Buying A Domain Name As An Investment

Some domain names can be worth a lot of money, especially some of the memorable .com or TLD domains.

For example, at the time of this publication uwant.com is currently on the market for 150,000 US dollars, jetski.co.uk is 10,000 GBP and rugs.co.uk is 60,000 GBP.

TLDs stands for top level domains and these typically include .com, .org, .net plus the country domain extensions as well ie .co.uk, .eu etc.

 With these high prices in mind – would a domain make a good investment?

The answer to this question is probably yes, but all investments carry risk and it is the same for domain names.

What is popular today may not be so popular in a few years time.

A name such as business.com is less likely to suffer from time decay in terms of value because it is a word used to describe a general category ie business.

On the other hand, Jetski.co.uk may suffer in value over time if for example a new type of motorised machine was invented called a powerski and the jetski became a thing of the past.

Another thing to consider when buying a domain name is how often the keyword is searched for – for example there are more searches for “property” than say “properties for sale”, so obviously property.com would be worth more than propertiesforsale.com. Property.com is also shorter and more memorable than propertiesforsale.com and hence it is more valuable.

Buying a domain name for a business can be a very good investment and should not be taken lightly.

Initially the cost could be expensive, but the great thing about owning a good domain name is that after the initial cost there is only the annual renewal fee which in most cases is just a few pounds.

Having a great domain name for a business will pay for itself over the long term . A Good domain name for a business should be short, memorable, appropriate to the business and not include hyphens or other symbols other than letters - possibly a number in some cases.

Conclusion

If you are interested in purchasing a domain name purely as an investment then ask yourself “Is this domain likely to remain popular in a few years time?”

A useful tip is to list your domain on a website like Sedo (see the links on this page) as soon as you aquire it, so that you can receive offers from time to time from interested parties, rather than let it gather dust.

Let people know that it is on the market for the right price and set yourself a realistic target price.

If you are buying a domain name for a business, get the best that you can afford. See our domain name guide.