This article from Daily Blog Tips has a nice list………….

Prices are in UK pounds and are for sale through Sedo.co.uk

BackgammonForums.co.uk (£1,900) – Backgammon Forums – nice domain. Increasing interest in Backgammon makes this domain a bargain

Blackjacks.org.uk (£2,500) – Blackjacks is a great generic – plenty of Blackjacks around. Casino blackjack and online blackjack are two variety of Blackjacks people enjoy, and there are plenty of different types of blackjacks you can play online. A memorable domain with great affilliate ad income possibilities.

iJackpots.co.uk & iJackpot.co.uk (£2,000 each – possible discount for the pair). This would lend itself to a site about internet gambling, or an online casino.

SportsBettingForum.co.uk (£2,750) Possibly the best of the bunch. Sports betting is big at the moment. Football, rugby, horse racing, betting exchanges, betting systems. Great opportunity for a sports betting forum and sports betting content site.

If you have any questions about these domains, contact me on

raymondsimonkay

[stick at here]

yahoo.co.uk

Here are a few more things to think about……….

The differences explained

The most important thing to consider if you are not from the UK is that British English differs significantly from English spoken in other countries. US English is different in many ways from its British counterpart, in particular

1) different words are used to describe something – sidewalk (US) / pavement (UK)

2) same words have different meaning in US and UK English – a ‘fag’ is a cigarette in UK English and means something else in US English

3) spellings differ – colour/ color, socialise/ socialize and so on

There are also differences in usage which are based on custom and practice.

This means that there are many different ways to make errors and its difficult to provide hard and fast rules.

Popularity of .UK domains

The .co.uk ‘brand’ is well established and there is a high degree of trust in the extension.

UK surfers recognise websites developed on .co.uk domains as more lightly to meet UK specific needs i.e. plumbers or dentists. Whereas, where the market for something is global or international the specificness of the .co.uk domain may be an actual disadvantage.

It has been said before but it is worth repeating, that the resale value of .org.uk domains is very poor and although there is a small market for the best generics, they should be avoided, at least initially.

Some helpful resources

From Wikipedia:
American and British English spelling differences

List of American words not widely used in the United Kingdom

List of British words not widely used in the United States

List of words having different meanings in British and American English

UK Domain Name Forums

AcornDomains.co.uk
ccTLDS.com

Domain name sales

DomainPrices.co.uk

Cruises.co.uk £560,000 ($1,099,798)
Phones.co.uk £175,000 ($344,710)
FreeCreditReport.co.uk $300,000
4×4.co.uk £38,500 ($75,360)
FreeCreditReports.co.uk $70,000
BusinessNetwork.co.uk £21,500 ($41,000)
LegalJobs.co.uk £20,000 ($39,392)
GiftIdeas.co.uk $37,950
KGB.co.uk £18,000 ($35,600)
Glow.co.uk £20,010 ($31,015)
Flirting.co.uk €18,000 [euro] ($26,240)
DiscountTravel €16,000 [euro] ($23,633)
Searchers.co.uk £10,000 ($20,520)
ClassicCars.co.uk £10,100 ($19,897)
PetrolPrices.co.uk £8,600 ($17,028)

Some good sales over the $100,000 mark. Its also worth comparing these sales with domain sales during 2007.

Perhaps the most important event this month was ICANN’s decison to relax the rules about naming domain name extensions. Now anyone with enough cash can buy their own domain extension. So we could easily see new top level domains like .sex, .london and .eBay. Is this a disaster waiting to happen or will this open up the pool of available domains. See what expert domainer Elliot Silver has to say on this development  and see what other people are saying about ICANN’s decision in this post on TheDomains.com blog.  

Meanwhile, the Self Made Minds blog has a post that offers some tips for domainers thinking of leasing rather than selling their domains. Once you have read this, read this post about domain leasing agreements and then look at leaseadomain.co.uk/. This is all very early in the development of this market, and I would recommend that you get yourself a good lawyer before taking the plunge in this highly speculative area. This is one area novice domainers should avoid completely.

Next, here is a short introduction in how to use the Wordpress blogging platform to build sites that actually look like sites, rather than blogs. This will be especially useful for domainers who want to develop domains into minisites, for example.

Many domainers are taking their best domains and developing them into fully fledged websites. These new internet entrepreneurs have learned how they can make a decent income by either selling their domain with its established website for good money or by developing their domains and enjoying good regular incomes. I like reading about successful internet entrepreneurs and this article How I Built A Six Figure Internet Income about the income potential of blogs, from the Financial Hack blog, is quite inspiring.

Finally, this post about domain name appraisals on the Domain Junkie blog is well worth reading. It compares domain name appraisals from Moniker and Sedo and recommends obtaining appraisals from two trusted sources before negotiating a price for a domain.

Its a very interesting question because I wonder the same thing myself, sometimes!

It is certainly the case that many, many quality domain names have been registered for a long time and exchange hands for thousands, if not millions of dollars. However, in my opinion there are many good names out there – it is just that finding them is a lot more difficult than it was even five years ago. 

New words and terms are being developed and are emerging all the time. Technological developments, for example, constantly introduce new words and terms into common usage. Social and cultural changes are rich sources of new words. The business sector is constantly innovating and naming new business practices. Fortunately, this gives domainers plenty of  opportunities to buy/ register potentially valuable domains.

A wide range of websites follow business, cultural and technological trends and are useful guides to what might be hot in the future. There is even a website dedicated to what is called Predictive Domaining. Predictive Domaining discusses techniques for finding good domain names that have the potential to become valuable in the future.

That is why I have created a page on this blog listing all trend related sites that I can find, and I plan to update as often as possible. These sites reflect trends in technology as well as business and commercial trends.

Remember, trends come and go. Fashions will develop then fade, never to be heard of again. Products and services emerge and it is often unclear what the future holds for them. Technology changes all the time. So domainers need to be aware that this is a particularly speculative field and that great care is required. Inevitably, not all domainers are going to see success in this area.

Find out more by visiting my list of trend related sites – Trend watching and innovations sites for domainers

Do you know of any sites that I should add to my list? Do you use trend watching sites to find new domains? Why not tell me what you think below.

So, how long will it be before all LLLL.co.uk domains are registered?

That question is hard to answer but there are a number of market drivers that mean, to me, that four letter .co.uk domain names may sell out relatively quickly. Importantly, domainers who missed the opportunity to make profits with LLLL.com domains are chasing other opportunities such as LLLL.net and LLLL.org domains and it looks like they are next to sell out. After that it could be LLLL.co.uk s turn.

There are also plenty of brandable four letter .co.uk domains left and they are steadily being bought up as the available pool of decent domain names generally gets ever smaller.

Clearly, four letter domains with less popular letters such as Q,V,X,Y and Z are likely to be the last to be sold. However, many domains names with such letters are already developed into fully fledged websites.

Here are a few developed sites I found where at least one of the four letters is Q,V,X,Y or Z:-

QXYZ.co.uk  is an international technology firm

ZXZX.co.uk is a programmers personal website

VWD.co.uk (only 3 letters, though) is a lottery syndicate website

TOXI.co.uk is a developers portfolio website

VISN.co.uk is the website of Vision Internet

These were found with just a brief random search around the net, and I would have found far more if I’d searched for longer. 

Could it be that within say 12 to 18 months all .co.uk domains will be registered? In my own personal view I think we could see them all registered within 18 months although many domainers disagree. Then we will see prices moving slowly upwards, although it is unlikely that these rises will be massive.

So what do you think. Do you think UK LLLL.co.uk domains will be fully registered soon? Do you think they will never sell out? Are you buying four letter .uk short domains? Tell us what you think, below.

These domains are generally trading at values well over their registration fee. With four letter .net domains looking possibly like the next to to become fully registered, no one is sure how this one is going to end. LL-L.coms and L-LL.coms are also disappearing quickly.

Learning from the past……..

The experience of domainers who bought up stocks of 3 letter .coms might be an example of what might happen with other short domains. Those with the inspiration, vision or sheer luck in 1999 and 2000 to buy 3 letter .com domain names early on, when 3 letter domains were still available to buy at or around normal registration fee, are now sitting on a fortune. With an average price of more than $6,000 per name, someone who invested in 1,000 3 letter .com domains for around $10,000 or $20,000 would be sitting on a cool $6,000,000. (Less 8 years of renewal fees at say, $10,000 per year)

This time its different – or is it?

Like any goldrush there are those who say that this time it is different and there is no money to be made. The thing is that they might be right! They might argue that four letter domains are not as desirable as 3 letter ones. They might say that only four letter domains containing premium letters will be worth something. Domains with hyphens are less popular than domains without hyphens, say others. Others dismiss the whole thing, preferring to put their money into generics or site development. Regardless, within 12 months I predict that all L-L-L.nets and L-LL.com / LL-L.com domains will be registered.

Everyone wants a short domain 

In my opinion everyone likes a short memorable domain and these types of domains will meet the needs of some end users. Does this mean that we will see the opportunities for profits similar to those seen for LLL.coms. I doubt it, but only time will tell.

There are no cast iron guarantees! 

What domainers on both sides of the arguement want are cast iron guarantees that their point of view is correct. Unfortunately, the domaining business is not like that.

Domainers buy domains speculatively without having a buyer waiting for that domain. They may buy in anticipation of the topic of the domain becoming popular, relating to future trends or relevant to tecnological developments at some point in the future. However, there is rarely the opportunity to buy with a complete picture of what is going on. Domainers have to live with a certain amount of uncertainty. Like poker players betting after only two cards have been dealt that their hand is still going to be the best after all five cards have been dealt, domainers are betting that their names will be a profitable investment for them in the future. Like domainers poker players speculate on the most likely outcomes based on what they know at the time. The thing is, they put their money on the table to back up what they think. No one knows which short domains are likely to appreciate in price and which will not. However, like poker players we domainers have to have strength and integrity to put our money on the table if that’s what we believe. Its our decision, its our loss or its our victory – but whatever we do we have got to follow our heart.

I’ve noticed is that there are a lot of good .org.uks left. I know they are not worth much yet but do you think they will be a good long term investment for further down the line? The same with .me.uks as well.

Domaining.org.uk gets readers from all over the world so its worth explaining a bit of background first.  

In brief, .org.uk and .me.uk are two of a number of UK Second Level Domain Names and the best known is .co.uk. – me.uk is for personal domains and org.uk is for non-commercial organisations. However, like the Top Level Domain .org, over time .org.uk and .me.uk have been used for a wide variety of purposes and in a variety of enterprises.

It is true to say that domainers, generally, prefer Top Level Domains such as .com and .net although demand for country code domains like .de (Germany), .cn (China) and .co.uk domains is also quite strong.

Compared to .co.uk demand for .org.uk domain names is relatively weak and I would guess that the main market for .me.uk domains is domain name speculators and some website developers.

Sales prices of .org.uk domain names have not been that encouraging and are far below .co.uk prices. There is no reason to think this is ever going to change, at least in the forseeable future. This means that, in my opinion,  all but the most generic and sought after keyword rich .org.uk domains are going to be of interest to domainers and end users.

Reported sales on the website DomainPrices.co.uk, which lists reported sales prices of uk domains, are worth looking at and back this up. (Of course, these are ‘reported sales’ and many, many sale prices are never revealed.) 

Most of the top sales of .org.uk domains reported on Domain Prices, are:-

Betting.org.uk £1,351 ( $2,700) May 2007

Mobile.org.uk £675 ($1,350) Oct 2006

Locksmith.org.uk £510 ($1,020) Jan 2008

Counselling.org.uk £370 ($740) Mar 2007

Apply.org.uk £250 ($500) April 2007 

There was one reported sale of a .me.uk on the Domain Prices site – HouseInsurance.me.uk which sold for £1,000 ($2,000) in December 2007.

I believe that domainers considering adding .org.uk and .me.uk domains to their portfolios should understand that only the most generic domains and sought after keyword rich names have a reasonable chance of appreciating in value. However, they are likely to be worth much more if developed into websites.

Domainers determined to buy .org.uk or even .me.uk should concentrate on buying domains on topics that people are searching for and are in demand such as business and commercial topics and, more generally, domains that can be used for business/commercial websites.   Brandable domains should be avoided at all costs. Also, in my opinion .org.uk and .me.uk domains are unlikely to appreciate as fast as domains with more sought after extensions.

Having said this, it is true that there are many more ‘good’ domain names available to register with these extenstions.

In terms of search engines optimization, a key word rich .me.uk will rank as well as a .co.uk domain, containing the same keywords, in the same order. Furthermore, because Google ignores hyphens, keyword-keyword.me.uk is viewed by Google as the same as keywordkeyword.co.uk. So, many domainers are establishing ‘minisites’ and niche sites on domains with these extensions and will register and develop the hyphenated version of the domain name if the non-hyphenated version is not available. Minisites can produce an encouraging monthly income and, by developing substantial numbers of these sites, they can become a significant revenue stream, in addition to any appreciation in the value of the domain. However, the amount of earnings can vary enormously depending on the topic. I have produced an introduction to developing minisites and niche sites which you can find here.

So although prices of these types of domain names will rise as the general tide of domain name prices rise, I believe that they will always be the most problematic of domains and most illiquid. This means that only a very small proportion will be worth buying and keeping for the long term. Furthermore, it takes time and experience to be able to identify those domains with potential.

The strength of these domains is the fact that they are relatively cheap if bought at registration fee prices and, if developed, can frequently be made to rank well in the search engines. However, whether building and monetizing one (or two or three) large websites is more profitable than building a substantial portfolio of minisites, or niche sites, is a matter of considerable debate.

So what do you think? Have you had success selling .org.uk and .me.uk domains. Are you holding on to the best .org.uk and me.uk domains in the hope that they will appreciate in value? Have you any experiences of developing minisites? Share your thoughts below……..

Part one of this two part article was a basic introduction to the need for effective domain name valuation. Part two below, discusses concepts, tools and resources available to assist in domain name valuation.

In the first part of this article the practical reasons for valuing a domain were explored. Now we come to the heart of the matter – domain valuation tools and techniques.

I have covered the factors that should be considered when valuing a domain name - else where on this blog. These factors include the length of the domain name, the domain name extension (e.g. net, org etc) and the amount of traffic it receives.

Appraisals

Appraisals are frequently criticised within the domaining industry and while appraisals from legitimate companies such as Sedo.co.uk might be worthwhile a great many domainers never need to use them.

There are two types of appraisals………

Paid appraisals, such as from Sedo.co.uk. You can find out what a Sedo appraisal looks like in this post from the highly recommended Self Made Minds blog.

Free appraisals from discussion forums and from appraisal sites. You can find domain name appraisal sections on most domaining forums. For example, there is an appraisal sections here at DomainState and here at the UK domain name discussion forum AcornDomains.

Estibot.com provides free instant appraisals. When I tried it tonight Estibot appraised the domain name of this site – domaining.org.uk – at $180 and valued the site taking traffic into account at $640. 

Valiations based on sales of similar domains

One way of attempting to estimate the value of a domain is to consider sales of similar domains. There are many sites containing sales data. Website DNJournal lists weekly reported domain name sales and ‘year to date’ sales data. Afternic.com lists salse made through their site  and reported UK domain name sales can be found at DomainPrices.co.uk. Namebio.com is another excellent resource.

Discussions on domain name valuationThere are many discussions in forums and blogs on domain name valuation techniques. Here is an interesting thread from NamePros.com discussion forum, from 2005 which covers the topic well, and here is a quite old (2002) but still interesting discussion on domain name valuation, from Webmanster World forum. [The prices quoted are particularly out of date but the general concept is worth looking at.] In this discussion thread from the AcornDomains.co.uk domain name discussion forum a representative from domain name sales website Sedo.com provides a particularly valuable insight into how they go about valuing domains.

Other good stuff

You can check a websites backlinks with a number of sites, including www.backlinkwatch.com, www.backlinkfinder.com and perhaps the best known, www.MarketLeap.com. You can also see a history of all the websites ever built on any domain by entering the domain name into the search box at Internet Archives Wayback Machine. Finally, I’ll conclude with this article from internet entrepreneur Tyler Cruz on the Top 10 Reasons People Overprice Domains.

This is Part 2 of a series on valuing domain names. Part one can be found here. 

Do you have thoughts about valuing domains?  How would you work out how much a domain is worth? What do you think of domain name appraisal services – cool or rip off? Share your thoughts below…………………