Master of My Domaining: 10 Things I’ve Learned About Domaining Since I Jumped Into The Pool
It’s been a little over nine months since I started the SEO - Domainer Lovefest (if you think you preceded me, you can take credit for it on your own blog!) and John Andrews left me a comment the other day asking for a SITREP on my escapades. The following is a brain dump of what I’ve learned over the last year or so of taking domaining seriously.
In no particular order…
1. .com FTW!
If you ever plan on selling a domain name, either developed or undeveloped, the value of a .com is almost always worth the investment premium. For over a decade, .com has been so heavily branded that it’s the first thing in people’s minds and it can support its own economy of type-in traffic that has made many, many domain name investors rich. .Net’s and .Org’s seem to be selling for 15% of a .com…at best.
2. .net or .org DOES = .com for SEO’s
If you are not primarily concerned with managing the exit strategy of your web asset, an exact match .net or .org is a great way to develop virtual real estate in very competitive search queries. Point a couple trusted links at widget.org and you’ve got yourself a widget audience coming from the search engines.
3. Exact Match Domain Names are Uber Defensible
Audience defensibility (aka, “Defensible Traffic“) is something I take very seriously. There are a million ways for you to get bumped out of your SERP by a competitor, but [exactmatch].com/.net/.org is your version of The Alamo. Just ask Zillow…
4. An Audience is Harder To Develop Than A Brand, So Go Generic
If you are going to start a new business or launch an external campaign, do everything you can to buy the best, most appropriate premium domain name. Trust me, if you want to sell widgets or be in a widget service industry, widget.com is going to be a strategic asset and competitive advantage.
Widgetizzle.com might sound more brandable, but I’d rather have a lower cost of traffic, more defensibility of my audience, and the other 7,600 audience building advantages of a premium generic domain name than have to leverage off “brand equity” and the 18 dudes who use my site.
5. Unlike Fantasy Football Running Backs, All The Good Ones AREN’T Taken
Most people think that it’s impossible to find and register a virgin premium domain name. Wrong!
Since you’ve read this far, I’ll share one of my fishing spots for you. I know I’m not the only one fishing there, but it hasn’t yet been super-automated by too many guys, so you can mine it. Track all the new Wikipedia pages that are being generated. There’s a thousand pounds of shit to sift through, but you will find emerging topics that haven’t had their premium.com registered yet.Thank me later.
All that said, virgin domain name registrations may only make up 5% of my portfolio. It’s definitely not the path of least resistance, but you should always try to get the jump where you can.
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