Generic Domain Names

As I do every morning, I received a Google news alert today with the topic of domain names. The title of the article is “Expert says very few domains are worth millions,” and it was posted on GlobalGold.co.uk, “UK’s most progressive and innovative web hosting and web-based application providers for SME business today.”

Ordinarily I don’t post links to articles I believe are written poorly, but this one happened to include my opinion as the source, and the conclusion they drew was taken from a completely unrelated article. I don’t know if the article was written as SEO bait, but it got me to read it, and unfortunately, it caused me to write this post.

The article tried to juxtapose my article about the problems impacting domain auctions with the Media Post article, How Much Are Domain Names For Campaigns Worth?, in which Laurie Sullivan wrote, “Marketing and advertising agencies looking to strengthen campaigns might pay just about any price for a solid domain name if it means building a better relationship with consumers.”

The Global Globe article referenced me by writing:

Laurie Sullivan told Media Post that the most commercially attractive web addresses can sell for millions, meaning they can be prized business assets.

However, internet entrepreneur Elliot J Silver says multi-million pound transactions are the exception to the rule, as domains generally have a much lower value.

Although I do think that million dollar domain names are a very small percentage of overall domain registrations, I don’t think that this has anything to do with domain auctions, as the article further implies (“Writing in his blog, he reported that domain auctions have suffered lately due to firms being unrealistic as to the value of their addresses.”). The article was confusing to read, and it didn’t really make sense to jump to its conclusion based on an unrelated post of mine.

My opinion on valuable domain names can be found in Website Magazine’s Web Trends for 2010 article, in which I was asked for some predictions for the new year. In that article, I said  “High-value keyword names like toys.com and candy.com, which sold this past year, will continue to command high prices. Companies will continue to invest in their own businesses and will acquire high-value keyword domains names for growth and for competitive reasons.”

This puts my opinion more in line with Sullivan’s Media Post article than the Global Gold article insinuates.