SkyDomains

While chatting with a pal the other day over at Twitter. He asked me a rather interesting question “How do you decide what domain to re-register and which one to drop?’ You see over at twitter I give away free domains once in while if I do not want to renew them so this I guess is what prompted the question. It got me thinking. If one person wants to know maybe someone else might care for such information. This is not a technical manual on domain registration or ownership but just a simple approach I personally follow especially in these  precarious times in our economy.

So without much ado here are the steps I follow:

Reason behind Registration
The first thing I consider is why I registered the name in the first place. This is a very important factor because some names by virtue of this singular factor may get automatic veto for renewal . Names that fall into this category will be emerging technology names which may not have much google hits or keywords due the fact that they are registered for the future. There time is yet to come. So these names will be renewed as long as the technology is still relevant and that I still believe in its success. I own a couple of Oled names for this reason.

Another example might be names registered specifically for a particular context which I sincerely believe I will bring to frutation.

Defensive registrations also fall into this category. These are names registered to protect another name or mark. For example SkyDomains/net/org

Traffic
Traffic is the second thing I consider. I am of the believe that if a name gets good traffic then if I am not making money it is because I am yet to find  constructive way to do so. Who forfeits a piece of land to the taxman if he is sure the land is laden with gold and natural resources? Where the traffic comes from and what kind of traffic all go into play. Will this domain benefit as a minisite?

Revenue
Show me the money. This is a no brainer. In the end  I have to ask  myself “is this domain paying its way and helping build the empire or is the empire pulling it along”. Is it dead weight?

Offers offer offers!
This is very important because it validates the fact that someone other than myself  think this name is worth more than reg fee. The more offers I get for a domain in a year, the more the likelihood that I will one day sell it for profit.

Sites
A site or minisite on it often influences my decision making because usually it means I have sweat equity in it and with more effort the least it will do is be self sufficient.

So this is my list. What is yours?

You can follow me on Twitter if you like. My Twitter handle or user name is SkyDomains