Enjoy unlimited access to all forum features for FREE! Optional upgrade available for extra perks.

Before Domain Names

Discussion in 'New Domainers' started by Curt, May 10, 2012.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Curt United Kingdom

    Curt Member

    Joined:
    Apr 2012
    Posts:
    48
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hey all, random question:

    If you could go back to the time before domain names were being registered, and you had the chance to register 1 and only 1 domain name, what would it be and why?

    :D
     
  2. Domain Forum

    Acorn Domains Elite Member

    Joined:
    1999
    Messages:
    Many
    Likes Received:
    Lots
    IWA Meetup
     
  3. boxfish United Kingdom

    boxfish Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2010
    Posts:
    1,053
    Likes Received:
    90
    I'd probably go for travel.com

    Interesting, lucrative, developable, saleable
     
  4. DomainM

    DomainM Active Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2009
    Posts:
    580
    Likes Received:
    9
    sex.com, easy. I would then simply sell it in 2010 for $13 million
     
  5. boxfish United Kingdom

    boxfish Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2010
    Posts:
    1,053
    Likes Received:
    90
    And advise the new owner to try and do something more inventive than a pinterest clone?
     
  6. nameholic United Kingdom

    nameholic Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 2009
    Posts:
    95
    Likes Received:
    1
    Buy it Right and rent out anything thats Left of the .

    ???????? . uk.com
     
  7. Edwin

    Edwin Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 2005
    Posts:
    9,851
    Likes Received:
    617
    London.com

    Big enough to be worth megabucks if done right, small enough to be "manageable", right extension given the 50 million overseas tourists who flock there each year.
     
  8. doodlebug United Kingdom

    doodlebug Retired Member

    Joined:
    Mar 2007
    Posts:
    5,166
    Likes Received:
    49
    Money.com

    The commission you can make from these type of aff programmes can be great whereas with Sex.com people tend to want porn without paying so Money.com would be much easier to monetise.
     
  9. CatchDrop

    CatchDrop Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 2012
    Posts:
    968
    Likes Received:
    30
    Definitely would have been a .com, probably a one word domain -
    I'd have gone for google or amazon :p
     
  10. dragon

    dragon Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2008
    Posts:
    1,210
    Likes Received:
    29
  11. DomainM

    DomainM Active Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2009
    Posts:
    580
    Likes Received:
    9
    True, however if you'er simply after a lottery type domain win $13 million is a good sum for who ever perviously owned it. Would I like to develop such a site? NO! It's not my type of project nor area of interest.
     
  12. murph United Kingdom

    murph Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 2005
    Posts:
    1,066
    Likes Received:
    7
  13. thadeas United Kingdom

    thadeas Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 2006
    Posts:
    78
    Likes Received:
    0
    my first thought would of been Apple, Amazon or Google but the first would probably been subject to a domain ownership dispute by apple computers. The other 2 might just have called themselves something different if their desired domains were not available so probably not worth what they are today under those circumstances. I think as above london, travel or sex .com's are all great and maybe something also like commerce, hotels, car or shopping would also be top of my list.
     
  14. DomainM

    DomainM Active Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2009
    Posts:
    580
    Likes Received:
    9
    Brand-able domains such as Amazon, Tesco, eBay etc are only worth money because of the marketing to build the brand. On their own they have very little value and would have most likely joined the millions of other similar domains collecting registration dust.

    Correction: 'Amazon' could have been worth something as its a GEO ;)
     
  15. thadeas United Kingdom

    thadeas Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 2006
    Posts:
    78
    Likes Received:
    0
    If what we see in the film is true i wonder if facebook would have been worth registering since it was originally called thefacebook, if it still grew into the company it is now then sitting on that domain could have been very profitable.
     
  16. peter_w United Kingdom

    peter_w Active Member

    Joined:
    Nov 2008
    Posts:
    551
    Likes Received:
    18
    They only paid $200,000 for facebook.com. The seller presumably though it was a good price at the time (it was, really). With hindsight he probably wishes he did a share deal.
     
  17. Curt United Kingdom

    Curt Member

    Joined:
    Apr 2012
    Posts:
    48
    Likes Received:
    0
    interesting no one has said porn .com?
     
  18. Curt United Kingdom

    Curt Member

    Joined:
    Apr 2012
    Posts:
    48
    Likes Received:
    0
    What they pay for fb.com? $8.5m?
     
  19. storebuilder

    storebuilder Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 2004
    Posts:
    274
    Likes Received:
    10
  20. storebuilder

    storebuilder Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 2004
    Posts:
    274
    Likes Received:
    10
    It's a very interesting topic. Back in the day there were a lot of domains available but the registration fees were a lot more than they are now especially in 1998/9 so there was not the speculation there is now.

    If I could go back to the start the one thing I would do again is to start building the one site I wanted to be my main one and not keep getting sidetracked by all of the opportunities that came along.

    But really, apart from the aftermarket domain names becoming much more expensive and scarce it's still possible to build a brand from a nothing domain if you are prepared to put the content writing into it.
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2012
  21. storebuilder

    storebuilder Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 2004
    Posts:
    274
    Likes Received:
    10
    Oh! And I look eight years older than my profile pic LOL
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.