I’ve seen similar names selling for four figures recently, so I thought I would list two similar geographic insurance domain names for sale. The asking price is $625/each, but I will sell the pair for $925. The two domain names I am selling are:
SantaFeCarInsurance.com
WestPalmBeachHealthInsurance.com
9/2 – Domain Names have been sold.
I personally don’t own many domain names that end in Blog.com or News.com, but I think they have considerable value. Just about every industry, hobby, sport, country, city….etc has a blogger or news source that covers the segment. Many people perform searches for “topic blog,” as well as “topic news” to get great information.
A developed site with unique content on one of these types of domain names can lead to big advertising deals and increased traffic. First off, Google loves blogs, news, and other websites that have frequent updates and new content added regularly. When you have a blogging platform (such as WordPress) installed on a site that ends in Blog.com or News.com, Google and Yahoo are given two big hints about what will be seen on the site, and by all indication, will rank them well.
So these names clearly have value, but they can be difficult to sell at a premium price. The difficult thing about selling these domain names – especially Blog.com domain names – is that many people begin to blog for the love of the topic rather than to make money. These people don’t necessarily start their blog site to earn a living, and therefore can’t justify paying significant money for these valuable domain names. However, if you can convince them of their ability to make money from writing about their passion, it can help you raise the price when they inquire.
One way to increase the value of your domain sale is to ask a person who inquires what he has planned for the site. Probe further and ask about the topic and the amount of traffic he hopes to receive. Do a bit of research and see who is advertising in that vertical and remind the blogger that if he owns the category defining domain name, he is already ahead of the game. With his traffic goals and the key domain name, he can command more advertising revenue, which will defray the cost of the domain name. You might also research more and show him affiliate programs in that vertical allowing him to make money.
Remind him that you have the best domain name for his blog, and while the cost might be high up front, it will pay dividends in the future. You can also offer him a lease to own deal, allowing him to build his website on the domain name you ultimately control. This will allow him to slowly build his base at a fair cost, while still providing the opportunity for a buy out down the road. Of course you need to be cautious about lease deals, but they can and do work.
Below are some good Blog.com and News.com domain names that are for sale (some premium and some drops) – I do not own them:
AstronomyBlog.com
BermudaBlog.com
CapeCodBlog.com
DadBlog.com
HeadhunterBlog.com
LacrosseBlog.com
LaptopBlog.com
MatchmakingBlog.com (IMO, this is a great deal because of the high value dating leads)
NursingBlog.com
AcupunctureNews.com
AnthropologyNews.com
BeerNews.com
BritishNews.com
CosmeticSurgeryNews.com
EconomicNews.com
FarmingNews.com
GeneticsNews.com
InvestorsNews.com
ObstetricsNews.com
TeachingNews.com
Although I believe a great domain name can help catapult a company’s website over others in search engine rankings, I believe the content on the site is as important when a person develops it. Owning Lowell.com and having the Lowell Spinners section at Lowell.com/lowell-spinners.php probably helps my website’s rankings (although the second “lowell” may be overkill”), it’s the good and fresh content that continues to drive people to the site during the season.
If your content isn’t accurate, some people may not even notice, and it’s just a bit of a disservice to them which they won’t realize until they bet a friend at a party and turn out to be wrong. Others who are experts on the topic, the people who might want to advertise on the site for example, will think it’s unprofessional if there are many errors. At best, they will send you a small email to point out your inaccuracies. At worst, they won’t return to your site and won’t contact you about advertising.
It’s also imperative that the content is unique to your site. Sure, a city’s history doesn’t change, but they way it’s presented should be unique to your website. Facts are facts, but oftentimes, one site leaves off some facts and each site’s information is different. Research is important to get facts correct, and that can mean researching a variety of trusted websites and offline sources for the correct information. Oftentimes, it can be as easy as calling on an expert to get the information. This is time consuming and expensive, but it’s well worth it.
Tomorrow, I will provide some insight in to hiring a good copywriter and preventing plagiarism/content theft. A domain name, cool web design, and great SEO are all very helpful to driving traffic, but good and unique content will keep visitors returning for a long time.
I use a variety of handy tools every day to help make smarter domain acquisition, sales, and development decisions. Many of these tools weren’t created specifically for domain investors, but they work very well for our needs. Some of the tools I use just about every day include Whois History, website archive, keyword tools, reverse IP search, Alexa, and Compete.
Every so often, I wish that a specific tool or product was created and/or was more accessible or better publicized. For instance, wish there was an intuitive tool where I could type in a keyword phrase, and the tool would spit out associated domain names, Whois results, and let me know if the domain name is a developed website. This would save time and generate domain acquisition targets more easily.
On the product-side, I wish there was much more intuitive and easy to use web development software. I would love a program where I could just drag different elements into place, and it would code everything for me. I wouldn’t want something that created websites that look like they’re from the 1990s – I am talking real deal development that looks great and allows me to create cool things.
I know there are thousands of people working to build tools and products that will help web developers and many who are looking to create something that is helpful to domain investors. I am sure a few of them read domain blogs such as this to see what people want and need – and would pay for if they knew the product existed.
So I ask you, what tools or products would help you become a better web developer or domain investor?
Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jannem/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
I monitor a bunch of keywords and domain names on my Cotweet account, one of the Twitter applications I use on a regular basis. A couple of days ago, I saw that another Twitter user had mentioned one of my domain names with a ccTLD extension, and because her post was in a different language, I didn’t really understand what she was saying at first.
Instead of translating the Tweet, I decided to type in the domain name she mentioned, and I was surprised to see a fully developed cosmetics company operating on the ccTLD. I am not too concerned about them accusing me of using their brand because my domain name is a fully developed business, they are in another company, and I am not even operating in the same industry.
However, I did some additional research to make sure that my usage started before theirs and that they don’t have any trademarks or pending marks for the term in the US. While this might be unnecessary, I am just doing my due diligence to proactively see what could lie ahead. With the ease of filing a UDRP, I want to make sure I am prepared just in case.
If you own and operate a business on a domain name where other companies are operating on different extensions, you, too should do your due diligence. Ignorance is never a valid defense!
I read that ESPN is going local in a variety of sports markets, and I noticed that they bought many of the domain names they will need to expand their online presence and protect the brand. ESPN first went local in Chicago in April, and is known locally as ESPN Chicago, and they are planning to enter the Boston market in September. Assuming they find success, they will presumably continue to expand locally, in addition to radio stations they own in many large markets.
Although the network uses the ESPN.com URL for its Chicago site, they forward ESPNChicago.com to that preferred URL: ESPN.Go.com/Chicago. They also own many other domain names for markets in which they may have expansion plans. Some of the local domain names were purchased many years prior as part of the local ESPN radio network, while others have been purchased more recently. I did a quick scan of some of the bigger sports markets, and it looks like ESPN was on top of their domain registrations before making their announcement.
ESPNBoston.com – Registered 2005
ESPNChicago.com – Registered 1999
ESPNNewYork.com – Registered 2007
ESPNSeattle.com – Registered 2008
ESPNDallas.com – Registered 2007
ESPNDenver.com – Registered 2006
ESPNPhiladelphia.com – Registered 2009
ESPNMiami.com – Registered 2008 – Not owned by ESPN
ESPNNewOrleans.com – Registered 2009 – Not owned by ESPN
ESPNLosAngeles.com – Registered 2009
ESPNDenver.com – Registered 2006
ESPNDetroit.com – Registered 2007
ESPNSanFrancisco.com – Registered 2009
ESPNStLouis.com – Registered 2008
ESPNTampa.com – Registered 2009
Many more…
This is a credit to ESPN’s marketing smarts, because I have seen other companies decide that they are only going to use their primary URL and not worry about the local URLs. Unfortunately, when human nature takes over and people type-in what they assume will be the URL, they come across a domain name that isn’t owned by the company. In the end, the company ends up spending thousands of dollars purchasing the domain names from their cybersquatting owners, or they spend even more money on UDRP filings and other litigation.
Buying these domain names for $10/each now could save thousands of dollars in the future. Even if they don’t expand in all of those markets, they are still protecting the brand at a relatively low cost.
