I was having a philosophical domain discussion last night about the future of the domain industry and where domain investors stand. This got me thinking about “my perfect domain portfolio” and my plans for the future. While we all tend to focus on the short-term, I think it’s important to think further out and set some long-term goals. I know this well help me stay focused on the bigger picture when dealing with present issues.
With that in mind, I would like to share what I think is “my perfect domain portfolio” in 5 years time. I cannot say whether this will still hold true in 5 years, but it is what I am visualizing at the moment.
I will have 2 fully developed city .com geographic domain names that are benefiting each community and the advertisers. I would like both domain names to be cities of between 100-150,000 people, as I believe a city of this size will benefit from a well-developed website. I think it would be much more difficult for a website to have an impact on a larger city, and as much as money is important, I believe a nice living can be made in the mid-size cities. I want to establish strong relationships in both cities, and I want each website to be well-received and beneficial to each city. I believe I have started this with my Lowell.com website, which is still being developed.
I will have 2 developed product/service based websites. They won’t necessarily be full businesses, but they will be in a niche that I find particularly interesting. Perhaps a wine or travel related website would be one of these. I hope this could be a fun website I will enjoy managing and be able to work on as more of a hobby than financial endeavor. Hopefully the geo-domain names will generate enough revenue to be able to do this without worrying about generating revenue on these pet projects!
I will have 15-20 domain names of friends and family. Some of my friends don’t really understand domain management, but they know they need (or will need) their domain names in the future. I am holding a few domain names for friends at the moment, and I imagine I will hold more in the next few years as friends get married or take on new challenges in life. For example, my brother is a law student, so I own a domain name that could be relevant to his law firm down the road.
I will want to own 10-20 speculative .com domain names. These are pure speculation that the topic would be of interest to someone or me down the road. These could all be names I keep in the hopper for my own development needs if I wish. They will all be in areas of interest, and I won’t be inclined to sell them.
As some people have seen, I have been selling names from my portfolio more quickly than usual. One reason I am selling them is because I acquired a large geographic domain name a few days ago (that I have been looking to acquire for over 2 months). This new name fits into my 5 year plan, and I need the funds to offset the high acquisition cost. A second reason I am selling is because I know I won’t ever get to develop the names. It’s not a matter of not wanting to develop them, but rather the time it would take.
The opportunity cost of keeping these domain names is greater than if I sell them and use the funds to pay for other expenses. Sure, I am probably getting much less than I could get down the road, but I know the funds I use from the proceeds of the sale will be more beneficial today to help position me to reach my goals in 5 years than they would be if I held on to them. As domain owners, we need to look at the costs of selling vs. the cost of not selling and see how that will affect our 5 year plan.
