult a professional for appraisals. Epik offers a free domain appraisal tool that uses statistics to estimate domain value. For people looking for accurate and detailed estimates, Epik offers an analysis for a fixed fee of $395. Within 7 days of your order, you will receive a written report based on a custom analysis completed by a domain industry expert for accurate domain appraisals. Epik also offers a complimentary fairness opinion for those looking for a rough estimate.

Let’s Wrap Up!

A domain appraisal helps to to understand the value of a domain before you purchase the domain or to get the right price for the domain name that you are interested in selling. The value of a domain name is based on the domain extension, traffic, keywords and brandability. You can determine the value of your domain name by analysing market trends, using domain appraisal tools and getting professional domain appraisals from industry experts.