10 Positives I’m Seeing Already in Domain Investing in 2013

It’s hard not to be positive in 2013 in the domain industry.  There are more people than ever on the Internet.  A trend that will continue to rise most likely my entire lifetime.  Businesses now accept that they will have to attract their customers online and inform and sell them there and are starting to spend accordingly.  Here are 10 things that give us more reason to be confident in our investments.

1.  10% of retail sales are done online in the US.  A staggering number that will continue to increase dramatically.  The cost of a domain in the marketing program is a drop in the bucket.  Many companies will be upgrading their domain accordingly. I’m not sure whether I’m noticing it more in 2013 because Andrew is doing a weekly column on domain upgrades or because I have actually sold a couple of upgrades already, but regardless, I am getting more inquiries from companies than I used to.  Source

2.  Businesses seem to be figuring out that Facebook/Twitters are tools and not their main website.  Yes, there are still those that only use their Facebook page by forwarding their domain to it, but many companies haven’t enjoyed the financial success they had hoped.  Facebook is and will always be a marketing tool and should be treated as such.  Driving traffic to the main page.

3. China, China, and more China.  The Chinese are coming in force and they are bringing their checkbooks. From American companies to domains, they are a billion strong and desire high end stuff.  They love numbers, pinyin names, and last names.  Still a wide open game and 2013 has already brought some very high numbers over at 4.cn.

4. Bridging of the East Coast/West Coast domain split.  When I first got in this business i noticed that the Florida/East Coast domain investors stuck together as did the California/West Coast people.  While they tend not to go to each others shows, I’ve noticed that the younger/new generation of investors are supporting both.  The Morgan Lintons and Ron Jacksons (aka the nice guys) go to both and new investors have followed their lead.  Most guys I talk to don’t care who puts on the show as long as they learn something or meet people that will help them make money.

5.  Tools are being developed and released to the public. 2012 seemed to lack investment of money and time into new tools to help people find or manage domains (they continued to be developed just not offered to the public and used mainly in house) .  They are starting to come back.

6. Some good new blogs have come on the scene.  Looking at the domaining feed you saw some new faces last year and they are stepping it up this year.  Jason and David are putting in the time and it shows.  Still a lot of repetitive old and new hot air on the scene but it’s all personal preference.

7. Plenty of Outlets to sell quality domains.  Godaddy and Flippa now have enough quality domains that people check them daily, leading to good sales prices.  Good sales prices lead to more quality domains being put up.  And the snowball continues.  You can get top resale price if you need to now.  Liquidity is king and you now have it.   If you have crappy domains you are no better off.

8. Domain renewal prices are cheap.  Godaddy and other registrars have started the year with incredible deals making this years’ renewals the cheapest I’ve every had. Per domain that is.

9. More ways than ever to monetize your domains. Actually not true.  All these ways have always been available.  The difference is more people are in the business now of helping you monetize.  Internet Traffic, Flippa, Joint Ventures, Above, Rook, Voodoo all adding new programs to help you flip or monetize your domains.  I see many more coming in 2013

10. Great new additions of investors to our industry.  I don’t care if they have pigeon shit domains or not.  We have a lot of new people interested in investing in domains and that is good for our industry.  They provide liquidity and to domain bloggers, readers.  They bring people to shows, add domains to parking companies, and sell on our platforms.  Some of them will come and go, some will do well.  It is a sign of good times when you see new investors.  I’ve watched it for decades in the markets.