I enjoy reading articles that share advice about buying domain names. There are usually some good tips, and it’s also helpful to learn strategies and tactics companies may use to acquire domain names from my company.

I was reading Jayson DeMers’ article about buying domain names on SearchEngineGuide.com. The article, What to Do When Your Domain Name Isn’t Available, offers some solid advice, although one paragraph about domain brokers really jumped out at me.

In the section about buying domain names from domain owners, DeMers writes,

“There are some cons, though, as well. Brokers may charge anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of the sale price and will typically tack on additional transaction fees. There’s also very little industry regulation and it’s challenging to stop unethical brokers from taking advantage of you.”

I am sure there are unethical operators in every industry, and perhaps the nature of the domain investment space makes it more easy for some people to be unethical without repercussions. I think it’s pretty bad that there is a perception about unethical domain brokers, especially because there are many domain brokers who are honest.

I think DeMers has a point about industry regulation, and I would imagine most brokers defer to the legal system where they operate. That said, I think there is a difference between what is legal and what is ethical, and perhaps a domain broker trade group could educate people who operate within the industry. The organization could set up guidelines its members must adhere to in order to remain in good standing within the group.

There are quite a few excellent and honest domain brokers with whom I have done business without a problem. I would imagine most of the well-known domain brokers and domain brokerages operate within a set of ethical and legal guidelines created by their individual companies. Perhaps it is time some of the leading domain brokers form a trade group that adheres to a set of standards, and professional brokers would have to adhere to the standards to be certified.

What are your thoughts about this?

Last week, I asked people to share their favorite domain name. At the time of publication, the article had just shy of 300 comments. Many of the comments offered feedback about submitted domain names, but the majority were comments with people’s favorite domain names submitted.

One thing I was surprised about was the number of new gTLD domain name submissions. I would have thought the vast majority of submissions would be .com domain names. It was interesting for me to observe the number of new gTLD domain submissions that readers favor.

I am now curious to see what you think your most valuable domain name is. I am sure many

A regular reader and contributor named Todd offered a blog post suggestion that I thought was good. Todd suggested,

“Why don’t you have a post where each person submits one of their favorite domains and then let the readers give their thoughts on each one.   I think it would help many people understand what makes a good domain by letting people critique the entries.”

I would imagine most domain investors have a favorite domain name that they own. I think it’s good to get feedback about a domain name from third parties who don’t have a vested interest in the domain name. I invite you to offer a critique of domain names listed in the comment section by visitors and to list your own favorite domain name. The one rule is that the domain name you list must be owned by you or a company you control.

My personal favorite domain name owned by my company is