Having attended last week’s Domainfest in Santa Monica, I was left with a strange sensation. Domainers, long having been in their “own world’, have seem to come to the realization that they need to treat each one of their domains as unique and individual assets that should be built out on their own merits. In previous years past, domainers could live off the traditional “parking sites” and make a mint. These days, even domainer’s profits are being squeezed and now they are somewhat forced to build out their Internet property with the same care and love that most people with only one or two domains have done for years. Below are a few interesting things I took from this year’s conference:
- Every domain is unique – Instead of lumping all of their domains together, the thought that a domain should existing and thrive based on how well it serves it’s target market was unique and something I hadn’t heard before from the domaining community.
- Search and social are critical – Now that their profits are being squeezed, domainers are turning to both search engine optimization and social media for traffic…and for profit.
- Dot com still rules – With the advent of many new top level domains (TLD’s) and the shrinking of available dot coms, the question was whether or not the dot com era was over. However, the resounding response was no. Dot coms have and always will rule the Internet experience. However. we are truly in the web’s infancy and over time we could definitely see the rise of other TLD’s. But for now, dot coms are the best way to the top
- Parking improves – Many of the exhibitors at the event, from Parked.com and RapidDomainBuilder.com, have improved their technology to the point where their sites do NOT feel like parking sites any more. Their technologies were impressive and demonstrated a true understanding of the domain owner’s needs. Even giant Sedo.com has improved their offerings and provide all domain owners with a great platform for easily building out their own websites.
- One site at a time – Finally, it is not possible to fool the search engines any more. So, if you want to build value on your domain, you must build out your website. One site at a time. Provide content, value, and a great user experience and the traffic and monetization of your site will follow.
This was my first trip to Domainfest and as strange as it often was (try talking to self-made entrepreneurs who made their livings solely by buying the right domains at the right time for three days) , the event was spectacular. I look forward to next year’s event and hope the lessons taught and learned this year will make for an even livelier debate/discussion/event next year.
