Randys Domaining Blog

The live auction is complete. There were a couple of .info domains that did well.

Sports.info for $9,000 and laptopcomputers.info for $4,000.

ad.com was the big winner at $1,400,000 – the next highest price was recorded at $45,000 for BottledWater.com.

See the results here.

Hi everyone!

You may not know this, but we live full-time in our RV.  We have for the past almost four years. We’ve published a travelogue and some RVing articles on our website foodfreeway.com for some time. But a friend recently encouraged us to create a new blog dedicated to RVing full-time. So, hop on over to our new baby – WeRV.net.

Okay, I started domaining about this time last year. I had domains before, but this is about the time I started it seriously. Now I have a ton of domains expiring. All are at least parked, some are mini-sites, none are making me rich. I know, you need traffic, traffic, traffic – just like a cafe needs location, location, location. But dang, click rates are beginning to drop just like CPM ad rates back 10 years ago.

Is this the second coming of the bursting bubble? Is it an opportunity? Should I dive in and try to scoop a good location or two? Ahhhh!

I just don’t know.
Exasperation and Frustration!

Okay, I have been busy trying out several platforms for mini-sites.  Here are my thoughts and examples:

1. WhyPark – I have a couple sites with them. Here is an example: lobstersonline.net

#2 Devhub.com (old evolanding) – I have a few sites there. Example: couponluck.com

#3 – This is new. Noomle.com I have a couple sites in the experimental stages – for example: RGVParkNews.com. Now this is interesting. Very new and changing and growing every day. They operate on a donation basis and use your ad sources. Keep an eye on them, or better yet, give them a try.

Okay, this past week has been bad for domaining – domaining block. As much as I search for good key words, nothing seems to work. I’ve searched dropped lists, word lists, search statistics, and not much luck. I’m hoping this goes in streaks. I’ve beed trying out sites with whypark.com and have started to get a bit of traffic. I’ve got some sites cash parked on sedo.com, and have only made a few cents. The traffic with sites parked with adsense is not great. I have had a couple decent days on the godaddy parked sites. Perhaps I am just getting more cautious with names I pick up. I think it is a job that you just have to stick with and gring out – I do not believe that all the good names are gone – you just have to be steady in your efforts. Now if the old brain could come up with some fresh ideas I’d be set.

Okay, I couldn’t resist a couple domains off a drop list. These pretty much violate many of my domain purchase rules to myself. But these rules are still being developed in my feeble mind – and godaddy was running a sale on .info domains – so what the heck.

k8e.info – web speak for katie.

jr2.info – junior number 2 ?

Fun but probably useless.

Comment here to share your biggest domaining blunder. I’ll start it out.

I just saw that the first domain I ever registered was sold for $10,500 – brandindex.com.

I dropped gamin.com ( I was thinking a variation on gaming) and I just KNOW that it’s a gangbuster typo domain for garmin.com.

I’m sure there are more . . .

Okay – hand registered worldwebindex.com.  What do people think it is worth?

Considerations: webworldindex.com ranks #48399 out of the top 1, 000,000 web sites on alexa.

Nameboy.com estimate is $13,988 – the second highest evaluation I have received on their system.

Let’s hear your thoughts!

This blog category is intended to discuss the value of individual domain names.

This post is was inspired by an interesting thread on namecake.com. The discussion involved the question of what domain prices will do in 2009. Now domains worth millions are, unfortunately, out of my league for the moment, but I do have an opinion.

It is my opinion that the LLLL domains that make no sense will drop off a lot. I see no reason why anyone would pay much for a domain like fghj.com (sorry if you own it). Go there if you are looking for a cash parking link to a site where you can find a Russian mail-order bride. Remember it if you are younger than I am and still have space in the old memory banks. But you have to go there to see what it has to offer. On the other hand, go to webmd.com and you get what you expect… generic will remain the king.
I also do not seen the value of many geo domains either. I would expect that domain names for smaller towns will be deemed worth less (not necessarily worthless). After all, if you live in a town with a population of 30,000 you are not likely to need a web directory to find a local pizza shop or hotel. And this whole business of NNNNN.com zip codes is troubling. I typed in the zip code for an old address of mine – 55337.com – it served up an error page. Next I tried 77399.com – our current zip code in Livingston Texas. It served up a whopping three links to local services/businesses. Interesting as well is that 77399.com redirects to 77399.net! Why send the top TLD to a lesser one? Maybe I’m missing something here, but this is why I see them declining in 2009.
I invite you thoughts!

Randy