Between 5 to 7 years ago, domain name registration was hot as a get-rich-quick scheme. People were registering large groups of domain names, random acronyms, common words, brand names, and anything else they could think of in the hopes that a large organization would come along, need the domain name and pay thousands or even millions to get it. In 1999, www.business.com was sold for $7.5 million – still the record holder in the Guiness Book of World Records for most expensive domain name.
Since then the fever has cooled off as fewer domain names became available and the premium advertisers were willing to pay went down. Internet users became more accustomed to second tier domain suffixes such as .net, .us, .biz, and .org – and getting the right domain name became a luxury rather than a necessity. But now the next wave is here in the form of the domain name aftermarket … a time when previously registered domain names are coming back on the market as their registrations expire. It’s a huge business with multiple companies dedicated to the business of backordering these names through a competitive bidding process. As marketers, what it means for many of our clients is a chance to get the domain names they always wanted.
I read this post with interest from Mike Davidson about "How to Snatch an Expiring Domain." In it, he has lots of great points about entering this somewhat dodgy world of bidding on expired domains – and how to do it successfully. As more and more domain names expire each day, it makes sense for interactive marketing professionals to get smarter about domain names and using them to help create successful marketing campaigns. There really is no online branding tactic that can compete with getting (and marketing) a good domain name …
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