While there was great interest in the dot com market when the internet initially began to take off, we have seen a mass of new Top Level Domain (TLD) extensions introduced, such as .co.uk, tv, ie, cc and many many more. Each new TLD seems to devalue the rest, although it has to be said that the dot com market has held its value more than most.

We recently saw casino.co.uk change hands for in excess of £3 million, showing that premiums names are doing ok, even if they have fallen from earlier highs. We have seen other domain names go for a lot more money, with some approaching £10 million, but is the market fatally flawed now? Have we reached saturation point?

There is no doubt that the domain name market is not, and is unlikely to be, as lucrative as it once was, even though there are some prime domains which will always demand large prices. Due to improved SEO techniques and better promotional campaigns the TLD of your domain name is not as important as it used to be. It is now possible to make a big splash in the online market with a relatively obscure TLD, something which was probably unheard of a few years ago.

The domain market has moved on, the scarcity value has all but disappeared and the ever growing list of TLDs is not helping the situation. Investment into the domain name market is now a lot more difficult than a few years ago and very risky for those not up to speed with the industry.

The problem for the original trademark owners seems to be the fact that if they were to chase every single domain which they deemed “unlawful”, they would be chasing webmsters all day and every day. However, there are some companies such as eBay, who are very proactive in closing down sites using their name in the URL, firing off legal emails at a seconds notice. Alternatively there are some corporations, such as TV companies who may actually view sites with TV a program name in the title as “free publicity”. So how can they differ so much?

In reality it all comes down to how much money the webmaster may potentially make from a website with a trademark name in the title. If the underlying corporation were to see too much interest in a site, or massive income flows, there is every chance they would step in.

If however it was to be viewed as a promotional tool, from which the underlying trademark holder would actually benefit there is every chance that they may not pursue the owner. There is no hard and fast rule, and no real basis on which to value a domain name / site which could potentially land you in trouble. As they say in the trade, “He who dares….wins”.

There are many offers which have become very popular on the internet, one of which is “Host with us and we will give you a free domain” – great, I pay for the hosting and they give me a free domain for a year, 2 years, etc. What have I got to lose?

Unfortunately these offers are not always as straight forward as they look, as very often the host will register the domain in their name with “WhoIs”, so that they can “look after it” for you. In this instance you will have full access to the domain for the agreed period, and your hosting will run as normal. However, if :-

· The domain registration period ends OR
· Your move host

you may well get a surprise.

This is when you will find out that the domain is not yours, it is actually held by the original hosting company and you have just built your business around it. Surely you can just buy back the domain when the name expires?

Well you would think so but you may well find that the host have already done that, and they will forward you an excessive invoice for you to renew the domain in your name – effectively transfer true ownership.

So you are in the position that you have spent 2 years (or whatever it may be) building your business around a “free” domain name. You are now effectively been held to ransom, and can only buy the name at well above the going rate. What do you do? Start again under a different domain, or pay the “ransom” to buy it from your original host?

Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch!

However, very few people can afford to get into the property market in this way. The very booming market that these shows speak so proudly of, prohibits many from making their first step on the ladder, let alone buying a few additional retirement properties for themselves. So, property development is just not an option for them, right? Well, maybe but it depends how fussy you are about the type of property that you develop.

In many ways the world of website domains is very similar to the property market. The first rule is the same – select a good location or this could limit the amount you can charge for your domain when it comes to resale. By this I mean buy only ‘.com’ domains for maximal return on investment. Moreover, it is necessary to keep your domain for a while and let it age, without necessarily doing anything to it. No, it will not need a lick of paint or any new wall paper, just remember to renew the domain every year and you will be fine.

Search engines, such as Google, seem to favour domain names that are well established. Aging your domain name in this way makes it far more valuable when it comes to time to sell.

So if you do not have a spare couple of hundred thousand pounds but do have $8.95 and if you are not any good at wielding a paint brush but are perfectly happy to sit and press ‘renew’ once a year – then domain, rather than property, development may be right for you.

Own Your Domain Name, No Questions Asked

While convenience is a good thing, you should register your domain name on your own. When you register your own name, it is a clear-cut case of who owns the name. The reason why this is important is that when you get a web hosting company to register your domain name for you, you have not actually seen the registration form so you do not know whose name is on it. Sure, your domain name is registered, but is it registered to you? There might be strings attached to the domain name and it can become fuzzy over who owns the name if your domain name is not registered by you personally. At the least, you could get a hassle if you decide to leave the web hosting company for another web host.

Registering a Domain Name is Easy

Registering your own domain name is essential to avoiding any hassle over who has the registration rights to your domain name. Besides, it is easy to register your own domain name. You can do the entire process online. The longest thing about it will be checking to make sure that the name is not already taken. If the name is taken, you will have to spend time coming up with alternatives. The smartest thing to do would be to have a list of desired names and alternatives before you try to register your domain name.

Find a Reputable Registrar

All you need to do is find a reputable Domain Name Registrar and start the process with them. There are many registrars so you will be able to choose a registrar that has been around for a while so you know the company will stay in business for as long as you need them. After checking your domain name by doing a “whois” search and finding that it is now owned by anyone, you can proceed with the online domain name registration. Registering a domain name is inexpensive, ranging in price from $1 to $35 for a year from the expensive registrars. You will have to choose how many years that you want to have the domain name registered to you and you can pay for the entire time at once or pay the fee every year.

You can register a name before you have a web site and park it meaning it is on hold for you. The registration takes about 24 hours before your site shows up online. You will probably have to pay for your domain name registration with a credit card.

When you register your domain name, you can be sure that the content and domain name is completely under your control.

Should you want to buy a parked domain, you will need patience, luck, time for the research and a talent for negotiation. Your first job will be to find a parked name. You can use a domain search service for this part. All you do at such domain search service is enter your keywords and you are given results that relate to your keywords.

Some domain search services have a domain name generator so you could luck out and find an available suitable name that would negate the need for a parked domain. Some domain search services will also offer a domain registration service and that adds even more convenience for you.

The domain search service may also have a Whois search option where you can put in a desired domain name with an extension to find out if it is already own by someone. If it is taken, you will be given information about the owner and expiration date of the domain. You can then go and check out the owned domain to find out if the site has content and whether is being currently used. Many parked domains are undeveloped and this is your big clue that it is probably available to buy. If you are lucky, you will find a suitable domain with a for sale notice on it with a link to contact the owner. At this point, you can start to negotiate with the owner.

There are domain name appraisal sites which will calculate the value of websites for you although you may get over inflated prices from these services. Despite what an appraisal suggests is the value of a domain, the owner of the domain name has the last word on the price of it.

You can find out about the site’s history by conducting a search on an internet archive service like archive.org. You will be able to view updates to the site since the site went live. This can give you an idea about site traffic and for a general price that the owner may sell the site. domaintools.com will let you view a site’s history plus owners and change of name servers.

When you are trying to contact a parked domain’s owner, go beyond email and try a phone call. Ask the domain owner about the site’s traffic and the price for the site. Negotiate with the owner successfully and you could be the proud owner of your desired domain name.

When you come up with a name, share it with the other people near you. Ask your family and friends what they think of your domain name. If you get too many questions on what the name means or people stumble over saying it aloud, you might need a new name.

Choose a website name that is the same as your domain name. This way, people will think of your site and know where to go. Think of about.com, their name is the same as their domain name. There will be no mistaking them for anybody else. If you have a product and a domain name that are not the same, get domain names for both the product and the domain. This way, you will be able to point customers to either site depending on whether they know you by your product or your domain. You might want to corner the market on your name by snapping up hyphenated and misspelled versions of your domain names as well.

Choose a specific name for your business. If you sell Tony the Tiger dolls, you would want your sight to be tonythetigerdolls.com and not a generic name like dolls.com. The more specific you are, the more easily your customers will find you.

You can choose a name of up to 67 characters. This does not mean you should use all 67 of the letters in your domain name. While a short name may be easier to remember, it is difficult to get short names anymore. You will have to be creative to think of one that is not already used. If you can come up with a short name, use it.

Hyphenated names have the disadvantage of being difficult to type. People have to look for the hyphen key because they do not use it all the time. In addition, if a person does not type the hyphens, they could end up at your competitor’s site. It also takes too long to say the hyphens when you are talking about your site. However, if you are determined to get a name and the only way you can get it is to add the hyphens, chances are it is available because somebody else did not want to use the hyphens.

Suppose you can get domain site name you want with the only problem being that you have to add “a” or “the” to the beginning or you have to pluralize a word? Take it if you will remember to promote the full name of your site. Remember that it is easy to forget the article word and the plural version so again, people may be looking for you and still land on your competitor’s site.

If you cannot get a .com extension and you have to use a .net or .org, use the full name in all of your promotions. If you do not, people will assume it is a .com address.

Add a keyword in your domain name. Choose a word that you think people will use as they search for your content or products. Make a compound word with your keyword to devise a new domain name.

Did you remember all that? Now, go out and name that domain.

This proposal has come from F-secure, which is a security company, in an attempt to fight phishing. This is a criminal activity that involves the fraudulent acquisition of the financial details of unsuspecting internet users. For example, a phisher (a perpetrator of phishing) may send out emails claiming to offer an extended credit limit, providing the recipient with a link to a form, where they can enter their current credit card details. The phisher can then use this information to use the victim’s credit card online – many millions of pounds are stolen in this way each year.

If a domain extension, also known as a TLD (top level domain), existed exclusively for banks – the recipient of the fraudulent email would be able to check the url of the virtual destination they have been sent to, upon finding that the url did not contain the appropriate TLD, they could simply close the window and mark the email as spam. Perhaps, more usefully, the user could forward the email to the fraud department of any related financial institution.

The organisation that decides whether this apparently good idea will become a reality is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). However, ICANN argue that the only way to limit access to a specific TLD is to price it beyond the means of phishers and this would be of detriment to smaller financial institutions.

Many people have a name in mind for their site and develop everything around this, without checking if the name is available. It should come as no surprise when they inevitably find their domain name has been taken and that they have wasted hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds on a design, content and press release based on a name that will never be theirs. To save yourself the hassle, stress and financial loss, read this article and learn from the mistakes of millions of other budding webmasters.

Simply use a search engine to find a domain name provider, its easier to choose one which offers cheap web hosting as well so that you can get your site up and running imeediately. An approximate yearly fee for a .com domain name is no more than $10. In most instances it is not worth purchasing any domains other than the .com. In general, the .com extensions takes 90% of the traffic for that domain name, so by buying and promoting a .net, .org or any other such extension, you are simply helping to promote the site belonging to the owner of the .com – who, worst of all, is probably your rival.

Another very important rule is to keep your domain as short as possible. Forget grammatical accuracy, above all else, your domain name needs to be catchy to ensure you achieve maximal return visits. This may seem to somewhat contradict what I have just noted, however, if possible, it is a good idea to include keywords in your domain name for the purpose of search engine optimisation. A domain name with keywords is more likely to rank highly in organic search listings than one without.

In summary, make sure you get your domain name first, make sure it is a .com, keep it catchy and if you cannot keep it catchy – pack it with keywords.

The simple fact is that you cannot have one without the other, especially if you are setting up a new business. As soon as you have spotted the domain name that you have been looking for, the next port of call might be a host. What better opportunity for a host to advertise themselves, than next to a domain registration option?

While the domain registration industry operates on very low margins, the volume of numbers is so high that a few companies around the world are making a great income from this area alone. Godaddy are one such company which have a strong presence in the domain name market, as well as a variety of hosting options which they can throw at you as soon as you have bought your domain. All in-house, all instant, the attraction has been too much for many to ignore!

Even though the web hosting industry has been around for some time now, competition is growing more and more intense and we have seen a number of smaller companies go under, or be taken over by larger competitors. It is now becoming more and more expensive to attract new customers via the normal advertising channels. Therefore large press releases about new services and new offerings are essential, as are the smaller services such as domain names – which will always attract the online webmaster looking for that next big site.