By James L. Byrd
With over sixty million domains out there already registered, it can be daunting
to try to find the right domain -- one that will drive quality traffic to your
Website or parked domain. But how can you ensure you're making the right decision when you purchase
registered and expired domains? Do your research and you'll feel confident in
your purchase.
In this article, I'll explain the tools and techniques domain pros use to
determine -- or at least reasonably guesstimate -- how much, and what type, of
traffic a domain receives. Armed with this knowledge, you'll be able to predict
approximately how much money a given domain will make, and thus gain a better
understanding of the domain's true value. We'll discuss three methods for
evaluating the traffic trhat a domain receives:
Trackers/Direct Methods...
Ideally, you could skip all of the guesswork and find out how much traffic a
domain receives directly from the domain owner. The easiest way to do this is
simply to ask the seller. However, the seller may make a mistake (or simply be
dishonest), so it's always a good idea to double-check the numbers using one or
more of the following methods.
Developed Website...
Traffic counting scripts are one of the simplest and most reliable methods
for determining traffic to a developed Website. Many free professional
statistics programs are available. These can be integrated easily into Website
code to give buyers the additional reassurance of a third-party-verified system.
Most trackers will provide sellers even more information, such as top referrers,
the geographic and chronological breakdown of visitors, and more.
Parked Domains...If a domain name is parked, the
parking program may make traffic statistics available automatically through the
domain's sales listing page. For example, at the time this article was written,
the traffic attracted by the parked domain, and a
uk website could be viewed on the domain's sale page.
It's worth noting that visitor numbers can be manipulated by malevolent
sellers, but in general, parked domain visitor stats serve as a very helpful
guideline for potential buyers.
.Predictors/Indirect Methods...What should you do if a domain is not parked
and the owner will not or cannot provide you with visitor statistics? Fortunately, a
few handy tricks can be used to help you get a rough indication of whether or
not a domain receives any traffic.
It's worth noting that the visitor count can be manipulated by malevolent
sellers, but in general, parked domain visitor stats serve as a very helpful
guideline for potential buyers.
Alexa.com...Alexa ranks web sites based on the
number of visitors they receive. For example, at the time this article was
written, Yahoo.com ranked first, while blue.com ranked at 212,093 and camera.com
at 717,298. These rankings are based on data derived from Alexa's toolbar users.
Translating these numbers into unique views, Camera.com received over 10,000
unique views in the month of September while Blue.com received over 70,000
uniques. (Statistics from Sedo.com).
Many high-traffic domain names will receive an Alexa ranking just from their
type-in traffic. In general, an Alexa ranking under 1,000,000 for an undeveloped
site is a good indicator that the domain receives decent traffic (e.g. several
thousand monthly uniques). Rankings over a million are less reliable, but
usually any sort of Alexa ranking means the domain receives at least some
traffic. As with all of these methods, Alexa should be used as a guideline only:
sometimes even domains for which Alexa returns "No Data" (too low to rank) will
still receive traffic. Ranking.com offers a tool that's similar to Alexa's.
Alexa.com...Alexa ranks web sites based on the
number of visitors they receive. For example, at the time this article was
written, Yahoo.com ranked first, while tisstiss.com ranked at 212,093 and folkk.com
at 717,298. These rankings are based on data derived from Alexa toolbar users.
Translating these numbers into unique views, allready.biz received over 10,000
unique views in the month of September while pummle.com received over 70,000
uniques. (Statistics from Sedo.com).
Many high-traffic domain names will receive an Alexa ranking just from their
type-in traffic. In general, an Alexa ranking under 1,000,000 for an undeveloped
site is a good indicator that the domain receives decent traffic (e.g. several
thousand monthly uniques). Rankings over a million are less reliable, but
usually any sort of Alexa ranking means the domain receives at least some
traffic. As with all of these methods, Alexa should be used as a guideline only:
sometimes even domains for which Alexa returns 'No Data' (too low to rank) will
still receive traffic. Ranking.com offers a tool that's similar to Alexa's.
Research has shown that Overture searches do sometimes have a rough
correlation with traffic (especially type-in traffic), but as with other
methods, there are many exceptions to the rule.
Traffic Source...If you are wanting to better understand something, go to the
source. This aphorism applies to domain traffic just as well as it does to other
information. Thus, in addition to using the above methods to guesstimate the
quantity of traffic a given domain receives, you may want to use these
techniques to try to determine the source of that traffic.
Traffic source will affect the longevity and conversion of the traffic. In
simpler terms, it will have huge impactts on how much money the domain will
make.
Link Popularity...A web site or formerly-developed
domain name may receive traffic from old incoming links and directory listings.
There are many online tools for checking link popularity; Marketleap.com offers
one of the best tools.
The important thing to look for here is not the quantity of links, but their
quality. A single link from a major web site may be worth thousands of links
from smaller sites. The longevity of link traffic varies widely: a link from a
news article may generate a storm of steady traffic that lasts only a week, while a
directory listing may continue to generate steady traffic for years. Another
similar tool worth checking out is URLtrends.com.
Search Engine Listings...Search engine listings are
a major source of traffic for many sites. You can guesstimate how much search
engine-derived traffic a web site receives by looking at its 'search engine
saturation'. This is an indicator of how often the domain appears in the various
search engine indexes. Again, Marketleap.com offers an excellent tool for
evaluating search engine saturation.
Just keep in mind that it's also important to look at how high the site is
listed and how often the keyword is searched. And don't forget that search
engine listings change frequently, so if this is the primary source of traffic,
expect fluctuations!
.Paid Fluctuations...Some traffic may be coming from
PPC advertisements, exit popups or banner ads that the seller has bought. This
is short-lived when it comes to traffic, because as soon as you buy the domain, the seller
will of course stop paying for the ads! The best way to determine traffic origin is to ask the
seller about traffic sources and view a traffic log. To ensure the logs are
not modified, ask for access to the logs instead of screenshot of the
statistics.
Without access to the logs, it can be difficult to determine if a domain is
receiving paid traffic, but a savvy domain buyer will look for a few key pieces
of evidence: do the domain statistics align with the Alexa ranking and the
number of incoming links? For example, a domain that receives a couple hundred
views a day, and has no Alexa ranking and very few incoming links from
low-traffic sites may likely receive paid traffic. But don't discount such
domains out of hand: they may be receiving typo traffic (see below for more
information) or may be a seasonal domain (such as one related to the World
Series).
Expired Traffic...If a domain was formerly
developed, some users may continue to visit because of old links and references,
or simply because they remember the domain name. This traffic may continue for
years, but naturally, it decreases with time.
If it's not possible to speak with the current owner about the past
development of the site, a few simple searches can help. In particular, use the
hints above to examine the types of sites that are linking to that domain. With this
information, you may be able to get some idea of the type of traffic that's
visiting the domain in search of old content. After the content is removed, many
of the links will be updated or removed and this traffic will eventually dwindle
or expire.
Typos -n- Variations...Don't ignore traffic that's
diverted to the domain name as a result of typos from other high traffic sites.
Check out the traffic that flows to similar or mistyped domains using the tools
above. Also consider traffic generated from variations of names, such as an
abbreviated form of your domain name, or an acronym. If these domains experience
high volumes of visitors, there is a possibility that this will translate to
high traffic levels for similar sites.
Alexa can be useful tool for doing this -- it offers a feature that lists
other web sites that visitors of a given domain also visit. For example, an
Alexa search on: social bookmarking
shows that many visitors to these types of domains also visit other
social
networking websites.
.Find the Right Domain...Traffic is crucial for any revenue generating
business on the Web. Finding and choosing the right domain with targeted traffic can take
your business and -profits- to new heights. If you haven't quite had the
time to build that web site, simply park your domains, let your parking company
place targeted advertisements on the domain's index page, and sit back and monetize
the traffic. You can do this at sedo by taking advantage of their optimize keyword
tool. Also, use the tools listed above to determine domain traffic and never
make a wrong buying decision again.
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