NamePros Blog

Acroplex · Dec 10, 2022

Get ready for this week's Top Topics column here at NamePros:

Domain expert and author, James Iles, has been scooped up by GoDaddy as domain investor liaison; Investors discuss registrar alternatives to Epik after recent woes; There are plenty of companies with multi-million dollar...

Bob Hawkes · Dec 8, 2022

Artificial intelligence plays critical roles in many sectors and applications. Up to now, AI has probably been under-utilized in much of the domain name world.

Over the past week, many domain investors have delighted in posing questions and requests to the newly-released OpenAI...

Acroplex · Dec 3, 2022

Welcome to December & the 2022 Holidays! It's time for this week's Top Topics column here at NamePros:

Super domainer Swetha's sales record came under scrutiny and the "shocking" results are in. Epik and its new CEO are trying to make amends but its Escrow services and Masterbucks token...

Bob Hawkes · Dec 1, 2022

During recent seasonal promotions several registrars offered .tv domain names at the lowest price in many years, perhaps forever. I suspect I was not alone in picking up some names for a trial investment in the extension.

That brings up questions such as:

Who are typical buyers of .tv...

Acroplex · Nov 26, 2022

Hopefully you're done shopping for the Holidays! About time for this week's Top Topics column here at NamePros:

Black Friday deals involving domain services are still ongoing, so find out where to save money. Do you know the path your domain buyers follow to get in touch for a domain? The...

Bob Hawkes · Nov 24, 2022

There are various domain name books. Some concentrate on branding and company naming, others on the nuts and bolts of domaining as a career. Some books are mainly hype, unrealistically portraying the selling of domain names.

This week, the book Accidental Domain Investor was published by...

Acroplex · Nov 19, 2022

Can you believe it's almost Thanksgiving? Time for this week's Top Topics here at NamePros:

XMX.com, a former crypto brand, was sold for $252,000 dollars at an expired domains auction at GoDaddy. People received messages the .TV Registry deems their domains invalid; in reality it was a...

Bob Hawkes · Nov 17, 2022

What if your domain names would be seen at many different registrars? In addition, when a name sold through any of those registrars, the entire transfer process was automatic. You just wait to be paid.

That is the promise of the so-called fast transfer networks. Traditionally there have been...

Acroplex · Nov 12, 2022

Happy Saturday folks—time for this week's Top Topics here at NamePros:

Do marketplaces bundle payments for concurrent sales? Dan and Sedo are compared. Somehow, a company valued at more than $100 million dollars let one of their domain assets expire. How to create logos and other brand...

Bob Hawkes · Nov 9, 2022

This week it was announced that @James Iles, is stepping back from his weekly NamePros Blog article to concentrate on other things, including his own domain name information site at JamesNames.com.

James has made a huge contribution to the domain name community through his...

Acroplex · Nov 5, 2022

It's time for this week's Top Topics here at NamePros. In summary:

A drastic tweak of your domain asking prices might produce more sales. Get details about how Sports.gg sold for $96k. Read about how Sedo & Afternic fare in sales performance. The big question: Should you keep investing in...

Bob Hawkes · Nov 3, 2022

The most successful domain investors have a system. That system may include many elements, but one of the most important is a method for acquiring quality names that businesses will want. As is said, “you make money on the buy.”

But there are so many names to search. As I write this, the list...

James Iles · Oct 30, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, we look at two six-figure domain sales, one of which sold at DropCatch after former owner Accenture let the domain expire. Elsewhere, we ask which companies you trust in the domain industry.

Reactive.com Sells for $168,450 at DropCatch

This week, one of...

Bob Hawkes · Oct 26, 2022

The domain name system (DNS) has robustly served the Internet well for more than three decades. That is a testament to the expertise and foresightedness of those who developed the concepts and specifications.

Now extensions like .com, .net and .org can be used for any type of...

James Iles · Oct 23, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, we take a look at two six-figure .XYZ sales that recently happened. We also feature a question about outbound domain sales, and how do you handle domain renewals?

Bull.xyz Sells for $199,888

Domain investor Swetha Yenugula has shared details of her...

Bob Hawkes · Oct 20, 2022

Last week, in part one of What The Domain World Needs, the following were covered:

Registrar-based single-source marketplace listings.
Retail Buy Request Marketplace.
Domain Broker Certification.
Smart Contract Escrow.
Smarter Interactive Marketplace Search.
Bridges...

James Iles · Oct 16, 2022

In this week’s Top Topics, we look at domainer responses to the “your price is too high” comment that many investors receive after providing an asking price. Elsewhere, a six-figure .XYZ sale is revealed, and do you have to advertise a domain in order for it to sell?

“Your Price is Too...

Bob Hawkes · Oct 12, 2022

We have many innovative and useful products and services in the domain world. But are there things that don’t currently exist that would have a significant impact on the productivity and success of domain investors?

That was the question that I posed a couple of weeks ago on NamePros What...

James Iles · Oct 9, 2022

In this week’s Top Topics, two notable members of the domain community take part in Ask Me Anything features, a domainer wonders why high traffic hasn’t resulted in a domain sale, and Rick Schwartz says the last four weeks have been the slowest ever in the domain industry.

I’m Brad...

Bob Hawkes · Oct 5, 2022

A domain hack uses both sides of the dot to create a single word, for example pi.pe or ma.de. While some define domain hack more broadly, a definition that includes two related words, one on each side of the dot, we will use the narrower definition of a word split by the dot in this...

James Iles · Oct 2, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, domain investors are voting for their favorite registrar after polls opened last week. Elsewhere, we look at products and services that the domain industry needs but doesn't have, and what are the best domain valuation tools?

What Does the Domain World Need...

Bob Hawkes · Sep 28, 2022

Darpan Munjal of SquadHelp has been sharing great data insights on brandable domain names. I reached out to him for permission to summarize the data, and to get additional information.

As Darpan wrote in 2021,

Data and analytics can play a huge role in maximizing the...

James Iles · Sep 25, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, cryptocurrency exchange Banxa announces a multi-million dollar domain bundle sale, and we look at whether hyphenated domain name sales are on the rise. Elsewhere, there's a .TV sale and we find out more about the Rays.com domain name.

Is It Ok to Ask a Broker...

Bob Hawkes · Sep 22, 2022

In the early years of domain names, the extension was meant to have meaning. For example, .com for commercial oriented businesses, .org for organizations, and country codes representing a site based in that country.

Over the years most restrictions were dropped, and many extensions...

James Iles · Sep 18, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, we look at Disney's use of the Go.com domain name, and we discuss illiquidity in domain names during an economic downturn. Elsewhere, investors comment on a rebrand, and have you noticed a large increase in sales recently?

Disney Uses Go.com, But for How Much...

Bob Hawkes · Sep 14, 2022

The long term goal for some domainers is to grow their portfolio so that domain names become a full time job, or at least a serious part time income stream.

In a survey conducted mid-2021, almost 20% of NamePros respondents indicated that they were essentially full-time, and another 33%...

James Iles · Sep 11, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, we have another six-figure .XYZ domain sale to profile, and we discuss a recent company rebrand to a one-word .COM. Elsewhere, there has been some development in the Eth.link domain name saga.

Pen.xyz Sold for 6 Figures

So far this year, NameBio has...

Bob Hawkes · Sep 8, 2022

Many investors dream of one day making a million dollar domain name sale. The odds are against you, with only 156 sales at this price point recorded on NameBio over all time. I take a look at those sales, and how the names are being used.

The Million Dollar Sales Data

I...

James Iles · Sep 4, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, we take a look at a multi-million dollar, two-letter .COM sale that has been discovered. Elsewhere, domainers debate the presence of TrustPilot reviews on landing pages, and one investor shares why they are thinking of quitting domaining.

Do You Think...

Bob Hawkes · Sep 1, 2022

With industry domain name sell-through rates not much different than 1%, most domains sit in a portfolio for many years. Other than renewals, it seems natural to simply wait for an offer or sale. But is that really a sound strategy?

While a thorough review of every single name is daunting if...

James Iles · Aug 29, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, we take a look at a rebrand that involves a company moving away from a $1.2 million domain name. Elsewhere, domain marketplace Alter announces its closure, and can domain investors register their domain names as trademarks?

Super.com Rebrands to...

Bob Hawkes · Aug 24, 2022

Whether prior to acquisition of a domain name, or to help with pricing, we often use comparator sales listed on NameBio.

But what do you do if a preliminary search does not yield any comparator sales for a particular domain name? With some names you should take that as a negative...

James Iles · Aug 21, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, we take a look at one prominent domain investor's 2022 acquisitions to date. Elsewhere, a mining company buys a one-word .COM, and a domainer has some specific advice for new investors.

My 2022 Acquisitions

Domain investor AbdulBasit Makrani is notable...

Bob Hawkes · Aug 18, 2022

Web3 is a hot term these days, with many startups in the sphere, and existing companies reimagining themselves as Web3.

In this article, I take a look at the names of 156 top Web3 companies. I also study what extensions are popular, and the sectors that predominate within the Web3 world...

James Iles · Aug 14, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, we feature the news of this year's second eight-figure sale, a domainer shares some analysis of domain names used by Y Combinator startups and do .ORG and .CO perform well for you?

Connect.com Acquired for $10 Million

The major news in the domain...

Bob Hawkes · Aug 11, 2022

One of the more popular songs of all time is My Way. The English lyrics, adapted by Paul Anka from the French original, into a version specifically for Frank Sinatra, include “Regrets I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention.”

That got me to thinking about regrets...

James Iles · Aug 7, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, we discuss the reported multi-million dollar sale of NFTs.com, which was disclosed this week via a press release. Elsewhere, a domainer shares a one-word .TV sale, and who exactly owns and controls ccTLDs?

NFTs.com Acquired for $15 Million

The big news...

Bob Hawkes · Aug 4, 2022

Many skills can help you make better decisions as a domain name investor. One of them is quantitative decision making. While probability can never firmly tell you what to do, it can help make better decisions in some cases.

Applied probability can be used to help answer questions such as how...

James Iles · Jul 31, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, one domain investor considers the possibility of a portfolio management service specifically for domain investors, and we hear about an ICANN working group that wants to make it easier to hijack domain names. Elsewhere, there's a sizable .TV domain sale, and a service...

Bob Hawkes · Jul 28, 2022

When following domain name sales on NameBio, certain sales seem surprising. In some cases, the price was due to a strong link set. Also, now and then, it might be a domain name that was let to expire by mistake and the owner needs to bid to get it back, or an existing business may be...

James Iles · Jul 24, 2022

In this week’s Top Topics, a featured poll asks how many domain sales you’ve had recently. Elsewhere, a six-figure .XYZ sale is reported, and an experienced domain name investor has some advice for new domainers.

How Many Sales Have You Had?

Anecdotal evidence suggests that domain...

Bob Hawkes · Jul 21, 2022

Last week I took a look at Astronomical Terms as Brand Names. We saw that terms like star, sun, moon and nova are each used in many tens of thousands of business names.

I extend the topic in this week’s article, looking in particular at star and constellation names. I also consider what...

James Iles · Jul 17, 2022

In this week’s Top Topics, one domain investor announces a $17,500 .TV sale and another domainer secures two sales in a day thanks to following up with old leads. Elsewhere, an investor is done with domaining, and which company will be the next to innovate?

The Next Dan.com?

It...

Bob Hawkes · Jul 14, 2022

On July 12, 2022 the first full-color images were released from the James Webb Space Telescope. The public response to these striking images, and the stories they tell, is a reminder of the fascination with astronomical topics.

Astronomical objects and ideas have long been a source of...

James Iles · Jul 10, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, we look at the $65,000 sale of Maga.com and how the domain name is now being used. Elsewhere, an investor advises not pricing your domain names too low, and what made you want to become a domainer?

Maga.com Sold for $65,000 - The New Site is Online

This...

Bob Hawkes · Jul 6, 2022

The first six months of 2022 resulted in 76,000 NameBio-listed domain sales of $100 or more, accounting for a dollar volume of just over $84 million.

That is an increase of 0.9% in number of sales compared to the same six months of 2021, and a 4.1% increase in dollar...

James Iles · Jul 4, 2022

In this week’s Top Topics, domain investors react to the news that Dan.com has been acquired by GoDaddy. Elsewhere, we look at the .IO domain extension to see whether it has lost its shine in 2022 and we ask domainers how their portfolios performed in June 2022.

GoDaddy to Acquire Domain...

Bob Hawkes · Jun 29, 2022

The second half of 2021 saw eye-popping sales in exact ETH domain names, even in extensions with few significant prior sales. In this article, I take a look at the current status of those domain names, recent ETH name sales data, and how investors are currently pricing their ETH domain names...

James Iles · Jun 26, 2022

In this week's Top Topics, the subject of a domain swap service is considered, and we look at iOS 16's new Mail feature. Elsewhere, a company completes a $1.6 million domain purchase, and a founder explains why they paid $35,000 for a .IO domain.

Would You Use a Domain Swap...

Bob Hawkes · Jun 20, 2022

There are many ways to acquire domain names: expiring or other auctions, purchases from investors, closeouts, expired names, drop catching, hand registrations, etc.

One acquisition method that is often overlooked is private acquisition. That is, seeking underused domain names by directly...

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