Domain name - 'Silver real estate' of the 21st century

Inside a hotel in the middle of the center, Larry Fischer was chatting on the phone with the bank while his partner, Ari Goldberger hugging the laptop, turned to research something. It turned out that they were participating in the domain auction of megayachts.com.

But do not think that they are warmed or idle without anything to do. Both really look forward to owning this domain name.

" $ 110,000, yes? Quick, " Fischer rushed to the other end.

Suddenly someone raised the price to $ 120,000. Fischer and Goldberger were forced to offer new prices, several times. Finally the domain name megayachts also belonged to them for $ 150,000.

" I already have it, " Fischer smiled and informed the bank partner.

Boom

It can be said that this is the booming time of the business and domain name trading. According to estimates, this market spawns no less than $ 2 billion per year.

" Think of it as the old Wild West. People can't imagine how fast it is growing and growing ," said Jerry Nolte, Domainer's Magazine editor.

Many experts believe that the market value of domain names can reach $ 4 billion by 2010, when users continue to purchase domain names at a speed of 90,000 names / day. Domain name registration services also sprouted up like mushrooms after rain.

By the end of the first quarter of 2007, there were at least 128 million domains registered worldwide, up 31% from the previous year. " The problem is that domain names are not just characters. It is like real estate.

Although this young market is less than 10 years old, people have begun to think of it as a commodity. It is irreplaceable fertile land on the Web, your valuable investment , "said Monte Cahn, founder and CEO of Moniker.com, a property management company. domain explanation.

Moniker.com is the place to host the domain auction that Fischer and Goldberger have just joined. In this auction, the pair seized 4 domain names worth more than $ 1.2 million. The fifth domain name is bought by a household for a customer.

It's only a very small part of the auction. Taking place in the heart of a domain seminar, which attracted many of the market's biggest players, the auction hosted by Moniker.com sold domain names worth up to 12.4 million USD.

Domain creditcheck.com has been hidden by a giant to buy for $ 3 million, but it still seems to be nothing compared to sex.com, the domain name is worth a record in history ($ 12 million).

Quickly get the money

Fischer, 44 and Goldberger, 46 years old, entered the profession quite early. Only, Goldberger's "career" is nothing like anyone. In 1996, he was sued by Hearst Corp for copyright infringement after registering to buy the esqwire.com domain name, citing this domain name as being identical to a Hearst famous magazine.

The two sides finally settled together and Goldberger was allowed to retain the domain name above. The news began to spread that Goldberger (who was a lawyer) had a deep understanding of the issue of domain disputes - a reputation for being thorny and bony. People started knocking at Goldberger's office for advice.

" Before that, I was an entrepreneur stuck in office work. Then a lawsuit changed everything. I knew who I was and what I should do ," Goldberger recalls. Eventually, Goldberger left Philadelphia law firm in 1997 to join a small, recently formed Manhattan company called mail.com, which specializes in buying domain names.

Goldberger began to work with Fischer since 2001. Together, they became a pair of clever and cunning and deceitful coincidences.

2 years later, they co-founded a company called smartname.com. The company specializes in providing content and links to domain names, provided that they share a portion of advertising revenue. There are times when smartname.com represents 150 different owners with about 150,000 domain names of all kinds, attracting 50 million visitors a month.

Most of these sites are very attractive to advertisers. For example, megayachts.com is not a mere racing site. It contains countless links and advertisements for real yachts, wooden boats and luxury yachts. The owner of megayachts.com will be paid every time someone clicks on one of the links.

Is the model stable?

Bob Parsons, CEO of GoDaddy.com domain registrar, called this business model "very intuitive". " They make money in two ways. One is through traffic and the other is the level of value of the domain itself ."

" Domain names have become real estate of the 21st century. Owning a domain name is also an attractive form of investment, and I don't think there's any problem with that ."

Over the years, Goldberger and Fischer have sharpened their money-making formula: buying domain names, developing content for the site with a fairly simple template, based on specific research and instincts too.

They specialize in hunting for really "expensive", short domain names, but describe high-value products or services. For example, they pocketed domain names like bald.com (bald head.com) and cardiology.com (heart.com disease) through auctions.

To determine the potential value of a domain name, they check how many hits it can generate using Google tools. However, their point of view is only interested in ".com". For ".com is king", ".net" is worthless.

" You have to be patient and consistent, but no less strenuous and fierce. This is not a walk, but a rush to dig for gold. Slow buffering then drinks muddy water ," Goldberger said.

Domain names are also expensive. Five years ago, they could own a good domain name for $ 10,000. Now the minimum price must be around $ 100,000. The cheapest domain name they bought through auction is blogging.com ($ 135,000).

But in return, they have the opportunity to shake their heads to refuse the price of millions of dollars offered to buy "good" domain names like stocks.com and home.com.

Even so, they are alert enough to realize that this business is difficult but long-term. " As technology evolves, it is very likely that this business model will no longer be able to survive. Pay-per-click-to-turn advertising is estranged, your property also wears hats ," Fischer shrugged.

Trong Cam