#2. Godaddy really sucks a big one. I was trying to compare what my domain would be worth next to that domain. I get around 13,000 unique visitors a month based on my plesk desk and I am running on a dedicated box so I have plenty of resources to make sure it’s tracking properly. Of coarse free domain appraisals are junk, and I had estimates from some broken sites to some very strange estimators. Long story short the free sites said I had a site worth between $3000-$350,000.

Based on what I found this site worth I tried to run a estimate down of what Godaddy might appraise my site for. So 4 hrs ago I ordered a domain appraisal.

I got back a really big pile of junk. Godaddy says my site http://www.thelucrativeinvestor.com is worth $80 at https://domainaftermarket.godaddy.com/appraisals/appraisal.aspx?a=B9F19279-FCE7-4A68-B921-3C342398F2AC

Now this is a site with over 50k backlinks, 2 years old, has a semrush ppc value of 6k a month http://www.semrush.com/info/thelucrativeinvestor.com

I also rank between #6-#15 at any one time for the word “investing” on google a $3000 a day PPC word according to Adsense. I beat out aol, motely fool, and other high networks. However my site is only worth $80, funny considering that spam one we are talking about above is worth $26k, and who every buys it with catch hell from the remains of it.

I want to call up Godaddy and inform them that my site although small makes $800 a month free and clear after expenses, why the heck would I sell it for $80. So anyway I did create listing on godaddy auctions and will go live sometime later on day or tomorrow, hopefully people will see that true value of what it’s worth.

Sorry for the long rant just it sucks that godaddy let’s virus site get on there and also says good sites like mine are worth pennies. Best of luck to everyone with their money and in life.

Godaddy does not show the bidders ID or any other info that would allow anyone to contact them. They just show the bidders as “bidder 1″ bidder 2″, etc.

Hopefully they are reading this blog

it’s every day much harder understand WHY some domains are sold well and WHY other domains aren’t sold

if the “best names” are sold at high prices, WHY some very good names (I believe to own some of them) never are sold?

.

Thanks for your additional input on my take on fake traffic domains. Since Atom Bomb (Adam Strong) stole my verbosity title last week on another subject (and he did such a great job too), I wouldn’t post that much info unless I was trying to win it back! Hopefully I got my point across without too much redundancy. I’m hoping that A-Bomb doesn’t come in after my post and blow me out of the water.

cheers

Couldnt agree more… The traffic could be proxy traffic for all you know. I mean come on… do you YOURself use MYHOTTERSEARCHBOX.COM? No.

Is it a generic term like Toaster.com? Now Toaster.com Might just get that amount of REAL reafic.. No…

Ok so we have a four word (My Hotter Search Box) term which for all you know could be fake hits (proxy traffic) or based off a link from a major website which could expire (could be a paid link) at any day.

And even if the traffic was good… What would the CPC be on it? Not much…So its a race against time to recoup your 18 grand. Let ALONE make a profit.

Junk term. Junk traffic. Honestly I wouldnt pay reg fee for it… Too bad someone has to learn an $18, 000 lesson soon.

-Matt

Excellent article! This is a watershed piece you’ve written to prove up the failure of “old school” domain hunting. You’ve helped blow up the old thinking to be… old thinking. Pretty much dead thinking.

I’ve purchased “high traffic” expired domains back when I was dumber in 2004-06, with many of the domains getting 20,000 – 40,000 visitors a month. The domain names were “odd,” but I saw the stats, so I believed…

Big mistake. Not only did that traffic not convert, but it died within 90 days, and I was left with nonsensical domains failing to convert that huge drop in traffic. What an eye-opener! I saw the obvious on why those domains were “expired” in the first place!

(Freebie Frank Advice) I now buy domains based on a LOGICAL ANALYSIS of their GENERIC DESCRIPTIVE TERMS and their NICHE CATEGORY VALUE factored by prodserv price points. Include a few other proprietary evaluation processes, and I’m making a lot of money building and reselling those domains, with the sweet spot being I bought them OOTB.

NEW DOMAINERS: Use your brain, don’t expect “high traffic” expired domains to pay off for you, or ANY domain claiming heavy traffic where that domain name doesn’t make sense. There are still tens of thousands of valuable generic descriptive domains, even if they’re longtails (avoid more than three words and 16 characters, no numbers/hyphens).

My clients learn this the first week, and save on average, five times what they would have lost if left to their own devices, compared to my retainer fees over a three month period. I recently had a person contact me wanting to buy “expired domains with traffic in order to immediately receive revenue” from said traffic. I refused to lie to him to get hims as a client, so when I told him this path was no longer a viable domain investment solution, the poor guy wanted to know if I could refer someone else to advise him how to buy expired domains “with traffic”… Domain investing isn’t a hedge fund, it’s honest work. Talk to Elliot if you think I’m misleading you.

I am so disgusted seeing the continuing lame promotion of old style domain “appraisals” based on “traffic stats” I could just go off and verbally sever heads. I’ve owned both types of domains, and I can state truthfully that I’ve made more money selling a generic descriptive domain with little traffic but strong generic branding for its niche than a domain based on “multiples”. If someone approaches you with an offer to buy or sell you a domain and uses the word “multiples”, RUN.

If you’re buying a domain, you better KNOW what to expect from the analysis of the domain itself, as a word or phrase, and forget what past stats brag about. Stats will be obvious if you understand the domain evalation process, you will KNOW what to expect and work hard to implement the bare bones essentials of domain value building. If you own a one word “natural” of a common prodserv, then it’s already a “given” that the stats will be there. But if you’re searching for domains that bark out “high stats” but have no relevant connection to any prodservs, then you’re wasting your time and money.

Domain Investing is for “thinking people”, and “expired domain traffic stat” hunters are chumps, unless they’re very very lucky.