Buying premium domain names for a particular business purpose involves at least two parties, a number of decisions, and a sequence of events.

Party number 1 – the Seller: First, there is the registrant/owner, or seller, of the domain name in question. He or she, at some earlier point in time, acquired the domain name most likely because it represented a good value or prudent investment opportunity.

This registrant/owner might be a group, an individual, or a company. Whatever the initial rationale for acquiring the domain, he or she did so with a longer range vision in mind … be it to develop the domain name into a revenue generating website, to lease it, to park it, or to resell it for a profit later on.

This registrant owner has already performed their own internal valuation of the domain name and typically has a “for sale” range in mind. The bottom of that range is the lowest price the owner would ever take. The top of that range is the best case scenario in which the domain name is simply perfect for a particular end user’s purpose and will command a premium price. Then there is the middle range which represents to the seller an acceptable profit, but perhaps lower than their best case scenario.

Party number 2 – the Buyer: Second in the buy a domain name formula is the buyer. The potential buyer is someone who has taken notice of the domain for sale and identified it as valuable for some purpose of their own. They too have a specific value assessment formula through which the domain name has been passed.

The buyer operates with a similar “price structure” in mind which represents the least amount he believes he could reasonably pay to acquire the domain, the highest price he would pay to obtain it, and then a general middle ground price that would represent a “good buy” or “fair deal”.

Potential Party number 3 – the Broker: Sometimes working in between the seller and buyer is a domain name broker. This person may actually represent either the buyer or the seller, or be positioned more as a neutral facilitator like you might find in an online brokerage like Sedo. The broker may be highly involved in the domain negotiation, or alternatively, have little to do with actual negotiations and merely oversee the transfer of funds and domain name ownership.

An active broker who has been shopping a domain on a commission arrangement will have a vested interest in the domain name property. So much so that the broker’s opinions and expectations may come into play as a third influence behind that of the buyer and seller.

Buying domain names is more art than science, and is dependent on the mix of many variables that exist between the seller and buyer. The more specific and well-defined the buyer’s need, the more easily he will be able to narrow down his domain name choices to a select few that meet his criteria and expectations.

If the seller has seriously considered their own price range comfort, then he or she will be better able to communicate with a potential buyer on the feasibility of negotiating a mutually acceptable price .

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The domain name, MyRecovery.com, was just acquired by a Minnesota alcohol rehab facility known as The Retreat. They provide a 12 Step based 30-day recovery program for people seeking recovery from addiction.

The Retreat was the dream & vision of several local professionals and people interested in offering a program founded on the principles of recovery embodied in Alcoholics Anonymous. Their acquisition of MyRecovery.com appears to be a next step in getting the word out about the benefits of alcohol & drug rehab and the promise of recovery.

An announcement page at the web address suggests the site will become an online resource for clients, families, friends, and professionals seeking inspiration and information on getting help for addiction. Thanks to Andrew Alleman of DomainNameWire for posting on the sale of the MyRecovery.com domain name.

He reported that well known domain investor, Michael Berkens, was the previous owner and sold the quality name for $40,000 through Afternic’s online brokerage. Congrats to both Michael and The Retreat on this interesting deal. The domain name is an excellent way for The Retreat to connect with thousands of people interested in recovery.

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BMW, the famous German auto manufacturer, have recently launched a new website showcasing their line of autos and motorcycles on BMW.TV.

dotTV has been around for about ten years and was for many of those years the most pricey of all available domain name extensions. However, the pricing structure for .TV has been changed in recent years such that more companies, investors, and developers began to migrate to the .TV web address for mass marketing to internet consumers.

BMW is known for luxury vehicles as well as being ahead of the curve with their internet utilization. They were one of the first auto manufacturers to establish an online presence using the .US (United States) web space, and have a fully functioning web portal in operation now at BMW.US.

For one word generic web addresses and geo domain names, visit the luxury domain name website, Biltmore Domains.

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Rule number 1 when selecting a domain name for your company is to pick a web address with long term relevance. I have seen mistakes over the years in which companies pick a domain name that contains odd abbreviations, hyphens, or numbers. You have to shake your head.

Often, these ill-fitting domains are difficult to remember, and wind up being an impediment to the company’s marketing efforts and financial bottom line.

While listening to the Dennis Miller radio show this week, Dennis finished a segment with an on-air advertisement for the tax relief company, Tax Masters. After discussing the company’s services, he reminded listeners of the Tax Masters’ website. You would intuitively assume that their website would be “TaxMasters.com” or perhaps “TaxMasters.biz”.

Instead, Dennis launched into an explanation that the Tax Masters’ web address is www.txmstr.com …

“that’s TaxMasters with no vowels, txmstr (spelled out!) dot com … with no vowels.”

Naturally, I searched on tld variations for the phrase “Tax Masters” and they were all registered by other entities some of them tax relief professionals. Tax Masters apparently spend a large sum on advertising. Their ads can be seen on television and the internet, as well as being heard on the radio. What a hurdle they have erected for their customers. Not only do they not have the corresponding domain name of their company, but the awkward singular abbreviation they have chosen (txmstr.com) does not even match their plural name, Tax Masters.

If they were going to commit to an abbreviation, should it not be txmstrs, with an “s” on the end to represent the plurality in their company name? The end result of decisions like this is that Tax Masters make it more difficult to connect with both current clients and in particular, prospective clients.

Chances are that many potential customers are trying to remember Tax Masters‘ abbreviated web address, but wind up on a competitor’s website. Some decisions are needlessly costly. And hard to undo later. Haphazard domain selection creates a long term drag on marketing effectiveness.

Your domain name is your invitation to the world … and an open door for customers. Fill the doorway with garbage, or block it with debris, and those customers will simply walk on by.

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Biltmore.US is now operational and serving a narrow niche in the luxury web address market. Most of the domain names featured there are one word generic domains or geo domains such as Manhattan.mobi.

The site will publish its own short blog pieces related to premium domains for sale, and will incorporate the blog feed from this site, PremiumDomains.biz.

Biltmore.US was designed with DevHub, and uses a somewhat larger default font size which is very easy to read. High profile domains have their own dedicated promo & information page.

In regard to the mobile internet market, the general consensus is that mobile web is and will remain very popular. It seems unlikely that handheld devices will offer a more satisfying experience than a desktop or laptop computer. The display screen is just not large enough.

However, geo domains in the mobile web market seem to have a special appeal given the locality-specific nature of mobile web computing. When .MOBI was released, Menius Enterprises (in partnership with another company) acquired several major destinations in the dotmobi web address.

These mobile sites underwent some light development at that time, but are in need presently of a significant upgrade. In addition to Manahattan.mobi, these premium mobile domain names include the likes of Tampa.mobi, Cincinnati.mobi, and ParisFrance.mobi.

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There is an ongoing joke in the domain industry circle about the overuse of the phrase “premium domains”. You see the word premium used in the domain forums, blogs, and online domain name brokerage houses.

In fact, a few of the brokerages advertise that they have 1.5 million premium domain names available. Quite funny! There aren’t enough premium domains in existence to come close to qualifying that statement.

The issue is that the universe of domain names is very large, and the vast majority of these available names are mediocre at best. Labeling a domain as “premium”, when it has only modest appeal, misleads potential buyers. Domain name forums are probably the venue most guilty of the “premium domain” overuse syndrome.

Premium real estate, premium anything … means that the item in question is of arguably higher quality than other items within the same general class or category. And that the item has no easy substitute or replacement.

Another popular term to describe the same upper echelon of quality is “luxury” as in luxury yachts. It is commonly understood that when you say “luxury yacht”, you are not referring to a pontoon or bass fishing boat, but are making reference to a comparatively expensive & elaborate vessel, rare, and outstanding in design or craftsmanship.

In closing, “premium” can probably be equated with “excellent” on the traditional poor-fair-good-excellent rating scale. Every domain can be fit into this scale. Just remember, a small percentage of domain names are excellent or premium, considerably more can be described as good, and the majority of the rest either fair or poor. Happy domain hunting.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship (aka UFC) are owned by Zuffa LLC and have become a household name for sports enthusiasts. The organization established early on an internet presence with UFC.tv originally. They then migrated to UFC.com after purchasing that domain name some years ago.

The company have taken an active stance against pirating of their UFC programming and have been very diligent in protecting the UFC brand and trademark including related terms like “The Ultimate Fighter” in reference to their successful reality TV series.

Ron Jackson’s DNJournal publishes known weekly domain name sales. In reviewing Ron’s recent sales list, I observed that UltimateFighting.ca was just acquired via private sale for $5000 USD.

The UFC have been hugely successful in Canada. UFC President, Dana White, has gone on record many times with the company’s appreciation for Canadian fans. Their foray into Canada has been bolstered by rapid ticket sellouts for UFC events held in Canada. 

Upon checking the whois (registrant information) for UltimateFighting.ca, I discovered that parent company, Zuffa LLC, is indeed the new registrant of the domain name. The domain is already forwarding to their primary website.

Once again, we see companies recognizing the accretive value of domain names and the importance of strengthening their brand & reach through continual portfolio expansion.

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