Domain Appraisal Pre-Test
Jul 20, 2004

Perhaps you're thinking about selling a domain name, but since having an appraisal is costly you're not sure whether to go ahead. One approach in this situation is to do your own domain appraisal pre-test to help you decide if paying for an appraisal is likely to be worthwhile.

To make an initial determination about whether your domain is valuable, use the following set of fifteen preliminary questions.

TLDs

The initial questions have to do with your domain name extension, also known as the top-level domain (TLD).

1. Is .com your domain name's top-level domain?

2. Is your domain name a variation of a popular website with the TLD .com, differing only in having .net or .org as the TLD?

Brevity

This next set of questions considers the domain names length as measured in characters and in words.

3. Does your domain name, without the top-level domain, have fewer than five total characters?

4. Does your domain name, without the top-level domain, have three or fewer words total?

Message

This set of questions concern the meaning or message of the domain name.

5. What meaning does your domain name have? Does the meaning have a fundamental connection to any remunerative market, for example, some type of widely-sold technology?

6. In and of itself, is the domain name a widely-used phrase, such as a celebrity's catch phrase or a an advertising slogan?

User-Friendly?

This group of questions has to do with how easily your domain name would be for site visitors to use.

7. Does the phrase "easy to remember" characterize your domain name?

8. Is your domain name easily pronounceable in a way that someone could hear it and then recollect its exact character set later?

9. Is your domain name free of dashes and/or hyphens?

10. Is your domain name limited to the 26 characters from the alphabet?

11. Is the spelling of your domain name the expected spelling or is your domain name a misspelled version of a popular website?

Business Potential

The following question set is about the domain name as a business property.

12. If there is a concept that your domain name reflects (as opposed to a meaningless characters string, for example) is it one that could fit some product or business?

13. Are one or more high-frequency keywords found in your domain name? What kind of popularity does the number of recent searches on your domain name suggest?

If some of these questions garner "yes" answers, then it may be worthwhile to seek a domain name appraisal. Remember that the value of a domain name includes this article has all rights reserved and is copyright by 100 Best elements of taste, preference, and speculation, so any one appraisal is not the last word on the subject.

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