I was scanning Ron Jackson’s newest domain name sales report (DNJournal.com) which is a two week version due to Ron having been away at a domainer conference.

I was surprised at the sheer volume of sales and in particular the increasing activity in ccTLD’s. I don’t recall ever seeing this many domain sales in such a wide variety of country codes.

My interpretation is that domaining, and general interest in the internet, is continuing to expand (no surprise really). The boundaries are continuing to be pushed. Positively, I see more useful approaches being taken with the development of domain portfolios beyond just mere PPC landing pages.

Another casual observation is the near perfect distribution of domain sales across the entire financial spectrum. There don’t appear to be many “gaps” from one price level to the next. Many of these sales are speculative investments, but that still reflects a healthy interest in the domain industry and people’s desire to identify new investment & business opportunities.

One prediction I will make is that the percentage of “bad” domain registrations and renewals will decrease over time. The domain industry has matured to the point where there is now more useful information on domain investing available to the newcomer.

That being said, there continues to be too much “black and white” thinking in regard to various domain extensions. Everyone is blogging today, and depending on the blog’s author, you may get a balanced perspective … or you may get a heavy bias that distorts facts about domaining.

Lastly, the DOW just broke 10,000. Which is good. But continued rise in the DOW cannot be reasonably justified without the creation of new jobs and the expansion of the manufacturing base in America. I hate to see an artificial confidence (bubble) begin to set in as people hope for an “economic recovery” that is not predicated on the right economic numbers. This could spur some irrational spending and investment decisions, both in domaining and in every other area of the market.

As is always my motto, buy quality generic, business-oriented domains. Or domains that cover a popular topic with a built-in audience. GeoDomains and geo-targeted domains have my vote for long-term relevance through up and down markets. Interestingly, GoDaddy (the world’s largest registrar) just implemented a new search tool on their website that allows buyers to find domain names using Geo search criteria and mapping.

If you are a portfolio owner, occasionally re-evaluate your domain holdings as they come up for renewal and trim your collection of any domains that underperform or which no longer have sustaining appeal. I have done this while selectively adding good quality domains. Because of this, the quality (and value) of my portfolio has risen. Yours will too.

Internet Domains