A recent check of Sedo showed some interesting domain name sales which illustrate just how global the domain name market has become.

• Sound.ch for $7450 (.ch is the country code for Swtizerland)
• Cafe.de for $19,050 (.de is the country code for Germany)
• Pocketbook.eu for $11,993 (.eu is the county code for the European Union)
• BudgetAir.in for $20,000 (.in is the country code for India)
• Falcon.co.uk for $9183 (.co.uk is the country code for the United Kingdom)
• Finanzblick.de for $7574 (.de is the country code for Germany)
• Gezocht.nl for $24,500 (.nl is the country code for the Netherlands)
• SEO.es for $7620 (.es is the country code for Spain)
• Tech.TV for $5000 (.tv is the country code for Tuvalu, but branded for “TV”)

A recent Moniker .US domain auction produced the purchase of Flights.US for $11, 770. Another recent Moniker brokered sale was Slots.ca for $206,906 (.ca is the country code for Canada).

Also in the news was the sale of SydneyHotels.com for $100,000 by owner Rick Schwartz to a company with a network of travel focused domain names & websites. This same company own the LondonHotels.biz website among many others.

Here is an update on the growth of America’s official country code, the .US web address. Between February 2009 and the end of June 2010 (roughly 1 year and 5 months), the .US web address added 338,764 new registrations for a current total of 1,724,961 .US domain names in play. This was a remarkable 24.4% increase in registrations.

Related domain names of interest:

SydneyHotels.biz | Kolhapur.in | WestHollywood.US | ChicagoIllinois.TV

Domain Sales, Internet Domains .us, cctld, global domain names

Pockets of depressed real estate are beginning to pick up in some areas. Florida experienced an over-building of luxury condos in the last decade which created quite a surplus in the major Florida markets like Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and other famous hot spots.

However, as prices have steadily come down, condo buying has increased considerably as prudent buyers knew that the time was right to buy in. The Herald Tribune posted a recent article examining condo trends in the Sarasota, Florida area.

According to them, condo sales in the Sarasota area rose a massive 71% in May 2010 compared to one year ago in May of 2009. The piece reported that 384 condos sold in comparison to just 225 in May of 2009. Additionally, the median sale price increased 3% to almost $153,000.

I do not have a convenient method of checking publicly listed sales of real estate domain names. I recently sold a .biz real estate domain, and also just acquired one in the .info space.

Real estate domains are perfect web portals for both home buyers and sellers of various properties. I visit LuxuryRealEstate.com, MLS.biz, and Collett.biz as well as Homes.com and consider these excellent examples of workable domain names paired with well-designed web sites. Two premium domains I have been developing are Condos.biz and Estates.biz.

Internet Domains condo domain names, real estate domain names

Domainers approach management of their portfolios from different perspectives. The size of one’s portfolio, monetization methods selected, and development goals can all affect how one might choose to manage their domain collection.

An initial benefit is to consolidate all of your domains with one registrar. I have found this very helpful since monitoring domains across many different host registrars is cumbersome and a big time waster. You wind up with too many passwords and must learn several different user interfaces when using multiple registrars.

You are also likely to lose track of a domain name when utilizing many registrars simultaneously. I have consolidated the bulk of my portfolio at GoDaddy. Some like Moniker while others use Enom. Each of these registrars have positive and negative qualities so it boils down to personal choice depending on which features are most important to you.

Another commonly accepted norm is to keep your domains on auto renew so that you don’t accidentally lose a domain. Some registrars do not send renewal reminder notices and you do not want to depend on that as your only means of monitoring a needed domain name renewal.

Many domainers are happy with one PPC provider. It’s fairly convenient to load your portfolio into one parking company, like Parked.com for example, but often another parking provider will provide a higher rate of return for certain domains. So diversifying your portfolio across different parking companies may be a technique that you want to try if you are really focused on maximizing PPC income.

Aim for volume discount in your registration fees as your portfolio grows. A registrar knows that your portfolio will be a repeat and steady source of income for them. Never pay retail registration fees. As a portfolio owner, you will likely also be buying other services from the same registrar, and you may direct new business to them if you are satisfied with their services. The larger your portfolio, the better the price consideration you will receive.

In regard to website development, a whole other article is actually merited. Website development of multiple domain names is a complex issue … particularly when you are embarking on a creative endeavor with some level of complexity involved.

I have had numerous websites with different hosting providers and none of them have gone without a hitch. Suffice it to say that the consolidation concept makes much sense and offers huge advantages to you as a developer. When it comes to development, I am a “jack of all trades”, but an expert at none. When you have limited time, learning different development platforms and software becomes a huge time and energy drain. Simplicity rules, and especially simplicity with reliability.

In 2008-2009, I discovered the beauty of Wordpress. That has become a popular development platform for good reason. It is not without occasional headaches, but is certainly preferred by some who would rather not learn html or other code writing skills.

In 2009, I learned about DevHub. After testing their platform, I commited fully to DevHub for developing various domains in my portfolio. I started simple and have continued to refine my sites over months as time allowed. The advantage is that I can edit my sites from any PC and have easy, quick access to multiple sites all contained within one development platform. Also, a module developed for one site can be replicated on another site fairly easily since you are working within one common platform.

Now for the downside. If an online platform goes down or experiences a major hiccup, your entire portfolio of develop sites goes down. Scary as hell when you have invested hundreds of hours in website development. For example, DevHub recently upgraded their entire online system and moved their hosting to a new provider. The repercussions were initially catastrophic. Thankfully, DevHub are commited to building a loyal customer base and went to work for several weeks sorting through & correcting a myriad of unexpected problems that their upgrade introduced.

The lesson here is to make sure you are hooked up with some high integrity, well-funded professionals who really value what they are doing. Anything less than that and you should run in the opposite direction. I am sticking with DevHub at this time because their upgraded system really is the cream of the crop. I am sure that they will more thoroughly test run their next upgrade.

Lastly, a portfolio owner needs to consider the sales venues they might utilize for listing domain names for sale. And, also how one might assemble their portfolio online to display to potential buyers and business partners. I have an html-coded windows hosted site (PremiumDomains.biz), a linux hosted site built on Noah’s Classifieds (PremiumDomains.US), and a page dedicated on this blog (Domain Names For Sale) profiling some premium domains from the Menius Enterprises domain name portfolio.

Murphy’s Law is a constant. Might as well accept this. Advanced planning and preparation are the portfolio owner’s best defense. Organizational skills and back-up of one’s work can also not be overstated.

Internet Domains domain portfolio, registrar

America’s newspapers continue to lose favor with readers in a persistent negative trend which seems to go on and on. The latest report finds that U.S. newspapers lost another 8.7 percent of their readership in just the last 6 month period. That’s incredible.

These figures were released April 26, 2010 by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Even the ever popular Sunday edition of local papers dropped a sharp 6.5 percent.

USA Today, once the most popular paper in the country, is reported to have lost 13.6% of its circulation. That’s enormous. My theory is that developed premium city domain names in leading web addresses will eventually replace the traditional local newspaper. The logic, familiarity, and instant public recognition built into a pure city domain name creates the ideal portal for local news.

Local newspaper ad revenue is reported to have also slipped further although the degree of loss appears to be slowing over time.

Interestingly, the Audit Bureau report stated The Wall Street Journal is the only paper among the top 25 that actually experienced an increase in readership! It’s circulation increased .5% allowing it to surpass USA Today as the nation’s most read paper.

What this means is nearly self-evident. The news delivery model has experienced an unprecedented sea change, and traditional hardcopy news organizations found themselves on the wrong side of a new internet equation. Many of them continued to brand under an old moniker that was illogical, and yesteryear.

Want to see it done right? Visit Boston.com! They’re receiving over 3 million visitors per month and in excess of 20 million monthly visits (source: Compete.com). Try competing with that.

What about the #3 circulation, The New York Times, you ask? The answer: A staggering 8.5% loss of circulation in their weekday readership. No matter how it’s sliced, times are changing. The question is … what will these news organizations have to do to reinvent themselves? I believe they must look to the Boston.com example. Therein lies about 75% of the answer.

More on this topic …

Huge Newspaper Investor Pulls Out, Way Out!

More Shocking Newspaper Decline

Newspapers in America Being Led to the Exit

.US Domain Names, Internet Domains city domain names, news, newspaper

The premium geo domain name, Raleigh.com, is up for auction via Snapnames. The auction is occurring in association with the GeoDomain Expo® which will kick off in New Orleans on April 28. I just read about this very interesting geodomain sale on Michael Berkens’ blog, TheDomains.

Raleigh.com is one of many stunning geo domain names owned by Boulevards New Media. Boulevards have a massive stable of top-of-the-line city domains including Detroit.com, StLouis.com, Indianapolis.com, and Memphis.com to name a few. Raleigh is North Carolina’s second most populated city. It is the state capital, and home to Research Triangle Park and NC State University. Raleigh has been ranked as one of the fastest growing cities in America.

The current auction reserve on Raleigh.com is set at $1 million to $5 million dollars. This premium domain name is certainly an incredible portal for the Raleigh, North Carolina area and presents a once in a lifetime opportunity for the appropriate buyer to acquire a top domain.

Raleigh.info is owned by me. Raleigh.US is registered to Sigmund Solares, and Raleigh.biz was acquired by a South Korean registrant named Song Dongil.

Geodomains, Internet Domains geo domain, raleigh

A 2010 survey by property consultants, Knight Frank, ranked the most influential cities on the plant according to four factors. These factors were economic activity, political power, knowledge base, and quality of life. The results were reported by CNN.

Coming in on top as number 1 was New York City. Number 2 was London. Number 3 was Paris. And number 4 was Tokyo. Los Angeles made the top 10 list as did Berlin and Beijing.

Geo domain names have been of interest to a majority of domainers since the introduction of the internet and domain names in general. New York City (and Manhattan) are two geo domains that have been on my radar for a number of years due to their huge population, unrivaled luxury real estate market, and role as the economic center of the country.

The CNN report pointed out that several rising Asian cities have begun to garner increased economic relevance and political influence. But, they have not yet arrived as locations where the world’s wealthiest would have a first or second home.

The value (and price) of a geo domain name is not easy to calculate, and is heavily dependent on a variety of inter-related variables. Some of these include city proper population (within the city limits), surrounding urban population (larger metro/suburb area), city relevance as a center of business, importance of the city as a vacation destination, current growth rate, and projected importance in the state/region.

Internet Domains city domain name, geo domain, new york city

Domain blogs and domain news sites have recently written about a new domain name leasing company, Root Orange. Root Orange are offering a unique way for local companies to utilize premium domain names in their respective local city or region. 

Root Orange’s technology allows local businesses to lease a localized version of a domain name. When someone types in the domain name, the user is delivered to the business who has leased the domain in their own respective home city.

For example, let’s use the domain name “DivorceLawyer.com” and the city of Los Angeles, CA. When someone in Los Angeles visits DivorceLawyer.com, they will be delivered to the website of the Los Angeles law firm who leased the domain name for the Los Angeles area.

Currently, Root Orange are leasing DivorceLawyer.com in Los Angeles for $899/month. To lease DivorceLawyer.com for Phoenix, Arizona would cost $289/month, and only $129/month for Fresno, California. Lease pricing is based in part on the size of the city/region and its corresponding population number.

The advantages are obvious in that a particular attorney can capture all of the traffic for DivorceLawyer.com in his or her city.

Root Orange are currently leasing city spots for the premium domain name, Attorney.com. Attorneys across the country can have this domain name redirect visitors to their legal website if they lease the rights to Attorney.com in their city. Pretty interesting approach to the monetization of a premium domain. And of course, a more affordable means of capturing high-quality traffic without having to invest in a multi-million dollar premium domain.

Internet Domains root orange

Within the past year, two distinctive companies have emerged who specialize in online domain name auctions. One is Latona’s Domain Brokerage & Auction House and the other is Bido. Both companies have invested considerable capital and time in constructing a sophisticated auction platform dedicated to domain name sales.

I am happy to say that both company sites are very professional in appearance. Both are a definite plus to the domain name industry.

Rick Latona of Latona’s Domain Brokerage & Auction House is a go-getter, energetic, and someone who makes things happen through sheer will and creativity.

Sahar Sarid, Jeff Bhavnanie, and Jarred Cohen are the primary driving forces behind Bido and they too have created an impressive auction format full of features.

The domain name industry is inextricably linked to internet growth and the mass migration of businesses to the net. While the story of domain name expansion is both interesting and exciting, many chapters have yet to be written.

The domain aftermarket has many players, some new and some old. I have used most all of them for both buying and selling premium domain names in various extensions. It is gratifying to see the industry mature, and to witness the continual influence that good domain names have on start-ups and business expansion.

Bido have been in operation for a number of months and are continually reassessing and improving their technology and approach. Latona’s is brand new and preparing to launch within the next few days.

If you are a buyer or seller of domain names, check out these two companies. Chances are you will be hearing about them for a long time to come.

Internet Domains bido, Domain Auctions, Latona