Momentum

Stable business assets are normally valued at anywhere from 8-12 times annual earnings. Assets growing steadily in value can be valued much higher depending on their growth rate.

Now domain names in general have been growing in value quite steadily, but unfortunately they are not exactly "stable" assets. Aspects of the internet are changing so fast that it is really hard to predict the importance and usage of domain names in say 5 years.

Personally I think domains are here to stay for a while, at least a good solid 20-25 year generational era because people are so familiar with .com's and .co.uk's as well to a lesser extent. So I think any new technology will still utilize domain names as the "locations" or "placeholders" for the particular medium. But this is just my opinion and I would not gamble my retirement money on it.

Anyway, the bottom line is that a good domain name that receives "type-in" traffic should be valued anywhere from 4-20 times earnings in addition to the "branding" value of the domain name. It really depends on the domain name itself and if the domain phrase is something that will still be popular down the road or just a flash in the pan.

If your domain name does not receive steady "type-in" traffic then you have to look at valuing the domain name as a "limited resource". If it is a memorable name that is very descriptive for a particular industry, then it has intrinsic value based on the current and future demand for the domain name. And because the domain name is unique then you can really maximize the value just by making the availability of the domain nam widely known (increasing the demand). That is why the auction system works so well for domain names when there is a large pool of buyers.

Hopefully I have given you something to ponder.