Become a Travel Agent

Oh, Those Keyword Domain Names
By: Tom Ogg

There it was on the front page of the New York Times Business section on February 1^st, 2008. “Domain Names Come of Age”. The article was on how investing and trading in domain names is now an accepted market worthy of everyone’s attention. This article captured my interest since I have hundreds of top quality domain names in the hopes they would appreciate.

I visited BuyDomains.com just to see what keyword domains were selling for. I almost fell out of my chair. Here is a listing for keyword domain names that appeared for the keyword search for “cruise”.  IslandCruise.com was going for $118,000.00, ValueCruises.com was only $95,270.00, EuroCruises.com for $82,000.00, PremierCruises.com for $81,000.00, BookaCruise.com for only $65,000.00, CruisesandTours.com $43,000.00, CruiseIn.com for only a measly $33,000.00. From there the pricing started dropping down to the lower 5-figure range. I really didn’t see any domain names worth having for less than $5,000.00.

The prices seem timid compared to some of the high profile domain name sales that have taken place. Sex.com sold for a whopping $14 million dollars in 2006 and Porn.com for $9.5 million. As early as 1999, Business.com sold for $7.5 million. Recently, AsSeenonTV.com sold for $5.1 million and Wine.com fetched a formidable 2.9 million. Years ago Bank of American invested $3 million in the domain name Loans.com.

So what’s all the hoopla associated with domain names and why would anyone invest in them? There are several reasons to consider acquiring keyword domain names relevant to your specific niche.

Branding: This is probably one of the most compelling reasons to acquire a keyword domain name. As an example, let’s say that you are a Tahiti cruise expert. You love Tahiti, know the islands quite well, know the ships and you can offer expert service to clients wanting to book a cruise to Tahiti. A keyword domain name like www.TahitiCruiseReservations.com will immediately tell your prospective client that you are an expert at selling Tahiti cruises. This is exactly what consumers are looking for. A keyword domain name can brand your specific expertise like nothing else can.

Search Engine Dominance: Everything else being equal, a keyword URL (Uniform Record Locator, or domain name) is worth anywhere from 14% and up when search engines rank your site. If your keywords are “Tahiti Cruise Reservations”, having that keyword domain name will put you on top. This advantage alone can make an investment in a domain name very worthwhile. Top rankings in search engines means free potential customers that are searching for your specific product and service.

Command Line Clicks: If a consumer is looking for travel insurance, they may just go to their browser’s command line and enter www.TravelInsuranceAgency.com just assuming that is the logical place to purchase travel insurance. Clearly, the domain name TravelInsuranceAgency.com is a very desirable URL if your business is selling travel insurance. 

Command line clicks are so important that many domainers (as they are called) will purchase a domain name to only create a link farm of sponsored links in hopes of capturing visitors that used the command line to enter their domain name. Many say they can recapture an investment in a quality domain name in less than two years by serving ads to such a site, and we have all seen them.

Logical, Memorable and Precise Identity: A keyword domain name is logical for your business, as it perfectly describes what it is that you do. Keyword URLs are also very memorable. Clients tend to remember your keyword domain name, as it relates to their purchasing habits. When they consider an acquisition, they will think of it in terms of the words that describe it. If they have visited your keyword defined website, they will immediately connect with your keyword domain name. This connectivity is a very compelling motivator to inspire the visitor to return to your site. Keyword domain names tend to be very precise in the way they describe the functionality of the website they point to. As an example www.WaikikiBeachReservations.com leaves little to the imagination as to what the website is all about.

So where do you start?

If you haven’t been acquiring keyword domain names, now is the time to start. Try registering them at www.GoDaddy,com (or your favorite registrar). If you find that a domain name is already registered, enter it into the command line to see where it takes you. If you really want the domain name, make an offer to the owner to acquire it (you can use www.WhoIs.net to find them). Don’t be afraid to pay if it is a quality domain name. As the article in the New York Times so adeptly articulates, domain names are going nowhere but up in price. There are only so many quality domain names and there are more buyers than sellers at this point.

Here are some hints to making wise purchases:
~ Only invest in .com domains.
~ Only purchase quality keyword domain names that consumers would use on a command line.
~ Try to capture your niche with logical domain names.
~ Never pay for a domain name until you are sure that you are dealing with the true owner and that the transfer of ownership is guaranteed.
~ Make sure that you manage your domain names so that they will never expire.

If you want more information about domain names visit www.HomeBasedTravelAgent.com and click on “Domain Names For Sale”. Best of luck to you and I hope you make a fortune!