SolarEnergy(.)com sold for $1,650,000

[nstalk]

I just found this exciting news for all domainers, especially those who invest in green alternative energy names. It can be found on the 10-Q filed today by Solar energy Initiatives, Inc. under Significant Capital Expenditures. http://biz.yahoo.com/e/081224/snry.ob10-q.html

"During the quarter ended October 31, 2008, we acquired approximately $1,662,755 of business assets, and furniture and equipment for office purposes. $1,650,000 of the capital expenditures were for the purchase of the domain name, solarenergy.com, We have used these assets to begin our business operation."

This is by far the highest price I've seen paid yet for any green alternative energy name.

Merry Christmas to all.....

 

[daj]

why not brand themselves on one of those exotic extensions? It would save them around $1,649,070 dollars.

 

[Mark]

No - it wouldn't ...

They would spend the money advertising those domains ^ only to lose traffic to Much better Generic TLD's. If this company has spent this much on a domain name ... There is a reason.

#1 - The domain already has built in Targeted Visitors. Even with a keyword this strong , only a few GTLD's and possibly a few English based CCTLD's would get a "little" immediate Traffic (Not swearing by that really).

#2 - NO ONE is going to make the mistake of typing in another extension when they try to recall this domain/website name. Try saying that for all of the other extensions ... Especially those you listed.

Don't be dragging the same silly arguements into Every thread announcing another nice .Com has been sold ...

 

[akcampbell]

Lol - You're suggesting they brand themselves on .tc .gd .ms ?

I think they could have gone with another solar domain and saved themselves alot of money;

EcoSolar.com $3,688
Solar.net $2,297
SolarLabs.com $2,188
SolarChoice.com $1,995
Solar.info $8,500
USolar.com $3,988
SolarDirectory.com $11,000
SolarPoweredHome.com $1,688

People automatically assume somebody willing to pay seven figures for a .com are visionaries. Some are but some just have more money than sense and are looking for a shortcut to commercial success that a swish domain name combined with an average web site won't give them.

I don't think you need a premium .com in this industry. I can't imagine the type-in traffic for SolarEnergy.com is that lucrative, more likely to be kids working on a school project than somebody about to strap solar panels to their roof.

I get the logic of paying millions of dollars for Diamond.com, Wine.com, or Sex.com, they have very high type-in traffic and you can reliably monetise it.

If generic energy .coms were worth pursuing commercially Oil.com, Electricity.com, and Gas.com wouldn't be Word Press style templates. They would have been sold for $10m-$20m or a few hours of profit for the biggest companies doing business in these industries.

Solar panels cost alot of money so if you provide the lead for a sale, it's worth alot to a dealer, I just don't think people who are savvy enough to be fitting solar panels to their home of office haven't heard of Google. For me, it's an SEO battle for a niche market. When the market matures, it will be the companies that currently provide the electricity and gas that dominate.

Interestingly, SolarEnergy.com is nowhere to be seen on the first 2 pages of Google for the phrase Solar Energy. SolarEnergy.org is the first generic on the second page.

 

[daj]

The bottomline is that any extension is easily remembered when it has a site on it that many people enjoy. If a great site was at solarenergy.tc I would definitely remember the extension for it. Just like if Amazon was at Amazon.jungle I would still remember that extension. Any extension can be remembered if a good site is using it.


I don't even think this domain was sold. Solar Energy, Inc has owned the domain for years, and are still the owner according to the WhoIs information. They owned it way before October 2008 according to archive.org...

After searching google.com and looking over the info about Solar Energy, Inc.
They were bought out by Solar Energy Initiatives, Inc which is why it says "A Solar Energy Initiatives, Inc. Company" on www.solarenergy.com. So In essence they bought the jacksonville company..and the domain was included in the price.

 

[akcampbell]

The bottomline is that any extension is easily remembered when it has a site on it that many people enjoy. If a great site was at solarenergy.tc I would definitely remember the extension for it. Just like if Amazon was at Amazon.jungle I would still remember that extension. Any extension can be remembered if a good site is using it.

Very true. People remember Last.fm even though it's probably the only .fm they ever visit. Why do .com domainers assume everybody's stupid. When you move beyond the 1/6 of Internet traffic that is type-in, domain extensions makes little difference. If you have a nicer site than your rivals, lower prices, a better business model, or smarter staff, you will win regardless of extension. There is more to doing business online than selling a 3 day w%&k pass to a 19 year old who types in Sex.com.

There are bound to me more big sites that come through on exotic extensions because the people with the design and development skills, industry knowledge and drive aren't necessarily the people with $Xm to blow on generic .coms. eBay, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, were all weak .coms in their day. You don't need generic .coms to succeed online or .coms at all. It's all in the originality, marketing, and site technology.

 

[daj]

Link about NP Capital Corp purchasing Solar Energy Inc, and their name: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS103617+27-Aug-2008+PRN20080827

Also Np Capital Corp changed their name to Solar Energy Initiatives, Inc.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/busine...me_to_solar_energy_initiatives_inc/index.html

So most likely the price of the domain includes other assets... clearly which is why the dot com sold for so much.

 

[Mark]

Sure - anyone can build up traffic on any site/domain ... And even any extension. But if you don't have to - Well that's a plus from the start. Not only is the Keyword strong ... It's relevant to the times.

It's to the point , Easy to remember , And has built in Traffic that they will not have to Pay for as long as they own it. Notice I'm not commenting on the actual sale or Sales price ... Just on what sortomoney posted.
If I lived in one of the countries connected to the extensions he mentioned , and it was the same exact term (In this case - it probably is) for their language(s) ... I might would reg one of them. If I had a lesser valued domain for a website (like the ones you mentioned) and wanted to pick up any possible loose traffic out there - I might would reg them. But it will not be anywhere Near the same traffic SolarEnergy (.) com would pick up naturally. I've owned plenty of "PremiumKeyword".cctld's - many were single worders much stronger than this 2 word .com ... Minimal traffic and income at best. Decent if you have an existing site to better utilize the traffic - but hardly worth spending a small fortune on for advertising just to lose some of that "Paid Traffic".

Adwords data :
Phrase Top bids range Avg. Search Volume per month
solar energy $1.42 450,000

The current bids are actually low all things considered - Which is why I'm not saying "Great Price for this domain !" - But compared to other sales we've all seen this past year ... The price is not really shocking.

 

[jeffoverman]

Quit a gamble on a big domain name and thing trades pennies on the dollar imo. Can only imagine what sherholders say on this purchase. View of a common person not a domainer view point.

Its a great name. No question. Imo seller got out on a huge exit plan.

Only time will tell on this and if it pays off even if solar energy heats up. A lot of big corporations are entering field and be a tough go imo.

I could be wrong.

 

[gear]

SolarEnergy good keywods

 

[Mark]

http://solarenergy.com/ Does not resolve for me , but http://www.solarenergy.com/ does ....

 

[daj]

I see your point, but I feel as people become more aware of other extensions, they'll get type in traffic just as well, maybe never as much dot com will, but still...

Sure - anyone can build up traffic on any site/domain ... And even any extension. But if you don't have to - Well that's a plus from the start. Not only is the Keyword strong ... It's relevant to the times.

It's to the point , Easy to remember , And has built in Traffic that they will not have to Pay for as long as they own it. Notice I'm not commenting on the actual sale or Sales price ... Just on what sortomoney posted.
If I lived in one of the countries connected to the extensions he mentioned , and it was the same exact term (In this case - it probably is) for their language(s) ... I might would reg one of them. If I had a lesser valued domain for a website (like the ones you mentioned) and wanted to pick up any possible loose traffic out there - I might would reg them. But it will not be anywhere Near the same traffic SolarEnergy (.) com would pick up naturally. I've owned plenty of "PremiumKeyword".cctld's - many were single worders much stronger than this 2 word .com ... Minimal traffic and income at best. Decent if you have an existing site to better utilize the traffic - but hardly worth spending a small fortune on for advertising just to lose some of that "Paid Traffic".

Adwords data :
Phrase Top bids range Avg. Search Volume per month
solar energy $1.42 450,000

The current bids are actually low all things considered - Which is why I'm not saying "Great Price for this domain !" - But compared to other sales we've all seen this past year ... The price is not really shocking.

 

[nstalk]

I know its hard for many to perceive such a high value for a name like SolarEnergy.com....but not me. Heck, I'll bet it will be worth 2 or 3 times more than that within a few years. I'm one of those who believe solar and wind will be our primary sources of renewable energy before mid century with solar being THE primary source. There is no limit to the value of such a domain name....imho.

I had much rather own SolarEnergy.com than Oil.com. SolarEnergy is unlimited where Oil is soon to be history.

 

[wot]

Hopefully it will spill over to other languages as I own the Russian version of solar energy in .com .

 

[allanh]

1.6 million dollars is def a lot of money for a niche domain...... I would rather invest in geo domains if I have that kind of money

 

[goodkarmaco]

Another score for the little guy

Clean energy investment jumped every year for several years and is growing so fast that it is now the new economy.

Two years ago clean energy investment was 80 billion. Last year, (2007) even though most markets tanked and most companies have had huge revenue losses, clean energy bolted out the door way ahead of the pack, jumping from 80 billion the previous year, (2006) to a whopping amount of almost 120 billion in clean energy investment money spent for 2007.

This is big money going into a new niche market.

The small corporation that bought solarenergy.com is different in scope as to what Rick S was saying for a long time about Wall St companies and how they did not grab domains until too late. The name solarenergy.com was seen as valuable not by the big money players, but by a small Corp that paid dearly for it compaired to the assets it owned. Rick S. said, (not qouting him) the big money making corporations that should have had smart marketing people had morons as advertising managers who completly missed the oppourtunity that the internet provided by way of natural type in traffic. The big players have been too slow and should have seen the potential of the online traffic. They have missed out on domains that are the traffic for defining their market category. Rick S basically said whats wrong with the marketing folks not buying hotels.com when it was available for a song?.

So I congratulate Solar Energy Initiatives, Inc for seeing the immense value of owning the descriptive category domain for solar energy, even though their assets are miniscule compared to the giants of industry who make money in the energy sector.

Now more than ever some of our better names are going to be gold.


http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/02/business/energy.php

For sale; cleanenergyinvestment.com

energyfromtides.com esolar.tv isolar.us passinvesolar.us biodiesel.net agbiodiesels.com

 

[ezimedia]

Lol - You're suggesting they brand themselves on .tc .gd .ms ?

I was just thinking the same thing..

Anyway a lot of money but Solar Energy is the future..

Thx
Tom

 

[goodkarmaco]

Well part of the future anyway. Where I live it can get pretty dark with rain or snow clouds just when energy is needed. Some mix of many types of clean energy will be the future at least short term, until another Thomas Edison comes along.

 

[daj]

Oil will always be available.
The media has just allowed you all to believe we're running out.

Just like the fake economy crash going on right now. It's all a game to make money.
Stop watching your TV.

 

[Compassion]

What a great name...


We have all the solar energy we need to power our electronics....if we convert our power source to solar, we all win.

 

[Charley]

Because that jacksonville company still owns the website..

Must be payments in instalments.

 

[lzy]

Big money in renewable energy, honestly not really surprised at the amount.

Oil will always be available.
The media has just allowed you all to believe we're running out.

Really? :o

 

[nstalk]

Oil will always be available.
The media has just allowed you all to believe we're running out.

I think oil will always be available but probably not for the same reasons as some others do. Oil will be replaced as our primary source of energy for our vehicles and equipment long before it runs out. We'll always have plenty of oil in the ground but the price will probably drop so low it won't be worth the cost of pumping and refining. Thats the main reason mid-east oil sheiks are making huge investments in solar energy now. The solar energy is used to produce hydrogen....which many see as the holygrail of fuels.

 

[DnEbook]

maybe there's hope for my solarhire.com

 

[Charley]

I would rather invest in geo domains if I have that kind of money

Where did this come from ?

 

[akcampbell]

Oil will always be available. The media has just allowed you all to believe we're running out.

The world is genuinely running out of oil. There are about 54 years worth left according to Wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves

As demand in developing countries like China and India skyrockets, I think it's possible that oil will run out in under 50 years.

In the UK, we don't get much sun so we need to invest in nuclear and wind energy.