Why Buy

Generic and catchy premium domain names are extremely sought after because they are very effective in creating recognition for a product. They are most commonly used to raise the status of a particular brand to the "standard" or "best" brand. It's true that most people use a search engine to find products but thousands and thousands of people type in a generic name with a .com or .co.uk at the end, bypassing the search engine, and use what is known as direct navigation. Why do they do this? For two reasons; firstly because they quite rightly believe that they will probably find what they are looking for there and, secondly, because they believe the industry leader will most likely own the generic name.

For example, insurance.co.uk is owned by Lloyds TSB taking you straight to information about their latest insurance policies.

Other similar examples are bookshop.co.uk, owned by WHSmith, and taste.co.uk purchased in 1997 for over £100,000 by Sainsbury's. In 2007, mobile.co.uk sold for £120,000, ink.co.uk produced £130,425 and recycle.co.uk achieved £150,000.

2008 was a record year for .co.uk domains with phones.co.uk selling for £175,000 and cruises.co.uk fetching a massive £560,000. The interesting thing to note about these two domains is the potential rate of growth domain names can carry for investors. For example, cruises.co.uk had been bought in 2006 for only £95,000 and phones.co.uk had been bought for £49,500 only eight months before it generated its six-figure sale.

In 2009, software.co.uk sold for £150,000, horseracing.co.uk went for £100,000, and we've already seen designer.co.uk sell for £76,300 in 2010.

With dotcom (.com) domains, the trend is the same but the prices even higher. Toothpaste.com is owned by Proctor & Gamble who make Crest toothpaste. The name creates "free" advertising by receiving thousands of hits weekly from people who type it in, navigating there directly instead of using a search engine.

High profile sales in the .com market include creditcards.com which went over the limit at $2.75 million dollars in 2004 and, in 2006, vodka.com and diamond.com brought in $3 million and $7.5 million respectively. 2007 saw porn.com going for $9.5 million and computer.com processing $2.2 million. Even less premium names have been fetching huge figures - cardiology.com ($550,000) and sportinggoods.com ($450,000) are two examples from 2007.

In 2008, fund.com broke all the records to date selling fifty dollars short of $10 million. In 2009, we saw toys.com selling for $5.1 million and 2010 has brought about slots.com ($5.5 million) and dating.com ($1.75 million).

Once these names are bought, they are gone as companies are unlikely to allow their prized domains to expire and become available again.

Own This Domain stocks a handful of domains which are of platinum quality. Purchase one of our catchy premium domain names and you will be providing yourself with a wonderful marketing tool and creating a powerful presence in your online or highstreet marketplace. Don't miss out!