Cameron Olthuis

It’s pretty interesting to watch what’s been happening with domains lately. Seniors.com just sold for 1.8 million tonight. While there are a lot of smart plays you could arguably make with it, I tend to think 1.8 mil is overboard for that specific domain. Not to mention SEO.com selling for 5mil earlier in the week.

Now, I don’t claim to be a domain expert but I really can’t see that much value in a domain that, in my opinion, wouldn’t get THAT much type in traffic. And while many think this could be a good real estate investment, I disagree. I do agree though; that there are a lot of domains that are hot buys right now, even at the astronomical prices. This just isn’t one of them. But again, I’m not a domain expert so I could be off.

I’d rather buy something brandable and use the 1.8mil to start building toward a billion dollar audience. Afterall, the biggest and most valuable properties on the web aren’t Search.com, Portal.com, Encyclopedia.com and Social.com.

In most verticals I would choose brand over keyword specific domain any day. I understand most of these purchases probably aren’t for the sake of developing an iconic brand, rather having real estate that hopefully continues to increase in value. I wonder who typically makes more — a real estate developer or someone that buys and holds?

I guess my whole point is that some of these domain purchases seem like they are out of control.