Domains: Business or Investments or Both

[DomainLobe]

After thinking long and hard about domaining I personally realize that I enjoy the 'Domains as Investments' more than 'Domains as Business'.
Like stocks, I enjoy watching the market and the micro/macro influences and even timing and speculating all the while collecting dividends (parking) rather than Buying/Selling/Marketing/Developing.
That said, engaging in bits of both can provide a nice balance.
It would be interesting to hear from others.
Cheers

 

[Sameh]

I voted for 'Domains as Business'

If there is no profitable business been done with the domains Why people will take it as investments ?

The same with stocks.

No business, no investment.

 

[mhdoc]

It's always fun to think about getting rich from a domain sale, but I really enjoy the process of developing content for the names I register. It always leads in unexpected and interesting directions.

This morning I registered AllAboutTests.com. I used to teach, and know something about how to write exam questions, how to spot test writer errors that improve your chances of guessing correctly, etc. I think I could make a nice little 5-10 page site out of that. In a year or so it might get some traffic and produce enough AdSense income to pay the registration cost.

Then I did an Ebay search and discovered a thousand auctions going on for all kinds of tests. In particular there are a ton of auctions for early pregnancy tests. Since my degrees are in biology that opens up a whole new set of ideas to write about. How the tests work, common errors made by users of the tests, etc. etc.

If you are interested in researching lots of different topics and then writing about what you find the internet lets you get paid for it.

If the "Big Kill" of a large domain sale comes along, great; but, in the meantime I can have fun and still earn an income.

 

[gazzip]

I like the idea of domains as a business but that takes alot more investment & skill to make it happen.

For now, its domains as an investment.


.

 

[-REECE-]

Investments.

I prefer to sit on thousands of names rather than try and sell names for a few thousand. I sell a few here and there for fun when I'm bored, however, I'm largely after investment quality purchases/regs, rather than regging or purchasing names with endusers in mind.

 

[DomainMayhem.com]

I voted for 'Domains as Business'

If there is no profitable business been done with the domains Why people will take it as investments ?

The same with stocks.

No business, no investment.

Agreed, though I do think it's a bit of both. Not to mention that the best way to take care of your domain investments is to work with them, ie: increase their worth by utilizing and increasing traffic, and developing, which turns your investments into a business.

 

[htmlindex]

I would say that now I do domains for investment than for business

 

[GreenGambler]

I voted both.

Some people only buy a few or more, as an investment.

And some people buy hundreds or more and form a business selling them while still treating them as investments.

They are both, IMO

 

[skylineleong]

I vote both "Business, Invenstments".

 

[accent]

Putting aside developing, a related but different issue.

There are two ways to play the game. Compare it to stock market day trading and buy-and-hold. Both can be effective but they take different personalities and skills.

Some people buy with an eye to selling within a few months. Probably most concentrate on higher value domains where there is a fairly liquid market. You certainly can make money that way, if you have the people skills and the knowhow to find domains that can make a profit.

I buy lower value domains that I think are undervalued now and that I hope will outperform the already booming overall domain market. No need to go through escrow, I get most of them for reg fee or close. Some I could sell for 10, 20 or more times what I paid a year or two ago, but I prefer to let them grow. I put a lot of time into looking, that represents an important portion of my investment, but holding only costs me renewals.

In practice the two blend - I would sell almost any name if the price is right, and there are some names I have decided to sell. I expect short time flippers get attached to names sometimes and hold them longer than they need to.

 

[DomainLobe]

Thanks for the replies!
I see a mix of 'styles' here and I agree that one's personality, time, funding and timeline factor significantly in how the game is played.
PS sorry about the 'Invenstment' typo

 

[mhdoc]

One thing I noticed in several posts was "Investors" believing that site development was difficult and time consuming. Certainly that is true if you plan a large authority site. However, on the low end I'm not sure that is true.

I see people putting a lot of effort into making "pretty" parking pages that will get indexed. To me, they look much like a page for a small mini site. I suspect the time/effort is about the same for each. However, on a mini site I control the affiliate links and I don't have to worry about a parking company showing a trademark infringing ad.

My mini sites are nothing special, but compared to software restructured "content" from scraped articles they look pretty good. Once you get away from the hugely popular niches the quality required to rank well is pathetic

 

[xman]

Neither.

At this stage I still treat this as a fun hobby.

I couldn't really vote on the poll since there's no choice for hobbyist.

 

[conda]

I aggre with you XMAN, i call this my "new hobby" after listening music.

 

[sashas]

right now, its an investment. When I have the time and the names that I can actually spend some time and develop, it'll be a business.

 

[hawkeye]

I chose 'both', as I invest in names for future profits, and 'try' to build sites for business. In the long run, I'm investing in names now, that will create a long term business/plan when developed later.

 

[DnEbook]

i have some names aimed at the future robohire.com 3dtvs.tv 3dhometheatre.tv , so i am keeping these as long term investments , but i do have names i would love to develop also ..... so i voted 50/50

 

[namewaiter]

Neither.

At this stage I still treat this as a fun hobby.

I couldn't really vote on the poll since there's no choice for hobbyist.

i say hobby as well

 

[npcomplete]

I agree with xman too on the hobby category. I have been buying since 1996, and just recently had my first sales at TRAFFIC. So buy and hold for 11 years is either investment or hobby. In my case I have been collecting things since I was a little kid, so this has been an 11 year hobby that recently turned into an investment. The last thing I am looking for is a new business. My long term goal is to submit some of my domains to Sasha's live auction - that one is going to be great (I will keep bugging him about it until somebody fixes the auction system).

Marc

 

[geb9696]

Domains are just a hobby for me. I doubt I could ever treat this as a business.