Domain Names: An Unusual and Profitable
Characteristic by Charles L.
Harmon
Due to my other Internet activities I had relegated my
hundreds of domain names to a low priority and seldom gave
them much thought. The exception was for some minor research
for topics to create websites for a small number of domains.
Fortunately, a registrar who caters to those with many domains
managed most of my names. Part of their service is providing a
number of statistics on each domain name. In addition, the
names (URL's) host a directory website where I can make a few
cents (if I'm lucky) if visitors to the website click any of
the links.
A few days ago I decided to take a quick
look at some of those domains. I had a new idea for a few
possible websites and wanted to see which ones were getting
enough hits to warrant further consideration. As I created a
report showing traffic on some of my domains I was amazed to
find one of my domain names had a lot of impressions (website
page views). Where normally that name had a few impressions
each day it had several hundred that day along with several
dollars of profit where there usually was none.
That
was the first time I had noticed such a drastic change in one
of my domains in such a short period of time - one day. The
previous day there were the normal few views and no money to
be made from that domain name. I asked my co-worker if he
heard anything in the news involving video games since the
domain name showing unusual traffic was related to video
games. He said no, he had heard nothing. Since he was a
thirty-something and was usually aware of such things I first
thought it might be just an aberration, but it was unsettling
nevertheless. As a stock and options investor, I am very
familiar with the effects of news on those financial
instruments so news was the first thing to cross my mind that
might change the activity on a domain name so
fast.
Later that evening, right before turning off my
home computer, I thought of that domain name again and took a
quick glance at its statistics. Wow! There were a lot more
impressions and many more dollars showed as profit off that
surge of hits.
About that time my son, nineteen and an
ex video game fanatic, who was in Korea (I was in Southern
California), came on and sent me a message via Instant
Messenger. We conversed a short while then I asked him if he
had heard any news about Xbox because by then I was suspecting
something big must have been said in the news related to that
specific video game platform. My domain name XboxStars.com was
going wild with hits, compared to its usual half-dozen hits or
less each day. He said, "Dad, I think they announced they are
coming out with an Xbox 2". Immediately I knew that was why my
domain was getting so much action. It was reacting to the
news! Maybe even over reacting. The news had probably been
released that day. I never really saw the actual news related
to that announcement, but I later checked some of the video
game sites and their forums and there was lots of talk about
Microsoft's announcement related to Xbox2 to have some games
created in Japan and speculation that some version or
prototype of Xbox 2 would be at a well known game convention
the next week.
I followed the impressions and clicks
for the next few days and sure enough, the action had it been
graphed, would have looked like a huge peak, rising very high
and then falling like a rock in just a matter of a few days.
Until that day I had never realized a domain name could react
to news. Here is how it played out.
Date Domain
Impressions Earnings 02-25-05 XboxStars.com 1 $00.00 02-26-05
XboxStars.com 1 $00.00 02-27-05 XboxStars.com 4 $00.00
02-28-05 XboxStars.com 1 $00.00 03-01-05 XboxStars.com 261
$97.77 03-02-05 XboxStars.com 483 $30.33 03-03-05
XboxStars.com 404 $28.15 03-04-05 XboxStars.com 569 $22.05
03-05-05 XboxStars.com 2 $01.22 03-06-05 XboxStars.com 4
$00.00 03-07-05 XboxStars.com 4 $00.00 (as of 03-07-05 9:00
am)
I had noticed some domain names had ups and downs
before, but never associated that with potential news
affecting the domain name. One especially, but with not so
pronounced activity, I did a cursory check on, and found out
the name is related to football. Although initially the name
Insidend.com didn't sound related to a sport I guess the
"inside" and the "end" could be construed as being related to
inside linebacker and end zone, defensive end, or tight end,
etc. That's a far stretch, but then again football is an
extremely popular sport and is often in the news during
football season. Whether or not football is affecting this
particular domain remains to be seen, but now I'll be on the
lookout for such possibilities when I register new domain
names or see huge changes in activity on any of my domain
names.
I had better do some follow up research on other
domain names that seem to have a lot of fluctuating activity.
Take a hint from my experience. If you have any domain names
that could be subject to reaction to news events you may be
able to plan a strategy to capitalize on certain events
depending on the circumstances. This could be especially
profitable if you are selling something on a website with such
a name.
About the Author
Charles is a computer programmer and developer turned web
entrepreneur. He has written software for many major U.S.
Corporations as well as written and sold his own software. He
is currently developing a soon to be published website for his
many domain names and another on top-rated eZines. Charles can
be reached via the contact form at www.z-cashflow.com or his
sister's www.KLTGallery.com. |
