As I do every morning, I was looking through a list of pending delete domain names on the first day of the year. I found a two word health .com domain name that caught my eye and backordered it at DropCatch.com. With a $59 bid, I was the only bidder and made my first purchase of the year.

Unfortunately, it was a typo. A rookie mistake. Not off to a good start on the domain name acquisition front.

The domain names I focus on acquiring privately aren’t usually for sale. To me, a great domain name that isn’t listed for sale and hasn’t been marketed has the greatest chance of reselling profitably.

There are many reasons for why a domain name may no longer be used but isn’t offered for sale. The registrant may not know about the domain name aftermarket. Selling an unused domain name is a very low priority for the owner. There may be no catalyst for a domain name sale. Nobody at the company may be responsible for selling an asset like a domain name. The domain name may have been bought at a low cost many years ago, and there is just a small holding cost that is insignificant.

I don’t closely track the percentage of domain extensions in my portfolio. I could have 75% .com or I could have 99% .com domain names in my portfolio, and the only implication is higher (in general) renewal costs. Because I buy more domain names that I sell, my portfolio has been growing each year, so tracking the increase in renewal costs isn’t really helpful in seeing how the percentage of .com domain names is changing.

I’ve primarily invested in .com domain names since I started my business 20 years ago. I think great one and two word .com domain names are the most desirable assets for businesses around the world, and I have always wanted to invest in domain names like these that sell themselves.