Pick your tool(s):
Google Keyword Tool [adwords.google.com]
Overture Keyword Tool [inventory.overture.com]
Query your keyword OR (short, 2 word) keyword phrase in either tool.
Take note of the frequency of "hits", popularity, etc. More is better, right? You following me?
Overture -> Copy and paste results "table" into Word. Strip away the numbers column. Convert table to text. Copy and paste table into Notepad. Strip away the spaces between the words.
Google -> Export to Excel. Copy and paste results into Notepad. Strip away the spaced between the words.
Copy and paste list into your favorite domain registrar's domain search box. My favoriate registrar has a bulk domain checking box that doesn't require me to add TLD extensions. It defaults to .com. Fine by me.
Run domain availability check. Study the unregistered results. See how the available domains match up with the "search frequency" results in Overture or Google. Aim high.
Next, after sorting out the high volume keyword domains that are available from the low volume ones check for PPC on the high volume keyword domains. Who wants to register a domain if no one sees any value (no bidding) in that particular phrase?
Repeat as time allows.
Careful, I can be addicting.
Does it work? Ya, fer shur.
Why would I publicize something that works?
Ummmm . . . because I'm trying to make a few people happy and successful, so they will supply me with martinis in Vegas? That, plus I really . . . really . . . really really really . . think I have enough domains for a lifetime . . so you all can have what's left.
"Yeah, but there's nothing good left to register!"
Hey, I ain't no preacher. No one need believe me. Go see for yourself. Worthy domains may not be hanging around, all over the place, like low hanging fruit, but . . . well . . in the past few days and weeks . . just a few examples of what was hanging on the domain tree, for the picking . . .
6,013 NYCollectionAgency.tld
6,024 UnderwaterInspections.tld
6,035 ConcreteManufacturer.tld
6,037 USVIHotel.tld
Get 'em whilst you can. I'm not going to explain this in minute detail. You've got to do some thinking and figuring out for yourself, but all the big details are laid out above.
I may go back to the well. ;0)
And, yes, once in a great while, I break my own "don't name names" rule IF there's some value in the lesson . . and no, I'm not going to show the other 800 domains I've picked up in the last 7+ months using this approach. You can figure them out all by yourself. ;-P
[edited by: Webwork at 4:10 pm (utc) on Oct. 27, 2006]
Is that accurate, albeit pessimistic?
Think long-tail and conversion. Long-tail search and long-tail domain navigation tends to convert fairly well.
The days of 1 word domains are over, mostly. You can still cherrypick the aftermarket from time to time, just not in the forums. You need to go direct to the registrant.
Popular and valuable 2 and 3 word domains, that people will type-in, can still be found with a little effort. I'll venture a guess that a number of people, after reading this thread, have been busy.
Maybe we should run a thread on the subject of recently mined domains?
Nah. Someday, maybe, but not now. ;0)
Does anyone know what is the SE's attitude to the .bz extension ,belize, but apparently used as a substitute for .biz
What do you think the PUBLIC's reaction is?
Do you think they even care about the real ".biz"?
word order looks sensible most of the time, but you'll also see unusual permutations in the list. Does anyone have insight into this?
my concern is whether google/yahoo/msn treat .bz as been strictly relevant to Belize related searchs or, permit domains with this extention to rank well internationally
When you speak of mini sites, how many pages?
Also, if your intention is selling the site, are you making a mini site in order to gain page rank? links?
Or should we build a mini site in order for the domain to appear worth more?
Also, do you usually have a better chance of selling a domain name for a higher amount if there is a mini site? or just parked? I know YMMV, however, just wanted to see what is perhaps more common?
Just want to get a better understanding.
Thanks! ;)
[edited by: WolfLover at 1:46 am (utc) on Oct. 29, 2006]
word order looks sensible most of the time, but you'll also see unusual permutations in the list. Does anyone have insight into this?
httpwebwitch, I'd like to know the same thing. Sometimes I also get results for example: widget example example example new york city example
Sometimes it is completely nonsensical! Surely people do not type in keyword searches with the same word put in sometimes 5, 6, 7 times? And sometimes it shows a huge amount of searches for that.
I'd also like to know if anyone knows why this is and also why keywords are not pluralized.
As I said it's just a theory
Another theory: Yahoo parses multiple keywords from people who type a whole paragraph into the search box. "where can I find pizza in chicago because I'm in chicago and I want chicago pizza with anchovies" = "chicago chicago anchovies chicago pizza pizza"
that one isn't as plausible
kinda getting off topic here
about a year ago i went on a buying spree with this idea,
i took a list of my country (USA) top cities, any will do but i like [citypopulation.de...] as it seems more up-to-date
and i then took my phone book yellow pages and made a list of popular goods / services showing lots of advertising and searched for those services combined with the largest US cities
I also took the time to see which search term was most popular for a given service, such as "City Title Company" is much more searched for than "City Title" but most companies prefer the shorter name.
Then I bought about 180 .coms of the top 25 cityGoods cityServices names and these search terms are 2 sometimes 3 and a few 4 words long. They range from about 2500 searchs per month at overture to over 100,000. Of course a home builder can pay more for a lead than can a tire dealer so i bought some of the lesser searched names.
Trouble is i haven't found a way to make enough money to justify keeping them. I tried parking with little success. I tried contacting end-users that could obviously benefit from the name but most of them seem to think my numbers are fiction or I'm trying to take advantage of them.
Any tips?
That's my analysis. I may be wrong.
If I'm not wrong then you and I are in the same league. We hold some nice local properties. You can either hold on and do what you can to reduce the cost of maintaining the inventory OR you might consider working on some minisites that address City+Service, add in some contextual advertising, offer limited commitment ads (1 year, max), etc.
I'm fairly certain that in that batch there's likely at least one domain that some local merchant or service provider will soon consider purchasing as a hedge against future PPC costs, etc. and that the price will likely cover the cost of the other 179 domains. In part, the domain value is based on the value of the sales leads - not the PPC revenue - the domain may throw off. A single CityPlumbing job might throw off $5-15,000 of revenue/income for a plumbing company. What's such a lead worth and, is a targeted domain name likely to filter for better sales leads?
Food for thought. More answers and analysis available at PubCon LasVegas. :0) Might be worth the cost of the trip to SinCity when weighed against the income of a future domain revenue/sales . . or income that you might produce from minisites.
It's a speculative realm, domain based marketing, but like any speculative venture you can address risk by research and analysis . . and the capacity to absorb risk. It looks like you hae taken some very important steps in research and analysis, though I can't say exactly how well it was executed without getting into a lot more detail. My domain bets have paid off, in the sense that the gains have more than covered the losses. Amen. The local search domains are not, as yet, as productive as the more global terms, but there are some very nice PPC clicks at the local level for most local issues that I target. I'm a patient man. Many of the more global domains I targeted in 1999-2000 are just beginning to deliver on their promise and, of those domains, the value of the sales leads will no doubt raise the PPC as the chosen markets awaken to the value of the traffic.
The real estate analogy holds true in many ways. That ugly "abandoned lot" on the edge of downtown was never really abandoned. It was just waiting for development to catch up with its location.
Keep them parked whilst you develop them and do what you can to optimize the parking pages with on domain topic keyword search related links.
[edited by: Webwork at 2:55 pm (utc) on Oct. 29, 2006]
think you've misunderstood the Google Suggest tool, play with it again. It shows the amount of SEARCHES for each phrase, not the results.
You sure about that?
Why does it say "results" in the UI, then?
<number> results...
So, I have a domain name that, when typed into Google, returns over 41 million results. I own just the dot com name and don't have a use for it. How can I sell it for a fair value?
I'll go you one better.
I have a domain name that, when typed into Google (Suggest), returns 13,000,000 results.
Further, it is the #1 site returned by Google upon searching for that keyword.
I have web site up at the domain name. It consists of nothing but the name of the domain. (e.g. - it displays "<keyword><keyword>.com", and nothing else.)
I get about 10 uniques/day.
This is what makes me question whether the "results" from Google Suggest are, in fact, searches, or just - as suggested earlier, some kind of "result pages found" number.
My statistics suggest it is the latter. :)
A very good question. I remember reading a lot of stuff about how the results were the popularity of queries but I tend to agree with you that this is wrong and that the figure is related to the results but with some filtering hence the lower number:
for example try any domain name:
google.com - results 1
I'm sure more than 1 person is searching for google.com over the time period covered.
[edited by: Webwork at 3:17 am (utc) on Nov. 27, 2006]
[edit reason] Charter [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]
A few questions for Webwork (btw, presentation at Pubcon was excellent):
- How do you see people searching more often 1) citydentist.tld or 2) citydentists.tld . I'd imagine #2 would be better for type ins, but #1 would be better for resale to an individual(?)...
- Have you had luck actively selling your domains to "cold" leads, or are you mostly in the wait for them to come to you game?
I'm not in the market to sell but, just like my shoes, if someone makes me the right offer than can have the shoes right off my feet. ;0)
Glad to read the positive review. Thanks.
My little tip would be to base your research around geographic placenames. Look for trends over time and get the jump on other developers. You can also map out who the local players are and conduct some competitive research.
Also try contacting some of the domain owners that have the name your after, you never know.
If all else fails go the 'brand''keyword'.com route and make sure you cover your namespace.
My main tip would be local search. Better conversion and heating up for sure.
Nice thread Webwork, also nice advice bhartzer. If you do bulk domain checks at the right places you can see if the domain has been developed, look for links or content you might get permission to reuse.
:D
