What's Your Domain Worth?

Haneen Arafat · Posted: Sat May 03, 2008, 11:16 (GMT) Post subject: What's Your Domain Worth?

Many of us are not comfortable discussing exact figures on this website--I'm among them--but I'm hopeful we can still have a discussion about the WORTH of having a domain name that is your first name (or any domain name you think will draw traffic.)

Here's why I bring it up:

I'm in discussion to take over the domain of my first name. My name is not common name in the US, but it is in other parts of the world. The domain is currently property of a web development company; I've negotiated them to come down 75% from their starting price, but as they got it for near zero they're still making a killing. (Ballpark: A long weekend in Miami.) I figure their offer will curdle in about a week. (Their license on the site expires in June, but they will relist.)

At the moment I own:
haneenvo.com
haneenarafat.com
haneenarafatmurphy.com
haneenmurphy.com
and a 5th with my radio name.

Using my first name as my domain for VO will not have the same advantage as some of our friends on this board who use terms from our industry--you forward-thinking people know who you are--but I will gather, I believe, a significant amount of traffic, specificially from the middle east. And as I'm about to be heard quite a bit in a specific middle-eastern country, that's good. But for those searching VO in this country, typical VO websites use a talent's first name and last name. My last name, I'll say it, can be problematic, and I've never seen any other Haneen in VO.

So, what's the value in investing in a domain name of your own name? (Or any domain that you think will draw traffic.)

Looking forward to any and all comments,

-Haneen

Scott Pollak · Posted: Sat May 03, 2008, 13:22 (GMT) Post subject:

Interesting thread, Haneen. I was a web designer for about 7 years or so before migrating fulltime into v/o so this is of particular interest to me.

I bought voicebyscott.com probably about 6 or so years ago. While I don't employ any proactive SEO that would cost me extra, I have coded all the important keywords into the metatags and html on my site and have landed several nice jobs where people found me simply thru doing a general web search, via Google, Ask.com, or other search engines.

Similar to having a nice business card, or a nice demo, a PROFESSIONAL website is utterly essential to establishing a person's legitimacy in their profession, be it v/o or whatever. Notice that I emphasized 'professional'. I continue to be amazed at how many truly bad voiceover websites there are out there. This isn't to slam the talent; as a web designer I was just amazed at how many truly BAD websites are out there... period!

But if you want to be viewed as a professional, your site needs to reflect that, as does your business card, letterhead, demo, etc. If you are NOT A TRAINED GRAPHIC ARTIST, then don't do it yourself! Pay someone! It's the equivalent of why a client pays YOU to do the voiceover for them. They want a pro to do it.

I guess I wandered off topic, but those are the thoughts going thru my mind on this right now.

Haneen Arafat · Posted: Sat May 03, 2008, 13:38 (GMT) Post subject:

Scott, yes, it's not only VO people with crummy websites--they're in businesses of every stripe. And these days, frankly, if your website is weak, I assume your business is, too. Perhaps it's unfair if you're a builder, or a lawyer or a dance party DJ, but you won't get my business unless there's something there that shows me you have a clue.

Regarding metatags--or maybe regarding metatags?--while I like my site, one of the problems with it is that b/c of the structure, I cannot participate in shared-link options, such as the one on v123. They just aren't seen by the other party's software.

Anyway, I just typed in my first name to google (haven't in a while) and the first Haneen that comes up is me. Unfortunately, it's the v123 site, but it's still me. At least until the Lebanese singer who's next tops me.

Lee Gordon · Posted: Sat May 03, 2008, 17:07 (GMT) Post subject:

Well, I don't think there's much chance of being able to arrange to take over the domain that is my first name. There's this little company that makes jeans that probably isn't willing to part with it. Wink

In fact, when I first looked into getting leegordon.com there was a small souvenir business that owned it. What really bothered me is that from what I could tell, it was just two guys who started up an internet business and decided to make up a name by stringing together their middle names. (I'm just guessing that's the case because one guy's middle initial was L and the other's was G.) By the time I discovered their ownership of the domain had expired, some other Lee Gordon had scooped it up. And a different Lee had grabbed leegordon.org.

So I went for leegordonproductions.com

That's the only one I have, but I have (perhaps foolishly) put links to the others on my site on a frivolous page I did just for fun:
www.leegordonproductions.com/other-lee-gordons.htm

I have to say I did this years before the movie Google Me came out.

Haneen Arafat · Posted: Sat May 03, 2008, 18:09 (GMT) Post subject:

Lee, I for one, like the other-Lee's page. It's like meeting yourself in another dimension. I've only met one other Haneen Arafat. It turned out she was a distant cousin, and I found it totally bizarre.

Connie Terwilliger · Posted: Sun May 04, 2008, 01:40 (GMT) Post subject:

My name is difficult as well - not the first - the last - terwilliger - but I do own it. I never use it. I think haneenvo may be better than just your first name since VO tacked on the end of haneen really reinforces what you do.

I've had several offers for my corporatevideo.com domain. This last time was the first time anyone threw out a price - $5000. They've offered to let me keep my email address and post a link to my voiceover-talent.com site (same thing another company was suggesting), but I am thinking about using the corporatevideo.com site as a niche VO site now that I am really not producing or writing corporate video anymore.

Besides, I've been online with it continuously since 1996 - so the links are everywhere - pointing back to me. How do you quantify that?

Haneen Arafat · Posted: Sun May 04, 2008, 12:29 (GMT) Post subject:

Connie, you're one of the people I was thinking of when I alluded to those with the perfect domain names. It's hard to put a price on it, but even if you were to consider selling your voiceover-talent website, let's face it--few talent could afford $5K! The corporatevideo address will attract people with bigger bank accounts, but I think you're right about keeping it as a sister site. It keeps you naturally connected to a potential client base; no reason to lose that after 12 years.

I think you may be right regarding Haneenvo. It solves my last name problem and it also says what I do. I remain the first and fourth Haneen in google (one reason to keep on v123), and with a flash site that doesn't show different pages in html searches, that's the best I can hope for.