Got to be very careful on potential trademark issues. They can just file a lawsuit or UDRP on this domain and you can lose it just like that. Then again, it is just regg fee, so not much loss on your end if that happens. I would not spend much $$ developing the site just in case they decide to find faults with you in the future.

These kinds of made up dictionary phrase domains are excellent if you can get very good ones, which are related to the website, gramatically/linguistically/politically correct and not too long.

Sometimes, for new startups (unless they have loads of cash to market the domain or has a bleeding-edge, killer app like Youtube) these kinds of "incorrect" domains really do not serve them well in terms of reputation.

If Youtube is just a "so-so" app, they will be dead with a domain like that, IMHO.

That's a very good point, I had not considered that. Still, I prefer a name like YouTube, which is a made up name as well but at least they are both real English words that the average person can easily spell.

I will think that everyone is very wary of getting into unnecessary trademark lawsuits with non-madeup domains that can put a damper into a startup's plans. In sue-happy country and in light of the growing menace of reverse hijacking lawsuits, it is better to play it save by going for a made-up, brandable and short CVCV.com.

Keyword matched domains are definitely big in terms of SE ranking. I agree with you that the .com, .net and .org version has equal weight in the ranking but mainly it is because of the age of these domains, IMHO. I believe the age of the domains will play a big role in SE ranking and the reason those 3 pioneer TLDs will almost equal their weight in ranking is because of their age. (most of these domains are OLD, if they are even registered) I would think the newer extentions will not fare that well in ranking as compared to their older .com, .net or .org version because of their age.

There are 2 major types of business models in this business. One is buying domains with type-in traffic and usually these guys have more funds to go around. This is because type-ins are mostly more generic words or phrases(other than typos or cybersquatter-type of domains). As everyone know, generic words or phrases have natural and targeted traffic but will cost your kidneys. The second type is the people who hunt for dropped domains with existing links and search engine rankings. Most of these domains (from my experience) are not as good as the generics but much marketing has been poured into the domain/website by the previous owner. This type of traffic will usually drop if the the domain is not developed further. If the traffic is from doorway pages that are linked from other sites, then traffic will drop even faster when the owner of the sites linking in found out of the broken link. The 2nd business model needs the new owner of the domain to start developing the domain fast to preserve it's existing traffic, whereas the 1st model already has natural traffic which will not really drop so fast. You will have to know what you are getting into when you buy domains with traffic from existing links...develop the domain fast!

Hulu.com is a very good llll.com and most companies nowadays are launching sites with good llll.com that are CVCV (unless they are Digg-style, then it will be CVCC). C=Consonant, V=Vowel. Few of the most important reasons for made up word llll.com is that they short, brandable and have very strong TRADEMARK protection. In light of cyberbullying or reverse-hijacking cases on the rise, many are opting for these kinds of domains.

Agradezco a Chris Chena por la entrevista y a Pedro Stamati (Stamati ventures) quien le acercó las preguntas: Entrevista Hecha para Dueños.net 1) Cuántos dominios hoy te quedan en español, después de la venta de varios de ellos y qué proyectos tienes aparte de clasificados.com actualmente?. Me quedan un par de docenas en español, y otros tantos en inglés como; Animation.com, CoolGames.com (ambos con sites a punto de ser relanzados), CheapGas.com, etc. Entre los proyectos hispanos en actual desarrollo además de Clasificados.com -con el que apuntamos a Latinoamérica y USA- tengo; -Viajes.com (España); pretendemos convertir el actual sitio en una comunidad, una red social de viajes, integraremos contenido propio (reviews de destinos, hoteles, etc.), además de los servicios tradicionales de un sitio de viajes. -Amistad.com (Latam, USA, España); La nueva versión del sitio tendrá un estilo más sencillo y directo, y no va a ser necesario registrarse para hacer contactos El sitio también servirá como punto de partida para otros servicios (móviles, entretenimiento, red social de compras, etc.) que pensamos implementar más adelante. -Coches.com (España); uno de los últimos dominios que adquirí. Vamos a convertirlo de a poco en un sitio de compra/venta de coches, reviews y otros servicios, aprovechando la gran compatibilidad con el ecommerce en dicho país y la afluencia del tráfico español a ese dominio, por la popularidad de dicho término en Europa. Demás está decir que España nos ha dado mayor rentabilidad con respecto al resto de los países de habla hispana, basado en mi experiencia y la de otros colegas, con dominios en español. Por ello el mercado automotor siempre me ha interesado para dicho territorio. De hecho ya he rechazado ofertas por 7 cifras en euros por este nombre (de parte de compañías europeas de automóviles), a sólo semanas de haberlo adquirido. Además tenemos un par de portales a punto de finalizar, exclusivos para Brasil y para USA (hispanos viviendo en USA). Pero de esos prefiero no dar adelantos aún -uno de ellos ni siquiera usa un dominio genérico-

Nice article

It is such a pain watching the video! I have been toggling with it the whole day now and yet I have not been able to watch it. Downloaded it and not able to watch it in Winamp or Windows media player because of missing codecs...sheesh! The streaming just hangs after a minute or so, so all I could watch was Frank saying "welcome to..". Any help would be appreciated :) Cheers!

I'm sorry, but I can't help but think this is a self-promotion piece. These domains are mostly junk. It's always amazing to me that, with a little imagination, even today you can go out and register good domains names for $8 each -- at least domains that are much better than these. I mean, why would I want a domain name like LoSmartPhone.Com or C-E-N-T.com? Lots of type-in traffic? I doubt it. Does it mean something -- nope. Easy to remember? Not really. Even amateur domainers should exhibit some form of common sense when registering domain names. Just because a domain name has fewer than 6 characters, for example, doesn't mean it's worth registering. And the strangest thing is, many of the best domains on the list seem to be in the (lowest) Bronze category -- which just shows that's there's little understanding here about domain valuation. There are about six domain here that I would remotely consider buying, but not for anywhere near $2k: 123calls.com, ridebids.com, yourspirit.com, 6lots.com. Oops -- make that 4 domains. Good luck!

Maybe could try introducing ourselves as property agent.. virtual property agent..

This article show a good way what you can do with your virtual properties other than sell, develop the site or park it. I just wonder has anyone tried this yet? How do you know how much is your domain worth for leasing?

Now I think Michael needs to post more "domain musings" of such high caliber! I think the idea is brilliant! Anybody knows of any good domain monetization experts?

Thanks for the heads up! Emailing them now...

You may be able to get a free copy of the first issue of ModernDomainer by emailing them, I did.

My name is owned by a Dr. in california, and the name is just directed to a parked network solutions page. So yeah, consider yourself one of the fortunate few. I've been thinking about approaching this person and seeing if they would be interested in sharing the .com landing page and in return I would help them build out a site. Anyway.. I HATE not owning my own dotcom name. But hey, I do own "myname"sucks.com ;)

I entered my names! That was easy and I'm "jazzed" about the auction. I love the logo ... NameGrade

I was lucky enough to get my First and Last name combo in the dot com. I'm building my personal site with it. I had let it drop one time and some one grabbed it up. I waited, and waited, and waited! I am once again the happy owner of my own name. NameGrade

Brilliant catch line to the story! But a good post anyhow!

My heart goes out to those who have had domain names stolen. It is not easy to get it back - especially if you've dealt with Network Solutions. Agreed, most webmasters don't have the bucks to appoint a good lawyer (the emphasis being on GOOD) but there are times when they are the last option. I dislike being in that situation now, trying to get a valuable domain back.

That is one very biased clip, I agree. Great note to ponder on but the problem is that anyone with $$, especially big companies can sue someone for trademark infringement, whether the other party is right or wrong. Now, the party on the receiving end has to foot out $$ to defend his case. This costs money and most of the time, even if the accused can very well win the case, he/she won't bother defending it (unless it is a very valuable domain) and having to pay tens of thousands in unclaimable legal fees. A friend of mine received a C&D letter from a big company for one of his generic phrase domain and just to defend it will cost him $20,000. He is seriously contemplating letting the big bully have the domain.

This entire podcast was paid for and obviously scripted by the 'internet' lawyer being interviewed here. IMO, he's legal squatting on the domain name law market, trying to make a buck. Although he may sound like he's quoting the law, he's really just promoting his legal services. He's a domainer hater and he's making the domaining business appear as if it is full of scum and slime similar to what is found in his own industry. Give it a listen and see what you think. My advice to anyone who has a dispute with a registered domain name is to first try and handle it by contacting the person directly who currently holds the registration and see what that person's plan is for the domain name and explain your concern. Afterall, we are all humans here.. Before getting a lawyer involved one must remember that domain names are worldwide assets and there is not enough case-law on the books yet to support many of the types of claims being made by lawyers in this sector of the legal industry. As a domainer one should certainly keep their ear out for recent judgments and decisions coming out of the courts in regard to cyber-theft, TM-squatting, and typo-domaining. I for one do not practice typo or TM registering but I will say that I do expect the number of 'domain' lawyers to grow moving forward, and if TM/typ-reg is your thing don't be intimidated by these people. If a lawyer is trying to take your right to registration away from you based on frivilous 'non-law' allegations, be prepared to fight in court. This area of law is wide open right now, and those with the funds to present a logical case in court will be shaping the future law to come.

Domain names are everywhere. Once you get rolling in this field you can see them popping out like little clouds all over the real life interface. I use a similar approach as described in the article and often discover parallel markets just by overlaying keywords from other sectors. USE YOUR GUT and don't sleep on a name idea for more than one night.

Cool. Know any dedicated .info auctions?