December 30th, 2014
(Originally posted January 26, 2011 but still relevant TODAY)
December 30, 2014, Elkton Maryland — Finding the right domain name can be a real challenge. Especially since enterprising individuals discovered a few years back they could pick up short/sweet domain names for $7-$11 and resell them for a profit… sometimes a hefty profit. Examples… In 2009 Toys ‘R’ Us bought Toys.com for a reported $5.1 million. As you might expect, Sex.com went for top dollar–$12.5 million and Business.com sold for $7.5 million.
Of course these names are highly desirable and you can bet the companies who registered them will reap the benefits but it still surprises me to find uncommon words or phrases that carry a 4, 5 or 6 figure price tag. I must admit I’ve experienced this personally–the response to the last attempt to purchase my business name was “no less than 5 figures”. I’ve been trying to purchase this name for 8 years and it sits idle to this day.
If you’re faced with this dilemna and your budget doesn’t include a 5-figure price tag, there IS a Plan B. When searching for a specific domain name consider using a hyphen, adding “online” to the name or you may find another alternative offered by the good folks at GoDaddy (my domain registrar of choice). Another (recommended) option is to use the industry or type of service/business AND the service area (state or region). Example… www.BuildingPA.com was registered for a general contractor in PA when he was unable to secure the name he wanted.
I think everyone agrees we don’t want government intervention when it comes to the internet so we’ll have to live with what I consider to be just shy of extortion. Once or twice a day we’ll land on these “investor’s” faux websites built to disguise endless lists of links to nowhere and serving no legitimate purpose. For the foreseeable future we’ll just have to continue coming up with creative solutions to these… domain name difficulties. Get in TOUCH and let us help you!
(Source for domain prices: ABC News, March 2009: ABC News Article )