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information What Are The Top 7 Domain Investing Niches?

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For a relatively small industry, domain name investing is extremely diverse when you think about it. There are thousands of active investors, and probably hundreds of ways to make money through domain investing. Various niches offer different entry price points, different risk levels and differing rates of return on your initial investment.

So what are the top 7 domain investment niches? There are many opinions on this, but I wanted to share what I think are the top 7 niches right now, in no particular order. Do you have your own suggestions? As with all NamePros articles, we encourage you to voice your opinion in the comments section below.


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1. Chinese Premiums

A section of the market that you cannot help but take notice of is the Chinese premium niche. Throughout 2015 in particular, many investors hopped on the bandwagon to try and make the most of China's buying spree. Although the market has dampened somewhat in 2016, there are still plenty of opportunities in short domain names.


2. Brandables

Another incredibly popular domain investing niche is the brandable market. There are plenty of investors who post consistent profits through brandable names. We published a guide to brandable domains with Michael Krell earlier this year for those interested in this niche.


3. New gTLDs

Can these be considered to be a niche? I am classing new gTLD investments as a niche. There is some debate as to whether there is any future in the new gTLD program, and whether any extensions can establish themselves globally alongside .COM.


4. Technology

Virtual reality, augmented reality and cloud computing are three popular technology categories that many investors have used as inspiration to acquire new names. A good tech name can have many end users taking interest, especially as more funding is applied to the technology.


5. Trends

There are plenty of investors who focus specifically on spotting future trends, and registering or acquiring associated domain names in advance. Trends such as marijuana, drones and even political domains can be profitable. DomainGang.com has been documenting Rick Schwartz's new political domain registrations.


6. Geo Domains

Geographical names have been popular for a long time. Domain investors including myself have made profitable flips by acquiring geo domains such as NewYorkHomes.com and selling them on to end users who can use them to improve their online image.


7. Keywords

Keyword domains have been extremely popular in the past, since the right keywords in a domain name could improve the search engine rankings for a website. As Google has changed their algorithm, the power of keyword domains has declined, but they are still proving to be fairly popular.

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What are your top domain name niches?
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I don't think there should be a set list of things people should invest in. Some people's problem is they try to get involved in EVERYTHING and it's very difficult to be up to scratch on 'everything' - That's how you lose money.

People should just stick to niches what they know and what they are passionate about. For example, i know nothing about the Chinese market and patterned numbers/letters (find it boring too) and I'd take no pride in seeing my portfolio with 1000's of domains like that, so why would i invest money there?

I've always been fascinated by future tech, so me investing in tech (mostly VR) is perfect for me, it's something i know a lot about, something i believe in and something i enjoy.

Another thing I feel I'm quite good at is brandables - Part of my day job, is making funny slogans up for designs, so feel I'm quite witty that way and so tried to take it into domaining.

End of the day, people need domains for every industry - Figure out what you know best and just put your money there.
 
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My niche seems to "short name domains" usually 3 character or less, been sticking to the extensions that have been around since I first got on the Internet...
 
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1. Chinese is not "Premiums"
 
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Nice artical! I belive in future tech and brandable domains from that tech..

One of the future tech, which will grow with CAGR greater than 80% is... LiFi (Light Fidelity). This technology will provide Internet over LED lights and have many more advantages over WiFi technology including 100 time's speed.

I have invested in this technology and received good response via offers on sedo/ flippa in the span of last one year..
 
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Are Chinese prems still the top domain investing niche? With market in slump and already invested money not able to generate enough profits proves something else in my opinion.

On the other hand GEOs and short domain names should be on the top of the list James.

Just my few micro-cents. Great work, as usual :)
 
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Are Chinese prems still the top domain investing niche?

These are in no particular order ;) - I agree that there are plenty more profitable and worthwhile niches than Chinese names right now
 
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I agree that there are plenty more profitable and worthwhile niches than Chinese names right now

Besides the ones you listed in the OP, what other niches do you thinks are worth exploring?
 
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2. Brandables

Another incredibly popular domain investing niche is the brandable market. There are plenty of investors who post consistent profits through brandable names. We published a guide to brandable domains with Michael Krell earlier this year for those interested in this niche.


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I am interested in Brandables but I dont know how to go about it. I need help on articles and sorts
 
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Not to be a party pooper but the biggest niche thats being invested in is always going to be worthless names lol sorry.
 
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Blogs and news are a major niche market, I've always been fond of online sales
 
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I think it's okay for niche
 
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Not to be a party pooper but the biggest niche thats being invested in is always going to be worthless names lol sorry.

Today's worthless name, can be tomorrow's goldmine. I can remember when "pod" names were considered rubbish, and then the ipod arrived.
 
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Yep! Close to the top of the list, too. Surprised @James Iles missed that one, him hailing from the UK and all ;)

I'd like to add another category:

Domain hacks like glob.al, all.in, get.it, etc.
Although technically they are ccTLD's, IMHO those with special meaning together with the ccTLD extension are in a separate category.
 
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my most profitable sales were from domains that no other domainer would have valued
and mostly they had no parking income and often not even traffic
 
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Surprised @James Iles missed that one, him hailing from the UK and all ;)

I very rarely buy ccTLDs... especially .co.uk's ;) I do use one for my emails, but that's about it.
 
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I was searching for this. #DoaminBasics
 
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I'll add one more to the addition of 7 mentioned - Old gTLDs
 
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For a relatively small industry, domain name investing is extremely diverse when you think about it. There are thousands of active investors, and probably hundreds of ways to make money through domain investing. Various niches offer different entry price points, different risk levels and differing rates of return on your initial investment.

So what are the top 7 domain investment niches? There are many opinions on this, but I wanted to share what I think are the top 7 niches right now, in no particular order. Do you have your own suggestions? As with all NamePros articles, we encourage you to voice your opinion in the comments section below.


1. Chinese Premiums

A section of the market that you cannot help but take notice of is the Chinese premium niche. Throughout 2015 in particular, many investors hopped on the bandwagon to try and make the most of China's buying spree. Although the market has dampened somewhat in 2016, there are still plenty of opportunities in short domain names.


2. Brandables

Another incredibly popular domain investing niche is the brandable market. There are plenty of investors who post consistent profits through brandable names. We published a guide to brandable domains with Michael Krell earlier this year for those interested in this niche.


3. New gTLDs

Can these be considered to be a niche? I am classing new gTLD investments as a niche. There is some debate as to whether there is any future in the new gTLD program, and whether any extensions can establish themselves globally alongside .COM.


4. Technology

Virtual reality, augmented reality and cloud computing are three popular technology categories that many investors have used as inspiration to acquire new names. A good tech name can have a many end users taking interest, especially as more funding is applied to the technology.


5. Trends

There are plenty of investors who focus specifically on spotting future trends, and registering or acquiring associated domain names in advance. Trends such as marijuana, drones and even political domains can be profitable. DomainGang.com has been documenting Rick Schwartz's new political domain registrations.


6. Geo Domains

Geographical names have been popular for a long time. Domain investors including myself have made profitable flips by acquiring geo domains such as NewYorkHomes.com and selling them on to end users who can use them to improve their online image.


7. Keywords

Keyword domains have been extremely popular in the past, since the right keywords in a domain name could improve the search engine rankings for a website. As Google has changed their algorithm, the power of keyword domains has declined, but they are still proving to be fairly popular.

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What are your top domain name niches?


My favorite niche is internet related domains, both brandable and generic, dot com and otherwise... Cyber concepts within a cyber address always looks beautiful to me.
Screenshot_2016-11-21-12-44-40.png
 
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the problem with those is thats its a very tiny market
My bad, I have several other sub categories of internet related domains, not just the domaining niche. But I have a lot of other types I think are pretty valuable in other categories, like financial, travel, etc. Internet are just my personal favorite.
 
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