DOMAIN NAME INVESTOR HQ

Anybody up for another pizza domain auction? 1-pizza.com is up for grabs

Updated: July 2, 2008

The 1-Pizza Family of Domain Names Ad now shows 7 domain names

• Seven 1-Pizza websites are now under construction
• A 2% finders fee is being offered for registered finders -
  
  • Register and Info at GotDigit.com
• For Sale

Ebay Ad listing:

1-Pizza Domain Family

• 1-74992.mobi Mobile Pizza Marketing by the Numbers
• 1-74992.com Defacto dot com Mobile Pizza Marketing by the Numbers
• 1-Pizza.info
• 1-Pizza.net
• 1-Pizza.mobi  Keyword Defacto dot mobi Mobile Member of the 1-Pizza Family
• 1-Pizza.us
• 1-Pizza.com Defacto dot com Member of the 1-Pizza Marketing Website

Winning hearts and minds, a positive spin to the 1-Pizza.com vs. Pizza.net ongoing domain valuation war on Ebay.

The crust thickens...

Link: Gadgetell

Anybody up for another pizza domain auction? 1-pizza.com is up for grabs by Arnold Zafra on Apr 30, 2008 at 08:09 PM

Sections: Web, Websites

 

If you envied Chris Clark while reading our previous post on the profit he made from selling his pizza.com for $2.6 million after keeping it alive for 14 years, well here comes
another domain name up for bid at eBay, 1-pizza.com. There are many reasons why 1-pizza.com would be a viable domain name even if the keyword rich domains pizza.com and pizza.net are already up. And Numbers That Work, has listed several of these reasons.

Based on an appraisal and marketing analysis of 1-pizza.com, the domain can ride hot on the heels of the buzz created by the recent sale of pizza.com and pizza.net which were sold for $2.6 million and $1.1 million respectively. Other reasons cited by the market analysis on why 1-pizza.com is worth more than the two pizza domains, include; 1-pizza
bears the TLD “.com”, contains a hyphen, it has the “pizza” keyword and it’s a short domain name having only 7 characters.

The study also cited that 1-pizza.com is shorter than 18 of the domains the Google SERPs display for the term “pizza”, and in SEO work, the shorter your domain name is, the more friendly Google will be to your site. Likewise, world market value for domains with hyphen is becoming valuable in the US other than Europe and China.

Granted that 1-pizza.com is a valuable domain, whoever intends to bid for it at an amount of $1.4 million will certainly be in dire need of competing with pizza.com and pizza.net. Or somebody who is planning to put a pizza delivery service. But still, I don’t think $1.4 million is a viable investment, unless Pizza Hut is planning to change its name to 1-Pizza or Pizza One.

Via [eBay] Via [Numbers that Work]

Hyphens in Domains - Heck Ya

Heck Ya!! says Numbers That Work if it makes sense and connects with visitors, Why not?

1-Pizza.com looks like a phone number, makes sense to humans and is a viable marketing solution for a mobile internet pizza sales website.

1-Pizza.com can hold the #2 spot on Google for pizza sales and has the potential to 'rock and roll' future mobile pizza sales.

...potential to rock and roll future mobile pizza sales!

Ebay Promotion link for the sale of 1-Pizza.com

Link: Numbers That Work

Hyphens in Domains & Domain After-market Value

Domain value increases if a hyphen adds value for the user.

Consider
Germans value hyphens in domain names because it makes it easier for a human to interpret. Chinese value hyphens in domain names for the same reason. Because a period isn't treated as a text character, a period doesn't work as a separator in a domain name.

• The Mobile Market is the 'Next Sales frontier' for the internet as we move to mobile devices.
• If a domain name looks like a phone number, it will be remembered easier by mobile people using mobile devices.

Looking Forward: Marketing to Mobile Surfers?
Advantages for a domain that looks like a phone number:

• Hello! - the domain looks like a phone number!
  
  • A Hypenated Domain can create memorability for mobile surfers
• Novel, trendy and unique

Competitive Advantage
All the above plus:
Captures the #2 Spot to keyword competition

• Like Avis did to Hertz in the rental car business
  • Avis claimed they were #2
  • Claimed the rental car market only had 2 players
  • In one stroke of genius eliminated all other competitors

The Elephant in the Room...
Yup, it's 'make my day keyword' Google. Owning the industry keyword domain makes the owner 'king' of their market segment.

The elephant defines the 'pizza' box that traps the competition in a ranking or search placement.

Escape the pizza.com box by 'Thinking outside that pizza box...'

Pizza Industry Example:
This is the challenge faced in the online pizza business if a top 10 Pizza Company didn't buy pizza.com or pizza.net. All other Pizza Companies get squashed by the keyword elephant...

The best solution is purchasing 1-Pizza.com because it looks like a phone number, makes sense to humans and is a viable marketing solution for a mobile internet pizza sales website.

1-Pizza.com can hold the #2 spot on Google for pizza sales and has the potential to 'rock and roll' future mobile pizza sales.

...potential to rock and roll future mobile pizza sales!

1-Pizza.com vs Pizza.net The Million Dollar Question

Analysis of the Ebay: 1-Pizza.com vs. Pizza.net Pre-Auction Promotion

1-Pizza.com is being promoted on Ebay in preparation for auction. With recent sales of pizza.com and pizza.net the time seems right for new ideas and a bit of innovation in the domain name industry.

1-pizza.com may send a wake-up call to old school domain valuations as we move to mobility and  people understand that users reward easy and looking like a phone number launches 1-pizza.com into the stratosphere for memorability for mobile surfers with a phone in hand. It is a world market and offering the domain on Ebay may reach domain investors in Europe or China that look to future value and aren't awe-struck by comp sales.

The internet fuels innovation and competition, having an advantage in being a short, easy to type, dot com domain leverages 1-pizza.com over pizza.net. Looking like a phone number seems more than reasonable for users to adopt as it only takes a second look to make the mobile connection.

Many feel pizza.net was over-valued when selling for $1.1M but one never knows when the name will be available again and you run the risk that a competitor will buy it. As in war, if you have it, your enemy can't use it.

Thinking outside the Pizza.com box

Pizza companies have few options if they didn't get pizza.com 

Long domains lose out to short ones so a domain name that makes sense to humans may be what Pizza Companies seek to remain competitive in Online Mobile Pizza Sales.

Investment Analysis
The advantages for 1-Pizza.com as a domain investment are very good due to 'Pizza' being in the news with strong media coverage and high domain values established with the recent sale of pizza.com for $2.6M and pizza.net selling for $1.1M.

Using 1-pizza.com defensively or as a name for a website to develop is extremely good, especially with a mobile focus which is where the industry is headed. A case can be made for finding a domain before a business name because the domain becomes the brand.

The need and competition for domains is extreme and 1-Dash Domains are one viable solution to the shortage of quality domains. 1-Dash Domains effectively double the internet for keywords. With a 1-Dash keyword domain using sound SEO and marketing, the #2 slot in search engine results can be achieved for potential desk-bound customers and getting mobile customers may even have an advantage.

If a top 10 Pizza Company didn't get pizza.com, few options are available to competitors due to the nature of how keywords have become 'type-in' shortcuts to websites. 1-Pizza.com is the only domain with the potential to firmly establish itself in the #2 spot like Avis did to Hertz in the rental car business and has big upside potential with mobile surfers, teens and texters.

• 1-Pizza.com is the only domain that can arguably compete with Pizza.com or Pizza.net
• It's the only competitor for type-in or direct navigation traffic
• 1-Pizza.com has potential as a shortcut to an existing website
• 1-Pizza.com is a defensive 'must buy' for existing pizza companies to deny competitors access to the market

Innovation and Marketing Lessons

1. The internet has taught us that if you don't get the best domain name you lose.
2. If you reward users with 'easy', they will reward you with sales.
3. Secure a domain name before naming a business.
4. Avis secured the #2 marketing position and defined the auto rental market as a field of 2
   1. 1-Pizza.com effectively does the same for the online pizza ordering business because of the association to phone numbers.
   2. pizza.net has defensive value
   3. The .net extension makes pizza.net invisible

Ebay and Common Sense Marketing
The pitch for 1-Pizza.com is on Ebay, the World's Largest Mall because it will reach the appropriate audience; entrepreneurs and investors that use common sense to evaluate products and marketing pitches to invest in 'good deals'. 1-Pizza.com is ahead of the value curve with domain appraisers but common sense should show investors or pizza companies the value of domains with a built-in association to mobility. Buy it when you can and before a competitor latches on to it.

From an outside view into domaining like that of Ebay Entrepeneurs, the value of the internet's real estate won't be blurred by pay per click and nonsensical domain names users hate and can't remember. Evaluating future value and potential for appreciation

It is time to: 'Think Outside The Pizza.com Box'

The Future is Mobile
Regardless the market for 1-pizza.com should only interest the top 20 pizza companies in a Google Search for Pizza and a few investors, 1-Pizza.com targets the future with a new idea for reaching mobile users because of the built-in association to phone numbers. It works for other keywords too as Numbers That Work has been promoting over the last couple of months.

This transition to mobile has an agent with 1-Pizza.com. Businesses can leverage the mobility factor of domains that look like phone numbers as unique, innovative and cool.

Domain Investors are thinking keywords, past sales and pay per click and are stuck there. The 'marketing hooks' are obvious if one is looking.

Investment Strategy
1-Pizza.com is a recommended buy at $1.4M to $2.6M for existing online pizza companies or investors that can think outside the pizza.com box...

1-Pizza.com has potential to be the best Future Mobile Domain Period.

The Million Dollar question remains?
   Is 1-Pizza.com worth more than Pizza.net?
   If one has the ability to think outside the Pizza.com box the answer has to be yes!!

Appraisal and Marketing Analysis for 1-Pizza.com:

• 1-pizza.com looks like a phone number because of the number 1 and a hyphen
  • That spells 'mobile' in any marketing language
  • Shortest remaining pizza domain that makes sense to a human.
•   Best competition for Pizza.com or Pizza.net
  •   Short, easy to remember and type, 7 Characters

Market Trends
  Pizza is hot in domain news - April 2008

• pizza.com sold for $2.6M
• pizza.net sold for $1.1M
• 1-Pizza.com has potential as a Mobile Marketing Homerun

1-Pizza.com Industry Factors

•   1-Pizza.com has a .com extension
  • Loads automatically in a browser if only 1-pizza is typed
•    Contains a hyphen – some say ok, some not
•    Pizza is ‘the’ industry keyword
  •    Short 7 Character domain name
  • Easy to remember and type
• Shortest remaining pizza domain that makes sense to a human
  • Best competition for Pizza.com or Pizza.net
  • Most likely 1-pizza.com is the only domain that can compete for online pizza sales as we move to a mobile society

Other qualitative industry factors for 1-Pizza.com

• Shorter than 18 of the domains in the top Google Results for the word pizza
  • only pizza.com and pizza.net are shorter
  • With development and marketing 1-Pizza.com beats pizza.net
• 1-Pizza.com is shorter than 99% of all domains containing the word ‘pizza’
  • also shorter than 99% of domains containing the word pizza that are for sale on GoDaddy, Ebay, Sedo or any other domain auction sites
• Competition for a good domain name is brutal
  • few domains remain that make sense to humans
• The dot com stampede is now the dot com crush
  • keyword defensive domains are taken to deny competitors access to the market
• World Market Values for Domains with Hyphens is Greater than in the USA
  • Europe (specifically Germany)
  • China values numbers in domain more than any other country

Abstract Industry Factors for 1-Pizza.com

• 1-pizza.com looks like a phone number and that spells ‘mobile’ in any marketing language.
  • Memorability factor because of phone number association
  •      Unique, innovative, catchy
  •      Hello, it looks like a phone number!
• Of the domains for sale, 1-pIzza.com is the only one that makes sense to a human!
  • 1-Pizza.com is the only dot com pizza domain with a 'true' mobile connection
• Contains a hyphen which makes it look like a phone number
  • Industry Opinion remains divided, some place reduced value on domains with a hyphen
  • some say it doesn't matter (no thinks phone number yet)
• No one has seriously made the case for domains associated to phone numbers with a 1- (1 and a dash or hyphen)
  • Undeniable mobile connection

Links:
Please see our ad or auction on Ebay to bid on 1-Pizza.com 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260234950566

Further Analysis at Numbers That Work
http://www.numbersthatwork.com/

1-Dash Domains
http://www.numbersthatwork.com/1dash

Pizza.com has Competition

Update April 2009:
1-Pizza.com has been re-branded as a Crossover Business Name which features integrated marketing for web, phone and branding. The name says, "Call us. We answer the phone." 

Crossover names work great in phone lists too! As traditional phone books transition to the web, crossover marketing will stretch marketing budgets.

Original Article:

New pizza.com owner shivers...
    Ha, ha that's funny!

Hello; 74992 spells 'Pizza' on a phone keypad.

• Everyone made the connection between I (heart) NY and love
• We all get the phone number spells a word for what you are selling

Pizza.com Owner Shivers

The owner of Pizza.com hasn't even been revealed yet and has 4 domain name competitors that will impact mobile pizza sales if these pizza domains are purchased by the right competitor.

Defensive registration or let a competitor buy these direct navigation, common sense, user friendly, mobile centric, novel, short, easy to type and remember domain names?

1-Pizza.com
1-Pizza.mobi
1-74992.com    (74992 spells Pizza on a phone keypad)
1-74992.mobi

Hello! All of these domains have marketing 'BLING' and make sense to consumers.
Every one of these 1-Dash domains is shorter than the companies names listed in our search for pizza and shorter than most of the domains listed for sale at TDNAM containing the word pizza.

All the domains are easy to remember.

Marketing Solution Hidden in Plain Sight!!
What's so hard about 1-74992.com that spells 'Pizza' and looks like a phone number?

Internet Shortcuts
A Domain Alias with domain forwarding is the internet version of a Shortcut for websites and in the case of 1-Pizza.com and his pal 1-Pizza.mobi they 'point' to our domains of interest page.

1-Pizza.com   
1-Pizza.mobi   
1-74992.com    (74992 spells Pizza on a phone keypad)
1-74992.mobi

Mobile Pizza Sale Competition Bake off
Competition is brewing for mobile pizza sales and it starts right here with these 4 domains. A new website doesn't need to be developed, just inquire about our auction on Ebay for our 4 pizza domains that hold the marketing key to mobile pizza sales and forward them to your existing website with your current pizza ordering system.

Easy as pizza pie!

Pizza.net will reach for the #2 Marketing Slot to Pizza.com: Like Avis vs Hertz

Pizza.net goes for the #2 Marketing Slot
In Avis vs Hertz, Avis effectively told the world there were 2 car rental companies to choose from, consumers bought in for a while and all the rest of the car rental companies had to battle it out with the market tailings.

Defensive Domain Registrations - Addressing the Competition?
If the currently anonymous buyers of pizza.com buy pizza.net they will have effectively blocked some of their competition for hungry desk bound surfers. Ok, that addresses a lot of the obvious competition but there's more.

Thinking Outside the "Pizza Box"

Catastrophic Oversight
Every business endeavor should include a review for catastrophic oversight. Overlooking key information from any source can lead to failure. As desk bound surfers go mobile there is a disconnect to bookmarks and thinking.

"Sorry, I just can't remember that long nasty to type website..."
    MamaCiancibelliHotSpicyPizzeria.com => right!

Maybe one of these 5 companies bought Pizza.com
The buyer of pizza.com has not been revealed yet so maybe it's one of the Top 5 Pizza Companies listed on the 1st page of results using Google:

• Pizza Hut
• Pappa John's
• Domino's
• Giordano's
• Round Table Pizza

    So the other pizza companies will give up?
        Ya, right. So what can they do?

Mobile Pizza Marketing Oversight
The entire pizza industry has overlooked mobile pizza marketing by a new innovative domain naming convention called 1-Dash.

There are 4 domain names that specifically, un-equivocally target mobile pizza sales.

They are 1-Dash Domains and Look Like Phone Numbers

1-Pizza.com   
1-Pizza.mobi   
1-74992.com    (74992 spells Pizza on a phone keypad)
1-74992.mobi

The 1- mimics a phone number so it's a great memory trigger for people using a phone to connect to the web.

It's So Obvious a Sixth Grader Can See it
Every one of these 1-Dash domains is shorter than the companies names listed in our search for pizza and shorter than most of the domains listed for sale at TDNAM containing the word pizza.

1-Pizza.com   
1-Pizza.mobi   
1-74992.com    (74992 spells Pizza on a phone keypad)
1-74992.mobi

Hello! All of these domains have marketing 'BLING' and make sense to consumers.
All the domains are short and easy to remember.

Marketing Solution Hidden in Plain Sight!!
The domain industry hasn't noticed Numbers That Work either (1-Dash Domains parent company) but consumers will; they can't help it. Once 1-Dash is explained (1-Dash puts a 1- in a domain name to make it look like a phone number) the association to a phone number and mobility can't be ignored; especially with a phone in hand.

Pizza.com - Direct Navigation
Pizza.com is one of the best examples of Direct Navigation for marketing to desktop surfers available. The $2.6M sale is breath-taking.

Pizza.net - Defensive Registration
Pizza.net has a bid of $500k with 3 days to go at TDNAM. Currently there are 326 domains for sale with the word 'pizza' in them. Most are long and nonsensical, aimed at attracting key-word searches and at last check, no bids were evident.

Marylander gets big slice of Web pie - Pizza.com Sale for $2.6M

Link: baltimoresun.com

Maryland tech entrepreneur auctions domain name pizza.com for millions
By Tricia Bishop | Sun reporter | 2:48 PM EDT, April 3, 2008

Fourteen years ago, Chris Clark shelled out 20 bucks to register the domain name "pizza.com." This afternoon, he sold it for $2.6 million.

"It's crazy, it's just crazy," he said somewhat giddily yesterday
morning from his home in North Potomac. By then, a week's worth of
anonymous bidding at an online auction site had pushed the price to
today's high. The auction closed at 2 p.m. today.

Pizza.info now up on the block at Sedo

Sounds awesome. Before pizza.com was at auction on SEDO, they had a price of $1,000,000 on the pizza.com website that included the website. Good for them!

1-pizza.com is a bargain and a direct competitor as we move to mobility because it looks like a phone number.

Numbers That Work has the following domains of interest that use direct navigation to target Mobile Pizza Sales 

1-Pizza.com   
1-Pizza.mobi   
1-74992.com    (74992 spells Pizza on a phone keypad)
1-74992.mobi

The 1- mimics a phone number so it's a great memory trigger for people using a phone to connect to the web.

Link: Domaining.com

Pizza.info now up on the block at Sedo
Archived in the category: Domain News                      

After Pizza.com just sold at Sedo for $2,605,000 usd. the owner of Pizza.info must of got excited. Since the reserve was met already at $1,050 usd I hope they do not expect anything over 4 figures let alone 6 figures. It will be interesting to see the ending price, since we know what the .com (king) just sold for.

It will also be interesting to see if Pizza.com gets Paid For, because I have had several domains that I accepted an offer and sent the domain to auction, which have never been paid for. Sedo is really bad with this and it seems like a problem they do not pay much attention to.

Google Owns About 10000 Domain Names - 466453.com

Many articles mention 500 Domains owned by Google; looks like that number is low.

Of the 10,000 the best is 466453.com because 466543 spells 'Google' on a phone keypad. Of course it's best because its a Number That Works! as we explain here:

Understating 10000 Domain Names Owned by Google:

The WhoIs record from Domain Tools Registrant Search:

"Google Inc." owns about 9,623 other domains

 The Future Mobile Search Market

Search Domains with direct navigation for Search
18 Domains formatted like phone numbers For Sale.
Word           1-Dash.com    1-Dash.mobi    1-Dial.com    1-Dial.mobi
Seek            1-seek.com     1-seek.mobi    1-7335.com    1-7335.mobi
Find                                  1-find.mobi    1-3463.com    1-3463.mobi
Ask              1-ask.com      1-ask.mobi     1-275.com      1-275.mobi
Help                                  1-help.mobi    1-4357.com    1-4357.mobi
NFO (info)    1-nfo.com      1-nfo.mobi     1-636.com      1-636.mobi
Note: NFO is a 'geek' shortcut for info.

 

More Future Mobile Industries For Sale
Several future mobile markets can be owned by buying 1-Dash Domains, the domains mobile people can't forget.

Link: 466453.com - 466453

Whois Record for 466453.com ( 466453 )
Registrant:

        Google Inc.
        (DOM-258840)
        1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View
        CA         94043 US

.CA Geo Domains may be a Liability to hold but 1-Vegas.mobi is available

1-Vegas.mobi - a GEO; 1-Dash direct navigation domain for Las Vegas is listed for $10,000. It's for sale at TDNAM

Did you miss out on acquiring Vegas.mobi at TRAFFIC West?

Then maybe 1-Vegas.mobi will work for you.

1-Vegas.mobi is a 1-Dash Domain because it looks like a phone number, has direct navigation for targeting mobile surfers and has more marketing value than a PPC keyword domain.

Domain Name: 1-VEGAS.MOBI

Description:      
Miss out on Vegas.mobi? Maybe 1-Vegas.mobi will work for you.
1-Vegas.mobi is a 1-Dash Domain because it looks like a phone number,
has direct navigation for targeting mobile surfers
and has more marketing value than a PPC keyword domain.

Info: 1-Dash.com
End Time:     06/05/2008 11:30 AM (PDT)
Sale Type:     Offer/Counter Offer
Category(s):     Places - Cities

Link: Domain Name News

.CA Geo Domains may be a Liability to hold

Filed under: Litigation, Registries — Jeff Behrendt at 7:55 am on Thursday, March 13, 2008 

When the .ca registry was set up, the names of all Canadian municipalities were reserved and could not be registered.  However, enterprising domainers often registered geo domains that were two-word combinations, which included the city name.  These domains may now be open to be taken away by the municipalities, following the recent decision about the domain NiagaraRegion.ca.

The Regional Municipality of Niagara had the domain Niagara.on.ca reserved for them.  John Vail, a real estate agent in nearby Oakville, registered the domain NiagaraRegion.ca and redirected this domain to his real estate agency website.

The municipality contacted Mr Vail to see if he would be willing to sell the domain to them.  He indicated an interest, but failed to respond when they only offered the meager sum of $500 Canadian.

As a result, the municipality filed a complaint under the Canadian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the equivalent of the UDRP for .ca domains).  Unfortunately, Mr Vail never responded, so we do not have his side of the story.

The panel found for the municipality and ordered that NiagaraRegion.ca be transferred to the municipality.

The Fable Of Front Running: ICANN Says ‘No Evidence’ But Network Solutions Is Sued In Class Action

It would help the domaining industry if every domain registration company published their policies  about domain front running.

Link: The Fable Of Front Running: ICANN Says ‘No Evidence’ But Network Solutions Is Sued In Class Action Domain Name News

Filed under: ICANN — David Goldstein at 9:45 am on Thursday, March 13, 2008

by Matthew Hall and Tyrilly Bolton
In November, we wrote that the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which administers domain names, had launched a probe into the practice “front running”. Front running involves monitoring checks of a domain name’s availability and then registering that domain name address yourself so you can sell it to another party (usually the party checking for availability) at a profit.

Despite concerns in October last year, ICANN’s new report now says it has insufficient information to conclude that any party has engaged in front running. To this end, the SSAC says that of the 1.4 billion attempts to register domains, only 3.3 million were satisfied, suggesting that, on average, 333 attempts are made to register a domain name for every fulfilled domain registration.

A copy of the SSAC’s report can be found here.

Valuing capital domains - Part 1

We're excited to see how Whizzbang develops this article and whether or not consideration is given to domains that look like phone numbers; since 1-Dash and 1-Dial Domains are our favorite topic.

Link: Whizzbang's Blog | Valuing capital domains - Part 1

Valuing capital domains - Part 1

Written by Whizzbang

Thursday, 14 February 2008

Over this past week I've made a significant foray into valuing non-traffic domain names that have value as stock items. It's been an interesting process working out a series of metrics that will assist in creating a reasonable valuation algorithm. Initially I found the experience akin to staring at a blue sky and guessing. There had to be a better way. Many, many people have asked me to value non-traffic domains and I've always found it quite difficult. More often than not I would answer fairly glibly that their value is precisely what a person is willing to pay. That statement may be true but it really doesn't help a person trying to establish a value pre-sale. The obvious solution is to have your domain listed for sale in one of the many auctions but the question still arises as to what sort of reserve you should set. Being the analytical guy that I am I decided to begin a journey down this road and try to establish some sort of logical valuation system that went beyond my "gut reaction". So as you read this article and the following series of articles realize that this is as much a journey as an event. Ideally, this is what blogging is all about! Where do we start? How about at the very beginning? Is the domain a com, net, org, ccTLD or even mobi or biz? All of these factors impact the valuation of the domain for a number of reasons. The first is that dotcom domains typically receive overflow traffic from all of the other domain extensions. The second point is that most buyers are from the US market and typically have a strong focus only on dotcom domains. I'm not entirely sure why this is the case. Maybe it's the American culture? Whatever the reason, it's a fact and this will influence the final purchase price. In addition, because of the US centric focus on dotcoms there tends to be a lot more competition for "good" dotcom domains which constantly forces the prices of the domains upwards. Thirdly, dotcom represents the US market, which is still the biggest economy in the world. Yes, I know that there is a .us for "United States" and that dotcom means "commercial" but despite this dotcom has become synonymous with the Internet and a large pool of money we affectionately know as the United States. Fourthly, the domain industry is still very focused on dotcom domains. The majority of domain purchasers are other domainers and not from outside industry sources. In fact, if you removed about ten organizations in our industry from purchasing domains you may find that domain prices begin to collapse. In stock terms this is not a very good market depth. So why has this happened? I think that it's happened because most of the activity for domains is still centered in the US. For example, I will be travelling to the US about five times this year, to Europe once and no where else (sorry forgot trafficdownunder.com). I think that another reason why is that in the early days it was quite difficult to purchase a domain name for a ccTLD. A culture developed that a domain was important for a business but to own thousands of them was just crazy. In the US, it was the opposite and this spurred on the rapid growth and adoption of dotcom as the standard. As a result of this a burgeoning aftermarket developed on the back of the scarcity of dotcoms (there is only one dotcom available for your busines) thus pushing up prices. This continued inflation in pricing has outstripped other ccTLDs making it even more important to get into as people are seeing larger and larger sums of money trading hands. It's interesting to see that many ccTLDs are now liberalizing their policies and are slowly becoming more and more dotcom like. It shows that the business models pioneered by dotcom are gaining the attraction of the governing bodies for other ccTLDs as they can now clearly see that there is money to be made in domains trading hands. So, does this mean that I'm against ccTLDs for investment purchases? No way. I love ccTLDs, but it does mean that when you're presently valuing a domain name you must consider the implications of whether it is a dotcom or not. In a next article I will explore a methodology that I'm developing for the valuation of a domain and then how to link in the first aspect of the valuation. Is the domain a dotcom?