Parked Domain Monetization

USA Today published an article this week titled “Internet domain names the 21st century real estate.” The article centers on the story of two guys (Larry Fischer and Ari Goldberger) who have made a business of buying and selling domain names.

Here are a few key excerpts from the article:

• “It’s not about words,” said Monte Cahn, founder and CEO of Moniker.com, a company that specializes in domain asset management and held the Manhattan auction. “It’s like real estate. This industry is only about a decade old. People looked at domain names as a commodity. It’s a piece of real estate on the Web that can’t be replaced. It’s your stake in the ground, your stake in the Internet.”

• “Bob Parsons, CEO and founder of domain registration company GoDaddy.com, says this type of business is fairly straightforward. “They make their money in two ways,” Parsons said. “One way is through the traffic they get and the other is the appreciation of the name.” Parson didn’t think there was anything wrong with the practice as long as those involved weren’t using names trademarked by others. “Domain names are becoming 21st century real estate,” Parsons said. “Just owning a domain name as an investment, I don’t see a problem with that.”

• “They (Fischer and Goldberger) look for names that hit the “sweet spot” — short words that describe a high-value product or services related to it. Words that allow them to own a category such as bald.com and cardiology.com, two of the domain names they bought at the auction.”