Live Domain Name Auction

**Billyray** · 01-14-2005, 06:25 PM

Guys I'm currently bidding in a live auction at Snapnames for an expired domain. I don't want to reveal what it is exactly but it is similar to xxxxxxxxxphones.com. (no hypen)

On Overture in November there were about 570,000 exact searches.

Any idea what it would be worth? Any advice welcome.

There are 2 days and 18 hours left in the auction.

If it goes beyond my budget I would be open to being funded with aim of reselling and splitting the profit. Maybe I'm being overly enthusiastic I just don't know.

**Shawn** · 01-14-2005, 06:27 PM

Maybe $100.

**Billyray** · 01-14-2005, 06:36 PM

$100 ? LOL I hope so, that will be within my buget. I did a little bit of research and there were some crazy prices being asked for some domains eg: Useful.com $150,000.

**chromate** · 01-15-2005, 04:34 AM

Originally Posted by Billyray

$100 ? LOL I hope so, that will be within my buget. I did a little bit of research and there were some crazy prices being asked for some domains eg: Useful.com $150,000.

It's too hard to know without knowing what the xxxxxxxx bit of the name is. Ignore the price for useful.com. That's completely different. Judging by the number of searches, it'll probably hit a few $thousand though.

**Mike** · 01-15-2005, 06:10 AM

In my opinion you shouldn't pay a lot for a domain, just because it's got your keywords in. You'd be much better investing that money into something else like promotion or content.

**Billyray** · 01-15-2005, 07:08 AM

Thanks for the feed back. I've calmed down now plus the price is getting away from me. Plus I already have half a dozen domains in that field already.

**chromate** · 01-15-2005, 11:37 AM

A strong keyword domain can be extremely useful for getting good anchor text in your backlinks, which is probably the most important current aspect of SEO. Sometimes I do think it is worth paying, if there is strong competition.

**incka** · 01-15-2005, 11:43 AM

I think it will be over $10,000.

**Mike** · 01-15-2005, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by chromate

A strong keyword domain can be extremely useful for getting good anchor text in your backlinks, which is probably the most important current aspect of SEO. Sometimes I do think it is worth paying, if there is strong competition.

It is a big part of SEO, but still, I wouldn't pay big money just for a domain.

**chromate** · 01-15-2005, 12:58 PM

I wouldn't pay $10k unless I was sure it was gonna work out right. But I would pay a few thousand if I thought that by having the name meant I could make an extra few thousand a year. It's true that sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

**incka** · 01-15-2005, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by chromate

I wouldn't pay $10k unless I was sure it was gonna work out right. But I would pay a few thousand if I thought that by having the name meant I could make an extra few thousand a year. It's true that sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

I agree, but if you look how much people on DNForum.com pay...

**ozgression** · 01-15-2005, 04:26 PM

In my opinion branding is far more important than keywords in the domain (including anchor text benefits).

**chromate** · 01-15-2005, 04:36 PM

Originally Posted by incka

I agree, but if you look how much people on DNForum.com pay...

I'm presuming they don't pay very much? If so, it's probably because they're not interested in, or not up to speed with SEO techniques. A domain's only worth what it's worth to you, not someone else. One man might be able to spot an amazing application for a domain, but to the next man it may be worthless.

Originally Posted by ozgression

In my opinion branding is far more important than keywords in the domain (including anchor text benefits).

Well, I dunno about "branding" as such, but how easy the domain is to remember is important if repeat visitors is your thing. But if a domain is keyword rich, then it's normally very easy to remember anyway. Branding in terms of obscure names are less easy to remember. The only way people do remember them is by huge amounts of money being spent on promoting the brand itself.

**Westech** · 01-15-2005, 07:26 PM

When you say that there were 570,000 "exact searches" do you mean that Overture reports 570,000 searches for the exact domain phrase including the .com? Are people searching 570,000 times per month for "xxxxxxxxphones.com" or just for "xxxxxxxxphones"?

If overture is reporting 570,000 searches for the exact domain including the ".com" part, then it's worth a very large amount of money. You could expect at least 570,000 visitors per month (probably more) just from type-ins.