What now ?

What now?

All the good domains are taken and most people know they’re worth something. Nothing is dropping anymore. What now?

I could elaborate, but here’s a hint: look at the market for .com names. .com.au will likely continue to follow. There have been a number of six figure sales in recent months, you just haven’t heard about them all.

Domain names will strengthen as an investment class.

When property (ie. real estate) plateaus or declines, some investors finally begin look at other investment classes. Shares, bonds, gold, Bitcoin and, that’s right, starting a business!

The great Australian property boom in recent years meant few of us could be bothered with entrepreneurial activities -it was all too easy to make 10-15% pa on property (rental + capital returns).

But now with low, zero or even slightly negative capital growth forecast in many places throughout Australia over the next 2-3 years, many mums and dads will either sell a property and start a business or repurpose their savings towards starting a business.

Where will all those aspiring new entrants get a domain name from?

The ill-advised or foolish will choose a name and/or domain name poorly. These are the sort that get all hyped up about the prospect of starting a business (eg. a pretty-looking logo, useless social media accounts etc) but end up disappearing within 1-3 years due to poor planning and execution all round.

The savvy will go straight for a name that is easy to remember, easy to spell and has a natural psychological nexus to their product or service. Most of the time this means a generic name.

‘But wait, all the generic names are taken!’

This isn’t the main hurdle. Many companies have long names including the legal elements ‘Pty Ltd’, but this doesn’t stop them branding and marketing themselves under just one word.

Consider Pauls Milk. It has been known as Queensland United Foods Ltd, Pauls Ice Cream & Milk Ltd and more recently Parmalat Australia Ltd. But it’s still known as Pauls.

Clearly it matters less what your business name is, and more what your brandname is, and whether you have the right trademarks in place to protect your brand.

‘But wait, all the good domains are taken!’

Are they really?Just because something is not for sale does not mean that it cannot be bought. If you don’t like the idea of making someone an offer too good to refuse, perhaps you need to weigh this with the prospect of ending up with a less desirable or even ‘second-rate’ name.

Have you considered that a domain name is quite often not an expense (that cannot be recovered) but rather a capital investment that adds to the value of your business? –Don’t forget, sooner or later you yourself may receive an offer (on the domain) that is too good to refuse!

‘But a domain investor has it, and he wants too much!’

Does he? What would yousell it for? Once sold, a name is unlikely to become available to anyone else again. A good domain name is an exceedingly rare asset that many want but few can obtain. It can be the difference between being a nobody and a somebody in your industry. Stop thinking about what you might have to pay, and start thinking of what you will gainfrom the right domain name choice.

By Steve

DNJ