Now there’s a phrase you may not be familiar with; whoever heard of warehousing domain names? Well, in recent years, it has become an issue, and as a business owner it is something you need to be aware of. Put simply, it is the practice of companies scooping up domain names as they become available, and then keeping them (essentially warehousing them) until they can sell them for the optimum price.
Here is how they do it. Typically, in a strictly legal manner, a domain name will become available if its current owner fails to renew it within the required timeframe. This varies, but it is normally 45 days after the expiration date. So, a firm will then re-register the name, and promptly warehouse it. Over time, if the original owner wants the name back, he/she then has to pay whatever price the warehousing company asks. Now, you might ask as to why someone would let their chosen domain name registration lapse, and that is a valid question. Considering our touch economic times, it could be something as simple as the owner not having the money. And, by the time they have it, the time limit is up, and the other company has snagged the name.
Back in 2003, a report was filed under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The report outlined three types of warehousing that were found to be in practice. The first pretty much follows the method outlined above; although the report did note one difference. It was found that something that registrar – the company that sold the domain name in the first place – takes over the name itself, and then tucks it away for future sale at a higher price. In the second case, this is where fraud comes into play. If the company that has the domain name is found to have obtained it through fraudulent means, the registrar may take the name back and either turn around and try to resell it, or warehouse it. In either situation, it is doing this as a means of recouping its losses. Strictly speaking, the domain name should go back to the original – valid – owner, but that is not always possible. Something the original owner will have already set up a new domain name, and thus does not want the old one, or they have gone out of business, and then they do not need it. Either way, the registrar is free to take the name back and hold it for resale. And finally, the third way is where the registrar just goes ahead and buys the domain name itself. That does sound like an odd practice – buying something from yourself, but it is perfectly legal. The reason registrars do it is because – legally – they are limited in what they can charge someone for a domain name. If they buy the name – even from themselves – they then have the option to charge more for it in a resale situation.
So, to prevent your domain name from being warehoused, you need to do two things. First, stay current on the registration payments, and second, watch out for hijacking. If someone steals your domain name, contact the registrar as soon as possible to get it back.
How’s this for marketing: selling something that has no physical form? In essence, when you buy and/or sell a domain name, that’s what you’re doing; you’re dealing in a piece of “real estate” that exists in cyberspace. Yet, if done properly, the potential for profit is enormous! This is what has become known as the domain aftermarket.
One of the great things about a domain name is that you can register any name you want; it doesn’t have to be related to your chosen vocation, you don’t even have to make use of it. So long as you’re the first to think of it, and file the proper paperwork to register the name – it’s yours. If this market is something you want to get into, here are some tips and tricks to consider.
First, you want a name that’s natural (what some people call “organic”). A natural name would be something like “movies.com” for a movie website, “childcare.com” for information about childcare, and so on. Next is that ever important issue: a brand name. Let’s face it, if you can register the domain name “Hershey.com” or “Dell.com”, you could make a mint selling it to those respective companies. Of course, most of those are already taken. But, if you can find one that isn’t – maybe they’re a new company just building themselves up, you might be able to snag one of those names. And finally, there’s the potential for the future. In a sense, this goes back to the old axiom about real estate: location, location, location. If you can hit on a website name that has potential for the future, you can register it, and then sit on it and wait for its popularity to grow. The cost of the annual renewal is quite minimal; so a small investment has the possibility to pay off big! How big? Here are some examples: the site porn.com sold for $9.5 million back in 2007, business.com went for $7.5 million in 1999, and AsSeenOnTv.com sold for $5.1 million in 2000.
As an example for the future, the so-called “green” technologies have moved to the forefront – between rising gas prices and President Obama’s pledge to fully fund such researches. So, domain names like solarpower.com, biodiesel.com, and so on could be quite valuable in the years to come (if they aren’t already!).
A key element to all of these domain names (if you haven’t noticed already) is their simplicity. The website movies.com is very easy to remember and type in; this is what is known as direct navigation (type-in traffic), and it generates a huge amount of website traffic. Another aspect is how generic the names are. Now, while tying in with a brand name is good, it has its limitations: most are already taken, and they appeal to a limited client base. People interested in adult entertainment are not going to type in Disney.com; whereas the site movies.com (which happens to be owned by Disney) attracts all manner of traffic.
So, making use of these tips, you may just be able to find some domain names with the potential for profitable resale value. Welcome to the world of cyber real estate.
When you’re looking to set up a website, one of the first things you need to do is settle on a website name. This is what is known as your domain name. So, step one: finding a name that matches your business theme. If you’re a plumber, you don’t want a site called: woodworking-R-us.com! Next, try to avoid a domain name that’s very long; you don’t want people having to type in a huge long name to get to your website. Remember that the more complex something is, the more opportunities there are for them to get screwed up. So, the more letters in your domain name, the more chances there are for someone to misspell it when they are trying to type it in.
The whole prospect of misspelling brings up another point: similar sounding names. When you finally settle on a domain name, you might want to consider buying some of the names that are close to it. So, if you run an online jewelry company called “Jay Jewelry”, you might want to get: JayJewelry.com, JJewelry.com, and maybe even: JayJewels.com. As a little side note, a lot of big corporations own domain names that could be insulting to their firms; things like: BankofAmericaSucks.com.
Now, while the .com domain is one of the most popular domains, if not the most popular, there are plenty of other domains that you may find to be cheaper. A number of them are tied to various countries, and they’re a bit obvious. The .uk is the United Kingdom, .ca is Canada, .au is Australia, and then there are the .net, the .cc, and so on domains. Some domains are off limits to private individuals. The .gov is (rather obviously) US government websites, and .edu is for educational institutions.
Another thing to consider in selecting a domain name is shooting for something unique. If you pick a name too similar to another company’s – especially a rival company’s – people may accidentally type in their name instead of yours. So, an easy way to check on that is to just try typing the name into a search engine like Yahoo or Google. Once you find a domain name that you like, even if you don’t have your website ready, you should go ahead and grab it; get that name registered! It’s estimated that fully 97% of all words in the English dictionary have already been used. Now, when you consider that, if you use all English letters, numbers and symbols there are over thirty-one decillion domain names available. But, a name that’s a string of gibberish isn’t going to be very popular. So, find a name, find it fast, and grab it! The fee for a new name can be very reasonable, a .com will run you only $30 a year. Plus, if you elect to not use the name later on, you can always sell it. Popular domain names can pull in some substantial sums. As an example, the website business.com recently sold for seven million dollars!
When you’re intent on getting a website set up, you have to settle on a domain name, and get it registered. So, there are some terms you need to be familiar with. First, there’s the Registrar; this is the company you buy the domain name from. They’re companies like Register.com and GoDaddy, among others. Within those companies is the Domain Account Manager. This is the area you go to actually type in all of your information. Like any website you do business with, you’ll have a user name and a password. Going to this page, you can renew your domain name and carry out various other services.
Next is the Whois Information. This is all of your basic data about the website: who owns it, their contact information, when it was registered and when it expires, and so on. Then there’s the Registrant (or Owner) Contact. When you first sign up for the domain name, this is the first information you put in, and it’s very important. This is the information on who actually owns the site. If you hire someone to create a website for you, be sure they list you as the owner.
In terms of important information, just about the most important one is the Administrative Contact. This is an email address that you list with the domain owner, and the one that they’ll contact with any questions or matters concerning you website. So, it’s important that this be an email address that you’re not going to terminate anytime soon. A good idea with this email address is to use a free one like Yahoo or hotmail. If the address is tied to a pay website and you terminate your account, you have to be sure to go to your domain owner and change your administrative contact.
The Billing Contact is incredibly obvious; it’s the person the domain owner will contact regarding paying for the name you register, and the annual renewal fee. In terms of technical support, the domain owner will have a Technical (or Zone) Contact. A lot of times, if you hire someone to design your website, you’ll want to give the Technical Contact the name of your web designer.
And then there are two names that go together: the DNS and the IP. The first is the Domain Name Server or Domain Name System. This is the computer that takes your website name and converts it into an Internet Protocol (IP) Address. Much as computer languages like BASICA, COBOL and FORTRAN were converted to machine language so that the computer could actually understand it, DNS does the same thing with your website name. Thus when someone types in your domain name, the computer can then locate it on the appropriate web server.
So, when trying to get a good domain name for your website, be sure to pay attention to all of these factors. Each one is important in ensuring that you get the best name, get your information set up, and have everything arranged to maintain the site in the future.
They sound like a present, don’t they? Well, in a way, they are a bit of a gift. When a company wants to set up a website, it is not a simple matter. In a way, think of it as setting up a storefront; you don’t just rent a building, open the door, and start doing business. You rent the space, get the utilities turned on, set up your mailing address, and then advertise your company, its location, and what you have to offer.
So, when setting up a website, the domain name is but the first step in creating your site. After that, you have to design the look of the site, get an email address created, and then promote your site on the internet via search engines, viral videos, and other efforts. Now, if you know how to do all these things – more power to you. If you have someone who can do it for you – that’s great too. But, if you don’t, then you have to find a way of setting up your website once you have established your domain name. Each and every aspect of a website will cost you money, and if you are a new company just starting out, you may not have the resources for such things.
Well, this is where domain name packages come into play. There are a variety of companies that will sell you not just a domain name, but a full package of information to set up all aspects of your website. They will help you with marketing and promotions, finances, sales, human resources, operations, setting up an email account, and some will even send you a CD with software to help create the actual website.
A typical domain name package will give you one domain name – usually a .com, .net, .info or .org type, a web-based email account tied to your domain name, and some type of basic web hosting. They also give you a domain manager, and they will have technical support available 24/7. The domain manager is a relatively new feature, so be sure to check and make sure that it is included in the package you buy. It has a variety of management features like MX-Records, sub domains, A-Record, and enhanced forwarding.
The MX-Records are resource records that specify how email is routed to you, and the A-Record is what defines your IP (Internet Protocol) address. The whole concept of sub domains can be very useful and powerful to you. In essence, it lets you make use of domain names that are similar to yours. As an example, if you had a website for the ABC television network, you could have sub domains for the various programs of the network. Well, for your business or organization, you can do the same thing.
An outstanding feature of these domain name packages is that they are very reasonable priced; most can be purchased for as little as ten dollars! So, don’t let a firm try to get a high fee out of you for one of these packages; do some comparison shopping and get a good price.