The “Should I park my domain name and monetize it that way or should I develop a website?” is a pretty old debate among domainers. And I believe it’s proof that laziness will always win over sensibility.

There are a variety of ways to monetize a domain name. Most domainers who deal with a lot of domain names like to park their domains at Sedo, GoDaddy, or other services that help them monetize the name.

Others build made-for-adsense websites that have little real value, intending to get visitors to click the adsense ads. This is not much different from parking the domain names.

Very few domain name sellers or speculators develop real websites or blogs on their domain names. Why?

Even though they intend to sell their domain names, they know that this usually takes a lot of time. Finding a buyer isn’t an overnight process in most cases. Most domains that are finally sold have been owned by the speculator for years.

Parking those domain names is the way they try to cover their costs of registering the names year after year. Most of their domain names will never sell because they want way more than they are worth. Most domain speculators are hoping for that one big sale, kind of like playing the lottery.

During all that time they are holding onto their domain names, they could be building websites, doing affiliate marketing, blogging, and more. The problem is that those things require work. And we all know how much people like work.

Most people who join MLM programs, get involved in domain speculation, or fall for get rich quick schemes do not want to work. They are hoping to fall into thousands of dollars without having to do any real work.

This article won’t win me any popularity contests among domainers. But if the truth hurts, too bad. It is not ALL domainers who are lazy. There are many who work very hard at their profession. They learn to master the traffic their domain name brings in and make a business out of it.

This article is more about those who just go out and register a bunch of domain names they believe are creative, hoping that someone is going to come along someday and give them a bunch of money for what they consider to be creativity.

For some it is their second job or hobby. For others it is a habit. I’ve known domainers who mortgaged their house to buy a lot of domain names they will likely never sell for enough to cover the loan.

In my opinion, the smart move is to develop those domain names into real online businesses. If you own one-word generic domain names that have type-in traffic, this doesn’t apply to you. But if you are like most domainers and you own a bunch of made up domain names, two and three word domain names, etc., then you should think about developing those domain names into a business.

A domain name’s real value is in the traffic it generates and what that traffic may or may not buy based on the keywords that helped them find that domain or website in the first place.

Let me rephrase it again. Your domain name is not worth anything more than you registered it for when you first register the name. Once you analyze the traffic that domain gets, it may or may not increase in value.

If just parking the domain name gets very few clickthrus for the ads placed on it, then your domain name is not worth but a few pennies over the price of registration.

All it proves is that a few people who end up on that domain name will click an adsense ad. To a business, that means nothing. It doesn’t even prove that any of the traffic generated by that domain name will actually buy something.

However, if you create a business plan that matches the domain name, and you develop a website based on that business plan, and people do actually buy products, services, subscribe, join, or click through to your affiliates, you show that the domain name you own has business potential.

A business owner is much more likely to buy your domain name if it has a proven profit potential than if they just think you have a cute catchy short domain name.

It can be as easy as installing free wordpress software and picking a free theme for your blog and writing to it daily with original content.

The bonus is that it may also rank well for your keywords if you do it right and know a little about seo and social bookmarking.

If you develop a business model that is just moderately successful and you add that it has a good ranking for some key phrases, the value of your domain name is quantifiable and much more appealing to anyone that may consider buying it from you.

My opinion is based on having developed hundreds of websites and blogs and having bought and sold over 500 domain names.

There are a few people around who have bought and sold more than I have.

There are domainers who have made a lot more money than I have by monetizing their domain names or by directing the traffic from their domain names directly to websites that are owned by businesses.

But, again, they have the right domains and tools to do that with. Making up domain names or owning a bunch of 2-3 word domain names does not mean you will be one of these. You won’t be. Those I referred to in this article should begin thinking about developing their domain names if they want them to have any actual value.



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Choosing a domain name may seem like an exercise in frustration, and you may be tempted to register the first one you stumble upon that isn’t already taken.  Slow down!  It requires more thought than that, and your choice will have a tremendous impact on the ultimate success of you Web site.  In this article, we will discuss how to discover a domain name that will work for you.

There are four main concerns when choosing a domain name:

1.  Technical Requirements.

2. A Memorable Name.

3. A Descriptive Name.

4.  Keyword Research.

Technical Requirements for Domain Names

Let’s get the easy part out of the way first.

When we talk about a “domain name,” we’re referring to the part of a Web site address that comes between “www” and “.com.”  For instance, in “wwwYourWebSitecom,” the domain name is “YourWebSite.”  You must register the domain within a particular “top-level domain,” the part that comes after the rightmost “dot,” as in “.com,” “.info,” “.us,” etc.  That is, “YourWebSitecom” is a different domain than “YourWebSiteinfo.”  You might be able to register “YourWebSitebiz,” even though “YourWebSitecom” is already registered.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (”ICANN”) defines what a domain name must look like.  These rules may be summarized as follows:

*  63 or fewer characters.

*  Only numerals, hyphens, and English letters.

*  Must not begin with a hyphen.

*  Must not end with a hyphen.

Unfortunately, it’s not quite that cut and dried.  There are varying interpretations of the rules.  Some say that a domain in a four-character top-level domain (.info, .mobi) can only be 62 characters long.  There are several schemes regarding how to encode non-English letters, etc.

We can avoid getting bogged down in these points of confusion by remembering two things:

1.  You don’t want a long domain name anyway, so don’t worry about whether the limit is 64 or 62 characters.

2.  Non-English letters, encoded in schemes that might not be universally applied, mean that your domain name may look different (and nonsensical) on various parts of the Internet, so don’t use them.

Choosing a Memorable Domain Name

Your domain name must be something that people can remember and that they can type in readily, or recognize at a glance when they see it as a clickable link.

Among other things, this means that your domain name should be short.  All of the genuinely short domain names are already taken.  Virtually every single word in the English language has been registered as a domain name, as has every combination of up to five letters.  So, don’t get too hung up on “short.”  As we will discuss later in this article, you want to find a balance between “short” and “descriptive.”

Although a domain name may include hyphens, you are better off without them.  If you wanted to register “YourDomainNamecom” and found it was unavailable, you will not be doing yourself any favors by registering “Your-Domain-Namecom.”  Users will confuse the two Web sites, and will be more likely to go with the shorter version.

Choosing a Descriptive Domain Name

Your domain name should describe what the user will find on your Web site.

Look for a descriptive phrase about your chosen specialty.  Is your Web site about baby care tips for working mothers?  For parents of babies with special needs?  Whatever specific area you intend to address, put together three or four words that say it.  You don’t have to say it very well, at this point.  As we will discuss shortly, there are tools to help you refine your descriptive phrases.  For now, just come up with a few phrases that describe your Web site’s content in three or four words.

Keyword Research when Choosing a Domain Name

You want your domain name to be short and descriptive.  That means that each word in it must have value.

Keyword research can identify powerful keywords for your Web site’s content, but it can also find words to use in your domain name.  There is one difference, as will be discussed below.

Keyword research identifies the words and phrases that people are using when searching for information related to your planned Web site.  You will use these keywords in your Web site’s content and in any pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, but you should also use them in your domain name.  A keyword-rich domain name is more likely to rank high in search engine results.

When researching keywords for use in your Web site content or in PPC advertising, you want search terms that are frequently used but rarely matched.  These are the high-value keywords that can make the content of your Web site stand out in the search engines.

However, when you are looking for keywords to use in your domain name, you should concentrate on frequently used keywords, and not necessarily those that are rarely matched.  This is the difference alluded to earlier.

Keyword research can not tell you whether a domain name is available.  It can only tell you what people are looking for and what they are finding in the content of Web pages.  So, identify terms that people are looking for, then determine what domain names are available that use those terms, and you will have a winning domain name.

Take the list of descriptive phrases you identified in the last section, and use each one as the starting point for keyword research.  From your keyword research, build a list of phrases that people are searching for when they want to find the kind of content you plan to offer.

From that list, focus on the shortest phrases that are relevant and clearly descriptive of the content you intend to offer.  Now, check to see which of these phrases are available for you to register as domain names.

What if you find two or more keyword-rich domain names available?  Register all of them!  Choose the one you like best as the main name for your Web site, but keep the others.  You can use them as “redirect” pages, and you always have the option of using the alternate names later.

For the same reason, register your domain name in various top-level domains if they are available, such as .com, .info, etc.  Lock in your options on those alternate names, and lock out your competitors from stealing the results of your research.

Conclusion:  What to Do Next

Before you rush out and register the first available domain name you come up with, do your homework.

*  Think of a short list of descriptive phrases about the Web site you intend to build.

*  Do some comprehensive keyword research on each of those descriptive phrases, and build a list of more keyword-rich descriptive phrases.

*  Choose the shortest, most memorable phrases from your list, and check which ones are available to register as domain names.

*  Register as many of these keyword-rich, descriptive domain names as you can.

 



Cheap domain registration

in name registrar’s offer a process that will certify the domain names you buy. A Certified domain provides the owner’s Web site with a certified seal that alerts customers that the owner is the legal originator of the domain. This feature eases customer concerns and assures them that vendors are who they say they are. When you apply for the Certified Domain authorization and validation process it serves to verify that the certificate requester is the registrant of the domain for which the certificate is being requested. It also checks to verify the Who is database contains accurate and valid contact information for the Administrative, Technical, and Registrant contacts. Fraud screening is usually included in the process. Normally every 2 years the Certified Domain authorization and validation process is completed. Anyone who has a domain registered can apply for a Certified Domain. To successfully process the application and issue the seal control the domain in question must be verified along with the requester’s contact information. Using an automated and manual processes, if the verifier is unable to locate contact information for the domain administrator, the Certified Domain request is denied. If the domain administrator, technical contact, or registrant rejects the Certified Domain request upon receiving a domain authorization email message, the request is denied. All recipients of the domain authorization message must approve the request. If fraud screening for the domain in question raises valid suspicion of fraud, the Certified Domain is denied. Sometimes the automated phone call cannot be completed or no valid phone number is submitted or the requestor fails to answer the phone, the Certified Domain request is then denied. A Certified Domain validation is issued for a particular domain name, and the Domain Origination Certified seal is added to the Whois listing for that domain name. Therefore, regardless of the Web site associated with the domain name, the Certified Domain authorization and validation continue to apply to that domain name. If the registration for a domain that has been validated expires before the Domain Origination Certified seal is set to expire, the Domain Origination Certified seal is terminated with the expiration of the domain registration. Though relying on somewhat similar authentication procedures, including verification of requester’s contact information and domain registration control, SSL certificates and a Certified Domain serve different purposes. An SSL certificate enables a secure, encrypted connection between a visitor’s Web browser and a Web site’s server, thus keeping transactions safe from tampering and interception. A Certified Domain simply informs Web site visitors that the registration and control of the Web site’s domain name has been validated. A Certified Domain does not establish a secure connection. Once processed and issued, a Domain Origination Certified seal is added to the Whois listing for your domain. In addition, you are provided with HTML code that you can copy and paste into your Web site’s source code, so that the Domain Origination Certified seal appears on your site. This information should help give you an idea if you need to certify the domain names you buy.

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