For those new to domaining I thought I’d write a quick piece of researching domains. If you are looking to buy a domain that already has traffic or an existing website, you’ll want to get an idea of how valuable the name is. This means you need to take the time to understand the domain as if it were your own.
How many different websites have been on the domain?
How has domain traffic changed over time?
What is the current customer coming to the domain for?
And the list goes on. The idea here is that you need to make an educated decision when buying a pre-existing name. One of the main tools I use for researching potential purchases is WayBackMachine. This is an amazing tool that has archived websites from 1996 up to today. This means you can see every website that has been on a domain including when updates were made.
This is certainly not the only tool you’ll need in your arsenal however is one that should definitely be one of your first go-to’s. If you see that this is the first website on the domain and it was just put-up 1 year ago, then you know that if the seller is trying to get a higher price for the age of the name, this won’t fly.
Other things to pay attention to are Alexa ratings and checking to see if a site is listed in DMOZ. Do a quick Google Search, is the site easy to find? I won’t detail all of the different tools here, but you get the picture. It is absolutely crucial that you do the proper research before investing in a new name. What you don’t know could leave you with a lemon of a name. But remember, as any flipper knows, if life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
