The Age: How to be the king of your domain (and others) and make a killing
(Michael Gilmour has mastered the art of domain parking — he bought his first site five years ago and now reaps the advertising profits from 10,000 domains. Photo: Wayne Taylor)
Few good friends in an Australian publication. Via The Age :"What’s in a name? A lot of money if you choose wisely.
AUSTRALIAN internet entrepreneurs are raking in millions of dollars a year by spotting the true value of what’s in a name.
The practice of buying up unused names, known as “domain parking”, is estimated to be worth more than $1 billion worldwide — and Australia is seen as a growing market for those with an eye for a dollar.
The Australian Domain Name Administrator (AUDA), the governing body for “dot au” domains, is set to loosen regulations restricting the practice within months, sparking a likely buying boom as a result.
Domainers, as they call themselves, spot generic or popular names that have not been turned into websites and register them for as little as $US7 ($A7.50). They cram them with advertisements and watch as they earn a few cents per hit — big bucks when you have a portfolio of tens of thousands of domains.
Unlike cyber-squatting, where people infringe trademarks and fraudulently obtain internet traffic, domainers say they are supplying people with information.
Michael Gilmour bought his first domain five years ago and, from his home in Dingley, has expanded his portfolio to 10,000 domains, all of which contain advertisements.
With two partners, he has built a business around names such as geekwatch.com and bingonight.co.uk — names that receive hundreds of hits through the sheer weight of the billion or so people who use the internet daily.
He now works full-time as a domainer and is auctioning one of his most prized sites, progolfer.com , which he hopes will fetch him $75,000.
“Enormous money can be made out of parking still in Australia with dot au space, where a lot less penetration has been made than in America,” he said. “It’s as easy as seeing how many times a particular word is indexed on Google then seeing if it is taken or not.”
A couple of years ago I invested in a Golf company (since then sold my interest) and at the time, we used to have some of the best domains in the business. If I was to start today and try to cater to golf professionals, I would ask what other domains may be better then ProGolfer.com out there? Of course there’s Golf.com , GolfShop.com , GolfEquipment.com , ProGolf.com , GolfPlayer.com , and few others. Where is ProGolfer.com? My guess, if catering to golf professionals (training, equipment, publication) would be in the top 15-30 golf domains in the world. In a multi billion dollar industry, paying less then a family sedan to get into an industry with such a natural term, in my book, is an extremely attractive offering.
As for parking, I fully agree it is about picking the right domains. Teaching few good friends over the years how to get into the domain space, at times I spent literally weeks going into the very fundamentals of domaining, teaching “what makes sense “.