I just read a great article on www.DailyDomainer.com showing that only 24 of the top 105 domains sold in 2007 have been developed. Most are parked and generating PPC income. While I understand that sites like Porn.com can generate a significant amount of type-in traffic and referral fees, it is still amazing to me why more of these high quality names have not been developed.

One of the explanations in the post for this is that why develop a domain when you can turn around and sell it at a profit a few months later. My response is that by doing so, you are leaving a lot of money on the table. For example, investment.com sold for $900,000 in 2007. It may be worth $1.1 or $1.2m in 2008 if the right buyer comes along. But, if you put 6 months of work and $250k into the site in the form of original content, design, development and marketing - it could be an advertising and cost per lead based site that would be cash flow positive and worth $10m in 2008.

Super affiliates build high performance sites that generate positive cash all the time. However, they don’t normally have access to the premium domains. It would be easy for a super affiliate who knows search, content and design to put a legitimate business on a premium domain like investment.com and create a positive cash flow business.

True, there is a risk that the time and effort you put into the site won’t pay off due to poor execution or bad business model, but that’s where an experienced domain development team like DomainStrategies.com comes in. We are proving the this model currently with Healthcare.com, Patents.com and soon WiFi.com.

It takes vision, capital and internet business know how - of which we have all three. We’ll be at DomainFest Jan 21-23 if you’d like to discuss development of your premium domains - look for Scott Fasser or Rob Monster.

Click to read the full article at DailyDomainer.com. It includes a list of the top 105 domains and sale prices for each for last year.

ClassyOrTrashy.com is one of the best pop culture domains in Domain Strategies portfolio. Given the amount of attention celebrity fashion receives, ClassyOrTrashy.com is the perfect domain to build a high traffic vote for your favorite outfit or attitude site.

Just think about it - Britney Spears photographs of her latest trip to the clubs or re-hab - you can then have a vote on whether the outfit she is wearing is Classy or Trashy! How about Tony Romo’s trip to Mexico with Jessica Simpson? Was that trip Classy or Trashy? Remember Jennifer Lopez’s green dress that was missing the front? Classy Or Trashy?

The options for the things you can vote classy or trashy is limitless!

I’ve been involved in marketing for over 20 years. There are a lot of challenges involved - finding the right customers, creating the right messages, spending media dollars smartly and efficiently, getting PR hits, etc. However, one task stands out as the most difficult - Naming a company or a product.

Why naming is the hardest task in marketing:

• It’s REALLY important. A great name will give you instant acknowledgment and credibility. This is especially important for new companies that don’t have large brand budgets (10’s of millions of dollars) because they have a relatively finite financial runway. A great name, the resonates immediately with the public will give the business a major boost out of the gate.
• EVERYONE gets involved. Executives, lawyers, marketing, PR - everyone. Marketing is a little unique because everyone thinks they can do it. Not everyone can code or believes they can code, but everyone believes they are a great marketer and has an idea about what a good name is.
• The name becomes the BRAND and everyone will work under it. The better the name is, the more connected the entire organization is which translates to a more motivated workforce.
• TRADEMARKS are tricky and time consuming. You may have a great name that accurately describes your product/company but working through potential trademark issues - at the state, national and international level.
• The DOMAIN is critical to the business. As readers of this blog knows, the domain is critical to establishing credibility and consistency with the product and brand. Not to mention the visitor acquisition via type in traffic and branded search.

As the last bullet points out, the domain is critical in the naming of a business, the hardest task in marketing. This is one of the reasons Domain Strategies is focused on building an internet business based on the domain name vs building a business and then finding a name that fits. There are many generic, solid, domain names that are parked or have an extremely weak business. There is no reason - other than time and effort - that a good domain name should not have a legitimate business built on it.

If you provide the domain, we will build the business - contact us to discuss and have a great day.

Domains are bought and sold every day. Some are sold through auctions, some through brokers and some sold through direct deals. As a seller of a domain, you want to get the most money possible for it, as a buyer - you don’t want to overpay. The following is a checklist of elements to consider when valuing a domain so that you have the best perspective for either buying or selling:

1. Does the domain already have a business on it? The difference between negotiating for a domain that is parked (ie, a site with no original content that drives revenue strictly through placing directory style ads on it) and a site that has a more developed business is enormous. If the domain is parked, it is basically generating pennies to dollars per day through people typing in the domain name. Parked domains can be set-up extremely quickly and are normally part of a larger portfolio. Domains with businesses on them have had planning, development and content creation put into it and are much more valuable as much for the work already put in as the vision of what the domain can become.
2. Are the domain keywords short, sweet and memorable? Domains that are part of the english dictionary, shorter and memorable are more valuable. The longer the domain keyword or the more words in the domain, the less valuable the domain becomes.
3. What is the search volume of the keyword(s) of the domain? A domain that has a high search volume (also known as a high type in volume) will be worth more due to the “natural” traffic the domain will receive. In addition, a high search volume type of domain gives the business an advantage over similar business models due to the importance of the domain name in search engine optimization algorithms.
4. Is the keyword(s) spelled correctly? Mis-spellings and multi-word domains that share a letter devalue the domain vs a correctly spelled domain.
5. What is the top level extension of the domain? The .com extension is more valuable than all other extensions due to the wider acceptance of .com, the scarcity of domains available with the .com extension and the fact that .com can be used internationally.
6. Does the domain have a hyphen or any special characters? Any additional charactes in a domain name like a hyphen or non-standard character will diminish the value.
7. What are the natural buyers or natural business use of the domain? The more natural businesses that can sit on the domain, the more potential buying competition there is.
8. Are there potential trademark infringement or other legal issues with the keywords in the domain? Much like a title search on a new house or piece of property, making sure the domain is free and clear to be transfered is important. This is especially important for high value domains. In addition, any potential conflicts with an established trademark will reduce the value of the domain.
9. What are the comparable transactions? When valuing real estate, agents look at what other comparable homes, property or buildings sold for. Same thing for domains. What have similar domains sold for at auction or through a broker recently?
10. Does the domain have branding and advertising potential? Amazon is a river, it is also the largest e-commerce site on the internet. Google is a pretty successful site too. The words are short, snappy and have good businesses built on them. Could the domain you are considering have the same potential? If so, it will be worth more.

While no single element will drive the value of a domain, looking at all of these elements together will help you determine the range of price the domain is worth. The rest is up to your negotiating skills and options available on the market. Future blog posts will go into how to go deeper into these elements including the tools available online.

We’ve just added 546 premium domains for sale and development to the Domain Strategies portfolio. These are all high quality domain names from a wide variety of categories. Some of the domains include:

• Approvals.com
• ArtLocator.com
• AskTheChef.com
• BodyScanning.com
• BulkDeals.com
• CaliforniaRedWine.com
• GrowProfits.com
• InternetSeminars.com
• MarriageConsulting.com
• RomanticTravels.com
• SearchStrategy.com
• TennisCoaching.com
• WoodCabinets.com

Use the domain search to find the right domain for your business or online idea.

We’ve just added three new domains to the domain’s available for purchase or development. Click on the domains below for more information:

• SpeakingSchools.com
• DrugDrop.com
• iCompleted.com

We are very excited to announce that DomainStrategies.com has entered into an agreement to merchandise WiFi.com on behalf of the domain owner. WiFi.com is a tremendous example of a high quality generic domain that can serve a number of business models including:

• Content site with listings of WiFi hotspots throughout the world
• A hub for WiFi equipment and connectivity applications
• A business site for a WiFi focused company with nationwide or worldwide business interests.

If interested in discussing WiFi.com, please click here to contact us.

Vint Cerf is known primarily as one of the founders of the internet in the late 60’s and early 70’s. As a graduate student at UCLA, he tested the first internet hook-ups in 1969. Then as a professor at Stanford in the 70’s, he led a team that developed the underlying communication protocol for the internet - TCP/IP. For the last seven years, he has led ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) through a tumultuous childhood into early adulthood.

ICANN is the organization responsible for the global coordination of the Internet’s system of unique identifiers. Think of ICANN as the world wide governing body for keeping the domain name system (DNS) of .com, .co, .uk, .chn, etc. consistent and usable across nations, languages and networks. Without a strong and clear framework for allowing computers to find and talk to each other via the internet - inefficiency would reign.

Cerf has used his deep knowledge of the internet, warm sense of humor and business insight to work with high level personnel across the world to expand and organize the foundational elements of the internet. He is respected and his leadership will be missed.

The big question now is who will replace him and what effect will this have on the thousands of registrars, domain managers and internet systems that are influenced by ICANN. The short list of potential successors includes telecommunications expert Roberto Gaetano and lawyer Peter Dengate Thrush. Both have been active with ICANN, but neither has Cerf’s name recognition or long-standing ties to the Internet.

Concurrent with the launch of Seattle-based Domain Strategies, Rob Monster, President of Domain Strategies has joined Internet Real Estate Group, www.InternetRealEstate.com, as a Partner of the Boston-based company. Internet Real Estate Group (IREG) is a leading developer of premier domain names, including Software.com, Podcast.com, Phone.com,, Chocolate.com, and Patents.com.. Rob Monster’s venture capital group, Monster Venture Partners, is also making an equity investment in Internet Real Estate Group, as well as backing the launch of group Company, Patents.com, which he currently serves as Chairman. As part of a strategic partnership to develop the mid-market for Internet domains, IREG has also received an equity interest in Domain Strategies.

Domain Strategies announced today the launch of DomainStrategies.com, an open market place for domain owners, internet entrepreneurs and investors to meet and create value through domain based businesses. Read the press release