Rheumatoid Arthritis is one of those medical phrases that take an extra few seconds to type in order to make sure your spelling is correct. RheumatoidArthritis.com is certainly already registered. Indeed, to a biotechnology company called Genentech … whose corporate website is actually located at Gene.com. They sure know how to zero in on high quality, generic domain names. Once again illustrating that branding is best employed with singular, descriptive domains.

However, the real subject of this piece is another premium domain name owned by Abbott Laboratories, a U.S. based pharmaceutical company who describe themselves as a broad based healthcare company. The domain is RA.com and it too focuses on treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, a disease which affects about 1% of the world’s population.

RA.com was originally registered on June 16, 1993 making it one of the earlier domain names secured well before the rapid expansion of the internet. Whether Abbott Laboratories had the foresight to acquire the name back then is unknown. I would not be surprised to learn that Abbott purchased the domain name some years later via private transaction. In any case, RA is the common abbreviation for “rheumatoid arthritis”, and much easier to spell. So credit to Abbott Laboratories for going the common sense route, and taking advantage of the power of premium domains.

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Skip Hoagland is a well known geo domain developer and owner of such beauties as Atlanta.com and Portland.com. Today, Ron Jackson reported in DNJournal that Skip sold MyrtleBeach.com for $6.5 million to Intellistrand.

Not only did the deal deliver a $6.5 million payout to Skip, but he also acquired the remaining 50% interest in a number of other super premium domain properties in which he had been a 50% partner. These included Baltimore.com, Daytona.com, SouthCarolina.com, and Honolulu.com.

This is a huge domain industry news event and a very exciting illustration of geo domain relevance and power. Myrtle Beach is an extremely popular vacation destination and attracts a tremendous number of beach lovers year after year.

Skip Hoagland has one of the most prolific domain name portfolios on the planet. He is known for taking premium geo domains and then constructing functional websites around them. MyrtleBeach.com is a notable example of the synergy created when high-quality generic domain name meets content rich website. 

Congratulations to Skip Hoagland. A well-earned success along the road of hard work.

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PremiumDomains.biz wrote about Quinstreet late last year when they acquired Insure.com for a reported $16 million. Their strategic purchase was a bold news event that captured the attention of most internet and domain name blogs.

In October of 2009, I had proposed the question for reader consideration as to what Insurance.com might fetch given that it is the ultimate premium, generic domain name for the entire insurance industry. We have the answer to that question. Exactly $35.6 million.

Quinstreet have purchased Insurance.com in what appears to be a total buyout of the domain name and related assets. This puts Quinstreet at the center of the insurance world. They have effectively bought their way into an industry that is both necessary and highly lucrative. To Quinstreet’s credit, they appear to have keen insight as to the value of a generic domain name and its power to connect with consumers.

Now I will propose another question. What would Insurance.US sell for in the open market? We now know that Insurance.com is well out of reach and has been snatched up permanently for over $30 million. This places Insurance.US front and center as one of the best domain names available for the United States insurance market.

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When a business is migrating their marketing and customer outreach online, they want to cover bases and establish a strong internet presence using good quality domain names.

I happened up on a great business example of domain name coverage using both .US and .com web addresses. DWI and DUI are terms well known in the legal profession, and stand for “driving while impaired” and “driving under the influence”, respectively. DWI is sometimes alternatively referred to as “driving while intoxicated”.

DWI.US and DUI.US are owned by the Houston-based legal outfit of Scheiner Law Group P.C. Either domain name typed into the browser resolves to the Scheiner Law Group website which is very well done and pleasing to the eye. Both domains are short, highly descriptive of the services offered, and certainly fit well with the .US (United States) country code domain.

Similarly, DWI.com and DUI.com are both registered to a Paul Dunham who is using these top domains to offer an online directory of DWI and DUI legal specialists across the United States. Again, within a particular tld space, you have one company reaching customers by registering all of the relevant keywords for a particular area of interest.

You sometimes see this in real estate as well in which a single realty company will register their city location ending in homes, real estate, and condos. Good idea!

Bottom line: Use quality, descriptive domain names to reach customers searching online, and to strengthen one’s internet presence & credibility.

• Legal domain names for sale
• Real Estate domain names for sale
• Geo domain names for sale

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A quick post to mention several notable industry happenings. Photo.com was purchased via Moniker for $1.25 million. The buyer remains private at this point as their public whois information is currently shielded at Network Solutions. This is a common practice as many big ticket buyers are still acquiring premium domain names and wish to remain anonymous.

Sadly, Bido.com closed its doors effective today. Bido was an online domain name auction platform whose owners focused on a “social auction” model that allowed site users and bidders to vote for domains. The owners did an excellent job of designing a rather sophisticated interface with many features. One of Bido’s strengths and weaknesses was both its site’s diversity and complexity. Bido struggled somewhat in defining its market niche. Its demise seems at least in part a result of trying to sell lower quality domain name inventory on volume. This, in my opinion, moved the company in the wrong direction. 

However, Bido’s owners are very creative, entrepreneurial types who constantly look for new opportunities and who can take a mere idea to final form through discipline and hard work. I have no doubt we’ll hear of other new ventures coming from Sahar Sarid, Jarred Cohen, and Jeff Bhavnanie.

Lastly, SanDiego.com (the complete business, not just the domain name) will be auctioned off on Friday, May 7. SanDiego.com was reported to be generating about $700,000 per year in revenue … which most estimators conclude is a significant underutilization of the site. Geo domains, and most any elite domain name, must be properly optimized. San Diego is a very large, popular American city with enormous potential. SanDiego.com will likely be acquired, and hopefully relaunched, by a media savvy organization. For more on this story, please visit Ron Jackson’s DNJournal.

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There is a quick but interesting read on The Wall Street Journal reflecting back on the sale of Business.com for $7.5 million ten years ago. Many doubters of that time period expressed their skepticism that the purchase would be fruitful.

The Wall Street Journal piece, in retrospect, reveals that Business.com is still a core component of R.H. Donnelley (who bought Business.com for $345 million). R.H. Donnelley have declared bankruptcy in order to restructure billions in debt. One would presume that preserving and capitalizing on their online properties will be a focus moving forward.

The Business.com and Loans.com sales were instrumental in motivating many individuals to enter the domain name market … which itself has become a self-sustaining industry with year-over-year growth.

.COM Domains business

Several online sources (including the Washington Post) have reported the sale of Russia.com to an undisclosed buyer for $1,500,000 USD. Russia.com is a nicely designed travel website offering hotel booking and flight reservations to cities throughout Russia.

The sale was first reported when it appeared on the homepage of Sedo as a completed transaction. The $1.5 million dollar sticker price caught the eye of several bloggers and industry professionals who monitor high dollar sales.

The domain is reported to have been previously owned by New Media Holdings and managed by Paley Media who offer publishing & web consultancy services. They list on their website a variety of projects they are involved in including AutoRacing.com, Musicians.com, and HorseRacing.com. Also listed are premium geo domain destinations like PuertoRico.com and Scotland.com.

Russia.ru is the most logical destination for native Russians since .ru is the official country code of Russia. However, the .com has sufficient global presence to generate substantial natural direct navigation to the Russia.com website. Premium domain names like Russia.com provide great opportunity for online investors.

*Related domain names tagged from this article include: AutoRacing.biz

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Beginning October 26 in New York City the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain conference will get underway. Two separate live auctions will be held during the week. The Rick Latona auction will occur on Tuesday, October 27 and the Moniker auction will be held Wednesday, October 28.

The Moniker auction has had some interesting late additions in cooperation with the .biz Neustar Registry. Of particular interest is the two letter domain name ->NY.biz.

This is perfect for New York based businesses. The real question is just how effectively the Moniker auction staff will be able to advertise and promote the availability of this premium domain name to the local business community. The pool of potential New York buyers is astronomical, but it will be impossible to notify such a large group without mass media advertising.

The Rick Latona auction has several top notch domains up for grabs. Rio.com is an incredible geodomain portal in waiting. Would love to see that sold for $500,000 or more. Other Latona listed domains which caught my eye were Detroit.info, Coed.com, GolfClubs.com (which is a fantastic domain but overpriced and likely will not sell).

In addition to NY.biz, other Moniker listed domains I will watch are: NYC.info, Arizona.info, Photo.com, SanBernardino.com, and OfficeSupply.com.

My chief criticism of both auctions is the continuing inclusion of lower quality domains in the LIVE auction while much better quality domains get relegated to the bargain basement online silent auction. For example, such Moniker names as Flatulance.com, ConciergeDoctor.com, GraduateClasses.com, and NewCarQuotes.com will be LIVE auctioned while these better domain names were placed into the silent auction: Accountant.info, America.US, Concerts.info, Jets.biz, and NewYork.biz.

With a limited number of LIVE auction slots available in a New York auction, NewYork.biz should be at the top of the LIVE list, not Flatulance.com! Looking forward to the auction results.

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