Great Domain Investing Link Site

Through NamePros I learned about a fantastic one-stop starting point for domain name investors.  Let me briefly lead you through some of the features, but it is so user friendly you may prefer to just directly head over to www.domlinks.com and see for yourself!

Sections

The image above shows the sections currently at the site, and they include the most visited resources for domain name investors.  For example, there are links to most of the main registrars, marketplaces, backorder/expiring sites, statistics/analysis tools, brokerage and escrow services.

By clicking on the appropriate button at DomLinks you are taken to an expanded view of links for that  topic.  For example, I show the top part of the Marketplaces.  I really liked the clean alphabetical listing and that he includes icons with each.   That makes it easy to find a link if you are looking for something you already know. The marketplace list is pretty complete, although note that Tough Domains is listed under domain management (with Efty) although in my mind it should also be included as a marketplace.

The bottom part of the Marketplaces is a subsection of brandable sites, that those who invest in that niche will find very useful. Along with BrandBucket and Brandpa, it also lists Brandroot, DNBX and Namerific.

One of the most comprehensive and useful sections is Research Tools.  Of course sites like NameBio, nTLDstats and ICANNWhois are listed, along with many others, some of which perhaps you, like I, had overlooked. Under Research Tools, certainly NameStat should be added.  I would also have included the W3Techs site. A really nice feature in the Research Tools section is that a few words indicate what you find at each site (example: for DomComp it  says 'Compare registration prices').

Remarks

I wish I had found this resource early in my domain investing career!  Most experienced domain investors will have already started using  many of these resources, but it is helpful to have them all attractively organized in one place. While there are other sites that do one or two of these topics, such as marketplace listings, I don't know of another site aa comprehensive as this one.

i found a couple of the sections not complete.  For example the Hosting section does not include such major hosting services as GoDaddy, HostPapa and Namecheap (although the GoDaddy and Namecheap do list in registrars, of course, so thee is a link somewhere on the site for  them).  Somewhat surprisingly, when I reviewed the site although Estibot is listed in the Research Tools section GoDaddy GoValue is not.

While any list of domain blogs is of course subjective, I think an excellent selection is made in that section. New domain investors would be wise starting with the ones here. I have under development a  future blog posts specifically on this topic.

I like the FreeLancer section at the bottom.  Even though it currently has only 3 linked sites, they are the big ones in this developing area.  I think many domain investors use some sort of additional related activity to even out the ups and downs of domain sales returns.

I realize that even the current DonLinks site is a lot of work, but it would be great to have a section dedicated to educational resources such as books, courses and educational videos. Another possible topic would be options for website security certificates, both the commercial alternatives and LetsEncrypt.

The contact page at the DomLinks site allows you to make suggestions for additions.  I see that one I submitted via NamePros has already been added.  It also states that there are no affiliate links directly on the site (of course a number of the linked sites have their own affiliate links).  This truly is a generous contribution to the domain community by the site developer!

DomLinks is a great site that will save you time and introduce you to resources you might have missed. Go visit it! It even has a great domain name and logo!

Note:

I reviewed the site on Aug 24,2018.  Quite likely it would have been further refined by the time you check it, so some of the proposed additions may well have already been implemented. 

Links:

• DomLinks site
• NameBio
• ICANN Whois
• nTLD Stats 
• Go Daddy GoValue
• NamePros 
• DomComp
• TLD-list
• NameStat
• W3Techs
• LetsEncrypt
• Our site NamesThat.win - thanks for visiting
• Permanent link to this blog post

Original post Aug 25, 2018.

Fine Print

This post is offered for informational and educational purposes only, and should not be considered domain name investment advice. While an attempt has been made to be accurate, there is no implied or explicit warranty, and you are responsible for verifying any information of importance to you. You also accept full responsibility for any domain investing decisions you may make that use data from this post.

I try to be fair, balanced and objective in my analysis.  If you feel this post does not meet that standard, please express your concerns to me.  

In a very few cases there may be affiliate links on my blog. This means I receive a small amount if users visit or make purchases via the link. You do not pay any additional charge due to using an affiliate link, and in some cases your cost will be below the normal price. I receive no identifying information about who clicks, or does not click, any link. I never accept compensation to provide favourable review of any particular service or product.

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Is it "silly" to invest in new gTLDs?

Introduction

Elliot Silver of Domain Investing published a post called "It's silly to buy something that is much harder to sell!".  After thinking about the points in his posts for a few days, I have developed the following response (I also posted a short version in comments on his website).

I don’t disagree with Elliot, whose writing on the domain industry I respect a lot, on the key points (domain selling is hard, the evidence supports the fact that generally selling .com is easier and more lucrative). I also agree with his view that at least currently the new global top level domains (ngTLDs) may be good for some end users and even the registrars in some cases, it is really tough to make much money from them in the resale market.  However, I do feel that calling those who invest in new global TLDs (ngTLD) “silly” is maybe slightly harsh, although that is not the main purpose of my post.  I think there are multiple good reasons to consider investing in ngTLDs as outlined in the next section.

Reasons to Invest in ngTLDs

Not overlooking the limited resale market to this point, I would argue that there can be good reasons to invest in ngTLDs.  Let me suggest a few of them.

1. The investor is primarily interested in developing and encouraging use of domain name phrases, which don’t really work with .com but are ideally suited to some of the new gTLDs. If you are new to the idea of domain name phrases, check them out at NamesThat.win or Names.of.London. 
2. The investor seeks to primarily serve end users who are in the NGO/organization space. While clearly .org TLDs are suitable (most would say preferred), and .net to some degree, some small organizations will be looking for higher impact or more affordable domain names in the ngTLD space. Many organizations do not want to be associated with .com or .biz (I know some are OK with it).  Something like 10 to 20% of domain names go to non-commercial organizations.
3. It is best to sell what you know, and it is natural for those with expertise in an area of one of the new gTLDs to include them in their portfolio. For example, my professional background was primarily in science and space, so it makes sense to consider investment in those ngTLDs (among others).
4. If the goal of the investor is to set up a diversified, creative portfolio without risking too much money, this is more possible with new gTLDs if one selects carefully.  Some domain name investors like searching for good value in creative, overlooked domain names, yet don't want to risk more than hundreds of dollars total. Yes, the odds are probably better of making money from one medium value .com but then all of your work and risk is in a single name and you don’t have the fun of developing a creative set of possible names for end users. 
5. You want to be part of an innovative change in domain name use.  Personally, I find many of the .com domain names available ugly (that is not surprising with over 130 million registered), while there are sometimes available, even at registration cost, aesthetically elegant simple domain names.  It is not surprising that search results are enhanced when the two parts (domain plus extension) match perfectly the topic of your website, and that is only possible with the ngTLDs.

Final Thoughts

Most businesses fail (yes statistics show that clearly), but if everyone took the lowest risk, easiest route of never gambling on starting something new, we would not have innovative businesses. Yes, for every Apple or Amazon there are thousands or tens of thousands of failed ideas, but occasionally one takes off! I think it is healthy and positive that some creative, idealistic people want to invest in new gTLDs.  And, well, let's not call them silly please!  

I appreciate the central message of Elliot's post - it is indeed hard to sell ngTLDs (in fact hard to sell any domain name other than the most cherished high value ones I would say). I think that those who say "It's easy, buy and flip for big profits"  for com or any extension are misleading and bring into the industry those who are in it for all the wrong reasons.  Like those who start innovative businesses, the domain name industry will be best served when it is full of people who first and foremost want to innovate and serve (yes, it is important to make a little money, but you should be driven by the service side of the industry).

I personally think that if you have more than a very tiny amount invested it is probably not wise to invest only in ngTLDs.  Although the majority of my portfolio is in ngTLDs, I also have about 10% in my own country code, a small selection of .com names in the niches I concentrate on, and about 15% in "global" country code names such as .co, .me and .pw. In any form of investment, diversification is wise. But I will admit that it is the ngTLDs that I like personally best.  I would be over the moon if you would have a look at some of my domain names.  Some of my favourites are in the Features section of my catalogue here.

Image credit: Pixabay user 12019. The content of this post is intended as educational information and commentary, and is not to be taken as individual investment advice. The reader is solely responsible for any domain name investment choices he or she makes.

What Names Will Be Strong in 2018?

I posted some of these thoughts on NamePros the other day, but thought I would refine and expand my thoughts in this post. The original post was in response to a poll about which types of domain names would be popular in 2018. The poll listed crypto, AR, VR, AI and other (I voted other). So what other do I think will be important?

I think it is fair to say that 2017 was the year of Bitcoin and crypto-currencies in general. If you look at the top 100 sales of the year on Namebio, eth.com took third place at $2,000,000 and crytpbank.com and cryptotrade.com are also on the Top 100 of 2017 domain name sales list. The daily Namebio reports for the year indicated many other significant sales throughout the year.

While I think crypto-currencies in general will remain hot in 2018, I think more interest will focus on the underlying blockchain technologies. Blockchain is applicable to much more than just crypto-currencies, and will revolutionize real estate, financial transactions, investing, identity products, international trade, etc. While the prime crypto-currency names will command huge prices, I see a glut of crypto-currency registrations will help cap prices for the run of the mill crypto-currency names.

So what do I think are domain names that will see a big rise in popularity in 2018? On the list below I have after each indicated some of the common hashtags on Twitter and other social media, although of course the list is not complete and there is no real standardization of hashtags. The order that I list them below is not meant to imply relative importance.

(a) Blockchain technology (#blockchain, #BCT) Blockchain is sstock prices on Kodak doubled overnight simply based on an announcement that they would use blockchain technology in image tracking and authentication. I see most of the blockchain attention in .com and .io TLD extensions, although some country codes will also do well and here and there new gTLDs like .trade and .fund may find sales. There will be a mix of modest sales to small startups and big sales to major players.
ociety changing in importance, and I think that good blockchain domain names will sell for large amounts. An indication of blockchain attention is that

(b) Internet of Things (#IoThings, #IOT) The Internet of Things and the general idea of connected plans and projections here. The following article makes some predictions for the Internet of Things.

devices of all kinds will continue to grow. Clever names in good extensions, or brandable options, will find customers. Both .com and .io will be good, some of the country codes, and possibly a bit of traffic in the more generic of the new gTLDs such as .online, .site or .xyz. I think words directly IoT, IoThings, InternetOfThings will sell of course, but even more so ideas that use connected or synonyms in a clever and memorable way. Creativity will pay off for those who can come up with a memorable startup name for the connected era. CISCO is a big player in the Internet of Things - you can find some of their

(c) Nanomaterials (#nano, #nanoscience, #nanomaterials, #nanoparticles, #nanotech, #IONT) While nanotech and nanomaterials have been around for years, I think many of the most exciting applications, in particular building really tiny and smart nanodevices for things like medicine (to precisely deliver pharmaceuticals) and smart material science. More than just experts will begin to combine these two ideas in an Internet of Nanoscale Things. (#IONT). This Scientific American article looks at the transition to nanoscale objects in the Internet of Things. This article looks at IONT from a business perspective. I think that while .com will as always command many of the sales, .io will be very popular in this area perhaps even more than .com. There will be some interest in a few of the new gTLDs, particularly .site, .tech and .science.

(d) Genetic Medicine (#genetic, #DNA, #CRISPR, Both in terms of editing to cure or prevent genetic related diseases using things like CRISPR, and genetics broadly and generally (e.g. consumer things like the ancestry services) is I think the sleeper that no one is talking much about (in the domain community - lots of talk in the world of science and medicine!). Unsure what CRISPR is? Here is a good short article including some potential applications, while this article from New Scientist describes 20 human trials either in place or about to start. I don't think there will not be a huge number of sales, but some of them will be at very good prices. While CRISPR has many applications outside health, I think medical applications will drive most of the domain name interest. The most obvious CRISPR name extensions are held in a few hands currently, only some of which are listed for sale. The golden era for CRISPR domain name sales is still a few years away, but 2018 will see some movement.

(e) Psychology/Healthy Mind (#PositivePsychology, #Happiness, #HappinessAdvantage) The idea of positive psychology was popularized through The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor (see this link to learn more, including links to both the book and TED talk). The essential idea is expressed this way: "When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive." This means that the first step in becoming more productive is to work on your happiness level. I see various combinations of positive, psychology, happy, happiness and advantage in domain names as finding customers, both at the moderately high end and particularly at prices modest enough for a single consultant or counsellor. Positive psychology has clear implications for successful schools and businesses, although the impact is much broader than that. Of course this is just one topic in the area of mental health, and I see topics such as meditation, mindfulness, counselling, etc. all finding interest. Overall I think 2018 will be a good year for .org, and I see some of the big players here choosing .org, .net or possibly .site, .club or .online, instead of .com. There is probably room for some of the new gTLD to have an impact here too.

(f) Design I think design of various kinds will be popular, selling at amounts ranging fro tens of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. It is encouraging that big names like NPR, Facebook and Kohler have meaningly used the .design TLD, and I see this helping get the new gTLD finding a market among smaller companies. I don't see many sales of $1000 or more, but I think there will be a number of sales in the hundreds of dollars range. Those with good .design names will be able to make modest profits, or hold for another year for better returns.

(g) Environmental For good reason there will continue to be lots of international attention on issues of climate change and the environment more generally. Of course many of the players here will already use existing organizational or educational sites rather than purchase new domains, but I think media, non governmental organizations and others will be willing to pay small but significant amounts for a descriptive domain name. This is one area that I think .com will not be the best option. I think many environmental organizations will select TLDs like .site, .space, .website and .online, as well as the environment centred .eco TLD that comes with controls on who can use it.

(h) Startups Certainly 2017 was active for the TLD extension .io for tech startups, and the first couple of weeks of 2018 shows that trend continuing. Each year many startups begin (and end), and each wants a name that will feel unique. With limited budgets in some cases, I think we will see a small rebound of .xyz as a very low cost option for tiny startups and I see some cost-conscious startups with global hopes will go with .gdn (global domain name). Environmental startups may select .eco that brings credibility and the possibility to get a really short domain name.

(i) Freelancers I saved for last what I think will be the largest market for domain names - individuals starting single person companies, many of them part time. They will be looking for a domain name that is simple and catchy, but not be willing or able to pay a large amount. While many will use .com and .net (or a country or region extension), I see .pw, .site, .online, .top and .xyz finding some sales here. I also see good potential for the more specialized new gTLDs such as .design, .guru, .tech, .agency, studio and many others, as well as legacy extensions such as .pro and .biz (although overall I think .biz does not have a bright future). While the rebranding of .pw as professional web has had fairly modest success so far, I see 2018 being good for .pw including some sales in the tens to hundreds of dollars on the resale markets.

Clearly the above list reflects my own interests and biases. Please feel free to expand the list with your ideas through the comments section here, or through interacting with me on Twitter. There is no doubt that 2018 will be an interesting one in the world of domain names!

Original post Jan 12, 2018.

Formatting only modification July 29, 2018 – no change to content.

Disclosure: This report presents the views of the author, and is not intended as professional individual advice on which to base business decisions. The author has domain names for sale in several of the areas mentioned here, so bias is possible (or probable!). The complete list of domain names I own is available here.


Photo credits: The images used to illustrate the article are from Pixabay and believed to all allow commercial use. If you spot an issue with an image please let us know and we will remove it immediately. The images we use here are provided by Pixabay users Tumisu, geralt, TheDigitalArtist, qimono, CreativeMagic, stux, stevepb, StartupStockPhotos and OvidiuTepes.


Note: This report is presented both on the author's blog and as a white paper on NamesThat.win. The white paper version will be updated, and should be regarded as more authoritative. In particular the author owns CRISPR in various TLD extensions and a number of nanotech related domain names.


This article may be reprinted in whole or in part provided that a credit of the original source is given, ideally with a link.

Domain Names as Real Estate

People sometimes ask me to explain the whole domain name - web hosting business, and I find the following analogy helpful. While I know that the comparison of domain names with real estate is widely used, I think the following account has some unique characteristics.

I tell them that owning a domain name is like owning land (well really it is more like leasing land for a certain period of time). You need that land before you can build a house (see next paragraph). Just like the price for land varies greatly, so does the price for domain names. An important criterion for the price of land is the location - land near a city normally sells for more than land way out in a rural area. The similar idea to location for domain names is the top level domain (TLD), some are more valuable (like .com, .org or .net) and others less so. But just like not any piece of land in a city will demand a good price, just because it is a .com domain by itself does not mean it is valuable.

The new top level domains (nTLDs), things like .site or .xyz or .design, are sort of like new subdivisions that are being developed. Initially land there commands a lower price, even if the long term prospects look positive.

Some country specific domain names require you to be from that country to use that domain name. For example, I live in Canada, and .ca domain name holders must reside in Canada. That is sort of like regions that have rules about foreign ownership of real estate. For the most part the nTLDs don't have specific requirements; you can own a .science domain without being a scientist (I don't think it should be that way, but that is a topic for another post!).

But while location is important, it is not the only thing that matters. Perhaps you really want a site with a nice view or forested property or privacy, these may matter more to you than location. In the same way you may be able to get just the perfect name with one of the nTLDs, so that name will be valuable. Just as we have observed with many cities, land further out has become increasingly more valuable over time, I expect that the nTLDs will increase in value gradually as acceptance grows. The acceptance will require that some people build good reputable websites on the nTLDs.

If you want both a great location and special features, for example waterfront property on a large lot near a city centre, that will indeed cost a lot. That is why a few domain names, mainly .com, go for such high prices.

The land analogy to domain names suggests another truth. Land is only valuable if it serves the needs (and desires) of someone. A domain name is only valuable if someone will desire it and find it useful for their purposes. While various factors enter into an evaluation of domain name worth, for example, is the TLD respected, is the name easy to remember and spell, does the name reflect your organization positively, etc.

After you purchase land you usually have a house built, and the analogous concept is to build a website. While you need land to build a house (well if we exclude strata developments, mobile homes or house boats!), the land by itself is not enough for a place to live (unless you want to live in a tent permanently!). Also, you don't need to build the house right away, and that is like those who hold domain names, hoping that they will become more valuable in the future. A good domain name without a good website is a wasted opportunity, so it does not make sense to build a poor website on a premium domain name.

In life our needs change, and most of us live in several homes, in different locations, over our lifetime. That may happen for your organization or business needs. You may need to purchase additional domain names, or may decide to rebrand yourself with a new domain name.

You also don't want people to confuse you with an unsavoury person who lives in the same city. Let's say there is someone who lives in the same area that has almost your name, and he has been in trouble with the courts. You want to take whatever steps are possible to protect your own good name, so people won't be confusing you with him.

For people to find your house they could use the GPS location that you give them (that would be like the IP address in the world of websites), but most will look in some sort of directory to see where you live. The domain name server (DNS) has this role, linking a specific numerical address to the domain name that you have registered. There are actually many DNS on the internet, but they rapidly share the information, so if you move your website to a new location they will be able to find you at the new location.

Just as you can sell land alone (domain name by itself) or land with a house (website with the domain name), both domain names and complete websites are sold in the market. While there are domain name advisors, and others who will act as agents for a domain name purchase or intermediaries in the sale, a standardized domain name agent like a real estate agent is not firmly established.

If this analogy is helpful, feel free to use it. I hope you find just the right domain name!