WebDev

Domain Name speculation has become big business. According to recent study, the average domain name bought and sold by domain name speculators realized a 377% profit. In addition, the average domain name was sold in 12.5 months.

Domain name speculation involves finding domain names that appear valuable, and waiting with the domain in hopes that someone will want to purchase it in the future. With a great domain name like business.com, this can yield huge returns. Business.com was sold for over $7 million!

When domain name speculators buy a domain name, they generally put up a page indicating that the domain is for sale. This becomes a sort of free advertising, whereby someone interested in that domain name will naturally check out the site to see if it is a competitor, or if the domain can be purchased.

But selling the domain is not the only way domain name speculators make money. In addition to advertising that the page is for sale, most domain speculators park their domains with a domain parking service. These services store a simple website for free, and place content sensitive advertising on the parking pages. They share advertising revenue with the owner of the domain. In this way, domain name speculators get free website hosting for their domains, along with occasional advertising revenue.

How many times have you read or heard on the news that someone hit a state lottery? Winning Millions of Dollars.

The odds of winning a major state / multi-state lottery is for example: 1 in 120,526,770 is your chance of winning the most popular multi-state lottery in the U.S. Power Ball.

Trying to guess which of the 1 to 53 and 1 Powerball number from 1 to 42 will come out on is mind boggling and to make it even tougher; the rule is that you must get the 1 in 120,526,770 right on the night that you play.

No holding onto your ticket and see if it comes out in a couple of weeks. If you don’t hit it on the date on your ticket. You can just trash your hard earned $1.00. If you purchased plays 10 then, just lost 10 of your hard earned dollars!

There is BETTER game for you to play with better chances to win (sort of speak)! One day as I was cruising down the information highway I came across some information that made me slam on my breaks! People were playing the NEW Lottery!

I would like to explain a few things related to expired domains in a definition format, which should make it easy to understand.

What are expired domains?
Expired domains are domain names that have been registered and the owner has failed to pay to keep the domain. (Many people think that they purchase a domain, but it is more like an exclusive lease. As long as you continue to pay renewal fees, you are the only person that can use this domain.)

What is a typein domain name?
A typein domain is a domain that people often would type into their internet browser. There are two types of typein domains. The first is generic domains, which are generally, generic common words or phrases, people, places, or names (first or last). The second type of typein domain are typo domains. Typo domains are domains that were accidentally typed (mispelled) into the web browser, when a surfer is looking for a website.

What is the wayback archive?
Use the Wayback archive to see how a domain looked in the past, weather it was a developed website, what it was used for, what products were sold there, or what information was provided.

Your domain name is an important part of your brand and identity. Losing it could be disastrous! Yet, month over month we see people lose their domain name, either because they ignore or forget to renew them, or do not keep their contact information - especially their email address - current and up to date.

A whole new industry has been created out of lost and neglected domain names. It is now common place for an expired domain name to be snagged the moment it is released back to the ‘available’ pool. These poachers will grab any domain name that has a decent search engine ranking and forward it to anything from a competitors web site, to a pay per click advertising site. They are hoping to have you pay a big ransom to get your domain name back or to capitalize on the residual traffic left over by your domain name’s high search engine ranking.

When it comes to registering your domain name you want to pick a domain name registrar that will work with you, help you choose the best domain name, not overcharge you, and provide you with all of the information you need to make the best possible decisions regarding your registrar account. There are thousands of domain name registrars on the net and most of them offer the service legitimately and at an affordable price. However, there are certain sites you will want to look out for and the following suggestions will give you some information on questions you should ask and answers you should have in writing before doing business with a registrar.

* Make Sure You Own It

First of all, when you register and buy your domain name you want to make sure you are buying it and that it is yours. You don’t want to simply register a domain name under someone else’s control. This looks unprofessional and does not give you the presence on the web you are looking for. Instead, ask the registrar if you are buying the URL and if you will own it, the answer might surprise you.

* ICANN Accreditation

Understanding the process and options involved with registering an expiring domain can be a confusing task. How, Where, When?

This article will explain the basic steps to researching an expiring domain name, and the many different options (or should I say necessary steps to insure success).

The normal domain expiration process for .com .net

(domain deletion cycle):

Phase 1. Active Domain

A domain is registered for a time period of 1-10 years. During this time the domain owner has unrestricted use of the domain.

Phase 2. On-Hold

At the end of this time period, the registrant is required to pay a renewal fee to the registrar to continue to use the domain. If the domain is renewed go back to phase 1, if not the domain is placed in an onhold (on-hold) status for 1-45 days (each registrar has determines how long this period lasts). During this time, the registrant (owner of the domain) can still pay the renewal fee and continue to use his/her domain name. During this onhold period the domain resolves to the registrars website or does not resolve at all.

Phase 3. Redemption

You own a single site, but several domains - perhaps you wanted to make sure that even if your customers misspelled your domain name they’d get to your site, or perhaps you’d like to have a specific domain name direct to a page deep within your site - whatever the case, there are some important considerations surrounding multiple domain names routing to a single site and search engine submission.

Search engines like Google and Yahoo won’t always wait around for you to submit a site - Googlebot and Yahoo Slurp (which you may recognize from your server logs if your site has been up for a few weeks) are constantly running across new domain names to index. It’s a good thing - unless your domain names are being forwarded incorrectly.

What constitutes and incorrect forward?

Many major domain name registrars offer a “Domain Name Forwarding” feature which, while it may be the easiest way to forward your domain, can cause some real problems when search engine spiders like Googlebot or Yahoo Slurp visit your site.

Here’s what happens:

Creating a website is not just about designing your pages and including all the important information, it is also about creating a domain name that relates to your products and services and that is also easy to remember and spell for your customers. A domain name that is easy to remember will have more return customers and more word of mouth advertising than domain names which are hard to spell, remember, or both.

When it comes to searching for a domain name, all you have to do is go online and search for ones that you are interested in to see if they have been taken or not. There are hundreds of sites that will let you search domain names in hopes to sell you the domain name and then get you to buy their web hosting services as well. To start your domain name search, however, you should follow a couple of basic steps.

* Come up with a variety of domain names you are interested in. When you have a variety of unique domain names, you can start searching to see which of them are available.

When it comes to choosing your domain name, do not allow yourself to get stressed out or worry over choosing the perfect domain name that will make your website a success. When it comes down to it, there are several things you can do to ensure you choose the best type of domain for your business, and after that any number of domain names will work effectively for you. However, you need to read the following suggestions and follow them in order to avoid any costly mistakes to your traffic and business due to a bad domain name.

Tip #1 Short and Sweet

You will want a domain name that is short and sweet. There are many reasons for this, however if you have a short domain name it will be easier for people to remember and revisit not to mention tell others about. Also, if your domain name is short, other websites linking to your site will not have to worry about broken URLs and invalid web pages.

Tip #2 Make a List

Selling a .co.uk Domain Name via Sedo

This is a recent example of our experience selling a .co.uk domain name via Sedo. If you are new to domains or Sedo this will give you a guide on the process and the time scales involved.

Negotiations

This is the hardest part of selling a domain ? how much to ask? Ask too much and the buyer may lose interest. Ask too little and you may not get the best price possible for your domain.

You can use www.domainprices.co.uk to get an idea of recent .co.uk domain sales prices or ask to an appraisal on the www.acorndomains.co.uk appraisal forum.

Come up with a price that allows you some room to haggle but don’t get so greedy you scare off the bidder. This can be an anxious time, waiting for the domain prospect to come back with an offer.

Transaction Fees

Do not forget to allow for Sedo transaction fees and Nominet transfer fees during the negotiation stage.

We asked for the buyer to pay Sedo’s fees (10% of sale price) and the Nominet fees on top of the sale price, which they agreed to.