What is the Value of a Domain Name?

A record was set some months ago when the name "business.com" sold for 7.5 Million dollars in December 99. The small, obscure island of Tuvalu sold their country extension (country identification code ".tv") rights to speculators for several million dollars.

The Domain Names value can be enhanced by strong obvious names like computer.com, food.com etc. Value may be determined by the following factors: 1.) Short is better 2.) real words are better / more valuable 3.) dotcom is best (over .net, .org or any other Extension). 4.) spelling factors 5.) Other variables

The length of a name is important, the shorter it is the easier to remember and the more value it has. A name with two or three words is less desirable but if it relates to the subject of the web site it is good. A domain name that is easy to spell is better than one with dashes or letters that cause difficulty.

Your Domain Name must be careful not to infringe on trademarks. A name that is clever, has a high emotional reaction, or some other factor may add value to the name.

There are several name.dot extensions available ( Ed, mil, org, net, gov) the .com remains king (80%)

Brand recognition can also add to the names value, such as gmmotors.com, microsoft.com, amazon.com. In Continental Europe .com names are less popular than country name extensions such as ".de" for Germany, ".fr" for France or ".uk" for Britain. Under the new, relaxed rules of proper use for the Canadian (.ca) country domain name I would see the .ca ending appreciate in value over the provincial domain name. ( i.e. .bc.ca for British Columbia, .al.ca for Alberta)

In the future we will see the introduction of other extensions .biz, .shop, .dir, .news and so on. They will not decrease the value of the generic .com extensions. A name may generate a positive branding medium but it won't automatically generate income for the name's owner. A good .com will only add to the marketing strategy.