Why do I blog? God only knows. Anyway, as I have stated before, I blog to draw attention to my domain marketplace and to help build my brand.

I believe this blog has earned this website enormous exposure, and even a few domain sales. We are not currently accepting advertising requests, but it also brought a few clients as well in the early days.

eBusinessDomains.com has now been live online for a year now. Before launching the domain marketplace, I showcased my portfolio via Exdon.com.

I didn’t frequent/use forums, or read a single domain blog. The only domain publication that I read was the DN Journal monthly cover story. I really enjoyed (and still do) reading those stories.

However, after a year, we are now regularly receiving serious partnership requests here at eBusinessDomains.com from some very big domain industry players. I am truly humbled by some of these requests. There will be numerous major announcements in the near future.

So, as I was saying, the only publication that I followed was DN Journal. I believe it is still the best out there. I also liked reading Ron Jackson’s roundup of domain conferences. It is amazing how all of these scenes have changed. They are still all fascinating stories, but we have now entered into a new chapter in domaining.

The domain veterans of tomorrow will not be those who can amass large domain portfolios, but rather those who can successfully develop powerful brands that sell everyday (non-domaining) products and services.

Speaking of developing brands, Mike at the TheDomains published an article about the reported sale of GetARoom.com.

Simply put, this is one of the most interesting stories that I have read in the domain space for a very long time. This story is fascinating mostly for personal reasons. However, this transaction has a lot of lessons in it for domainers. The lessons to be learnt are even more powerful than what the sale of Candy.com ($3M+) had to offer.

A lot of people are trying to find out who the seller was, how long the negotiation lasted for, could the domain name have been sold for more etc., etc.

However, none of that really matters. Period. Here is what matters.

The people who bought GetARoom.com for $30,000 are multi-millionaires. They are the said people who founded Hotels.com, built it into a powerhouse brand and then sold it later.

This means that the buyer:
1. “Gets” domains
2. Has intimate knowledge of branding and has experience with established super brands
3. Knows how important it is to have the right domain name (Hotels.com)
4. Could have afforded to spend a lot more for a better domain name
5. Is an end-user

I won’t bore you here. So to get the message read my blog post “How I Would Invest $100,000 In Domains Today”.

You see, the point is, a lot of domainers think that the fully loaded end-users that “get” domains will dump boatloads of cash to get the “perfect” domain name.

But in reality, it was never, has never been, or will ever be all about the domain name. It was always about BRANDING!!!!!

When an end-user buys a domain name, he is not buying a piece of art to look at. He is interested in building a brand. You secure an appropriate brandable domain name for the minimal price, and then spend the “MILLIONS” building the brand online, on radio, on TV and in print.

Don’t worry if you don’t get it. But if you do get it, then you will realise that your ultra premium domain name will never find a buyer. Why? No one will pay you the price that you think it is worth. To you (as a domainer) the domain name is everything. To the end-user, it is only a means to an end.

If you want to realise the full monetary potential of your domain name, the only thing you can do is to develop it, into a BRAND.

I am sure most of you will disagree…

Never mind, I will rename these posts Weekend Musings Of A Fool .

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How much priority do you give domain names when writing your business plan?

You have brainstormed the niches, short listed your findings, and now have selected what kind of ebusiness you want to invest in.

You have given careful though about the look and feel of the website, have some ideas for your branding approach and have even put together your business plan and plan of action. Perhaps you have even registered a company name.

You are almost ready to do business. Everything is now in place. Now you are getting ready to launch your ebusiness. Then, after all this time, after months and months of hard work, planning and preparation, you finally do a search for your chosen domain name and find, to your dismay, that the domain name is already registered by someone else and is not even for sale on the domain aftermarket.

It’s almost 10 years now since the start of the millennium. The Internet plays a vital role in the success of any business, whether it will be a traditional bricks and mortar business or a pure ebusiness. Once you have decided which niche you want to invest in, your next priority should be to secure the perfect domain name.

The domain name is the web address that people will type in their browser to get to your website. An example of a domain name is eBusinessDomains.com. A domain name can be relatively inexpensive when purchased new, but can hold tremendous value for a business if it is a top quality domain name.

A domain establishes your identity on the Internet and is the primary link between the offline and online worlds. A quality domain names have become an integral element of a successful company, whether the majority of its business is conducted online or not.

When making decisions relating to branding, it is imperative that you get your domain name strategies right. Securing the right domain name(s) for your business can be an expensive and tiresome task, but once done successfully, everything becomes so much easier.

Paying $10,000 for a quality domain name will give you credibility in your niche for as long as you are in business. Going forward, it will cost you less than $10 to renew the domain name at your domain registrar on an annual basis.

The choice is clear. Spend a hefty amount now by investing in a premium domain name that will appreciate in value. Or, register a crappy domain name for $10, and spend boatloads of cash trying to turn that said crappy domain name into a brand.

Domain names should be factored into your business plan from the outset, and should even be considered even before you register a company or a trademark.

Generic domain names can be extremely valuable. The only problem is that most if not all of them were purchased a long time ago. The good news is that a lot of these valuable generic domain names may be for sale by their owners, on domain marketplaces such as eBusinessDomains.com.

Although companies can use premium domain names for different products or aspects of their business, in most cases it would be better for a business is to have consistency between its company name, its trademark and its domain name.

This prevents both existing and potential customers from confusing the company’s brand with that of others.

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First of all now is a damn good time to invest $100,000 in the domain industry. If you wish to be a domainer, then the deals that are there for the taking are just simply breathtaking.

However, if you have $100,000 to spend then I would assume that you are not stupid and would be prudent with your investments.

Like with any other investments, you would think of the exit strategies. How do you make a return on investments and how do you exit the market without any significant losses if the need arises?

If I was just coming into the domaining business and I had $100,000 to invest, I would not invest in domains. Yes, you heard me. I would NOT invest in domains.

I would invest in an ebusiness.

Domain parking is still alive. Although domain parking was never transparent from day one, and that within itself presented a significant loss of control over any meaningful planning, it was sensible in the past to invest in traffic domains.

Domain parking is still non-transparent, there is still a fair amount of lack of control, and the future is a bit uncertain.

If you want to make money with domains now, you have to invest in quality domains with the aim of developing those said domains into powerful brands.

So, if I had $100,000 to invest, this is how I would invest it.

Conduct sufficient research and analysis into various markets, industries and niches. I would look to see which markets have the potential for growth, where there is less competition, but where there is great demand for a particular product or service.

Once I have narrowed down my list, I would get one, two or a maximum of three category-killer, niche-buster, keyword-almighty domain name(s).

How much I spend on these each domain would depend on how much domains am acquiring. I would say:

40% on the domain(s)
30% on web development
20% on marketing, advertisement and PR
10% on working capital/reserve

The percentages would vary depending on the industry and the level of outside expertise required.

What I am trying to illustrate here is that it is absolutely stupid to blow 100% of the $100,000 solely on domain acquisition.

You would need to leave a great chunk of money to develop the domain name into a brand. You will need a logo, a website, newsletter, blog, SEO, marketing, ongoing web maintenance costs, etc., etc.

You can get a damn good domain name for $20,000 today. Forget about the million-dollar domain purchase. If I wanted to invest a million dollars now in domains, I would spend only $200,000 on acquiring 20 top domains at $10,000 each and use the remaining $800,000 to build the brands.

Web development and Internet marketing costs are relatively cheap these days due to competition. Loads of developers and loads of online outlets such as blogs vying for the same advertising dollars.

Plus, there is the use of web 2.0 technologies and media such as blogs, forums, Twitter, Facebook etc. etc.

Perhaps we should stop moaning about finding end-users to buy our domains and start evolving into end-users.

Don’t invest in domains; invest in brands. Build brands that will evolve.

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Simply enter your keyword and click search in the Domain Search Box.
Instant domain transfer with most domains!

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Domain parking has spoilt the whole domain industry. Get everything for nothing. Just register a domain name, change the name servers and bingo! You have a great looking site (parking page/template).

You sit back, and at then end of the month you have a checks rolling in. Who would live a different life if they didn’t have to?

Well parking is dying a very painful death. When I did in-depth research into domain parking I established in my mind that this was a system only to use while you can. The lack of transparency left the doors wide open for abuse by ALL parties, top to bottom. Period.

However parking had its very fruitful days, and some made a fortune. Myself included. Can’t complain.
Now the tides have changed. How do we switch to domain development? It will be hard. Domainers are not accustomed to thinking out of the box when it comes to domain name monetization. The hardest work some of us had ever done in our domaining careers was to change a few name servers or quote a few stats or browse a few lengthy expiring lists.

Although it would have helped with our domaining strategies, we didn’t have need for business plans and marketing campaigns and sales funnels and target markets and blah, blah, blah.

Now there are simply 2 ways to go about development. Go all out with one or two major brands or develop a series of mini brands.

The first option is risky, not because it involves more work, or takes more time, but it is the kind of thing that you will have to swear allegiance to. You would have to gain a “failure is not an option” attitude.

With the latter, you can try this today, get bored and try something else tomorrow. You can’t have that kind of attitude with a domain like the Toys.com or Camera.com. You have to be serious about business. Not about domains, but about business.

Minisite development is for domainers. Brand development is for business-minded entrepreneurs.
People who think mini sites are mostly domainers who still haven’t graduated from the domaining world. These are the people who think, well if I build a website and it does not monetize well, I will simply sell the domain name.

A businessperson thinks of a building a brand that he could sell one day for anything between 15 and 800 million dollars.

However, let me be clear here. You can make a lot of money with minisites. I heard an Internet marketing expert saying one day that you don’t need a fancy website to make money. You would be surprised to see that the ugliest-looking websites are the ones making the real money. It is all about the sales pitch and the marketing.

So, if you know what you are doing, get the sales pitch and marketing right, and sell products and services in the right niche, you could make boat loads of cash.

Think about it. Almost every ebook you have ever bought was purchased from a minisite. Most of them really are just one very long web page.

If you build minisites hoping to profit from Google Adsense in substitution for domain parking then you will not make money.

You will need to think and build ebusinesses! Sell products and services. What are you good at? How could you roll it up into a minisite and sell it like hot bread? Think, think, think!

There are millions of blogs on the Internet today. Web 2.0 has truly taken off. People just want to speak their mind, and let the world hear about it.

What is amazing about the blogging community is the very extraordinary content being produced by ordinary people. Some of the best blogs are driven by passion, rather than expertise. This makes it easier for ordinary people to connect with normal people as the blogs are written in conversational mode, rather than unfamiliar jargons.

What is really sad however, is seeing great blogs being hosting as sub domains of Wordpress.com or Blogger.com. Imagine the enormous brands that these bloggers could effortlessly build if they had chosen to host their blogs on separate standalone premium domain name.

Content is king. If bloggers are producing great content, then they should put themselves in the position to profit from their efforts. Some blogs are maintained as a hobby, and some have been savvy enough to monetise their websites with Google Adsense and affiliate links.

However, the real power of blogs is in branding.

Let me get your attention here.

It was reported in September 2008 that the blog Bankaholic.com was sold for $15m earlier this year. The blog was built on Wordpress, was run by only one person Johns Wu, and didn’t even have exceptionally high traffic. The blog is also relatively new, as the domain name was first registered in June 2006. Bankaholic.com was sold to BankRate.

This shows the power and value of content. Content is king, and content sells. Bankaholic.com is an example of what can be achieved when people choose one niche and passionately blog about it. If John Wu had maintained his blog on a Wordpress sub domain (e.g. bankaholic.wordpress.com), it would have been very unlikely for him to get an offer for the blog, much less to secure a $15m deal.

Surely you don’t necessarily need a domain name for users to get to your blog, as the bulk of blog traffic comes from search engines or via the blogs’ RSS subscribers.

I wouldn’t gamble with a $15m payday though. There have been quite a few blogs sold over the years, for various amounts. You may not get a $15m deal, but who knows?

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