DomainNameProfiling

client-domain.com
 

Enter the domain that you would like to analyse in the form above. E.g. domainer.net.

 

What is Domaining

Domaining is the term used to refer to the practice of establishing, buying and selling domains. As the internet grows there are an ever increasing number of potentially valuable domains that can be used for a variety of purposes.

The Life of a Domain

A domain starts life by means of registration through a domain registrar such as enom.com or 123reg.co.uk. Domains are generally registered for pre-defined periods of maybe 1 or 2 years, sometimes longer. Usually at around one month before the domain renewal date (often sooner) the domain registrar will send a renewal notice to the registrant prompting them to renew their domain. If the domain is not renewed during this period it will become expired on the final renewal date. Although expired most registrars will hold the domain for up to around 40 days during which time the registrant may still renew the domain. Once this period has elapsed it is still possible to restore a domain but it can be costly. After a further 30 days the domain can no longer be restored and the only option is to wait until the domain has been dropped by the registrar. Once a domain has been dropped (which can take a further five days) then it can be registered by anyone.

The Domaining Process

The domaining process can be broadly summarised as follows:

  1. Find high page rank or high authority domains of interest
  2. Check auction status
  3. Check whether domain is indexed
  4. Check for fake page rank
  5. Check whether domain has been dropped
  6. Analyse backlinks of domain
  7. Bid

Finding Domains

  1. Freshdrop.net - Very good but expensive.
  2. Swiftdrops.com - A new service that is looking very good for GoDaddy auctions.
  3. Register Compass - Cheaper than FreshDrop and very good.
  4. DomainFace.com - Two pricing options and a cool automated bidding tool.
  5. Dropday - Probably the best value for money service.
  6. expireddomains.net - A great free service.

These tools can be used to put together a list of prospective bidding targets. You may be looking for high page rank or maybe specific keyterms in the domain name. Compile a list of domains and then check out their auction status.

Checking Auction Status

Having identified a bunch of domains you will then want to assess their auction status. Domains may be auctioned by GoDaddy, SnapNames, NameJet or others. The sites listed above will generally indicate where a domain is being auctioned. A visit to the auction site will tell you when the auction is expected to end, what the current bid price is and how many bids there have been so far.

Checking Whether a Domain is Indexed

This is an important step. Simply pay a visit to Google and enter site:domainname.xxx. This should return a list of the domain pages that Google holds in its index. If it doesn't then there may be issues with the domain that should put you off from purchasing it.

Check for Fake Page Rank

When shopping for domains many domainers use the Google pagerank indication as a useful measure of link equity. However this can often be misleading as the pagerank indicated my not be the genuine pagerank of the domain under consideration. Its therefore a good idea to assess whether the pagerank is real or fake.

A useful tool for this is provided at rankchecker.com. But it can also be assessed by entering info:domainname.xxx into a Google search box. This asks Google to return the indexed information on the specified domain. If you look at the information returned and see a domain other than that which you are examining then you are not seeing the genuine pagerank of the site you're interested in so you should stear clear.

Check Whether Domain Has Been Dropped

If a domain has recently been dropped there is a good chance that it will lose its pagerank. To assess whether a domain has been dropped pay a visit to whois.domaintools.com. Another good resource for examining domain history is web.archive.org. Here you may be able to see some examples of what was previously hosted at the domain.

Domain Backlink Analysis

This is an important aspect of domain analysis and due diligence. If a domain has an indicated pagerank of interest which you have determined is not fake then a thorough examination of the backlinks to that domain should tell you how reliable that pagerank is and the likelihood that it will be retained.

There are various tools that can be used to examine backlinks. My favourites are the SEOMoz Open Site Explorer tool and Majestic SEO. The Open Site Explorer tool will also provide a number of other useful SEOMoz metrics including domain authority, which can be another useful indicator of domain value. When examining backlinks you should be looking for solid inbound links from clearly authoritative sites and pages that are not likely to be removed.

Auction Tactics

There can be a lot of competition for valuable domains. You will see that bid prices will often soar in the last few minutes of the auction. This is the time to be placing your bids, if possible. Another tip is to look for auctions which end outside of U.S. waking and working hours. You will tend to find that auctions that end at times when it isn't convenient for Americans to be online will tend to be a little cheaper.

Domain Prices

Here are some example price bands that you are likely to see:

  • PR2: - $10 to $15
  • PR3: - $40 to $50 can be more, sometimes less...
  • PR4: - $100 to $200 but can get expensive for aged domains with lots of backlinks.
  • PR5: - $250 to $600 but prices vary enormously.
  • PR6+: $500+