*** Here Is A List Of Some Of The Best Domain Name Resources Available ***
PALM BEACH, FL – This is one of those things that might seem sort of rudimentary, or going without needing to be said, but sometimes, I’m reminded, that things aren’t always as obvious as they seem. Recently, I was speaking with a business owner that was about to make what I believe would be a mistake and they hadn’t thought of it. Hard to believe for people in the business, but for people who are not familiar with domain names or the domain market, it’s just not so obvious to them.
Here is the scenario:
A business start-up begins to build their brand on a secondary domain name, or a Subpar Domain, but they’ve got their eyes on the name, they ‘really want’ – problem is, they are reluctant to inquire about the domain as they are not familiar with the already-owned or aftermarket domain buying process or are intimidated by the potential asking price of the name. It’s unchartered territory. They are not sure about it and figure they’ll just revisit it and figure it out later when they have a more established business and more money coming in.
Huge mistake. What they don’t realize, is that with every email they send, every ad they run, their desired domain – the one they really prefer to have, is potentially not that valuable now, but its value will go up based on their activity… With every ad they run, with every email marketing message they blast out, especially if one of those marketing messages lands in front of the seller.
If you or a client has a new business and are about to launch it on a Subpar Domain Name, you’re better off finding out how much the better name is now for two very simple reasons:
- It will likely cost you more later, and
- You might be pleasantly surprised it costs less than you thought.
Here is a true story for you:
I once inquired about a parked domain name for a friend’s business and the owner said there was no price he would accept for the domain name. No price, no offer could come close to a sale. That the name was “priceless” to him – and he would never sell it.
A few years later I mentioned it would probably be a good idea to check in on the name again as it had been a long time since we checked (years). My friend thought it was a total waste of time – plus, he was already annoyed enough how the seller responded the first time and didn’t want to hear it again. I said, let’s just put a $1,000 offer on it and see what happens, maybe he will make a reasonable counter this time, you just never know. So we made the offer.
Low and behold, the $1,000 offer was immediately accepted; it wasn’t even countered. To our surprise, the owner just accepted the offer and initiated the purchasing process and the domain was sold and transferred to us. The domain had remained parked all these years just as it was back then. Seemingly, nothing changed with the domains activity, but what was once priceless, was now $1,000.00.
Turned out the guy that owned the domain passed away and his wife was liquidating all his domain names and didn’t care much about any further potential value beyond the simple easy sale right in front of her. She just took the $1,000.
This was about eight years ago, and he still uses the domain today. It generates leads almost every day; I know because I’m copied on the leads. It’s a four-word exact match on a high value commercial phrase. It’s one of those names you don’t need to do much with, just have a simple site that sits in the search engines, and it works. Pretty rare these days.
So, the lesson here is, get a price on the domain you want now and don’t want until you’ve blasted your new business all over the web; look into it today. Worst thing that can happen is there is a counter offer you can’t afford and you walk away till a later time, or maybe even consider changing your business name, but at least you won’t miss an opportunity if one exists.
About The Author: John Colascione is Chief Executive Officer of Internet Marketing Services Inc. He specializes in Website Monetization, is a Google AdWords Certified Professional, authored a ‘how to’ book called ”Mastering Your Website‘, and is a key player in several Internet related businesses through his search engine strategy brand Searchen Networks®
Good advice and story John.
Thanks for sharing. Accurate Domain pricing remains an elusive goal. Partly, as your story indicates is that price is relative to seller needs. To make matters worse many domainers don’t understand the true value of domains they own. I see post after post on LI of domainers bragging about the great ROI on a name they just sold and I cringe when my own experience with over 3k domains and 25 years tells me that if they did about 5 minutes of research they could have easily determined that the gem they just gave away was worth 10x maybe 100x the price they just bragged about. Not only does this assure their wallets remain empty but away they bragging to the world hurts the entire domain industry.
BrandsTek created a proprietary domain valuation system based on business revenues that any domain investor is welcome to use. Basing domain pricing on business revenues assures that the domain will be valued at a level that the seller will be happy with and that the buyer cannot dispute as they are the one who use the formula to create their own truly realistic offer.