Domaining: Domain Monetization
Emil Avancena, Sales and Marketing Director, DotPh

A good domain name worth to your company is the same value that you place on your brand. Your domain name IS your brand. It’s the first thing people see. It’s a unique brand, and it’s the only one in the world (wide web).

Choose your domain wisely because essentially, it’s a MARKETING decision, NOT a technical issue or a design consideration. It’s a very important decision that should be left to the people who are concerned about brand issues. It should accurately reflect your brand.

In choosing a domain name, SHORTER IS BETTER. Easier to remember, easier to type, easier brand recall. (i.e. met.ph is better than met-tathione.com, repertory.ph is better than repertory-philippines.com.) However, most good .com domain names are already taken. There are 40 million .com domains registered.

Because your domain is your brand, one should not settle for convoluted variations of your brand. Your brand is who you are, your most valuable asset. Ergo, maximize your ad spend and don’t confuse your market. Much like your email address, everytime you send out an email, you’re promoting your brand also.

The right domain can drive traffic. “Google considers both the IP address and the top-level domain. Because we attempt to serve geographically relevant content, we factor domains that have a regional significance. For example, .co.uk domains are likely very relevant for user queries originating from the UK.”

Search engines deliver country-specific search results. SEs tailor their localized search results via user’s GeoIP location and the domain name. Interestingly, most Philippine websites are hosted in the US. With a .PH domain, however, Google identifies your site as Philippine-based even if it’s hosted elsewhere. While there are many factors to get traffic such as SEO and PPC, Emil claims that setting up a good domain is probably the easiest way to get traffic. Sounds like a good marketing statement for DotPh! :)

Domains can be bought by anyone, anytime. Buying the domain is also a way to protect your trademark. Registering variations = greater protection and more traffic.

Moving forward, domaining is the business of buying, developing, and selling domain names. The value of domain names has grown steadily over the years. The easiest way to get started is domain parking. Parking companies buy domains and provide ads in it which are relevant to the domain name. Developing these domains is the more proactive way of monetizing your domains. Developing domains means increasing traffic to the site i.e. relevant contnet, SEO, promoting your site, and placing ads.

Vodka.com is purchased in 2006 for 3 million dollars. The fact that he paid 3 million dollars is a good enough publicity already. A good domain can fetch a good price at an acution. Domain names can appreciate in value many times over.

In domaining, anticipate trends. For example, the person who thought of buying blog.com many years ago is now sitting on gold mine. Once should also anticipate buyers and markets. In selling domains, price it well. Some domains don’t get sold because they’re too overpriced. Don’t get too attached to your domains. If it’s not paying for itself, let it go.

Friendster.com.ph is for sale. (According to Abe)

Great talk. I think this one got me convinced to try domaining myself. :)