Prices increase next month, so now’s a good time to take a hard look at your portfolio.
The cost of registering or renewing a domain name will increase at most domain name registrars on July 1. This is thanks to an increase in the wholesale cost of registration courtesy of VeriSign. The company is increasing the price of .net domains 10% and .com domains 7%.
That makes the next couple weeks an ideal time for domain investors to take a good look at their portfolios. Consider renewing any domains now that will expire before the end of the year. Look into transfer specials available at other registrars. And, most importantly, take a good look at your overall portfolio.
I just finished this process. This year I’m letting more domains expire than I ever have in the past. Not much has changed; it’s just that in years past I glossed over how much I was spending on domains I didn’t want any more. Hitting the renew button is an easier mental exercise than thinking about if you want to let a domain name go.
The domains I typically let go fall into three categories:
1. Previously expired domains that had web site traffic. Over the years the traffic disappears. The underlying domains have little value.
2. Trend domains that didn’t pan out. This includes speculative jargon and buzz words that flamed out quickly rather than taking off.
3. Non .com domains registered for web projects that I canned. Whenever I have an idea for a new, fully-built out web site I often register non .com variants and .com typos of the actual web address. If I give up plans for the site it doesn’t make sense to hold onto these variants.
David says
I know. And a big reason is the higher renewal costs combined with much lower revenue vs several years ago so have been busy letting names drop for past 2 years.
But a probloem is my list is not getting trimmed as much as expected because most every day I see good unregistered targeted keyword names and end-up registering many of them.
Louise says
Rick Schwartz mentioned about a domain tradeshow, and Ron Monster is going to hold one at his convention. How about a tradeshow of names we would like to drop before they expire? You could set up a site, Andrew, and we could upload are Pegged-to-Drop portfolios. You could call it, Pegged-to-Drop.com.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Louise – Francois at Domaining tried that without success. A number of forums allow you to do that.
Kellie says
I just did this yesterday. I’m doing an extensive cleanse. In part because I have finally conceded that I’m just not going to develop these domains. In part because of the expired traffic drying up. And finally, I’m just concentrating on a much smaller set of niches. I’m prepping the list of things I’ve identified as non-renewing and I’ll be sending that out to contacts and friends to see if anyone wants to throw a few bones my way for any of the names. You never know… one woman’s trash, another man’s treasure.
Ramiro Canales says
I agree with you. Domaining is not fun if you can’t efficiently manage a portfolio.
Rob Sequin says
Verislime has a license to print money. They can raise their rates every year by 7%.
What other businesses are raising their prices by 7% this year. Exactly what costs does Verislime have that have increased by 7%? Labor? No. Utilities? No. Rent? No. Health insurance? Okay, I’ll give them that one but they are just raping all of us because ICANN said they could.
SHAME on ICANN for letting Verislime get away with this.
ICANN is a government sanctioned monopoly = No competition = bad for consumers.
Yours Forever,
Ben Dover
Louise says
Verisign stock is up 164% from its low in July 2009. That is when its process for Bulk Transfer After Partial Portfolio Acquisition of dot coms and dot nets got passed! The ICANN people know I have a problem with this process, and we communicated, but when I asked them to disclose if they owned Verisign stock, I never heard from them. My letter is reprinted in the comments of Stephen Douglas blog
@Ben Dover, you are a man after my own heart, for your post! 🙂
Tim says
I agree with Rob totally.
Verisign are scum.
Brad says
We are still in the middle of the worst economy in years. 10% unemployment.
If anything the economy has contracted so here comes Verisign to raise the price 7%. There is no justification for that at all.
Brad
DR.DOMAIN says
Veriscum price increases aside…I’m more aggressive lately about pulling the plug on the “pet projects” in my portfolio.A full category of 20 entertainment industry domains will expire next week.Still…the price increase means I might have to participate at a more streamlined level.
bernard says
Just a few cents compared to your supposed many figures portfolio 😉
Jason says
To offset the cost of the increase, I have an idea. No need to rush, and spend your money now. The registration increases seem like a ploy to generate revenue. Thanks.
Jason