Nicked from Insider's Guide
What Makes A Name Valuable?
The 'second level domain' is the name itself, business in business.com, domainguru in domainguru.com. Learning to distinguish valuable names is a process that takes time. But there are certain things you should always look out for:
Shorter The Better: This one should be fairly obvious but is sometimes overlooked by speculators in the desire to grab a name. The shorter a name is, the easier it is to remember, the easier to type, the less room it takes on advertising etc.
Easy To Spell: Don't forget that people have to type in domain names. So avoid 'hip' spellings and avoid words that are easy to misspell.
Easy To Say: Domain names are also communicated verbally through word of mouth. Make sure the name rolls off the tongue.
Avoid Hyphens: Although hyphenated domains can be useful in terms of visual clarity, it is generally better to stick with the unhyphenated versions. If you mention a site name to someone,
they don't go and type it in with a hyphen between the words do they?
Make It Generic: If you register BobsAutos.com because you saw the name in a town somewhere, you are heading up the wrong avenue. Firstly by registering names with one specific buyer in mind, you are limiting your chances of making a sale. If Bob doesn't want the name for his shop, who will buy it? Secondly, registering names purely for resale to one known customer is a classic definition of cybersquatting. I'll talk more about legal issues surrounding domain speculating in Chapter 7 but in general, you should stick with generic domains.
One major advantage with good generic names is they produce type-in traffic. If a web surfer is looking for a website about webmastering, they might use a search engine or directory, or get a recommendation from a friend. Alternatively, they might just type webmaster.com into their browser and see what comes up. If you own that name, it's a sure fire way to generate regular income. Head to the next chapter for ideas on making money from traffic-generating domains.
Singular Is Best: Most names are best represented in the singular rather than plural. This is especially true for the first word of two word domains. For example, DomainGuru.com is better than DomainsGuru.com.
Potential Site Revenues: This is often overlooked, but if you are trying to make money, you should be registering names that could be used to produce websites that generate revenue. Who is going to pay you $1000 for a name if their site only generates $50 a year?
Bearing this in mind, you need to keep in touch with what's happening on the Internet. What sort of sites are surviving or even flourishing in these tough times? Which sites are going to the wall? Which industries are still heading onto the web, which avoid it like the plague?
If you register a name designed for a company selling online banner advertising, don't be surprised if you find it very hard to shift.
Two Words Is Plenty: Before you register a three word name such as eInternetBanking.com, list all the alternative three word names a potential customer could select instead. Here are just a few:
eNetBanking.com
eNetBank.com
iNetBanking.com
iNetBank.com
eOnlineBanking.com
iOnlineBanking.com
eOnlineBank.com
iOnlineBank.com
And there are many more....
This is really an example of the namespace concept; a concept which is vital to the understanding of domain valuations. If there are...
Hell, jeroenp, where is sexyholly mentioned?