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Because I've received so many general questions about numeric domain names, I thought I'd share some general information and thoughts on the subject. If the response is favorable to this I'll write a âPart 2â in another couple weeks.
Why invest in numeric domain names?
If you want to make lots of money as a domain name investor, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that you are constantly making decisions based on imperfect knowledge. Every purchase or sale you make is based on what might happen to the price and salability of a domain name in the future, and like all futures these are unknown.
Given this, the serious domain investor should be doing more than picking a few random names that seem like good values and then parking or flipping them. What you need is an investment plan. That plan can certainly include non-numeric domains, but hereâs why I think any domain investing plan should include at least some money for numeric domains:
A common complaint about numeric domains is that they donât mean anything. Maybe a particular number doesnât mean anything *to you*, but for the domain investor what a domain name means to you is irrelevant. Your goal is to purchase names that have importance to somebody, either to lots of people or a few people with lots of money. Chances are any given (short) number will have strong meaning to millions of people. Hereâs why:
Numeric domains are true International names. They have meaning to everyone in all countries. By picking a domain name with universal meaning your potential market expands by a factor of at lest 5 times over any other language-specific domain.
We use numbers to represent a huge variety of things:
The more the better. Really. Beyond their baseline reseller value, numeric domains can be like little lottery tickets. Four years ago the domain 1031.com could probably be bought for the cost of a nice dinner out. Now that billions are invested in 1031 Tax code real estate sales, the same domain is worth an easy 6 figures. This is no isolated incident. Every year hundreds of numbers acquire important meanings to somebody based on new laws, regulations, events and so on. All domains can have this same âlottery ticketâ quality, but your chances of hitting the jackpot if you own 1/100th of all NNNN.com names is much greater than with 100 random domains.
Owning a large quantity of numeric domains can also give you the patience to wait for a good offer. Not every numeric domain is going to get a good offer every week, but if you have enough numeric names youâll get at least one decent offer every few weeks. Instead of looking at your one NNNN.com name and wondering when it will sell, you could sell one NNNN.com a week at the price you want.
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OK. Thatâs it for now. If people are interested in this Iâll write a Part 2 with advice for developing a numeric names strategy and then maybe even a pricing guide to numerics as a Part 3.
Why invest in numeric domain names?
If you want to make lots of money as a domain name investor, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that you are constantly making decisions based on imperfect knowledge. Every purchase or sale you make is based on what might happen to the price and salability of a domain name in the future, and like all futures these are unknown.
Given this, the serious domain investor should be doing more than picking a few random names that seem like good values and then parking or flipping them. What you need is an investment plan. That plan can certainly include non-numeric domains, but hereâs why I think any domain investing plan should include at least some money for numeric domains:
- Pure numeric domains are immune to fads and cycles -- 528.com will still have value long after the BMW 528i is forgotten, but the new owners of WirelessPhones.com better get their $355k back before the term âwireless phonesâ seem as antiquated as âVideocassette recordersâ.
- It seems like even generic names are the subject of Trademark disputes these. And the more value domains have, the more companies will try to use the law to take yours from you. Numeric domains have the benefit of being immune from such actions.
- Numeric domains are relatively scarce and short numerics will never become more plentiful. Compared with LLL (three letter domains), NNNâs are about 17 times rarer. Compared with LLLL, NNNNâs are 45 times rarer! New words come into our languages and cultures all the time, but there will never be more than 1000 NNN names in any TLD.
- There is now a strong, *liquid* market for NNN.com, NNNN.com and NNN.net domains. The liquid part is VERY important. It means that, no matter what numeric name you have, you can sell it quickly at any moment for low reseller price. Only LLL.com and short, generic words have the same long-term liquid market. By contrast everyone might agree that âRawSewage.comâ is a 6 figure domain, but selling it for even 5 figures would take significant effort and good timing.
A common complaint about numeric domains is that they donât mean anything. Maybe a particular number doesnât mean anything *to you*, but for the domain investor what a domain name means to you is irrelevant. Your goal is to purchase names that have importance to somebody, either to lots of people or a few people with lots of money. Chances are any given (short) number will have strong meaning to millions of people. Hereâs why:
Numeric domains are true International names. They have meaning to everyone in all countries. By picking a domain name with universal meaning your potential market expands by a factor of at lest 5 times over any other language-specific domain.
We use numbers to represent a huge variety of things:
- Area codes
- Phone numbers
- Zip codes
- Lucky numbers
- Radio and TV stations
- Prices
- Pronounceable words in some Asian languages.
- Car models
- Special meanings (666, 13, 420)
- âWordsâ on mobile devices (ie. âflyâ is 359 on a telephone keypad).
- Addresses
- Businesses use numbers as part of their name all the time (âLevel 27 clothingâ, âHinez 57 varietiesâ, âclub 200â)
The more the better. Really. Beyond their baseline reseller value, numeric domains can be like little lottery tickets. Four years ago the domain 1031.com could probably be bought for the cost of a nice dinner out. Now that billions are invested in 1031 Tax code real estate sales, the same domain is worth an easy 6 figures. This is no isolated incident. Every year hundreds of numbers acquire important meanings to somebody based on new laws, regulations, events and so on. All domains can have this same âlottery ticketâ quality, but your chances of hitting the jackpot if you own 1/100th of all NNNN.com names is much greater than with 100 random domains.
Owning a large quantity of numeric domains can also give you the patience to wait for a good offer. Not every numeric domain is going to get a good offer every week, but if you have enough numeric names youâll get at least one decent offer every few weeks. Instead of looking at your one NNNN.com name and wondering when it will sell, you could sell one NNNN.com a week at the price you want.
###
OK. Thatâs it for now. If people are interested in this Iâll write a Part 2 with advice for developing a numeric names strategy and then maybe even a pricing guide to numerics as a Part 3.