1,000 Domains

The title of this blog post cracks me up. Why? Well, for one thing it seems crazy that I now own about 1,000 domain names. The jump from 800 to 1,000 was really quick, which is kinda scary. The other thing is that it reminds me of the movie, "200 Motels". On some level I feel there is a connection, but I'm not sure I can explain it.

When you have a lot of anything there are things that you discover that you couldn't have easily known about. Take cats for example. You get a cat. You decide that cats are a good thing to have, so you get a second cat to keep the first one company while you are at work. The next thing you know, the cats have not just been sleeping all day, but playing little games with your rare insect collection including that rare $4,000 butterfly that your uncle sent from South America. First it was shredded, then half eaten. That would be bad enough, but then the eaten part was returned, in different parts of the house, along with soggy kitty kibble.

But I digress, since what I wanted to share is that unless you read the owner's manual for your cat(s) you will soon find your feline investment will yield unexpected returns. Yes, more cats. If one of your cats has 6 kittens (a conservative number) you now have a nice 300% return on your initial domestic feline investment. In business, this would be a great thing, much like buying a domain name for $5 and selling it for $20. But there are hidden costs and risks with the cat model. The newest additions to your payroll (cat food / cat litter) become hyper mobile once they get their little eyes open. They climb furniture and even window curtains. Ignore them and they climb your legs, shredding skin on their ascent. You'll find yourself wearing long underwear year round for protection from the needle-like claws. Most of your belongings that are not metal or glass begin to depreciate quickly. Then the gang needs things like cat toys, drugs (catnip), and yearly exams and shots. Think you can cut back on some things? You'll realize the folly of that thought the first morning you wake up and see 8 pairs of eyes staring at you from different locations around your bedroom. The silent message is an unmistakable threat.

As you can see, if you are not prepared for your undertaking, it can quickly turn into something less desirable than you first expected.

So too with domain names.

The first couple of hundred are easy. You start with specific domains in mind for your business or a project. Then you buy some domains for some sites that you think would be cool or that may be valuable when the rest of the world catches on to something you think will be big. Or you find some domains on sale. You aren't sure about all of them, but heck, they have 6 months of registration left on them and you can just let them drop when renewal time comes around, if you can't sell them before then. Then you have some extra money so you buy a few more. .cn domains and .in domains are cheap, so despite them being the black sheep (ie. anything that is not .com) of the domaining industry, you put some money into them. Then you buy some domains that are hyphen-infested because you know that while you may not be able to sell them, they will do ok while parked. Then the .info sale comes along and before you know it, you have a portfolio larger than many famous domainers. Sure, they have single domains that make more in one day of parking than your entire portfolio makes all year, but you still have more than them.

So you are cruising along with your great collection of domains and then you realize you have not sold any, you have not optimized your parking pages, and most of your domains aren't earning anything. Yet a year has passed and that cute little $0.99 has now grown up and needs an annual $7.99 rabies shot. In fact, 122 of them need it during the next 30 days. You think, "Oh, I guess I should sell some...", but it's going to take time you don't have, so you just renew them. Then you get a C & D for 6 of your domains that you JUST renewed. 2 of the 6 are ok, kind of infringing, but the other four wouldn't be a problem if the trademarked keywords were removed. But you don't want to fight it, so you just give in and turn them all over to the TM holder...

So when you come this far and understand more about the cost of ownership for domains, you would think just about anyone would realize what's going on and stop what is obviously not healthy behavior, right? Well, then how would you deal with the situation of having reached 1,000 domains and then you just happen upon a deal where you can buy an additional 750 domains for the unreal (but verified) price of $100, AND they have 250+ days of registration left!??! You'd be tempted, right? Well of course you would be. The question is would you be willing to overlook the fact that they are all .cn domains? I mean after all, my initials are CN...!

(hris