A great domain name by itself is powerful. It can and will create attention quickly, if you have selected and built it out well. And in social media environments (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) – the link and domain name (if seen) will give us a high click propensity if friendly, relevant and not spammy looking.
So, are you looking to buy a domain? Are you trying to sell an existing domain, or several?
We’ll cover 12 powerful tools for finding and selling domains for your search engine optimization benefit.
And yes, finding and building out the perfect domain for your business is key. Both for users and search engines.
There are ongoing conversations about the value of a domain for exact matching keywords for SEO.
I remember several years ago, there was an ‘outcry’ from the SEO experts that it should not be so easy to rank for an exact
matching domain.
The truth is – it works, and it will continue to play a big role going forward.
Let’s take a look at these domain tools to help your SEO efforts.
So, if you had a choice between these two business scenarios – which one would you choose? (and, I’ll reveal the answer most chosen by businesses)
BUSINESS PROBLEM:
“We need to create and build out a domain and website for our business to drive more relevant traffic from organic search engine results (SEO). We have not been getting the attention and traffic we deserve. The web site is considered non-existent in the search engines.”
SOLUTION OPTIONS (SEO consultants comments):
1. Use your business domain with a brand name nobody’s heard of and create the SEO strategy and tactics from there. (research, analysis, keywords, content, links, etc). The cost is in the 3k-5k monthly range, 6 months minimum.
2. Research and buy an existing domain with history, content and “equity” acquired – both in users and search engines’ eyes. Fund this to use as “front-end” traffic driver, and send “buffer” traffic to specific landing pages with special offers on the primary domain (brand name web site). Consultant further states: Oh, and it’s going to cost you approx $1,000 to $10,000 to get it, and 1k monthly to ‘manage’ it.
ANSWER TYPICALLY HEARD:
VP of marketing or CEO: “yeah, we’re going with option #1, that way, we have more control”
Most of the time, the answer is chosen because of a combination of the HIPPO (highest internal paid person (in the) organization) syndrome and lack of understanding, as well as ‘brand pride’. (In bigger organizations, legal departments get involved, and can seriously slow things down.)
Sure, it’s a little scary to consider buying into (literally) a seemingly untested online business model.
But, In truth, if you do this right, your SEO efforts and results can and will sky-rocket. Imagine going from virtually nothingness — to tens-of-thousands of visitors in less than 30 days? And allowing that traffic to be filtered to strategically (and tested) placed landing pages? Not only can you build traffic fast from organic results, but you can immediately start testing for conversion to leads for your business.
So, we’re going with answer #2 – what tools can you use to discover where the ‘SEO gold domains’ are?
Let’s review the most popular domain research, buying and selling websites and tools:
- Sedo – https://sedo.com/us/buy-domains/buy-domains-overview/
- Domaintools – https://www.domaintools.com/buy/
- eBay – https://www.ebay.com/sch/Domain-Names-/3767/i.html
- Snapnames (downloads) – https://www.snapnames.com/download.jsp
- Namepros – https://www.namepros.com/domains-for-sale-auctions/
- Afternic – https://www.afternic.com/buy.php
- Dnforum – https://www.dnforum.com/f5/
- Flippa – https://www.flippa.com
- Goddaddy domain auctions – https://auctions.godaddy.com/
- Registercompass – https://www.registercompass.com/domains/auction/
- Domainface – https://domainface.com/tour
- Digitalpoint – https://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=59
An existing web site and domain is like good wine, it gets better with time, typically. It has acquired more links, and hopefully a natural attraction of visitors over time.
Also, outside of these free and paid tools, you can search for FREE in Google with keywords like: “this site for sale”, “domain for sale”, etc. Also, watch for “related” searches in Google, and dig deeper there.
Of course, negotiation and exchange of money is a topic all by itself. But, if you work with somebody who has this experience, and make sure you use an escrow service like escrow.com (partner with Domaintools) – you should be fine. There are a lot of ways to determine value. (Cost to build out your own, time to get these, current revenue of the website, web analytics, stick rates, keywords used and currently ranked, technology platforms, etc.) And, you must make sure you don’t get caught in ‘fake’ sites. There’s a lot of scammers out there. Domain buying and selling is a multi-billion dollar business.
And most important of all: you must ensure that Google doesn’t RESET your domain equity by doing the domain transfer incorrectly. Don’t change all the information overnight! Patience is a virtue in life and business.
Are you willing to try it on a smaller domain (cost) first? Look at .com, .net and .org extensions.
Let me know your story, and please leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you!
About jon rognerud
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Entrepreneur Magazine says Jon Rognerud is one of the most sought-after Digital Marketing Experts. His clients extend from high-end brands and middle-tier businesses in both B2B and B2C. His SEO website optimization book, "The Ultimate Guide to Optimizing Your Website" from Entrepreneur Press is in bookstores now.