Domain names have become virtual real estate, with many of the the characteristics of actual real estate in the real world. Many domain speculators are now engaged full-time in domain buying and selling, and doing very well.
Just as land and property can be worth a fortune, or worth almost nothing depending on its location, its characteristics and its state of development, so domains can be virtually worthless or hugely valuable to investors.
Let's look at some examples of recent expensive domain name sales, and try to see why certain names might be seen as valuable. This will also give you some tips as to how to start investing in domains yourself.
CriminalLawyers.com was recently bought for $195,000. Note that this valuable virtual real estate would be of interest to lawyers, so is immediately inflated in value. It may get a lot of browser type-in traffic, though CriminalLawyers (no dash) isn't even an English word. But the main characteristic making it valuable is that no-one could be in any doubt about what the site will be about.
The same goes for AutomobileParts.com, recently acquired for $70,000, and EuropeanVacations.com, bought for $85,000. It's easy to see why cardiology.com might be worth $550,000 or porn.com $9.5 million, or Spices.com $220,000 - as web users get more sophisticated in using their browsers, many will simply type in those names to get what they want. Of course, such names will also do well in any search engine algorithm, as long as the content matches the domain subject, which any smart developer will ensure.
In most cases, the buyer will get not just the name, but a developed site to go with it as well: presumably they will have checked the books and can see that the income from the site merits the purchase of the domain, much as an investor buying a retail unit in a mall would check the customer volumes and cash flow before buying.
In some cases, there may be other factors at work in inflating the value of a particular domain name. BoiseIdaho.com (sold for $175,000) gives a hint of the growing importance of geographical names, while News.mobi ($110,000) and dating.mobi ($73,000) represents some smart investors' belief that mobile internet use is about to take off and become very profitable.
Scanning the most expensive recent domain name sales, it is obvious that the .com suffix is still by far the most preferred among speculators and users, and that, even as the price of physical real estate becomes static, virtual real estate is more than holding its own. Quality, and a meaningful domain, will never go out of fashion.
Read on - check my domain names resource for more valuable information about domains and how to buy and sell domains. Dee Buteland writes about domain names and the domain industry. |
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