The DomainBFF Guide to Data-Backed Domain Investing

Introduction

You've heard about or stumbled upon DomainBFF, but now that you're finally here you may be seeing all the different domain investing tools, but are still wondering "...well what now?". And that's ok. This guide is going to lay out exactly what each tool does, and how you can best use them to start making good investment decisions, and in-turn start actually making money investing in domain names.

To give you a better understanding, I have been investing in and selling domain names since 2008. With well over a million dollars in sales and several years spent studying, learning and honing my craft, I started giving back to the community and new investors at places like Namepros, Discord groups, X and so on, where I realized just how many people have no idea what makes a good domain and end up wasting hundreds or even thousands of dollars spending aimlessly on (no offense but let's be honest..) garbage.

I really enjoyed helping out investors both new and experienced alike, but while making recommendations and sharing great resources for beginners, I constantly received feedback when it came to the tools about inability to afford X, Y and Z while balancing building a portfolio and having made 0 to very little income from their investments. And even when they could afford all of the tools, there seemed to be a misconception that the tools would do the domaining for them. While I wish this was possible, it's simply not the case. But all of this set me off on my mission to try.

That brings us to the introduction of my passion project: DomainBFF. A suite of domain investment tools that I promise to keep both affordable and keep innovating to set up domain investors at all stages for success.

Top Keywords Tool

I want to start with the most basic feature that I highly recommend anyone new to domains begins with - Top Keywords.

Top Keywords shows you just that, the present day keywords that have the absolute most demand, as they are registered in the most TLDs of every possible extension. This data is very expensive at other places and for good reason. It lifts the veil into exactly which keywords real people and brands are using for domain names. You should study the top 1,000 and burn them into your brain, then move on to the top 10,000. It's these very words that you want to be registering when on the hunt for your next pick ups.

Once you have a solid understanding, you can then either:

• A) Hit the auctions/aftermarket, or
• B) Start hand registering some names to get the feel for what actually works

I would start with B if you have 0 to 3 lifetime sales, then you can start looking into A when you have some capital to play with. There are several places to look for inspiration out there, like drop lists, generators or even combining keywords from the top keywords list to find domains that are available to register, but keep reading and you'll see exactly what I do.

Domain Search Tool

Every. Single. Time. that I am looking into a domain name to register or buy at auction, the first thing I do is go to the Domain Search Tool to make a search of the SLD (the keyword(s) that come before the dot) to see the following:

How Many TLDs Is It Registered In

The search tool is where the value is taken to the next level. A heavy demand signal which is what I used to use almost exclusively to determine demand for a domain name was how many TLDs a domain name is registered in.

If there are 0 registrations in any TLD, it's a pretty good idea to avoid that one at all costs and save your money.

The more TLDs a domain is registered in is a key factor in determining exactly how much real world demand there is for that domain. From the page you can click directly on the other TLDs it's registered in and see what company or brand is using it. If there are several developed, this is another key signal you may be looking at a domain name that someone would want to upgrade to down the road. Sometimes as soon as 3 days down the road based on my $19,888 sale I just made yesterday at the time of writing this.

Recent Sales Data

Right on the search results page there is a column where you can see how many domains have sold in the last ~year using the keywords that combine to make up a domain name you are searching.

I have always felt strongly that recency of data is very important when it comes to domain names, so we use a database that contains recent sales so that you can be certain the sales aren't for keywords that were popular a decade ago, but have 0 demand in the present day.

As part of your membership you get access to this database found under Resources at Domain Sales. You can sort, filter and view this data but our goal is not to serve as a vault of all historic domain sales, simply to drive domain investment decisions based on what's selling lately and for how much.

Proprietary Domain Popularity Score

Domain name investing can be very subjective which is why so many people register bad domains, or you see an outlier sale that makes you scratch your head, but at DomainBFF one of our primary goals is to make domain investing as objective as possible.

Using a complex formula that is meticulously detailed and factors hundreds of data points that are weighted across every single domain name, we give every domain a score that's between 0 and 100. This score takes into account:

• Rank of keywords
• Number of sales
• Size of sales
• TLDs registered
• Alliteration
• Plurals in the wrong places
• Number of words
• Length
• Vowel and consonant patterns
• And so much more

A 0-5 is likely an avoid at all costs, while a 100 is a popular, short, single word .com domain. Everything in between 0 and 100 has meaning and adds another layer of value to your process.

Bulk Search Tool

The Bulk Search Tool doesn't need much explaining as it does exactly what the search tool does, only now you can speed up your workflow 100x.

This feature alone is worth more than the DomainBFF subscription cost, but our goal is to bring domainers the best tool at the best prices, and this is just one more way to make your domaining journey easier.

Domain Leads Search Tool

This tool is what really led me to investing in the earlier mentioned $19,888 sale that happened in 3 days.

The Domain Leads Search Tool is powerful in two big ways. Whenever you search a domain name, it scans business registries and directories to give you:

• A number of how many registered businesses are using the words that make up your domain name
• A list of those businesses

So not only can you use this during the buying process to determine if there is real, active demand for a domain name you are interested in, but you can also use it to identify potential leads that you can sell your domain names to.

However, I advise you to be very careful when doing so to make sure you don't find yourself looking down the barrel of a UDRP. Always make sure that your domain name is not trademarked first, and if you have any question whatsoever, I would refrain from registering it and making a costly mistake. But if you are certain the domain is generic keywords and there are several businesses using this name, then it's another huge indicator of demand and a targeted list of leads you can craft a nice, formal message to reach out to in hopes of selling your domain name quick.

Domain Name Generator

There's tons of AI domain generators on the market, so you're probably wondering what's so great about this one?

Well, not only can you see immediately upon generation if the .com version is available to register, but our Domain Name Generator's domain ideas are also generated using all of the data we have discussed and have available to us. It walks the line of not generating domains that are so obviously valuable they're taken, while still using top keywords, patterns that are popular and other proprietary data that we use to identify quality available domain names.

In only 6 months I've sold 7 domains registered using this tool for over $2.4k each. And you might be thinking I have thousands and thousands of names... well I don't. In fact, I've used these tools to become so thorough and data-driven with my decisions that I cut down on my portfolio and only have 984 domains at the time of writing.

It takes time to identify the ones that will sell, and some amazing names may never sell, but with time and these tools, you won't find a shortcut that gets you there much quicker.

Start Making Better Decisions Today

So there you have it. That's the core of DomainBFF and how I've been able to make the most out of domain investing, and how you can also start making better domain investing decisions today.

With all of the API and storage costs involved there's potential I don't ever even make a profit, but this is my passion project and something I feel the domain industry not only deserves, but needs.

There are other tools already out like the Domain Parser that help speed up your workflow, but there are several more tools on the horizon that we plan to keep building and bringing the most value possible at the cheapest price possible.