Have you flushed money down the toilet on themed domain registrations?
Yesterday I wrote about how there’s still a sliver of hope for the prefab domain names I registered many years ago. I thought the registrations would pay off, but now I realize it’s going to be a long time (if ever).
I’ve made other mistakes with things I thought would be hot but they didn’t pan out. I bought a bunch of Wimax.com domains, only to see Wimax lose out to LTE as a standard. (It’s akin to owning Beta domains instead of VHS.)
Surely I’m not the only one who’s gone on a registration binge only to find out later that they missed the mark. What themes or niches of domains have you registered that ended up being a mistake?
Travis says
Cloud domain names.Don’t think it’s gonna pan out
B.O.B. says
We took a shot with QR Codes and while they’re just getting cranked up in the U.S. they appear to have been D.O.A.
Don says
I also have purchased many QR code related domains with keywords scan or snap- tags and codes.
Additionally, I have purchased a lot of Virtual Event based domains relating to Virtual trade shows for bushiness.
Gene says
Undoubtedly, playing the domain game in the legal/attorney space (in the late 90’s) was the biggest mistake; especially when names cost $135 apiece at that time.
Even though I’m an IP lawyer, myself, the short-sightedness of those in the legal space is horrible.
Case-in-Point: As of 1998, between 30% and 40% of the top law firms in the world did not even have a website. I know this firsthand because I used to work for a website design firm that ONLY created sites for large law firms, and we kept tabs on prospects.
Conversely, I have no regrets playing in the future tech space, even if those domains haven’t yet brought in any money. I’m happy to just put multiple stakes in the Graphene and Hologram ground(s), and wait for the virtual land developers to come along.
rob sequin says
Wow, what a great question.
I registered a lot of “handheld” keyword domains more than 10 years knowing that mobile was coming. Too bad “handheld” isn’t a “key” word.
I should have registered domains with the keyword “mobile”.
At least I knew not to register any “PDA” keywords 🙂
Then there are my 2500 Cuba related domains. Certainly hope that’s not a mistake!
Lance says
might not be now
RaTHeaD says
medical domains… still hopin’ they’ll pay off someday but they’ve been dead in the water for twelve years.
ASK says
Just like stocks, I diversified my domains so that they covered many different fields. Most services were available but they are almost all gone now.
DomainAnimal says
oh yeah, have done this a number of occasions. I incorrectly picked Grid Computing over what emerged as Cloud Computing. Also Audio Advertising which I recently wrote about, though I think there’s still a sliver of hope for a couple of the domains I’m hanging on to like AudioAdBlocker.com.
Andrew, when you referred to prefab, are you talking about Prefabricated Homes? Aren’t people still building with these anymore? I
Andrew Allemann says
@ DomainAnimal – yes, prefabricated homes. They’re still making the inexpensive ones like the ones you see on 71 on the way to the airport. But the high end, modern homes haven’t taken off much.
DomainAnimal says
hmmm, … I have been holding on to the .us and .info of those.
John says
Like stocks sometimes even with a lot of research the market takes a while to come around. Sometimes it’s a new law that revs up the industry or some other reason. I would say if you did the research and have the words then hang in there. Often times you’ll see the publicly traded stocks start to take off attracting people to whatever is involved with them (physical commodities, businesses in the category, etc) DomainAnimal just visited your blog. I’m going to start following you daily.
Andrew Allemann says
I would think gambling domains could be in this category right now. If the US ever legalizes online gambling then they could be a good payday.
John says
Alternative Energy, Natural Gas, BioDiesel, Solar & even Coal (although that has taken a hit for the past 3 months) is going to have to be the answer for the US vs Oil going forward.
We have the most Natural Gas & Coal (or 2nd most) in the world. From some of the headlines i have read on the Govt seizing names or going after people gambling is a bit iffy for me personally. The marijuana names as well, but some of the public medical marijuana names have been moving.
Jp says
Space travel, space deliveries etc… At least I knew what I was getting into. Gonna be a looooong hold but you know space tourism wil be a hugely expensive market if I get lucky and Sir Richard Branson makes it a reality.
DR.DOMAIN says
An early $ x,xxx stumble in the .mobi space in my rookie year (2006) still makes me shake my head in self disgust.In 2007 I bought about 100 domains related to space tourism,space cargo,& spaceports.Maybe half a dozen survive to this day.I went heavy on geo-specific pool party and nightlife domains back when it appeared there was a bottomless supply of people who could spend four & five figure money for bottle service.All gone.Just like the poseurs who were using their HELOC to fund the stupidity.I have names related to augmented reality,haptic feedback,and immersion that may not have their day for a bit longer than I thought.Same thing with domains related to autonomous freeways & the vehicles that will roll and/or fly along them.My medical,legal,& real estate domains have’nt panned out yet…but they’re staying.
Andrew Allemann says
@ JP – there’s an article about Jeff Bezos in the latest economist, and how we looks at the really, really long term. One example is his investment in space travel.
la says
Yes, .Biz when it first came out, all those years ago.
Seemed such a good idea at the time, … the first ‘world’ tld other than com/net/org etc.
That .Biz was such a dud has colored my subsequent thinking about all non-Dot-Com tlds since, and I definitely don’t regret ‘missing out’ on any of the many ‘world’ tld ‘opportunities’ past, nor any yet to come.
Andrew Allemann says
There were also those guys that registered an ungodly amount of 24/7 domains (e.g. 247something.com) about a decade ago.
Jp says
@Andrew, thanks for tr encouragement. I keep renewing them , even if probably 80% of them (there are maybe 40 domains) aren’t that amazing because why not right? If space travel happens then even the bad domains will be cool for a bit. There were no computers when our grandparents were kids and now I’m online writing this from my iPhone in Bali, so what the heck. This all happened about 2 years ago when I saw on Discovery that Richard Brandon started a company called Virgin Galactic and he made a space plane and spent billions on it, and actually flew it to space, and it actually worked. He has even already built the first space airport (it’s in Arizona I think). In fact, **news update** I just went to VirginGalactic.com and it would appear you can now book a flight to space on his site directly for $200k. Still maybe 40 years before my domains are worth anything.
jp says
Ok, I had to come back and post this one. I had forgotten about it but rifling through my moniker I found the $200 worth of domains in the Erection niche. Not erection like in your pants, but Erection like an Erection company, that makes Garages, buildings, structures etc. I got stuff like ErectionJobs.com, ErectionEquipment.com, ErectionService.com, and so on… I remember at the time I couldn’t pass it up becasue it was too funny and I used to know a girl in college who worked for an erection company and her company shirt just had the word Erection in big letters and it made me laugh.
Chris says
Solar
Nebraska says
I jumped into a bunch of Green domains. Sold a few for profit but most just sit there.
Domain Gnome says
AsteroidInsurance.com – I discovered it is not a popular niche at all. Most people are willing to chance the risk (about 1 in 6 billion) of getting hit.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Domain Gnome – love it!
jp says
@Domain Gnome, I think it’s fantastic too. I for sure would have registered it if I had stumbled across it, and I’d still be renewing it.
Domain Gnome says
@jp, you missed out, asteroidinsurance.com sold in the namepros holiday auction for about $1, as I remember!
As for Space industry, I hand-regged five or six (country)aerospace.com last year and sold them all for $XX to $XXX in short order (right after aerospace.com sold). So you never know.
Domain Gnome says
“…asteroidinsurance.com sold in the namepros holiday auction for about $1, as I remember!”
Not the live auction, but the auction forum, that is. Holiday auction forum comments were allowed for the day, and I got some sharp ones.
Jp says
@domain gnome, Aerospace actually currently means something. My space names have a ways before they are meaningful. They are all like galacticVacation(s), galacticHoliday(s), GoSuborbital, LeaveThePlanet. It’s rough.
Domain Gnome says
@jp, I see your dilemma. By the time Virgin Aerospace christens it’s first galactic cruise ship, it’ll be Richard Branson’s grandson breaking the champagne bottle, and a .com renewal with coupon code on godaddy will be $49.
Jp says
@domain gnome, yea and that’s just Branson, domains won’t be cool until everybody is going to space affordably. So add 20 years after that. Yet I shall continue to renew! If I end up being right some day, years from now, I will come back to this thread and post about it.