Great topic, Tony84.
I view domain name marketing as microcosm of the net. (Extending this, the net, itself, can be considered to be a microcosm or reflection of the world community). Due to the diversity of interests, experiences, backgrounds, needs, desires, and so on, people come to the internet bringing along with them a wide range of perspectives and agendas. Within our little domain name community, people register names for a variety of reasons:
Development
- to promote an existing business or start-up a new business or enterprise, online.
- to build a site for resale
Domain Name Investment and Reselling
- speculative and quick turn-around sales for profit
- long term, ( Dictionary, 3LL and emerging/future tech names are good examples)
PPC and Ad Revenue Income
- registering and optimizing domain names for the express purpose of monetization.
These distinctions usually overlap, because most dn marketers, (although typically focusing on one area), are, in practice, operating on multiple levels and wearing many hats. I'll use myself as an example.
I take a "shotgun" approach and have names in several categories that are working in each of the levels mentioned above. One name is the masthead for a site that promotes an existing, (non-internet), business and has 20-30 keyword search term names that were registered for the purpose of redirecting/pointing traffic to this site. Another group of domains were registered based upon subject matter that is of personal interest to me, and over time, I will create sites using these names. In the interim, I have parked the names on servers that provide a small amt of income for their upkeep.
My primary focus in domain name marketing, however, is in resale for profit, and these names are all parked at a site, primarily, for the buyer traffic and, secondarily, for PPC monetization. I have also registered a handful of names strictly based upon their keyword, (for ppc), value, and a couple of typos, but in my case, these regs are more of an experiment or curiosity, rather than a serious endeavor.
The physical real estate analogy is a good one for domain name sales. Additionally, domain name purchasing for resale has a direct parallel to the commodity and stock markets. Domain names are the commodity of intellectual property, but more importantly, (from a commerce standpoint), domain names are the commodity of internet traffic. Traffic=Money. Marketers, (and Marketing Depts), can do demographic studies to analyze a site's traffic and than project income and future marketing strategies based upon these analysis. The domain's internet history, the quality of name's search terms and the extention will all have a bearing on the traffic, and, therefore, can be assigned a tangible value based upon present information, or projected potential.
To wrap up my novella, I would like to leave one parting thought. The internet, as society and the world as a whole, can be characterised by, if nothing else, it's variety and diversity. Although we can never fully escape our own subjectivity and system of values, we do have the freedom to research and to make an attempt at understanding other, differing perspectives, and in the process, gain an increased level of acceptence for other POV's, even if we continue to disagree. Happy New Year, everyone. :tu: :D
) 
