I am not really a fan of backordering domains or going through lists of expired domain names either.

I had an idea for a new website and decided to see what was available on Snapnames. I think I listened to a podcast recently with one of their staff on Webmaster Radio.

Anyway, I found a pretty good keyword domain for just $35. I am not sure how it works, but if I had of checked a site like Godaddy, the domain would have just shown the domain was already registered. There were also some good names for $100-$200. I would much prefer to get a half decent name for a site and spend a couple of hundred dollars on a name rather than resorting to unfamiliar extensions or using hyphens and numbers in the domain.

When selecting a domain to register, you can choose between a keyword rich name, or use words that are catchy but unrelated to your business. Lonelyplanet for example doesn’t mention travel, but is a catchy and easy to remember name. Or you can even make up a new word (Yahoo) or vary the spelling of an existing word (Google).

Google’s search engine seems to place some weight on the domain name, so if you are looking to get traffic from search engines, it is a good idea to select a keyword-rich domain, ie. the keywords you want your site to rank for. The other advantage of a keyword-rich domain, is that when people link to your website, they use the name of your site as the anchor text. As we know, this is one of the best ways to build rankings in Google.

I also prefer to get a .com and not have any hyphens in the name. For this project, I was prepared to buy a domain that had previously been registered, but was available for sale. This usually means that you need to pay a bit more than the usual $10 registration fee. If you are serious about your site, I think getting a good name is a good investment. Why build your business around a .net for example, only to lose traffic to people typing in .com.

Anyway, I decided on the name asiatravelguide.com. No guessing as to what the site will be about!

I am going to continue writing about how I plan to develop and market the site. Next I will probably write about the CMS (content management system) I am running.

I was the only bidder on the domain and I got it for $10. The domain is ubud.asia. Ubud is a beautiful town in Bali. I like the registering domains for places and cities I would like to travel to. Producing content for a site in a beautiful, tropical location is a great excuse to travel to a destination.

Travel sites are also easy to monetize with hotels, hostels and tour affiliates.

I currently have two domains which I am bidding on. I didn’t want to get involved in the auctions, but there is the potential to still get some good names. One auction only has one other participant and the other one has two other participants.

The first auction ends in six days time. Pool is running the auctions.

I am currently developing one of my .asia domains, so it will be interesting to see if it gets any love from the search engines. Rather than .com, .co.uk .asia is an actual keyword, so I wonder if the search engines will treat the extension any differently.

I just registered a whole bunch of great names, using up all of money in my Paypal account. They weren’t on the list of names that will go to auction which is very surprising.

I wonder if it is another stuff up with Godaddy, or if I will actually get the names. If they do go through, I could make some serious money. Better not to get too excited yet.

Update: Yep, Godaddy screwed up. And guess what? They charged my Paypal account. I know I will get a refund but I would have used the money to try and get more domains, which will more than likely be taken by tomorrow.

I checked back on the dot asia website and can see one domain I put an application for is up for auction.

I thought the process was for them to notify me if someone else also applied for the domain name and then we would enter an auction. I don’t even know how I can bid for the name.

The whole process seems completely random. You can bet the people who get the best names will make some good money from this.

Anyone else have applications accepted?

Update: Seems like I wasn’t the only one disappointed by the whole .asia process. Checking through the list which had multiple applications I think I did pretty well just getting the domain I did.

Namepros has a good thread on .asia

I was a little confused as to exactly how the process works because on the official .asia registry page, it looks like they are already having auctions for some names. On the same website, I couldn’t see any place to register an interest in an auction so I sent off an email to the registry.

Here is their reply:

As a brief explanation, the domain names that go to auction are ones that have received more than one application during Sunrise (and later Landrush). You must have submitted an application for the domain in the corresponding phases to participate in the auction. More specifically, there is no “premium list” of domains, but rather, the auctions are held to resolve contention for a domain during our startup process.

With regards to Landrush, you can apply for any domain name through one of our registrars. If there is only one application for your domain name, then no auction will be held. If during Landrush (Feb 20 – Mar 12, 2008) there were more than one application received for the same domain, an auction will be held only between the applicants for the domain.

The whole process seems a little weird to me and not so fair. Some people who are participating in this are going to make a lot of money if they can secure the domains they want. The site has a list of domains where the auction has been completed – camel.asia was sold for $5100.

Lists of the other domains going up for auction on February 4th don’t seem very appealing to me.

Yet Schwartz rakes in millions of dollars in annual income from his 6000-odd properties and recently sold one for $US750,000 after buying it in 1997 for about $US100.

It sounds too good to be true but Schwartz, the self-appointed “domain king” and full-time trader of internet real estate, says he is shocked more people haven’t tapped into the rivers of gold flowing through the domain name trading business.

“I have a great lifestyle because the dollars come in the same whether I work or not,” Schwartz said in an email interview after selling the domain iReport.com to CNN for $US750,000 this month.

The article carries a quote from Ozdomainer Ed Keay-Smith:

“If you do your research and buy good quality two- or three-word generic domains that are either unregistered or from the domain after market you could sell them later for more than you paid for it to a company that sells a product or service that is related to that name,” Keay-Smith said.

Asia also has some of the fastest growing economies in the world. You can pre-register domains at godaddy now, but the land grab doesn’t start until February. I have pre-registered a few names, but I doubt I will get any of them. If more than two people bid on a name, it will go up for auction.

.mobi names have had pretty good resale value since their launch two years ago. Registration at godaddy is $40 for two years. Picking up a couple of good names could be a pretty good investment.

By owning a city or country dot com, you are eligible to join Associated Cities. An organization that actively promotes geo-targetted domain names.

It will be interesting to see who the new owners are and what they do with the site. Perth, Australia would be the obvious choice, but there is also Perth, Ontario and Perth, Scotland. Perth, Australia seems to dominate the Google search results.

Perth is one of Australia’s fastest growing cities, helped by the current mining boom. The sale could well have been a bargain as I am fairly confident that if the site was developed out to a city portal, it will do well in advertising sales.