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Virtual Real Estate on the World Wide Web

I own approximately 600 domain names.

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(This is a long post, but it is not necessary to read the entire thing. Skip down to point #2 for the condensed version. Just click here.)

I have a number of reasons for having so many domains. I believe that every savvy Realtor and mortgage broker should own several quality domain names. Of course, finding good available domains is a little tough, but there are still plenty of good ones out there. I very recently registered www.ColoradoRealEstateCo.com, and I was very surprised that it was available.

So why should you own 50 domain names?

1. Domains are dirt cheap and once you buy them, you can own them forever. (Just make sure to pay your registration fees when they come due.) To me, a domain is like a piece of real estate on the World Wide Web. And just like real estate, a quality domain name will become more valuable with time.

In February of 2007, I sold a domain name for $15,000. I purchased it for less than $20 a few years back. It was an unusually good domain name and I certainly don't expect to sell any of my remaining domains for that much money...but I might. (Find, Buy & Sell Domain Names)

This post isn't really about buying domain names with the intention of selling them from the get-go though.

I look at my 600+ domains as similar to buying land out in the middle of the desert for $30 per acre. The land will probably never be worth anything in my lifetime, but for $30 per acre, I might as well buy it just to see what happens. It's too cheap to pass up.

Moreover, you can put a billboard on that land and get some real estate leads as people drive by. Get what I am saying? The land might not be worth anything, sitting next to a highway in the middle of the desert, but how much is the land worth with a billboard on it? It costs about $10 to register a domain and $5 - $10 per month to host it (GoDaddy.com Hosting Plans). So for $70 - $130 per year, I think it's worth it to have an additional "billboard" about yourself on the information superhighway.

---- Start condensed version of post ----

2. The main reason I bought so many domain names initially however, was because I didn't want my competition to own them. This is a very common strategy that big companies use-- but you can use it too!

For example, if I was doing business in a fictional city called Babaloo and I wanted a website, I would probably visit www.GoDaddy.com and purchase / register:

BabalooRealEstate.com (and I would use this for myself, because this one is best)

Then, just so that my competition can't have them, I would also buy:

BabalooAZrealestate.com
BabalooHomesForSale.com
BabalooRealEstateAgent.com
BabalooRealProperty.com
BabalooMortgage.com
etc., etc., etc.

You get the point.

Take as many good domain names as you can, even if it's only to prevent the competition from having them. At about $10 per registered name, it's a slick way to get a leg up over the competition.

You may find that many of your desired domain names are already taken. That's okay. Take the .nets or the .orgs if you have to. Google gives no preference to dot-coms over dot-nets or dot-whatever. You can have a "vanity dot-com" for your business cards, but your BabalooHomesForSale.net is where all of your Google web traffic goes to.

Don't believe me? Check out a little site called Wikipedia.org A Wikipedia entry seems to come up on page one of Google no matter what you type.

Search for "breast cancer" in Google and the first three results are dot-org's. Google doesn't care about domain extensions and neither should you. Just get a keyword rich domain for goodness sakes!

If you have a domain name like www.KarenGeorge.com (not my site by the way), you are going to be knocked down in the search engines eventually. Because, eventually, somebody is going to pass your Google-unfriendly vanity name with a keyword-rich domain. Try to buy quality domain names, with well thought out keywords between the "www" and the dot-whatever. ...and buy as many as you can.

---- End of condensed version ----

For Mortgage Brokers: Want to win over a good Realtor? Does she tell you that she "already has a mortgage broker"? You want him or her to start sending you business? How about setting the Realtor up with an outstanding domain name? Make them come to you-- register BabalooRealEstate.com and you put a "your face here" ad on the site. Tell them that they will be the official Realtor on that site, and all you ask for is one lead every 30 days...or 60 days. Heck, if they give you one loan per year, it would be worth the little bit of money you spent! Websites are so cheap now- and setting one up is easy. You can buy a template...whatever. The real value, nowadays, lies with a good domain name.

I have given away several outstanding domain names to Realtors who provide me business. As someone who doesn't sell real estate, I own a ridiculous amount of real estate domains! It's the best $10 gift you can give to a Realtor who is kind enough to refer you. A $10 gift that will make a Realtor swoon with business ecstasy! Come on. It's too easy! You can even get hosting for as little as $60 per year and blog software is free. Set a Realtor-friend up with a very nice blog for $70 per year.

For Realtors: Think about registering mortgage-related domain names. Sometimes, people search for a happy realtor mortgage online before they search for a Realtor. Register MichiganFirstTimeHomebuyer.com -- I haven't checked, but I bet it's available. Someone in Michigan searches for that phrase-- your domain should nail it. (As long as you've read my other posts about optimizing the site. Hint-hint.)

So let's say you have your regular site and it's all about real estate and MLS listings and whatever. You could also put up a second website about mortgages and while they learn all about mortgages, they can see your face and phone number over on the right side, sort of like this blog. Nothing would stop a Realtor from creating an informational site about mortgages, yet I've never seen it. Why not? Don't know too much about mortgages? That's okay! Read on...

Get a good domain, set up a blog, and heck- allow your mortgage broker to blog there (while you retain ownership). He or she will be happy to blog-for-business and you get exposure to people who are looking for a mortgage in your town. And you really don't have to do anything except be smart enough to come up with the domain name and the concept. (If you need help setting up a blog, just email me through ActiveRain.)

Good luck! And remember that BLOG stands for Better Listing On Google.

www.GoDaddy.com

Posted by Michael and Karen George on 07/12/2007 04:08 PM

Comments (86)

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86 Comments on Virtual Real Estate on the World Wide Web

JUL

2007

Hi Karen, great tips and explanations on domain names. i do have a domain addiction and i'm still sitting on quite a few. not as many as yourself though. not so sure i've experienced issues with that last statement about the owners of domains, but may start registering my better ones as 'private'. thanks for saying your a nerd, now the pressure is off me!! ;) i don't think you're a nerd..!

Wow! Karen George is once again giving away the farm to anyone smart enought to listen. I'm glad I'm the only one in my market reading your posts. I'd have some tech savvy competition if anyone else read this stuff. Even if they just did 10%.

I really like the idea of REALTORS setting up mortgage sites. Competition is fierce for real estate search positions in my area (ok, not really that fierce) but mortgage companies are just not on the web here. It seems like a great place to fill a gap.

600 domain names! wow, that kept you real busy and thats great you made that much off of one!

Karen, wonderful tips as always. I especially like the one about setting up a mortgage information site. I was starting to think I had too many domain names. Some of them I can't remember without pulling up my accounts but you made me feel better. I haven't reached 600 yet so I can keep working! :-D

Thank you everyone. Of course, I read and appreciate every comment.

Thank you!

Welcome back! I'm curious though, blonde or brunette? Didn't you used to have a different pic? Oh, by the way...excellent post as always!

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

Interesting information!! I think the #1 needs clarification. You are only 'registering' the domain names. Technically you do not own them for ever. You own them for as long as you pay for them. I have helped several people get their domain name after losing it for not re-registering it. There is a difference between hosting a website and registering a domain name. Sometimes people think that because they are paying for hosting services the registration is included...occasionally it is, not always!!!

Could you explain more about what you are referring to with your P.S. statement? I have several domains, depending on the key word used in Google depends how they rank.

And if you find a good domain, SNATCH IT UP! I waited two days too long (waiting for payday) and lost a website that is going to be very valuable in 3 years because the town/area is growing at such a fast rate. I might still go see if I can buy it from them for 50 bucks ;)

Lexa Montierth

Just out of curiosity, what domain did you sell for $15K?

Good point Wayne. I'll see if I can re-word that. I just got a little slammed with phone calls.

Regarding my P.S. -- Google checks WhoIs information and it's part of their algorithm. I think it's probably to prevent search engine spamming. You know, one smart guy or girl who takes the top 5 positions with 5 different sites. If you notice, Google's results are always a "good mix."

So if you want 5 different sites to appear in Google's top ten, you had better make sure they are all coming from different hosting I.P.'s; have different registered owners; and if you want to be extra careful- different registrars.

Using this technique, you could-- in theory-- dominate Google for a certain phrase, but you will never do it if you let Google know that you own all five of the top five sites. Does that make sense?

Brian-- I don't want to say, because even though I don't care to mention it, the person that bought it from me may get angry if he comes across this article. I will tell you that it is a flower / florist related domain and it is currently in the top five of Google for the most common phrase related to buying flowers online. I really let it go way too cheaply to be honest.

Karen - I LOVE this post and the great information you've written! Now I know why I'm still hanging onto all those domain names I've bought over the years. You just never know. I thought I owned alot, but no where near the league you're in. I do periodically check different names I think up to see if they're available. If they are, they quickly become mine.

I have a friend who sold a domain name she owned and made about $25,000 on it. She was quite happy with that.

Thanks again for writing this post!
Ann

I have a number of domains and you are right they are cheap. They are from 3 different hosting companies. I thought of letting some of them go.................but not after this post.

I have a question ? Do you think we should use sub-domains for a blog we are starting ? or just get another one totally different.

Missy-- totally different. Forget the subdomains. Try to do everything as purely as possible.

Ann-- you are welcome! Thank you.

Thanks for sharing this info with us! I wondered why so many people buy so many domain names and this pretty much puts a new spin on things and we just may have to take this great advise!

Hi Karen, I love the logic, simplicity and affordability of your idea. It's such a nice combination from a marketing point of view. Who says good ideas have to be complicated?

This earns you a well deserved featured post in the marketing group for useful, on topic content. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Hi Karen,

That's a great idea. I'm going to work on this one tonight.

Fran

Thanks for the information. As it's said: Be shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.

Karen.... this si some awesome information..... too bad I didn't have all of this 2 years ago. But one question... I am confused a little from what I thought I learned. You said it doesn't matter if you buy dot org, dot net, etc etc. From what I thought I knew, I thought each one was set up for different types of businesses.

example :

dot org means non-commercial or non-profit
dot biz is for media and investors
dot net...used for internet?

thanks

jeff belonger

The name I recognize. The blog content I recognize. But that photo... Love it when you post!!!

Hi Karen, have you found that owning so many domains helps increase your ranking on search engines?

Hi Jeff-- traditionally, organizations use .org, but there are no restrictions. The only dots you can't buy are .gov or .edu

Only .gov and .edu are specific to the content. Everything else is wide open. But, yes, in a perfect world, those extensions might give us an idea as to the content of the site.

Scott-- yes, I think owning so many does help, because I can "get" lots of links from all of these "different" sites.

Karen,

Wow, I didn't realize someone owned more domain names than I did. Actually way more. I check in around 70 right now. Most are "parked". Others are used for various types of "targeted" marketing.

I do like the idea of setting up domains for realtors and then gifting them as part of the business relationship. You could even take it to the next level by offering to manage it for a small fee or as part of the relationship. Thanks for sharing that.

Karen, great post, and I'm on the same page. I don't know how many I own, but I think I will take a look at the net ones also. Thanks so much. I rated this a 5 because it had such useful information.

Excellent information! Great post!

Karen, great post, especially agents buying mortgage sites. I tried to do that, they kept coming back with "sorry, Karen George owns that"

When you talk about billboards, did you mean a pointer to your main site?

Come on Jim! Really? I know you're joking because I always use my company name and maiden name to buy mortgage sites!

Karen, Interesting, well-written, articulate articles are NEVER too long to read in my opinion! Thanks for some excellent information. You present ideas in a manner that is thoroughly refreshing!

Karen,

Congratulations on the featured post! This post contains some great information. I have several domains I am getting ready to buy - I may not develop all of them right away but at least no one else will either.

Missy asked about whether it was better to have an outside blog on your main domain or on another one. I am glad to get your answer on that question.

Rita-- thank you. You said it right when you said "nobody else will."

I did answer Missy. I think it's always best to have a second site, but host it with a different company than your main site and register it under a siblings name. You don't want to be accused of "search engine spam."

Karen.... thanks for the follow up to my question....

jeff belonger

Karen,

What about the new "anonymous" register services - do they keep your information from being public? I plan to use several different hosting companies to keep the sites on different servers.

Sorry I missed your response to Missy - this post is getting a lot of traffic :)

I have lots of private registrations or "anonymous." However, I have a slight fear of that concept. It's basically a method of depriving Google of information and that can never be good.

Or, another way to look at it is this: You aren't really "anonymous", its just that the WhoIs information has your hosting company listed instead of you. What if Google thinks everything registered under the name GoDaddy is really actually owned by GoDaddy? That would suck.

So, I think the absolute best bet is to have a unique name as the registrar, rather than go private. If you have a cousin named Babaloo Finkelstein, he will probably be the only Babaloo Finkelstein trying to get Google position in Sanford, NC.

Get what I mean?

Jim Little-- nope, I don't mean a "pointer." Because that would be considered a "doorway page" and prohibited by Google. I just mean a whole other site. Maybe "billboard" is simplifying it too much, but I was trying to use the cheap land analogy.

there are a few domains that i should be squatting on..... but i havent done it yet.

bookmarking for later...... and givin ya a 5

Karen,

Ingenious! Thanks to you for sharing with us.

Great info. I just registered a few more domains. However, I got stuck on the offer to give a domain to a Realtor, in exchange for leads. I've been showing houses for several days straight and I'm pretty brain dead right not, so I'm sure I'm just looking at this wrong, and someone's going to explain it to me, but how is that not a kickback?

Hi Lisa-- Remember, the Realtor and the Mortgage Broker should benefit equally from the site, so I would look at this as "shared advertising cost", which is legal. Since kickbacks and so forth are "anything of value", it would be the same way for Realtors. You are giving them something of value and in "equal" exchange, they are keeping you on the site as shared advertising.

Plus, I think that kickbacks are only a concern on a per-loan basis. If you provided a Realtor a domain and "that was that"...I can't see how any board would want to pursue this as a kickback. And honestly, I am super-paranoid about doing things that could get me in trouble.

The thing is-- this is an honest transaction. You aren't really kicking back to the Realtors, you are giving them a one-time opportunity to share advertising and that's it.

If you find out that I'm wrong, or if you even just guess that I am wrong, please let me know! (Sorry for the long response.)

Great post Karen. I don't think I'll be rushing out to get a bunch of domains but I will try to grad a few that I have been thinking about for some time. They would be much better than my current one.

Everytime I pass GO....Daddy I pick up a few more. I like the Billboard idea.

Thanks for sharing these insights...NYC real estate market is as tough as it gets. Pointers such as these can prove to be valuable marketing edge in the midst of stiff competition. Thanks again,

Great advice..do you mean it's not good to "forward" domain names to one single website? Better to park them or create different websites?

Karen - great info - congrats on the feature - I own a lot too - I can relate to everytime I go by godaddy it's like shopping - I add a few more to my cart (LOL) -

I had my blog as part of my website for google juice - can you explain more on why you think that's not the best idea?

If you have them seperately - do you run the risk of getting dinged for "reciprical links?"

You know me - your little SEO sponge...thanks for the help!

Wow! Great post! I've been wondering if I should buy some more domains and point them all to my main site. It sounds like I should absolutely buy them, but should I have Go Daddy host them and then point them to my main site? I need some additional advise here! Thanks! I give you a big "5" for this great informational post!

Karen, yes I was joking, but with 600 site you own, it wouldn't be that far fetched.

Thank you for the follow on answer about billboards.

I just wrote a members only post about my recent success with AR, studying your blog among others gave me inspiration to start and continue blogging, thank you for that.

Karen, this is wonderful information. I kept buying domain names primarily because when I first got one, I didn't know anything about it. But it appears I am wasting them, the others are just pointed at my site and I was wondering if I should let them expire. Thanks so much for the post and information!

Thank you Jim! Now doesn't that make you want to send me a buyer? You don't want your fellow Arizonan to start living on Ramen Noodles, now do you?

Kidding! Business isn't really that bad; I've got clients. But if you ever want to deal with the best- you know where to find me. I float like a butterfly and sting and all that.

(Okay, I had to take a pain pill a little while ago and I think it's making me a little goofy.)

Rebecca-- definitely not! Forwarding is a big no-no.

Kelly-- I actually wrote about this in my post originally, but I thought the post was too long, so I deleted it. You should not host all of your sites with GoDaddy or point them all to your main site. Most SEO's believe that Google takes the information about who owns the site (www.whois.com) along with the hosting provider and everything else. In other words, you would not want to have 3 sites about your city and state- all registered to you- and all hosted by GoDaddy. This is considered "spamming" the search engine results. If you had three sites, I would make each one unique and register each one under a different name. However, you can't make up names either. I would use siblings or (very) close friends with whom to register the domain name. I would make each site unique and target a different search phrase for each one. You can dominate the search engines if you do this correctly...but you can't tell Google that you have five websites and they are all about Phoenix Real Estate. But if five different people had five different websites, hosted by five different companies-- Google will realize that and you could, in theory, have all five show up on page one. Is this confusing?

I'm a domain name collector. I have several hundred. But it gets expensive sometimes when you try to cover all the different extensions and variations.

Karen, I sell a broad area in the Northwest suburbs of Illinois, so what if I were to choose domains that were different towns? See my main is getmovingwithkelly.com and doesn't specify anything (I guess you would say it's a vanity site). If I were to choose a domain with Lake Zurich, one with Barrington, one with Long Grove, etc. would that be okay to host these with go daddy and point them to my main site? As you can see, I'm not good at this type of thing so I truly, truly appreciate your comments.

Very true Tim. However, I find that if you buy the dot-com, people tend to NOT BUY the .org's and others. It's like they get intimated...but for good reason. Like, if you get the dot-com, and you actually plan on using it, I don't think Google is going to deliver:

#1 - TimMaitski.com

#2 - TimMaitski.org

#3 - TimeMaitski.net

If you search for Tim Maitski... Okay, maybe that's a bad example. In the case of your name, Google probably would deliver all of the extensions to searchers...but I think you get my point.

It seems like- from my experience- owning the .com intimidates others into not buying the "lesser" extensions.

On the other hand, if I wanted a domain and a squatter was sitting on the .com, I would register the extensions and effectively shut the squatter down by putting a truly informational, optimized site on my dot-net. I would waste anybody that only bought the dot-com for squatting... But if the dot-com is being used, I wouldn't bother. I probably should include / edit this in my post.

Kelly-- no, I would not point stuff to your main site. These are called "doorway pages" and are considered spamming the search engine.

I would create simple sites for each neighborhood, exactly as you said, but forget the pointing. Why would you need to anyway? If someone searches for Lake Zurich real estate, and you have a great domain that lands in the top ten...people visit it, learn a little about Lake Zurich, and they see your name and phone number.

If each site was completely different...that's a little different from what I was talking about here. You could probably host each COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT NEIGHBORHOOD site- all from GoDaddy. But, if you were an SEO client of mine, I would use different hosting companies, just to be on the safe side. Your plan is more than likely okay though- because each site would have a different theme.

Other than "pointing" to your main site, I think you are right on.

To see what people are searching for, sign up for a free account at www.wordtracker.com

It's good for a couple of days I think... But you only need it for a couple of hours.

Great information Karen - I own about 30 - and thought that was a lot - I have all of them redirected to my main site, I give them all there own keywords and meta tags - but I - Mask - them before I redirect. Is this a smart way ???

Thanks

Lance Owens

You know what Lance... I can't comment on your comment, because I don't know about your specific inquiry FOR CERTAIN. I only "publish" things that I am absolutely 100% sure about.

The concept of masking is probably good, but if you have them all hosted with the same company, they probably are all on the same server and share the same IP.

Bottom line: You may be fine, but the sure bet is just to do it the way I said. When it comes to Google, I like the sure thing...but I am not too sure about masking, because-- to tell you the truth-- I think my site is masked by my website template company and my site does very well.

So I don't know.

Cyndee-- I am about to go to bed. I will edit this comment tomorrow and answer your questions. Sorry, but I didn't notice your comment until now. Too much activity on this post!

I'm with you - let's get some much needed sleep! Thank you for your help when you have time:-)

Karen,

As always, great post! Of course you must know this already =) I liked your idea about having a blog and let someone else do the blogging. How about writing a post about starting an outside blog. I am now hungry for more information.

Thanks

Thanks, Karen - I like the idea about buying up what's left in our market - iterations of ...real estate. Also had been wondering about the .orgs etc.

Did you mention where you got that subscription button from? Just curious...

JUL

2007

Karen - Very good post. I'm highly impressed with how you have defined and acted upon a marketing strategy on AR with Realtors by providing them relevant and useful information. Again, very impressed.

As always what wealth of information...love the Web 2.0 looking button...

So...Then what I am thinking about now is creating pages with my other domain names on a free blog sites like wordpress.com or blogger and adding some content with my anchor words to link to my main page. I don't have very many domains (yet) This can only increase my main pages popularity right? Since, they will be one way links.

600? wow - I do not have the energy or time to find 600 I would want to buy... but there are a few I should be buying

Thanks Karen for opening my eyes to these ideas. I have 11 domains and thought i was crazy but I like the way you think.

I subscribed some time back but I now need to make time to read all of your post.

Great work.

Hi Karen:Great post! Good domain names are very important in our real estate business.

Couple of comments: It is my understanding that it is a violation of the registered trademark of NAR to use the work "REALTOR®" as part of any continuous name as this doesn't follow the NAR's trademark guidlines. In other words, you are not permitted to use names such as "DebbieRealtor.com" or "YourMiamiRealtor.com", etc, etc. Obviously, you can use your name, John Doe, REALTOR®

http://www.realtor.org/

Also, it is my understanding that the same goes for the registered trademark of the MLS® for the Multiple Listing Service, SeeFranklinMLSHomes.com, SeeALLMLSListing.com

Just an FYI...

Thanks for again expanding my thought processes. So many different ways to create business.

Great post, I too own several unused domain names, and usually add 1 every 3 months or so when I find a good name to register. They are easy to keep track of and most services do all the renewal work for you. In fact I think I'm going to go play around for an hour and see what other sites I can buy.

I think it is a great post, but my only concern is your .com vs .net/.org strategy. I agree that the search engines take no preference, however if your competition has dallasrealtor.com and you have (and market heavily) dallasrealtor.net I would think that a lot of the general public would just type in the .com out of habit and end up on your competition's site.

"The land might not be worth anything, sitting next to a highway in the middle of the desert, but how much is the land worth with a billboard on it?" I hear what you are saying but not only do you have to put the sign next to the road. You have to bulid the road...because no one knows where you are.

And please, don't forget that NAR and CREA have trademark usage policies re: the use of "REALTOR" (and other registered marks) in a domain name.

David Hood: You are correct about that. But with a powerful domain name and some simple SEO, the road will be constructed easily. Obviously, hopefully, this article is not meant for beginners. I have a bunch of readers that are pretty search-engine savvy. It's hard to write with so many degrees of skill on this network!

Jennifer Walker-Derby: I addressed this in the comments, but not the actual post. I wasn't clear enough about this...and you are correct. Except-- my strategy has never been to give my web address out to anyone so that they can possibly type it in wrong. That's where the vanity address comes in (if you've got to have one). My strategy is to let search engines find my site and nobody can type anything in wrong with that strategy. Just click.

John Badalamenti and Anthon Pang: Thanks for pointing that out. I will change that right now. That always seems to slip my mind.

Jeff G: Please ask no questions about the subscription button that I...uh...sort of made.

Cyndee: I don't think that blogging on your main site is bad or anything. That will help your main site. However, I just think it will help you more if you have a second, completely different site (as long as you keep it private), for the same reason that you buy two Lotto tickets with two different numbers. You just doubled your odds and you get to try different numbers. (Or two different, targeted search phrases.)

As far as reciprocal damage-- I never said that they should link to each other! I would link the blog to the main site, but not vice versa. So how do you get some links to your blog? Well, for one, you could ask fellow ActiveRainers to give you some links to your blog. You know? Try and get links from everyone you can and have them link to EACH site- but don't reciprocate with yourself.

Hope this helps!

Perfectly stated. That is a great post. Very informative, useful and direct. I've got some domains I scooped up just in case. I haven't used them yet, but after reading your post I need to do something with them fast.

Thanks Karen, great info as usual! Hey, how did you put that "Subscribe to this blog" icon on the bottom. That's pretty cool!

Pete-- first create a button... Or right click on mine and then save it.

Then, email me at kog@kogmarketing.com and I will tell you how. I am not doing it this way because it's some kind of secret or anything, but it would be too long to explain in a "comment"

Karen, nice post and great information. I too have some domain names that I'm attempting to sell as well. Seems like the .com .net and .org have more value than any other extension. Have you noticed this as well?

OK...no questions.

Thanks Jeff. But feel free to dowload the picture and use it yourself! If you want, I'll give you a blank button, so you can use whatever font you feel like using.

David Britt-- Yeah. Probably. But really, time-hanging-around is a big factor and it just seems that the .com's, followed by the others you mentioned, tend to be registered first and get good search engine cred.

The best way to sell domain names (which I only do occasionally), is to pay $60 for a year of hosting and throw a highly-optimized site up there. It will be worth so much more if you can demonstrate the magic.

David-- if you want, you can email me your domain names at kog@kogmarketing.com

I will list them on my for sale page and maybe I could help you out. Don't worry; I'm not looking for anything in return. Just to help a fellow ActiveRainer Squatter! :-)

JUL

2007

hey

i have registered for a few domains as well but not as much as you :) i registered it to protect my business. i like my business name and plan to be in business for a long time. i also register business name domain that look or sound similar to mine in case the client typed in wrong etc. i also did it geogrpahically like westagesanfrancisco.com. great reminder!

cheers,

cindy

You might be half-Greek but anyone who has 600 domain names is 100% Geek !

Thank you for this well written and very instructive post. And thank you for sticking with all the comments as well. I learned a lot and am going to put what I learned into practice.

Another good reason that you are one of the only 7 AR blogs I'm subscribed to.

Cindy-- very smart. That's definitely something that you want to do with a serious business.

Marty-- thank you so much. I'm flattered to be one of your seven!

This is plain and simply outstanding Karen! I have a plethora of things I would love to say about you, cause I do read you, but the most plain Jane thing I can say is that pretty much everything you write is fantastic and something I learn from. Your posts, your words, your presence, makes this a better place. Your tone and emotional reaction at times has been suspect in my eye...but you are a player...in this forum and this industry. I will take that opinion to the bank or broker for that matter, whomever gives it the best deal:-)

I'm not a huge fan of competing against you but for God's Sake, you are very underutilized in this particular forum. That said, keep on keeping on...

Wow Jason! I don't even know how to respond. I am just a woman who works as a mortgage broker...you make me feel like a movie star! Thank you so much for you oh-so-kind words. It really means a lot to me, because I've read your blog and I respect you as an intelligent person. So thank you!!! Uh, I want to say more, but thanks is all I can muster. You are very sweet!

JUL

2007

Domain names are the new real estate??

By Adam Goldman
The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Inside a midtown hotel, Larry Fischer is on his cell phone with a financial backer as his partner Ari Goldberger does quick research on a laptop computer.

They are bidding furiously at this auction of Internet domain names, with hopes of snagging megayachts.com. The duo won't be deterred. They want this name.

"$110,000, yes or no? Quick," Fischer barks at Eli, the investor at the end of the phone.

Someone else makes a bid for $120,000. Fischer and Goldberger up the ante, and then again.

Going once, going twice ... sold to Fischer and Goldberger for $150,000.

"You got it," a smiling Fischer tells Eli. Mazel tovs are exchanged.

These are boom times in an estimated $2 billion industry that involves the buying and selling of domain names. When people type the generic names into their Web browser's address field, sites that generate pay-per-click advertising revenue appear. Such "direct navigation" bypasses search engines.

"This industry is like the Wild, Wild West right now, and people have no idea how fast it's growing," said Jerry Nolte, managing partner of Domainer's Magazine, a new trade publication devoted to this little-known world.

Some believe the industry's market value could reach $4 billion by 2010 as people continue to purchase about 90,000 names a day and the number of domain registrars swells.

At the end of first quarter 2007, at least 128 million domain names had been registered worldwide, a 31 percent increase over the previous year, according to VeriSign Inc., which runs some of the core domain name directories for the Internet.

"It's not about words," said Monte Cahn, founder and CEO of Moniker.com, a company that specializes in domain asset management and held the Manhattan auction. "It's like real estate. This industry is only about a decade old. People looked at domain names as a commodity. It's a piece of real estate on the Web that can't be replaced. It's your stake in the ground, your stake in the Internet."

At the Manhattan auction, Fischer and Goldberger snatched up four names for more than $1.2 million and a fifth for a client, representing only a handful of the names sold for a total of $12.4 million during both the live and silent auction.

The auctions were held during a domain conference in June that attracts some of the biggest players in this niche business.

One name - creditcheck.com - went for $3 million but paled in comparison to the sale of sex.com, which sold for $12 million last year, according to Cahn, who knew the site's buyer and seller.

Fischer, 44, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Goldberger, 46, of Cherry Hill, N.J., figured there was money to be made early.

Goldberger's entry into the business was unorthodox to say the least. In 1996, the Hearst Corp. sued him, alleging trademark infringement after Goldberger registered esqwire.com, which resembles one of the company's magazines.

The two sides eventually settled and Goldberger, a lawyer, was allowed to keep the name. Word got out that Goldberger knew something about the thorny legal issues involving Internet domain names and people began approaching him for advice.

Goldberger's fascination with the burgeoning industry was sealed.

He eventually left the respected Philadelphia law firm where he worked in 1997 and joined a small startup in Manhattan called mail.com, which was buying up domain names.

Goldberger began collaborating with Fischer in 2001, building their portfolio of domain names.

Two years later, they created a company called smartname
.com, which they sold earlier this year. The company took names and provided content and links for owners, getting a cut of the advertising revenue. At one point, smartname.com represented 150 owners with about 150,000 domain names, generating 50 million unique visitors a month.

Most the sites are lucrative for their advertising dollars. For example, megayachts.com isn't an actual yachting site, but it contains numerous ads and links for real yacht companies, boats and cruises. The owners of the site get paid each time a viewer clicks on one of those links.

Bob Parsons, CEO and founder of domain registration company GoDaddy.com, says this type of business is fairly straightforward.

"They make their money in two ways," Parsons said. "One way is through the traffic they get, and the other is the appreciation of the name."

Parson didn't think there was anything wrong with the practice as long as those involved weren't using names trademarked by others.

"Domain names are becoming 21st century real estate," Parsons said.

JUL

2007

thanks for the great post Marcus! Really appreciate it.

SEP

2007

Karen - Great idea! I have been looking at setting up a blog on my site. Do you have any suggestions for blogging software, or any ideas about it?

MAY

2008

Great information then and now, I'm glad I ran across this.

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Virtual Real Estate on the World Wide Web

I own approximately 600 domain names.

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