What has happened to domaining?

[Pound]

Bear in mind that this is just an observation, but I get the impression that things have slowed down hugely in the domain world. When I started in 2006/2007 namepros and other domain forums were hugely active, but now things seem to be moving much slower...

Personally, end user interest is the same as ever before (and, ultimately, this is what counts), but I do not understand why the reseller market has died. With more and more companies wanting/needing an Internet presence, I would have thought the opposite should be the case.

Anyone else noticed this / disagree? Am I just looking in the wrong places? After all, it has been several years since I was active here!

 

[namemarket]

...I recently have been doing a lot of buying partial words for domains with good success so far and using subdomains... ie...ma.kemoneyonline.com <- not mine just an example

That will not bring you direct traffic. You seem to be missing the point of the value of keyword names. Exact match keyword domains can bring you valuable direct navigation traffic. Free typeins are worth a lot of money if you compare the high cost of ongoing marketing to get the visitors to your site vs a one-time cost to buy a domain.

 

[Aggro]

^^

Complete BS domainer meme soundbite nonsense

Likely from domainers who've never had a REAL ecommerce site - beyond their pathetic crappy little mini-sites

Just because a domain might get a few meagre type-ins, doesn't mean it's a SUBSTITUTE or REPLACEMENT for Google ads

E-commerce site operators want TORRENTS of traffic (which they get from Google adwords) - not a (relatively) few type-ins

And by ignoring Google adwords you are ignoring all the users (the majority) who NEVER "type in" the site name in the address bar.
Stupid decision.

As for Google ads & similar..
If site operators are a making a NET PROFIT PER AD (ie increasing PROFIT relative to increasing Google ads clicked), why would anyone reduce their adwords campaign...?

No one in the right mind turns away incremental profit

 

[alien51]

This is a logical fallacy, .com is more popular purely because of the amount of money spent in development and promotion of websites in this extension.

The .COM "prestige", is just like Monarchy. The way they promote the Queen and her Royal Family as "prestigious". More than centuries "invested" in feeding the concept of "royalty" into people's minds. In the end, the Queen is just a normal person like the rest of us.

Domain extensions, are just receptacles. They have no inherent value or prestige. Move the legit content and promotion into the other TLDs, and this .COM "royalty" will become a "commoner".

 

[oldtimer]

As for Google ads & similar..
If site operators are a making a NET PROFIT PER AD (ie increasing PROFIT relative to increasing Google ads clicked), why would anyone reduce their adwords campaign...?

No one in the right mind turns away incremental profit

It doesn't have to be one or the other, smart businesses utilize all different means and sources of traffic, so you can keep doing your adwords campaign and also own some premium domains that are targeted towards your Industry. Off course the more traffic those domains generate the more valuable they will be and the more that it will cost to acquire them.

-

 

[Kate]

Domain extensions, are just receptacles. They have no inherent value or prestige. Move the legit content and promotion into the other TLDs, and this .COM "royalty" will become a "commoner".

The same could be said about fiat currency. It has no built-in value. It derives its legitimacy from trust in the backer(s).
We know for a fact that all extensions are not equal. They are only 'equal' in a technical sense (more or less). You can build a $1M condo in the ghetto but it will not be as valuable as if it had been built in Bel Air. Yet the materials are identical.

Yes, but many successful brands are made from words that mean nothing, its the work put into them, not necessarily the name/domain itself.

Yes, I appreciate that.
You can build a thriving business without a premium domain. But if your domain is really bad, it will always drag you down and limit your growth (ie when the domain is unpronounceable or unbrandable or not memorable).

Now, if you have a great domain, it will give you some credibility when you hand out business cards in trade fairs - I know this for a fact. LLL.com or LL.cctld are eye catching... sometimes people are surprised a domain can even be that short.
Buying a good domain can be a competitive advantage, especially when you are starting out a new business venture and want to stand out from the competition.

The 'any domain will do' logic is valid only to a certain point. Some companies like overstock or deli.cio.us.whatever tried to be creative, with mixed results at best.

Major, branded companies like Google or Microsoft also own quite a lot of very premium domains. I don't think many domainers have ever paid attention to their portfolios.
These companies have multiple traffic sources, they don't get all that traffic from their one single corporate domains.

There is no shortage of 'okay' domains. But domains that are really great are hard to find for reg fee.

The reseller market is flat but the good news is that sales to end users are still going strong. There are end users who they get 'it', those who don't - don't waste your time trying to educate them, it's their loss.

BTW most domainers don't get 'it' either so they don't achieve good results in domaining.

 

[alien51]

You can build a $1M condo in the ghetto but it will not be as valuable as if it had been built in Bel Air. Yet the materials are identical.

Exactly. That's why, like i said, "perception" drives the value. You can invest $1M building a site on a .BIZ, and yet people will still trust the .COM version which could be owned by someone else.... because of "perception".

Obama and Romney are both raising campaign funds, to "buy" people's perception of them by promoting themselves. What you perceive, is not actually their true value.

 

[namemarket]

and by ignoring Google adwords you are ignoring all the users (the majority) who NEVER "type in" the site name in the address bar.

Something many of us overlook is that typeins also happen with the search box too, not just the address bar. In fact, I have reasons to believe search box typeins are more common vs browser window typeins.

For example, if your domain is keyword1keyword2keyword3.com and a web searcher types keyword1keyword2keyword3 (both with and without spaces) in to the search box your site will often come up at the top of the search results, that's assuming the website is at least listed in the SE. Another possibility is the SE will ask you do you mean keyword1keyword2keyword3.com? For that to work it must be listed but does not need to have a high-ranking or good SEO work done.

 

[Kate]

Exactly. That's why, like i said, "perception" drives the value. You can invest $1M building a site on a .BIZ, and yet people will still trust the .COM version which could be owned by someone else.... because of "perception".

I would say it's a bit more than perception. It's credibility too.
.biz = spam alley LOL

 

[alien51]

I would say it's a bit more than perception. It's credibility too.
.biz = spam alley LOL

Credibility is based on facts. You have to verify each time.

Perception, is often a result of experience, with people arriving to a conclusion without checking the facts anymore.

The .BIZ extension was never meant to be an extension for spam. But i'm sure you are staying away from .BIZ as a web user, because you have a perception "from past experience".

That's the reason why it is difficult to shift people's minds into other extensions. DotCOM has become a platform, eventhough there are millions of spammers and scammers and fraudsters using .COM as well. Domainers invest on the "perception" that .COM is King. I don't think the Billions of mini-sites on .COM which they say here as "polluting the internet", adds to .COM's "credibility". Like also the fact that most "keyword domains" in .COM, have been hijacked by domainers and have tarnished the credibility of keyword domains. Nowadays, a websuser would trust "brandable" domains more, because they now have accumulated a "perception" from past experience, that keyword domains contain nothing but spin articles created by minisite makers.

 

[equity78]

You make some good points Alien 51.

 

[xman]

Domaining is better than ever for me this year. When I first started back in 2007 my first sale was $x LOL. Early this year someone bought one of my ccTLD for low mid $xx,xxx and a month ago another buyer bought a ccTLD for $xx,xxx (I posted that sale in completed sales thread). I made more sale this year so I thought domaining is getting better. Now I started buying names that I feel that worth keeping. I'm getting some good deal buying this day.