Weekly Domain Sales Breakdown
Domain Sales for the week of May 13, 2013 to May 19, 2013
Afternic’s sales totaled $1,085,990.
The top public sale for the past week was GlobalOffice.com, which sold for $32,500.
The Specials category came in first, accounting for 15.5% of all domains sold in the past week, followed by Shopping at 15.4%.
Below please find the list of highlighted public domain sales.
Want to see your names on this list? Join Afternic today.
Weekly Domain Sales Breakdown
Domain Sales for the week of May 6, 2013 to May 12, 2013
Afternic’s sales totaled $1,009,097.
The top public sale for the past week was FreeBackup.com, which sold for $45,000.
The Specials category came in first, accounting for 13.8% of all domains sold in the past week, followed by Recreation at 10.9%.
Below please find the list of highlighted public domain sales.
Want to see your names on this list? Join Afternic today.
When it comes to hosting an event it’s all about the turnout. Gaining the greatest audience is what really makes the event a success. The same is true when purchasing a domain name. Attracting and driving the largest amount of traffic possible to your site is a must, but how can you ensure that your domain will draw that audience? Think of making a domain investment just as you would planning an event.
Make Sure the Timing’s Right
In order to host an event you want to make sure the timing is right. Take for example the current transition from Winter to Summer. As we enjoy the Spring season and the change from cold temperatures to warmer weather, consumers are beginning to take advantage of outdoor activities. Since they’re tired of being cooped up indoors, they’re searching for opportunities to get out and get moving. The outdoors also offer a more social environment and opens up the possibilities of social gatherings and hosting events.
With special events, in particular Weddings, being most popular in the warm months of summer, now is the perfect time to invest in a special events domain and capitalize on the many aspects that go into planning consumers’ big event days.
Determine Demand
Along with timing a domain investment, you’ll also want to take into consideration the demand for a particular product or service. If the timing is right and consumers are in the right mindset to take advantage of what your website has to offer, then the demand should positively affect the traffic to your new website.
Get Noticed
Drawing traffic to your website is sometimes easier said than done, which can also hold true for special events. If you’re interested in investing in a special events domain you should consider “advertising” your new domain just as you would your special event. Instead of waiting for consumers to simply visit your site or stumble upon it themselves, be proactive by building SEO value or creating a PPC campaign that will increase awareness for your new investment.
Weekly Domain Sales Breakdown
Domain Sales for the week of April 29, 2013 to May 5, 2013
Afternic’s sales totaled $1,016,647.
The top public sale for the past week was GotHealth.com, which sold for $28,000.
The Specials category came in first, accounting for 13.6% of all domains sold in the past week, followed by Business at 12.7%.
Below please find the list of highlighted public domain sales.
Want to see your names on this list? Join Afternic today.
Things you should know before you sell.
The task of selling a domain is never easy, but with the proper preparation it can be done in an efficient and timely manner that still earns you a profit. As a seller, you must not only be conscious of your own expectations of the selling process, but also of the buyers, and approach the situation very open minded.
Determine the Demand for the Domain
While you may be prepared to sell your domain, you will also need someone who is prepared to buy it. Determining the best time to sell your domain can make all the difference when it comes to receiving offers, negotiating, and making a profit. By waiting to sell your domain until there is a significant demand, which may be brought on by current trends or news, your desire to sell will be matched by buyers desire to purchase. When a domain is in high demand, you will have more interested inquiries, stronger bargaining power, and the ability to earn a higher profit. On the other hand, if there is no demand for your domain, then it might not be the best time for you to market your domain.
Let the Market Know Your Domain is For Sale
Once you’ve determined that there is a market for your domain, you’ll want to let buyers know that it’s available and where they can find more information. Parking your domain is a great way to market your domain, while also earning some money. By parking your domain, buyers who turn to search engines, or directly type in your domain into the address bar, will have the opportunity to see that the domain is for sale and who they should contact for inquiries.
Making connections with bloggers, who post relevant content about your domain name, can also be a great outlet for selling your domain. Having them get the news out about your newly available domain can help you reach a greater audience and sell your domain even quicker.
Price is More Than Just a Number
As a seller, you want to earn the greatest possible profit, but it’s crucial that your price is still reasonable. While you see may see dollar signs as profit, buyers’ perception of the price includes many more factors. To buyers, price communicates value, popularity, and development opportunities, so it’s essential that the price properly represents the domain’s worth.
Not only is it important that you choose the right price, but you’ll also want to include the price you decide on wherever you are listing your domain for sale. By adding a price to your domain listing, you will encourage serious buyers to contact you because they will be feel more prepared going into negotiation.
Weekly Domain Sales Breakdown
Domain Sales for the week of April 22, 2013 to April 28, 2013
Afternic’s sales totaled $1,212,847.
The top public sale for the past week was Seeq.com, which sold for $33,000.
The Specials category came in first, accounting for 13.9% of all domains sold in the past week, followed by Society at 10.8%.
Below please find the list of highlighted public domain sales.
Want to see your names on this list? Join Afternic today.
Last week Afternic took part in the 17th Russian Internet Forum, the largest industry show in the country that attracted nearly 10,000 participants sharing experiences and discussing the latest trends in domains and hosting, online advertising, ecommerce and consumer trends.
The section of the show that focused on domains was organized by our trusted partner, the largest Russian registrar and hosting provider Hosting Community dba Rucenter. As the leading premium domains marketplace, Afternic participated in a panel and contributed to the debate by sharing our perspectives on existing and emerging trends in the global and regional premium domain markets.
Based on internal and partner data, we see opportunities for growth in the Russian-speaking internet space and a growing demand both for national domains and new gTLDs on the secondary market. What’s even more exciting is that we believe the average sale prices and transaction volume of these Russian domain purchases will be on par with those of the leading European platforms.
The panel discussion invariably touched upon the launch of new gTLDs, including the much anticipated .MOSCOW. The big question was how these new domain extensions would fit into the ever-expanding Russian internet, which already has the largest audience in Europe (and #6 globally).
Experts agree that the local internet industry is far from saturation and will continue to expand rapidly. The latest numbers presented by the Minister of Telecommunications at the Forum show that the Russian mobile internet population increased by 33% in 2012, while the advertising and ecommerce markets grew by 35% and 27% respectively. The average Russian internet user spends 100 minutes a day online, mostly on social media, mail, search and dating services – trends that local start-ups are picking up on fast. Afternic is looking forward to more business opportunities in the region, and will closely follow developments in the local internet space.
Weekly Domain Sales Breakdown
Domain Sales for the week of April 15, 2013 to April 21, 2013
Afternic’s sales totaled $1,003,088.
The top public sale for the past week was TabletScreen.com, which sold for $25,000.
The Specials category came in first, accounting for 14.4% of all domains sold in the past week, followed by Business at 14.1%.
Below please find the list of highlighted public domain sales.
Want to see your names on this list? Join Afternic today.
Earlier this year, Matt Cutts indicated a big Penguin update should be expected. Experts are anticipating the 2013 update will come around the same time as last year’s – towards the end of this month. This update is expected to have a high impact on many sites, and there’s little time to prepare. Over the course of the next week, you’ll want to be as proactive as possible in order to prevent digging yourself out of a penalty later. Here are things you can do to protect your website from the impact:
Ratio of Brand and Natural Back Links to Anchor Text Back Links
Last year’s update affected websites with high percentages of keyword anchor text back links, indicating that the websites with healthy link profiles had at least 50% brand anchor text links. Each update gets more stringent, and we should expect to see the percentage of acceptable keyword anchor text links decline. Those back links containing valuable keywords on the cusp of medium to high search volume will be the most susceptible.
You can assess the percentage of natural back links to keyword back links by using a tool like Open Site Explorer from SEOmoz. The tool will show you the total number of links to your website. You can then filter to show only external links in the results. Using this number, you’ll want to hop on over to the tab that shows your anchor text links. Sort to show only those from external sources. If you add up the number of natural back links, such as www.yoursite.com, yoursite.com, yoursite, or straight html back links, you’ll have an idea what percentage of your link profile will appear natural to Google. If your back link profile is high in keyword anchor text back links, your only option now to prepare is to either edit the anchor text to your brand name or html, or to delete the links. This is a quick way to get an idea of your back link profile, but a tool like Screaming Frog will give you a complete list to work from.
Removing Poor Quality Links
In a YouTube Video by Matt Cutts, he discussed the types of links Google likes and dislikes. The common theme seems to be that if you have editorial control over the anchor text, that link will be considered lower quality by Google. While we’ll have to sit tight to assess the full spectrum of what Google tends to favor and frown upon with this update, directories and article directories are two types of back link sources which fall under this categorization. Submitting to a few, high quality and niche related directories is fine, but if your back link profile consists of dozens of directory links, it’s time to work on getting them removed. Given the short period of time you have to act, you should focus first on those back links containing the valuable medium to high search volume cusp keywords we mentioned before.
Relevance will increase in importance, so if you have a lot of links from unrelated websites, you should also focus on eliminating those. Moving forward, you’ll want to think about whether a link from a website will send traffic to your website. If you don’t think that site’s audience would be interested in your product or service, it probably isn’t a good link to acquire. When you do acquire a link, let the source choose how to link to you.
In the future, as these search engine updates are rolled out, you should expect the process of increasing your rankings to become far more difficult. The tricks and shortcuts have reached the end of the road and relationship building will be essential.
Before you buy, know how your prospective domain ranks.
If you’re in the market to purchase a domain, you’ll want to make sure that you conduct the proper background research on the domain before completing any purchase agreement. While the domain name might perfectly suit your business and contains the keyword you’ve been hoping for, you don’t want your new purchase to jeopardize your web presence before you’ve even gotten started.
When it comes to acquiring a new domain, you have the opportunity to register a brand new domain, which has never been used before, or take advantage of a premium domain, that may have already been used previously. Since many quality domain names have formerly been registered, domain purchases on the secondary market have become quite popular.
For instance, if you’ve started your own landscaping business you might be interested in purchasing a keyword-rich domain that properly represents your business or business name. While your initial reaction may be to purchase JohnSmithsLandscapingUnlimited.com, in order to cover the compete name of your business, you might also want to consider a shorter domain option, such as Landscaping.com. Since the first domain has never been used by anyone before, you are free to register it as a new domain on a registry website. Landscaping.com, however, is currently in use by another company. You’ll need to first get the owner to agree to sell it, but not before you do your research on where the domain stands in terms of SEO value and customer feedback.
If given the opportunity to purchase a domain that has already been used or developed before, you’ll want to make sure that you’re not starting at a disadvantage with a spam-ridden domain. On the occasion that the seller is attempting a last ditch effort to make a few dollars off of their deteriorating domain name, it is essential that you know where the domain stands before buying. A domain that has been flagged by Google as spam will be incredibly difficult to recover quickly, making it difficult to rank in organic search results. Even with new website development, you’ll need time to earn back a good standing, which is time you might not have.
In addition to Google’s lack of approval, you’ll also want to explore consumers’ opinions of the domain. Since a successful domain relies heavily on its ability to communicate with customers, it’s crucial that consumers will respond to your website and everything that comes with it, including your domain name. If the domain name has a poor reputation and customers perceive it to be spammy, then this may not translate to a successful website.
Because there’s simply no “reset” button when it comes to domains, be sure to do your research before you buy. If the domain requires more work than it’s worth, don’t be afraid to explore other domains for sale. You might just end up with an even better alternative in the end.