maybe the day has finally come..

[julian]

when domainers with big portfolios who leave their domains non-resolving or on a sedo page for years then expect to sell them mainly for serp development might find a drop in value and interest from developers.

Most developers like a bit of history, a few back links - not much to ask...

 

[ratboy]

I'm not so sure. I'm thinking a domain with no history is better than one with dubious history...?

 

[Bailey]

Indeed Ratboy

An end purchase user (as opposed to a muti-domain developer) would rather the domain had as a clean history as possible. If it sat locked up for a number of years that would be perfectly fine with most buyers.

It all comes down to what the buyers objectives are. In sales - apart from few here. I've never been asked what the traffic figures were. However, Been asked if, to my knowledge, the domain had ever been used or had any history quite a few times though.

It's very easy for any of us to get overly focused on our own business model. If we are talking about SEO long-tail descriptives then I can agree with Julian but, not when your looking at domains from a Marketing angle.

One of the reasons i'm always pleased I came across Acorndomains even late in my domaining history - was that it has taught me that there is a much 'Harder' coal face to be worked in the UK space and with an entirely different focus.

Selling to a developer is where the volume is But, selling to a Marketeer is where all the monies at. And It takes one hell of a lot less work to find then sell one domain for £5k than a hundred for £50.

 

[namdas]

Sorry Bailey, I disagree - though ratboy does have a point. I have spent thousands each on domains that I probably would only have bought for £500-800 if they didn't have links, and I wish there were more domains out there that did.

When looking for domains with history I don't neccessarily need fantastic links from the BBC, even just a handful of directory links will do, provided they were got a year or more ago - the longer the better, frankly. It basically means that the domain that is sold with 'great potential' might actually manage to see some of that potential without having to hang around for a year or two before we get any traffic or revenue worth mentioning.

What I do take issue with is domains that have just been blasted with forum profiles or something similar, as often they will have a penalty that might take months to fix - apart from being bad seo its just lazy. An investment of £100-200 on some decent permanent links could multiply the value of your best domains. Obviously tho if the domain is only worth £50 to you the multiple is porbably a fair bit smaller - it may not be worth the time to bring it up to a higher standard unless you don't really value your time.

 

[sdsinc]

It depends on which kind of domains you have.
Developers like domains with backlinks.
Corporate buyers don't care.
No development history is no problem, because they want to brand the domain freely. Old domains with no liabilities are ideal.

The one thing to avoid is adult. That is a put-off to many potential buyers.

 

[Stas]

A domain with at least a page of unique content, few links and known and aged in google is definitely a bonus for development. But parking page is worse than nothing in my experience