Domains Galore-In Abundance-Billion Dollar Domains

With the ever rising popularity of the Internet and the growing number of people who are computer literate, domain names have become one of the hottest commodities on the market. People every day are buying and selling domain names in order to make a profit, and as more and more businesses and organizations create websites, more and more domain names are needed and created. If you want to make some money with fast domain names, then you are not alone. Many people wonder how they can make more money with domain names.

As domain parking revenue drops, sitting around and complaining won’t do you any good.

Ask just about any domain owner and they’ll tell you domain parking revenue is down this year. There are a number of factors contributing to this, including changes by ad providers Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO). There are more changes on the way, too.

So what can you do about it? Here are five ways you can reinvigorate your domain name parking earnings.

1. Take advantage of parking company promotions. Since just about every good domain portfolio is parked, the domain parking companies are fighting between each other for your business. They’re getting creative with bonus offers. DomainSponsor has generous bonuses for people who keep their domains with them. RevenueDirect is currently offering a 100% revenue share for one month to new parking customers, too.

2. Test a different parking company. Parking companies all think they’re the best in the business, but most will admit that they can’t monetize every domain perfectly. Some domains perform better with one company compared to another. If you have foreign traffic, you’ll probably find a Google-based parking company to perform better (depending on the country). Google powers Sedo , DomainSponsor, and NameDrive among others. Regardless, try shaking things up with some of your domains that get low click-through rates by trying new keywords or testing them with a different parking company.

3. If you earn more than $200 a month, consider SedoPro. Sedo offers a special program for people parking 200 or more domains or earning $200 a month. It pays out better than the regular Sedo program. There are some cool perks, too — like attending the Sedo Pro Partner Forum each year. To join SedoPro you need an endorsement code. If you qualify, send an email to andrew (at) domainnamewire.com and I’ll send a code to you.

4. If you earn more than $10,000 a month, consider Bido ’s PortfolioHelp. Bido launched a new program called PortfolioHelp that assists larger domain portfolio holders with bargaining for better payouts.

5. Try an automated site development platform. Domain parking works, but automated site development services can help you get search engine traction and potentially more revenue. Two examples are WhyPark and EvoLanding .

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Are you ready to market your domain names to the whole world? Here are the most popular forum communities, online auctions and social networks to maximize exposure to your domain and website sales.

Forums

NamePros - The industries largest domaining community.
DNForum - Popular domain forum requiring paid membership.
DotSauce - Our own private community has a forum marketplace.
DomainState - Yet another highly popular domain forum community.
SitePoint - A leader in website auctions also allows domain sales.
V7N - Popular webmaster forums features domain sales forum.
DigitalPoint - Long time webmaster forum also has domain sales.
WebHostingTalk - Long time web hosting and webmaster forums.
Webmaster-Talk - Sell domains in a fashion similar to SitePoint.
AcornDomains - Popular domain forum specializing in .CO.UK sales.
DNLodge - Great domainer specific community.
NamesLot - Another domainer specific forum.
dnScoop - Popular web developer and domainer forums.
FreeHostForum - Webmaster forum featuring domain sales.
WebsiteAuctionHub - Forum community specifically for sales.
WebsiteAds - Another forum mainly for domain and website sales.

Auctions

BQB - A new marketplace for short domain names.
SnapNames - The leader in domain backorders also offers sales listings.
Moniker Marketplace - An established venue for online domain auctions.
eBay - Large audience of domain buyers and sellers. (Listing Fees)
Afternic - One of the leaders in aftermarket domain sales. (Membership Fee)
TDNAM - GoDaddy’s popular aftermarket sales. (Listing Fees)
Sedo - One of the leaders in aftermarket domain sales. (Listing Fees)
FlipSquare - A new website and domain marketplace.

Social Networks

Synergy Domain Club - A new social network for domainers.
Facebook Domain Marketplace - Domain sales board on Facebook.
GeoDomainer - Another new social network for domainers.
The Domain Name Network - Soon to feature domain auctions.

Conferences & Live Auctions

DomainFEST - The largest gathering of domain industry professionals.
TRAFFIC - Another popular conference featuring live auctions.
DomainRoundTable - An established domain industry conference.
DomainerMeeting - Domain conference and live auction held in Paris.
Moniker Live Auctions - Host to several premier live domain auctions.

United States Presidential candidate Barack Obama is leveraging the mobile web to get his message out. His campaign is using ObamaMobile.mobi. And unlike most popular .mobi domain names, it actually resolves to a .mobi domain rather than just forwarding to a mobile version of a .com we site.

The site does a good job providing interactivity despite mobile limitations. For example, it provides a text response number and lets users receive a whitepaper about Obama’s mobile plan via e-mail (since downloading it on the phone wouldn’t work well).

The only unfortunate news in this for .mobi fans is that this is a long and poor domain name. Obama.mobi forwards to an Information.com page. Even worse, ObamaMobile.com is owned by a New York firm. ObamaMobile.com was registered prior to the Barack Obama campaign picking up its domain name.

According to the dotMobi blog, Republican candidate John McCain doesn’t have a mobile site. JohnMcCain.mobi is registered by a company called “Campaign Solutions”. McCainMobile.mobi isn’t registered yet, but McCainMobile.com is registered by the same company that owns ObamaMobile.com.

On thursday, ICANN's (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) chairman Peter Dengate Thrush said,

“We’re expecting a broad range of applicants. Indigenous communities might come forward to protect aspects of their language and culture. We may see a .smith so that all the Smiths in the world will have a place.“It’s very exciting to see what people will do with those names.”

Internet’s main oversight agency ICANN passed a new rules in which it is decided that any company, organization or country will soon be able to apply for a new Web address extension, called a top-level domain. So let us think of getting over in booking new domains with the extensions like .com and .org. We should get ready for a nearly infinite variety of new Web addresses ending in words like .perfume, .sports and .paris.

The Icann board also passed another less controversial proposal that would allow these domains to be registered in scripts other than Roman characters, like Chinese, Arabic and Cyrillic. Specific countries could receive the equivalent of their two-letter country code, like Bulgaria’s .bg, in their native alphabet.

That could smooth the way for Web addresses that end in city names, brands and generic words. It could also sow confusion in the minds of Web users, create a host of new ways to exploit the Web addressing system and start a wave of legal skirmishes over applications to register trademarks — .coke, for example.

Icann officials said any applications for the new domains would have to go through an independent review process. Third parties will be able to challenge applications on the grounds that a particular suffix could threaten “morality and public order.” And companies will have the first priority when it comes to claiming their brand names.

If multiple parties want a name — as is already the case with .sports — conflicts will be settled through auctions.

At present, the domain name system consists of more than 20 suffixes, which follow the last dot in a Web address. Domains have so far been generally restricted to labels for countries —.de for Germany, for example — and descriptions for broad categories like .com for commerce and .org for institutional organizations.

Address extensions that ICANN added more recently, like .biz in 2001 and .mobi in 2005, have been largely ignored and in some cases have been adopted mostly by spammers and other malefactors.

Ron Jackson, editor of Domain Journal, an industry newsletter, said he thought the new addresses would addle and elude average Internet users. He said,

“If you have hundreds or thousands of new suffixes, they are not that easy to remember. I just see it as confusing."

Lauren Weinstein, a longtime Internet activist and co-founder of People for Internet Responsibility, an education and policy firm in Los Angeles, said he worried that the new system would create huge opportunities for shady domain name registrars, who buy and sell domain names for profit, and for others who try to exploit the address system. Mr. Weinstein said,

“The potential for mass confusion and fraud and phishing from these new domains seems to be what the primary impact will be for consumers. I fail to see the positive for consumers in this. It’s all downside.”

ICANN officials said that they would move slowly to introduce the changes, and would address many concerns and unanswered questions in a public review process that could last at least a year.

One question is how much the new top-level domains will cost. Icann officials estimated that prices would start in the low six figures, so the organization can recoup its expenses for developing the new service.

The changes had strong backing from local groups who sought designations for their cities. Supporters of a .berlin suffix, for example, say they have spent a million euros, or $1.6 million, in their quest, financed with contributions from local hotels and a phone directory publisher.

Some cities are keeping a watchful eye on how the system develops. Thomas Lowenhaupt, founding director of the nonprofit group Connecting.nyc, which is pressing a campaign to create the domain name .nyc for the city of New York, said that he was concerned about the potential for a gold rush mentality to develop.

“As this thing gets closer you’re going to see everyone coming out of the woodwork,” said Mr. Lowenhaupt, who has been lobbying for the name since 2001 and is now contending with another group try to secure the .nyc name.

The ICANN board said it would seek public comment on the guidelines before its next major meeting in November, 2008.