Domain Tools Live Auction

Sold for $2150 ...was that a bargain???

I been watching this just for kicks. I have seen a few investments maybe worth while, but yet to step out on that limb yet.

Hi Aaron,

The domain market is not yet efficient for good end user names. The more creative the name, the less people think about it for direct navigation. Domainers are obsessed with direct navigation and there is not an efficient market for domain names to end users who wish for a name for their business. SEOhints.com has a number of values. I bought SEOstorm for my wife's small link acquisition business and recently PPIV.org (Professionally Produced Internet Video - which seems to be the new craze). I think the pay per redirection business will grow substantially which may increase value on the lower end of domain value. My guess is that as web users get used to typing in other extensions, the value of the dot com names may level a bit. My guess is that the high ratios of revenue to price for domain portfolios has something to do with what technology (browsers etc.) may do in the future with domain names.

Domaining is a growing industry and I believe from an SEO perspective it may be a better investment of one's time to research keywords with high traffic, and find aged domains with traffic and value which are underutilized or under developed and invest their time building these sites up and marketing them to increase traffic and improve monetization of these domains and in turn flip them just like real estate. There is a trend amongst smart SEOs to move towards this business model instead of spending their time which is limited and instead developing "cash machines" which can pay their kids way through college perhaps one day.

One word of advise that may seem simple to SEO's is trust your gut and don't hesitate.

Good luck domaining guys. See you on the other side.

I assume all you domain fans are heavy buyers of Marchex (MCHX) stock under these levels?

If you're all super bullish of the industry the current stock's trading level must be the bargain of the last several years.

Hi Alexander
I bought a few shares of Marchex last Friday. Though they either need to do real development or start firing people if they want solid ROI.

Yes A, I agree about the firing of people. But the mis-management is good news for the long term buyers as the stock has fallen so much.

Let's hope it falls even more to $7, even though I like you have been a buyer under $10.

I tried to sell a domain name that I was trying to build a side business on a year ago - I had to give up as I decided search etc etc was my true love ;)

It is not SEO related - I rank really high in my Metro with a non seo .com dom name :)

ipodido.com was the name - even tried it on eBay to no avail.....

The live auction idea is good if enough people know about it....

Hello Aaron,

What I would love to get mentioned in any upcoming post about that "domain stuff from the view of an SEO" is your take on the .fm domains.

The reason I say this is because I have owned one or two for many years (and actually use them) and lately I have seen their value really increase as they become more mainstream and get better adoption from the market.

5 years ago or less people went "huh?" over .fm domains. Now things are very different, and getting better. For instance CBS' purchase of LAST.fm (and the company in general) did very much for the .fm domains and threw it more into the public's attention and adoption. We get few "huh's?" now.

In addition, boatloads of terrestrial radio stations are buying up .fm domains and do their streaming online under them. They already have their terrestrial userbase established, and are trying to shift them online - overall they are thus actually indirectly working to improve .fm adoption as a great top level domain choice.

Also it has been interesting to see that in the last year, so many .fm domains were already scooped up - maybe a number of people see it for SEO reasons and see the trend go up. It's very hard to get one word domains with .fm now, but not impossible as I did finally find some last month, even if some did cost me a $1000 (3 or 4 letter words) each from the official dot.fm registrar as a premium domain (they reserved a lot of words so they can sell them for more). But the main point is that there are still loads of great names there to be had, something that's probably not true for .biz. For example, MEN.fm is currently available.

Of course I am biased because I have been using .fm domains for years, but would love to read your throughts on this and if it relates to SEO. I could totally see .fm being promoted to mean other things in future to get away from the "terrestrial radio" thoughts, such as standing for "free media" or whatever. Not like LAST.fm did anything in terrestrial radio, didn't stop them from developing an awesome service and brand recognition.

Awesome blog, thanks!

SEOHints.com for $2,150? Looks cheap to me. A great generic domain name with good type-in traffic, I'd guess. Paris wrote, "My guess is that as web users get used to typing in other extensions, the value of the dot com names may level a bit." I disagree. I don't believe that the man on the street will ever remember or care about any extension other than dot com (except perhaps .mobi, but that's iffy as well). As the number of internet users continues to grow worldwide, .com domains will continue to outperform all other investments.

just related fyi, i found the following "seoclues.com" on ebay, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160199675563&ssP...

they must have witnessed what seohints was sold for and thought to sell their related domain.

on a related note, one of my clients told me that he went to an seo consultant who told him that domain names have no value and they should spend their time trying to increase placement on the search engines. my answer is that the right domain assists that process, who is correct?

Watch this video.