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

According to the Washington Post, QuinStreet have purchased the Insure.com domain name and website for $16 million.

QuinStreet are an online marketing and media firm. They assist companies by generating sales leads. Started in 1999, the company achieved $250 million in revenue in 2008 after consecutive years of sequential growth.

Insure.com last changed hands in 2001 for $1.6 million. No question here that the domain name is a quality generic premium domain. Similar sales from the past include Insure.US for $10,000 (via Afternic), GetInsured.com for $18,500 (also via Afternic), Insurance.mobi for $42,005 (Sedo auction), and FloridaCarInsurance.com at $20,000 (reported by DNJournal.com).

What Insurance.com would sell for in today’s market sparks one’s imagination … as that is arguably the ultimate portal for insurance products in the United States.

Internet Domains

A great sale of a premium domain. Ticket.com has been purchased for $1,525,000 and had been promoted through the AfternicDLS distribution network. Details of the sale are scarce at this point and interested parties can only speculate as to the buyer.

The name is pure generic and consequently pulled a premium price. It is estimated to be in the top 5 published domain sales for 2009. One might naturally assume that the buyer is tickets.com, but there are a number of ticket sale companies operating successfully in this arena who could benefit from the Ticket.com domain.

Concerts, sports, and musical ticket sales bring in a staggering amount annually. So gaining any competitive edge in this space, even at the cost of $1,525,000, is likely a sound investment in capturing and protecting market share.

Internet Domains afternic, ticket

It appears that Overstock is preparing to use their recently acquired O.biz domain name as a B2B (Business to Business) online shopping store. The beginning focus will be on providing restaurant supplies, office supplies & furniture, and hotel supplies.

The site has an announcement landing page and mentions that customers will be able to save money on bulk and business purchases. Also stated there is a plan to expand the site into other areas as time moves forward.

Overstock is a heavily trafficked site ranging between 7 million and 12 million visitors per month according to the unique visitor estimates of Compete.com. The O.biz endeavor is already being promoted on the Overstock homepage with a link at the bottom which reads “Visit O.biz Buy Bulk Center”.

People interested in the O.biz products, services and developments can sign up for Overstock’s BizMail to receive promotions and updates. From the BizMail sign-up page, it appears that the other product areas being considered for addition are: Education, Healthcare, Industrial, and Interior Decoration.

Interesting!

.BIZ Domain Names .biz, Overstock