dotus - you own luck.biz - that's a great name. For every bad name that you've registered - you probably have a good name as well. But it would help your pocketbook if you could only register good names all of the time.
I'm no expert and I have registered some duds myself. Most of my true duds are not even good enough to list on my website and I'll just let them expire.
I have developed the following system, which I've used with a substantial number of my registrations this year. Sometimes I've found myself registering a name when it doesn't fit all of my criteria, but I follow the guide below most of the time.
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My Method for Choosing Domains
http://www.DomainTerritory.com.
1. Shorter and spelled correctly is better.
2. Product names are better.
3. Hyphens usually arenââ¬â¢t marketable, but there are exceptions. Electro-optics is an exception. Taking a look at which sites are actually developed ââ¬â electro-optics beats electrooptics as far as what companies prefer.
4. Preferably make sure that it doesnââ¬â¢t have any trademark problems by checking
http://www.uspto.gov.
ââ¬Â¢ Registering a domain that is exactly or very similar to a strong trademark like ToysRUS - is not good and could wind the registrant in court fast.
ââ¬Â¢ If itââ¬â¢s a weak trademark that is not that famous, sometimes registering that name can be okay as long as the end-user uses the domain in a totally different field as the trademarked name (i.e. finds a non-infringing use for the domain.).
ââ¬Â¢ In general, itââ¬â¢s better to stay away from Trademarked names though.
5. I like to see if all of the extensions are taken by running a domain availability search at
http://www.netsol.com.
ââ¬Â¢ Letââ¬â¢s say that someone wanted excimer.us and they wanted to pay me $5,000 for it, but I said I wanted more. Well ââ¬â if excimer.info was still available ââ¬â the buyer could just go register excimer.info for as low as $9.95 per year at domain sites like
http://www.godaddy.com.
6. Check to see if other extensions are developed:
ââ¬Â¢ If Iââ¬â¢m buying excimer.us, for example ââ¬â I like to see how excimer.com, excimer.net, excimer.org, excimer.biz, excimer.info, excimer.co.uk, excimer.de, excimer.com.au ââ¬â look.
ââ¬Â¢ If these are developed sites, owned by companies, and look good, - then thatââ¬â¢s usually a good sign.
ââ¬Â¢ However, if they are still trying to sell the name in .com, .net., .org extensions ââ¬â it probably means that youââ¬â¢ll have a hard time selling the .us or .info version.
7. Domain Extensions ââ¬â
ââ¬Â¢ .com, .net. org., .info, .biz, and .us are the best domain extensions to get.
ââ¬Â¢ Most of the good .com, .net names are gone
ââ¬Â¢ Most promising extensions seem to be .us, .info, and .biz. Technically, youââ¬â¢re not supposed to register a .biz domain just to resell it. .Biz domains technically should be sold with the rest of the business/assets and the registry could force the registrant to surrender the domain if the registrant doesnââ¬â¢t follow the rules. However, the registries donââ¬â¢t seem to be enforcing this rule for .biz that much
ââ¬Â¢ I stay away from .tv, .ws, .cc., .bz, .tm because they are not very popular.
8. I run a check at
http://www.suggestiontool.com ââ¬â That tells me how many searches were run for a particular term on the overture search engine with a certain month. If the search term pulls up a lot of results on suggestiontool.com ââ¬â then I know that itââ¬â¢s a good term. However, a low value on suggestiontool.com doesnââ¬â¢t always mean that the domain is worthless. Some domains that get 0 results on suggestiontool.com have sold for much money.
9. I run a search on Google.com to see how many results the name pulls up
Like for conduits.us - the word ââ¬ÅConduitsââ¬Â pull up 353,000 results. The more results pulled is usually better.
10. I compare the results of a particular domain possibility with the results from another domain possibility. (e.g. Compare results for Electro-optics vs. results for Electrooptics)
