whatisaghost

[silouette]

I have registered www.whatisaghost.com.au obviously not the best name in the world but i have just started a mini site on the domain. It has 450,000 under the local monthly search term, low competition and approx cpc of 0.99 its only a week old so im looking at your expertise and thoughts on what you think may be a good strategy with this domain for monitising.

Again i know its a keyword domain but i did buy it with this in mind. Google.com.au has about 696,000,000 results and im hoping to get it to page one. Before you laugh i have several domains on first page Google.com and au and i would like some of the experts to give me some serious advice as non of those sites make a cent. Affiliate marketing is crap, parking has never worked for me so any other ideas?

Thanks

 

[Bacon Farmer]

It has 46 exacts a month at $0.10 cpc.

You need to get up to speed on the difference between broad and exact results.

I think you're wasting your time.

 

[silouette]

nice response

Thanks for the arrogant reply seems that some people in this forum just cant help themselves can they. Makes me wonder if they can read i did state that i would appreciate a serious answer not a smart ass one. If you cant reply with a genuine answer may i suggest you just refrain.

I was quoting google keywords, i didnt profess to have the latest and greatest software and the tone of your reply pisses me off.

 

[DavidL]

Hey silouette, whilst Bacon Farmer was perhaps blunt, he has taken time to assess your domain for an appraisal.

I'm afraid I would agree with him - it's a dud really. Sorry but the 'niche' has no commercial value (hence the CPC) and whilst this can be compensated by huge search volumes (eg some games websites), this one isn't.

Use the Adwords KW tool and consider local Exacts (and Phrase to some extent) only.

Hope that helps

David

 

[acheeva]

Hi Silouette

Your "prize" for dominating the keywords "what is a ghost" is whatever revenue you could generate from 46 exact searches per month.

That is the harsh reality that is being conveyed to you.

Greg

 

[FirstPageResults]

Thanks for the arrogant reply seems that some people in this forum just cant help themselves can they. Makes me wonder if they can read i did state that i would appreciate a serious answer not a smart ass one. If you cant reply with a genuine answer may i suggest you just refrain.

I was quoting google keywords, i didnt profess to have the latest and greatest software and the tone of your reply pisses me off.

I didn't read Bacon Farmer's response that way - he is actually giving good advice (which is what most people want)... he just didn't sugar coat it to spare your feelings.

My advice is to try and take the emotion out of it, we all made rookie mistakes once

On the affiliate side of things, besides the fact that the search terms are low, I don't see a broad term like this converting well

 

[Bacon Farmer]

Thanks for the arrogant reply seems that some people in this forum just cant help themselves can they. Makes me wonder if they can read i did state that i would appreciate a serious answer not a smart ass one. If you cant reply with a genuine answer may i suggest you just refrain.

I was quoting google keywords, i didnt profess to have the latest and greatest software and the tone of your reply pisses me off.

If you read my post like dot points it will take a lot of the perceived arrogance out of the message.

From your posts I'm deducing that you are using the "broad" Match Types from the google keywords tool. That's useful but the more important metric is the "exacts".

On the left hand side of google keywords tool there is some tick boxes where you can select "exacts".

In this case the broad results are 450,000 with a cpc of $0.99, which sounds great until you see the exacts (46 and $0.10).

What this means is that whilst the broad results give you hope, the exacts show that it's got very low numbers and is probably not worth the effort.

So we've got very low search demand and the lowest possible cpc, together they point to this not being a domain worth pursuing.

 

[Chris.C]

Thanks for the arrogant reply seems that some people in this forum just cant help themselves can they.

Don't put your domain up for appraisal if you don't want people's perspectives.

My two cents - no commercial value.

Write it off as a loss and move on.

Don't take that the wrong way or get emotional about those comments like it's a personal attack - everyone on this forum (and I'm no exception) has bought domains worth nothing and had to write them off as a loss. Making bad investments are a part of business. You just need to make sure that the good outweigh the bad and that you don't waste your time trying to salvage bad investments and that you learn from your mistakes.

I reckon about 50% of domains I bought in my first year of domaining were of no commercial value. It's just part of the learning experience.

 

[soj]

I didn't read Bacon Farmer's response that way - he is actually giving good advice (which is what most people want)... he just didn't sugar coat it to spare your feelings.

+1

silouette, I don't think BF was being arrogant. I'm sure in your offline businesses you prefer people to call a "spade a spade".

And he has followed up with some more reasoning which I'm sure helps clarifies matters more for you.

There are some very wise people on here, and most of them do try and help whenever they can.
.

 

[silouette]

Reply

Thanks for the replies in fact i wasnt really worried about its worth. More curious than anything as i really dont perceive a domains values based on the metrics alone.

I know i asked for an answer on the value of the actual name and thank you for your responses But i look at domain values as twofold and would like your views as some here say drop it, worth 0 etc.

Now please dont take this out of term as im actually interested in your views here as i think it can help us all. And the domains i make money on mentioned here are based on probably very similiar metrics and value, but they are on first page Google.com and Google.com.au for the keyword product. Site domains are probably worth approx $10 each if based on the metrics but what i see as flawed. (my opinion)

So to all those giving your views on the valuation do you,

1, Value the actual domain name alone with no site?

2, What that domain generates by way of income whether or not its a crap domain with bad metrics, on first page Google ?

I know first hand two sites worth probably, well, not much have generated over $150,000 in last 12 months yep thats not B.S. and these site domains would have generated similiar responses about dropping them, worth nothing etc etc.

All im saying is that maybe domain valuing is a bit flawed especially if the crap domain is generating an income for the product or service and maybe this should be a factor when doing an actual real worth of the domain?

This is just my view so i welcome anyones input. This is not having a go at anyone but based on real life $ figures for two businesses sites with fairly crappy domains.

 

[Bacon Farmer]

Domains are like blocks of land at a street address. Websites are blocks of flats at that street address.

Some streets and suburbs are in demand and others aren't.

Now do you want a block of flats near Cav Ave or at Pacific Pines.

Why don't you tell us the names of those sites making decent money and we can dissect why that might be.

 

[silouette]

thanks

Thanks for response - I would take pac pines as an owner depending where and Cavill as an investor

 

[Chris.C]

Putting a $1,000,000 house on a $1,000 block of land means that all the value of that asset is derived from the house. So if you can't find someone who loves the house despite it being in a poor location then you will never sell it for its cost, ie $1,001,000.

If you put a $1,000 shack on a $1,000,000 piece of land, all the value of that asset is in the land, and whoever buys it can still build whatever they want on it.

Domaining is about selling great pieces of "land".

If your sales are reliant on there being a great website on an average domain then you are not domaining, you are developing.

Don't get me wrong the best money comes from doing both well, but you shouldn't confuse the two, ie just because you can build a good website on a valueless domain doesn't make the domain itself any more valuable.

That said, I've found it is FAR easier to sell a domain at market price than it is to sell a site market price, because what you build on your land is usually not what someone else would build on it, therefore the resources you invest into "developing" are sunk costs that buyers aren't willing to pay for and as a results aren't often recouped - and that's just bad business.

Now if you are a developer that can get your own ROI from your developments that's a completely viable business strategy, but it will also create an added difficulties to the domaining side of your business, ie if you have a domain worth $2,000 at market value that you put a $3000 site on and as a result it earns $1500/year, it will take 2 years for you to reach your break even point on your development costs, but for that 2 years if you were to sell the domain to anyone who didn't value your development and wasn't willing to pay for your development costs (ie they were only going to pay $2000 for the domain) then you would have been far better off not developing the domain at all.

Anyway I'm running off on tangents now... just food for thought.

 

[silouette]

thanks for input

Thanks for input guys. I mainly have a site set up for either an offline business or for hobby or interest.

If businesses sell they do add value to the sell price witha website therefor the domain is worth real value that way, but on the other sid e of the coin i understand the actual domain name cost undeveloped etc. The sites i was talking about are actually two businesses one my brothers and one mine so wouldnt like to just post links here based on that which im sure everyone would understand. Just a point that a well located domain (Google first page) even with the crappy stats can make $$ so this is a point i think that people need to look at if they are wanting to build a site to make money from rather then just make a price for an undeveloped domain.

So look at why you need the domain first i suppose then base the metrics on that decision as to whether they matter.

Thanks for your views guys it just makes an interesting point, i think.

 

[snoopy]

The 5 Stages of Domain Speculation

Stage 1. Denial - "You're wrong, the domain isn't worthless, I was offered $1000 for it"

Stage 2. Anger - More argument, appraisal thread heats up.

Stage 3. Bargaining - "Domain for sale: I'm looking for $100", "Ok how about $50", "$8?"

Stage 4. Depression - "What's the use, this domain won't sell, there is no money to be made doing this"

Stage 5. Acceptance - Occurs 12 months from registration date (for .com.au 24 months)

You're roughly at Stage 1, moving into Stage 2.. the quicker you can get to Stage 5. the better off your wallet will be.

Stop arguing, start listening.

 

[Chris.C]

AHAHAHA classic Snoppy. Love it.

 

[soj]

Snoppy.

Love that also.

 

[silouette]

listening

Ok, i didnt think i was arguing. Snoopy listen mate if you cant give an answer without being a smart ass dont bother. I really think that you feel you are up there on your pedestal and better than everyone else.

As a qualified instructor with many years of experience i help people starting out, i show people how its done, i give them positive guidance thats how they learn. Snoopy, you would probably last 2 minutes under my instruction before i would ask you to pack your bags because you already know it all.

And for an administrator to put in there two bobs worth backing Snoopy with a smart reply,well good on you thats the sign of a professional forum.

Yes debates are good but when it turns to sarcastic remarks its lost that professional feel, in my opinion.

Thanks to all those giving a decent reply i appreciate it but i really think that whilst we have Snoopy and his mates be-littling newbies then this is not the forum, probably time for me to start a new forum, Snoopy you are not welcome pal.

 

[~james~]

probably time for me to start a new forum

www.whatisaforum.com.au is available to be registered

 

[soj]

And for an administrator to put in there two bobs worth backing Snoopy with a smart reply,well good on you thats the sign of a professional forum.

Yes debates are good but when it turns to sarcastic remarks its lost that professional feel, in my opinion.

Thanks to all those giving a decent reply i appreciate it but i really think that whilst we have Snoopy and his mates be-littling newbies then this is not the forum, probably time for me to start a new forum, Snoopy you are not welcome pal.

Hey silouette - I'm not sure who you are having a go at here (administrator wise). Neither FPR or myself "backed" Snoopy with a smart reply.

Get off your high horse please.

Both FPR and I backed Bacon Farmers comments - they were constructive I thought.

Perhaps you were referring to my reply to Chris.C - "love that also"? That was in reference to Chris.C calling him "Snoppy" i.e. the misspelling.

If you look at my comments throughout this forum, I think you'll find I'm one of the more positive polite people around (if I say so myself).

We encourage newbies - particularly those that want to learn from more experienced players experiences and mistakes (honestly shared).

Snoopy is vastly experienced - but other experienced people on here don't always agree with him. He gives his opinions -as do others - and it's for newbies to digest all
the info and make their own determinations. After all, that's what a forum is all about.

But if you come on here as a newcomer and assert yourself as someone who "knows all", then you're bound to get a few comments. It's up to you how you react to them.
You can do so positively - or you can do so negatively.

Imho.
.