Posts Tagged Top Level Domain

• How to Appraise a Domain Name’s Value - May 19th, 2009
• Is Your Expired Domain Really Worthy Part II - April 14th, 2009
• In the previous article, there was an effort to let you know if your expired domains are really worthy of making any decent money. Here are some more tips and ideas that will help you ascertain to know if your domains expired are really worthy or not.
  
  Frequency of Search: This is perhaps an important indicator by which you can know the real worth of your domains expired. More popular the search term, the more numbers of site visitors and better volume of type-in traffic. You may wish to buy an expired domain that is rich with niche keywords. Sensitive and critical keywords are very important to your web domains expired. Two worded search terms are desirable for your expired domain names as they are the current standard for expired domain name industry.
  
  Trademark infringement: If you have a web expired domain that is trademark of other people, then you may land in a legal mess. Such domains are useless and utter waste of money. No one will buy this kind of domains from you. You can avoid buying a trademark expired domain as no one will be interested in buying it from you.
  
  Top Level Domain: The type and kind of TLD is of paramount importance if you want to make money from your expired domain name. .com seems to be the right type of TLD at the moment and it is possible to buy very good .com TLD and later sell to other people at very high prices. .com is also the default type-in type of expired domain now.
  
  Income Inventory: Any additional income built into your expired domain is an added advantage. The availability of income making opportunity with your domain will convince a potential buyer to purchase the expired domain. Many well known expired domains have been recognized for their ad inventory revenue streams and they have had a solid income generating scheme built and streamlined over them.
  
  Demand for .com type of expired domains: Obviously, these are the domains that are in huge demand. However, you can also sell other domain extensions like .biz and .info provided they make sense to your potential buyers. Demand for .com extensions has been rising gradually over the last few years, but other extensions are also catching up very slowly with the emergence of businesses and corporate that deal with information and services.
  
  Blacklisted and abused web domains expired: These web domains are a strict no-no for any domain name trader. More than 20% of the available expired domains have had a ban or black listing slapped on them in their previous avatar. You will need to be extra careful about these domains and never, ever make an effort to buy these domains.
  
  Finally, it is your desire and motivation to succeed in this exciting business that make you streamlined for future success. Expired domain gains are possible only when you know how to choose and buy the right type of domain out of millions of expired domains.
  
  - April 2nd, 2009
• Maybe you’ve seen advertisements on websites, or heard stories about a guy who made his fortune as a cheap domain reseller - buying and selling domain names as a business, instead of just for personal use. Maybe you already have a domain reseller account with your Internet service provider (ISP), just waiting to be used. But is it a good idea to buy and sell domains as a business?
  
  Luck of the Draw?
  
  There’s a lot of hype attached to the domain reselling business. CNN reported that “business.com” was sold for $7.5 million in 1997, and in 2003 “men.com” was sold for $1.3 million, but these are unusual cases involving very specific domain names, and most domain investors will never get that lucky. Partly this is because it’s difficult to value domain names, and partly this is because of misconceptions that all “good” names are taken. In addition, the availability of country code domains has opened up the domain naming field, allowing people to buy and sell domains with short names and new extensions.
  
  What Makes One Domain More Valuable Than Another?
  
  As stated above, valuation of domain names is extremely tricky. This is because the market to sell domains is driven by the perceived scarcity of “good” names. Most business owners, whether their companies are large or small, prefer a name ending in .com over a name in any other top level domain. As well, memorable combinations of relevant words that can easily be used in a domain name are already in use. Adding to the price increase is the fact that while more than 17 million domain names have been sold, not every one of them is necessarily good. Generally, in order to be saleable, domain names, in addition to ending in .com, must also be fairly generic. “Law.com” “tv.com” and “business.com” are classic examples. (CNN paid several thousand dollars for the tv.com in the early 2000’s.) The reality is that most of these domains will never be resold, and will end up being released for registration at the standard rate of $10-$30/year. The notion that highly priced domains must be one word is a myth, however. Word combinations can be extremely valuable if the words are relevant especially considering their value in terms of  search engine optimization. “BookBuyer.com” might be worth purchasing, but “BookSink.com” is essentially nonsense, even if it is short. For this reason, while it is recommended that people seeking to buy and sell domains stay within highly commercial industries (law, loans, books, cars, etc.) it is important that they choose their domains wisely.
  
  What You Need to Know
  
  If you do have aspirations to sell domains, there are certain things you need to know. First, it’s essential to have a domain reseller account. This is a special bulk account through one of the domain reseller programs offered by such domain registrars as BulkRegister and Dotster. Such an account allows you access to listings of domains about to expire, as well as discounts on bulk registrations (generally minimums of 50 at a time). Most of the major domain registrars offer such programs to those who wish to sell domains. Free information rating registrars can be found in online domain reseller review lists, such as the one at RegSelect.com. In addition, it is important to remember that statistics are against making big money as a cheap domain reseller. According to igoldrush.com, of the approximately 20 million .com, .net, and .org domain names sold, perhaps 20,000 of those will be resold within a given five-year period, and of those 20,000, 90% of them are worth 4 figures or less (with most falling into the ‘less’ category).
  
  Other Alternatives?
  
  There are, of course, other ways to buy and sell domains than using the services attached to registrar-owned domain reseller programs. One is to contact large corporations directly, if you’ve secured a recognizable domain that is relevant to their brand or industry, but this is not generally terribly affective. Additionally, there is always ebay. While most products sold through the online auction house are tangible goods and services, they do allow domain sales, and the use of ebay allows investors to do additional marketing of the domains they own.
  
  So Is Domain Investing Worth the Risk?
  
  If you are looking to make a quick buck, domain investing may not be the industry for you. If, however, you enjoy a good gamble, and have the money to spend, reselling domains can be lucrative. Thanks to the afore-mentioned country code top level domains (like .us and .de), valuable names are still available, but successful reselling takes patience and a lot of research to find quality names, and quality marketing techniques. The bottom line is this: if you are seeking to be rid of a single domain you no longer use, your best bet is to either let it lapse, or go through a cheap domain reseller, and let them market it for you. If you want to buy and sell domains as an investment, commit to a high-end domain reseller account at your registrar of choice, and take advantage of their services and support.
  
  - February 11th, 2009
• I started buying and selling domain names in 1995. Domain speculation began sometime in 1994. I did appraisals and was one of the biggest advocates for registering generic domain names rather than made-up names or those that violated trademarks.
  
  I made a good income from my domains because I did not just sell domain names, I sold domain names that had a business plan and a website while others were just trying to sell their domain names with no traffic, no business plan and no website.
  
  Today many are still doing it that way. Although now they park them at SEDO or Go Daddy or somewhere to try to make adsense revenue while they list them for sale. So my background in domain names is good enough that I can dispel a few myths.
  
  First TLD stands for Top Level Domain. .COM, .NET, .ORG are all examples of TLDs. The domain name most people refer to is what goes before the dot. The TLD is what comes after the dot.
  
  These are some Common Myths about Domain Names;
  
  .TV is for television or multimedia websites. Pure myth. Any domain name in any TLD can work for television, video, or multimedia. The TLD .TV does not give you any special tools for creating multimedia-rich content. .TV does not stand for television. It is the ccTLD or country-code TLD for Tuvalu Island. An island in the pacific that had no real use for owning a TLD so they sold the rights to sell domain names on their TLD to a company that leads people to believe it stands for television. It works. People buy them and use them and associate them with television and that is ok. It’s just a myth that .TV was created to mean television.
  
  Another Domain Name Myth: If you want to build websites that people can access by their cell phone or PDA you need to get a .MOBI domain name. Just like dot tv does not give you any special capability for television or multimedia, dot mobi does not give you any special tools for mobile-capable websites. Any website on any TLD can provide content to cell phones and PDAs if it is made compatible for them. Many will lead you to believe that dot mobi somehow gives you the advantage when it comes to cell phones and PDAs. it doesn’t.
  
  .ME Domain Names Myth: Coming soon to a domain registrar near you. Soon domain names will be marketing for the TLD dot ME. They will market them as great domain names for personal websites. They may be. But it was not created as such. It is the Country-code top-level domain designated for Montenegro.
  
  .PN Domain Names: I own Blogs.pn. I would love to tell you it stands for Publisher network or something like that but it doesn’t. It is the Country-code top-level domain designated for Pitcairn Island. Another pacific island that did not have much use for a TLD so someone was authorized to sell dot pn domain names.
  
  Soon ICANN will be allowing more TLDs to be created and domain names will be marketed in these new TLDs. More and more countries will also offer domain names for sale in their ccTLDs. So the market will be opening up and it may be confusing to some. The truth is what comes before the dot matters most. Getting a domain name in a TLD that makes sense to users can help you though.
  
  Shorter Domain Names are better than Long Domain Names Myth: Only in certain circumstances is a shorter domain name better than a long domain name. Many domain gurus disagree. I don’t care. They talk about people being able to remember your domain name. Truthfully more traffic comes from people clicking links in search engines, on other websites, and on social bookmarking sites than comes from people who type in the domain name.
  
  What is more important is that the domain name help you capture a phrase you want to target in the search engines. I can give you a ton of examples where having the exact phrase you want in the domain name has helped get a top position in Google and other search engines. So if the phrase is longer, do not abbreviate it just because you heard shorter domain names are better. Get the phrase you want to target.
  
  If you are planning to advertise your domain name OFFLINE, in advertising on TV, radio, or even magazines and newspapers, shorter domain names ARE better. Offline, people have to be able to remember your domain name.
  
  The best of both worlds: If most of your traffic comes from the web, shorter means very little. To cover both, get a domain name that matches your key phrase and put your website on that domain name. Then get a second domain name that is short and catchy and redirect or point it to the same website. Use the shorter-easy-to-remember domain name for your offline marketing and the domain that matches your key phrase for the search engines.
  
  Anything other than a dot COM is worthless Myth: This is a favorite myth spread everywhere. It is based on the same myths about shorter domain names. If people have to remember it, then yes, they do remember dot com more often. If you are doing offline marketing, use a dot com.
  
  Online your website can be on any TLD. People are clicking links. So again, get the domain name that matches your key phrase for your website whether it is on .com, net, org, tv, pn, cc, ws, or whatever. Start with dot com, try your phrase. If it is taken, move to the next TLD and try your phrase again. If it is taken, repeat your attempts to register until you find a TLD that your phrase IS available in and register it in that TLD.
  
  These are some Myths about Trademarks and Domain Names;
  
  Domain Name VS Trademark Myth #1: If I own a trademark I need to register my trademarked name in every TLD. Pure Myth and a worthless, time-consuming strategy promoted by Intellectual Property Lawyers who need to justify what you are paying them.
  
  Domain Name VS Trademark Myth #2: When you register a trademark, you have to choose a classification for that trademark such as “entertainment television”, “clothing and apparel”, “beverages”, etc.
  
  You do not own the phrase you trademark. You are being allowed to use that trademark in commerce within the classification you chose. Someone else can register the same exact trademark and choose a different classification.
  
  In addition to that, the geographical area you registered your mark in only covers that area. Someone could have the same trademark in the same classification in a different geographical location.
  
  So again, you do not own the phrase you trademarked, so no need to register every TLD in existence. It could even be construed as anti-competitive business practice to do so.
  
  Domain Name VS Trademark Myth #3: If you chose the trademark, “goofball lawyer stuff” and chose the classification “clothing and apparel”, I could still register the domain name http://goofballlawyerstuff.com or net or org or whatever.
  
  As long as I do not sell clothing or apparel, link to anyone who sells clothing and apparel, or try to confuse people into believing my website is owned by you, I have not violated your trademark rights. Get over it.
  
  I hope this helps you dispel a few of the most common domain name and trademark myths you may have been reading about.
  
  - February 7th, 2009
• Using Expired Domain Software to Grab an Excellent Expired Domain Name - January 23rd, 2009
• In a current economy domain name investing might be one of few opportunities that save your property from foreclosure.
  
  According to a recent Verisign report, over 162 million Top Level Domain Names (TLDs) have been registered this year up until the end of the first quarter of 2008.
  
  This represents growth of 26% percent year over year and 6% growth as a quarterly comparison.
  
  The Verisign June Domain Name Industry Brief states the company processed peak loads of more than 50 billion Domain Name System (DNS) queries a day during the first quarter of 2008.
  
  WHAT IS IN IT FOR YOU?
  
  In a current economy when hundreds of thousands people loose their jobs, and investing in neither real estate nor public stock pays off, investing in a web name, domain is a fantastic opportunity.
  
  The .com domain extension is still the most popular, but it’s extremely hard nowadays to locate premium domains directly from domain registrar (a company accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and/or by a national ccTLD authority to register Internet domain names).
  
  But even buying a domain from wholesalers and playing aftermarket trading can pay off few folds.
  
  DO YOUR MATH:
  
  If you ever tried to start tech venture and raise venture capital, you might know that VCs expect the highest return on their investment. 500% is considered great return even by players of high risk investment games that bet millions dollars on each horse that potentially can exist on public market or via acquisition.
  
  You can easily invest in internet domain names very modest amount of money and expect 500% ROI.
  
  Let’s say you buy 1-10 premium brandable domains from a wholesaler for $5000 each.
  
  Even by only holding the domain for few years without developing them, you can easily sell your premium domains for $25,000 each and have $20,000-200,000 net profit (depending on the size of your portfolio) while doing nothing.
  
  Why? Because in 2-3 years Internet will grow beyond ones imagination, more and more laid-off professionals will become self-employed and start registering their businesses and build web sites. But there are only so many premium domains that consist of 1-2 words are available. Doubt it? Try to locate quality brandable domains and see for yourself.
  
  Here are some premium domains, potentially very profitable, that you can buy from aftermarket for a reasonable price and sell few years later with great profit without lifting a finger:
  
  http://www.DomainsThatScream.com
  
  IDEA on how you can make money from the domain above:
  
  The domain is great for affiliates of hosting and related services.
  
  http://www.Adsensetion.com
  
  http://www.SmashingAd.com
  
  IDEA on how you can make money from the domains above:
  
  These premium domains can be sold to advertising agencies, marketing, graphic and web design companies.
  
  http://www.Salecstasy.com
  
  http://www.SalesEcstasy.com
  
  http://www.BuyersJam.com
  
  http://www.BuyerJam.com
  
  http://www.SmashingStore.com
  
  http://www.SmashingShop.com
  
  IDEA on how you can make money from these domains:
  
  Those are top domains that are suitable for those for e-commerce, on-line retailers and their affiliate partners.
  
  http://www.CRMdesigner.com
  
  http://www.CRMjam.com
  
  http://www.ProfitCRM.com
  
  http://www.ChangeCRM.com
  
  http://www.DynamicsCRMdemo.com
  
  IDEA on how you can make money from these domains:
  
  Those are fantastic URLs and soon will be in tremendous demand by customer relationship management (CRM) software companies, their resellers, referral partners and on-line affiliates.
  
  http://www.LawyerJam.com
  
  http://www.LawyersJam.com
  
  http://www.LegalTribute.com
  
  http://www.LawyerRocks.com
  
  http://www.YourLegalAction.com
  
  http://www.LegallyChallenged.com
  
  IDEA on how you can make money from these domains:
  
  Those are very profitable domains that you can sell to legal firms, individual lawyers, their referral partners and on-line affiliates.
  
  http://www.AccountingJam.com
  
  http://www.AccountantJam.com
  
  http://www.AccountantsJam.com
  
  IDEA on how you can make money from these domains:
  
  Those are very profitable domains for legal firms, individual lawyers, their referral partners and on-line affiliates.
  
  http://www.VoteOrganic.com
  
  http://www.ProceedOrganic.com
  
  http://www.AimOrganic.com
  
  http://www.TargetOrganic.com
  
  IDEA on how you can make money from these domains:
  
  Those domains are great investments and can be sold to green, sustainable companies.
  
  http://www.SmashingLoan.com
  
  http://www.SmashingLoans.com
  
  http://www.LoansMystery.com
  
  http://www.Loanier.com
  
  IDEA on how you can make money from these domains:
  
  Those are domains with profitable keywords – great opportunity for accounting firms, individual accountants, their referral partners and on-line affiliates.
  
  http://www.SolarGiver.com
  
  http://www.SolarSpeaks.com
  
  http://www.SolarToBe.com
  
  http://www.SolarJunkies.com
  
  http://www.SolarMastery.com
  
  http://www.SolarItIs.com
  
  http://www.SmashingSolar.com
  
  http://www.ProceedSolar.com
  
  http://www.DoingSolar.com
  
  http://www.SolarDo.com
  
  http://www.SolarTribute.com
  
  http://www.AnnounceSolar.com
  
  http://www.SolarEcstasy.com
  
  IDEA on how you can make money from these domains:
  
  Those domains are great investments and can be sold to alternative energy, green, sustainable companies, solar product manufacturers and resellers.
  
  http://www.RestateBuddies.com
  
  IDEA on how you can make money from these domains:
  
  Great investment. Can be sold to real estate listings, developers and marketers.
  
  http://www.tantra-girls.com
  
  IDEA on how you can make money from these domains:
  
  Fabulous domain that can generate a lot of traffic to tantra lovers and spiritual development fans.
  
  http://www.VirginEthiopia.com
  
  http://www.VirginPhilippines.com
  
  http://www.VirginBangladesh.com
  
  http://www.VirginUkraine.com
  
  IDEA on how you can make money from these domains:
  
  Those domains are great investments for photographers. Can be sold to travel agencies, resort developers etc.
  
  ___________________________
  
  You even can develop your domains in simple informative web sites and monetize them by placing Google AdSense and affiliate links. It can bring you steady passive income before your big sale day comes.
  
  Still not convinced? Then watch your bank account shrinking during next 5 years while global economy is in the dust.
  
  - January 11th, 2009