“Don’t worry if you don’t get the gaming economic development related name you want,” replies Acklin Serna, from Ellerd Dobkin INC, “there are plenty of alternatives, including different extensions and hyphenated variations”
Thursday, December 31st, 2009Several top internet gaming economic development domain websites exist. Among them, www.sedo.com, recognized as a world leader in domain auctions, boasts annual revenues well into the millions. Gaming economic development domains alone capture huge business. Another large auction house, www.moniker.com, is known for smaller, but higher value gaming economic development related domain auctions. A few domains have gone for well over a million dollars, and www.moniker.com only sees domain values rising as time passes. “This is the future of the internet,” cries Murch Granda, a representative from the gaming economic development company Schnipper Birchett Corp, “we’re getting all the gold we can find and turning it into diamonds.” One oft forgotten aspect of gaming economic development related domain purchases is the use of email related activities with the domain name. “Email is so ingrained into the backbone of the gaming economic development internet sector that many forget about it when buying a domain,” said Alexandra Hire of the Melda Papelian INC firm, “but when you think about it, you want a domain that people can remember, and a domain that is free of any blacklist status so that you can use it to freely communicate with gaming economic development customers.” “One of the most amazing gaming economic development related sales we had was in last September’s auction,” relays Deavers Inch, event planner for the Bayley Grisson Partners LTD firm, “though the domain didn’t go for much money, bidding was very spirited with some 50 people getting in on the action. In the end, the gaming economic development domain went to a well established marketing firm, who did not disclose their future plans for it.” The best thing about buying a new, unregistered gaming economic development related domain name is the price. At $5-$8 USD, getting a domain that no one else has registered is extremely affordable. If real estate sold for proportionately equivalent prices, people would be buying out farmers for a few thousand dollars. “This is good news for all those in the gaming economic development marketing business,” states Voltaire Aragan, “and the fact that internet related marketing only diminishes in cost over time means that soon original domain name purchases will be dirt cheap!” Also key to domain acquisitions, especially in the gaming economic development industry, is choosing the right registrar, where the record of your ownership of a particular domain exists. Top registrars on the net include www.Godaddy.com, www.networksolutions.com, and www.enom.com. In the gaming economic development sector, many choose to use more discreet registrars, including off shore companies. A few also use www.moniker.com and www.cnobin. “Privacy is absolutely key in the gaming economic development business,” reports Wollschlager Vigo, an author of a major industry book, “once top domains are registered, their security, protection, and legacy becomes mission critical.” Domain name extensions are also of key importance. The top gaming economic development TLD is obviously .com, but remember that country domain extensions and other TLD’s (.net, .org, .biz, etc.) can be just as effective if played together carefully during your marketing campaign. “We got stuck with a .co.uk version of the domain we wanted,” relays Ahart Markegard, from Nickl Frankovich and Sons Marketing, “but we played it to our advantage by marketing heavily to those in the UK, and beefing up local SEO in Great Britain. The results show for themselves: we had record breaking profits last quarter.” Much like any burgeoning market, many of today’s top gaming economic development domain specialists wish they had gotten in sooner. “I wish I had started this stuff five years earlier - I’d be making bank,” laments, Christina Yendell, a domain name broker at the Winterstein Muetzel Firm, “but hindsite is always 20/20, and I’m 100 percent certain there is still lots of money to be made. Last year alone, domain sales for gaming economic development companies topped $10 million dollars, which tallied up to be a record setting year.” And, as time has progressed, transferring domains between registrars, especially gaming economic development related domains, has become easier. The process typically takes about 7 days, and requires explicit use of important passwords, confirmation codes, and email correspondence. Without these security measures, domains would be subject to constant piracy, which is something many executives in the gaming economic development sector wish to avoid at all costs. “We’ve heard of other businesses temporarily loosing their domain name to hackers,” said Deadra Lemish, President of Deadra Lemish INC, “but after a couple days, the name is recovered and doubly secured by the respective company at their domain name registar.”