Have you ever wondered why some domain names are far more expensive than others? Have you ever wondered how expensive they could get? This article is part educational, and part fun. I doubt you’ll see any of this on Jeopardy but you never know!
Domain Pricing
Domain pricing averages around $15 USD a domain (per year). That’s very inexpensive. Some may cost you a few hundred. Others, thousands. But what about millions? The truth is, yes, there are domains worth millions. What’s challenging about valuing a domain is that it’s often need-based. Unlike housing marketing, domain prices stay steady regardless of the demand for the particular domain. Why? Branding, marketing, and potential future use. A quality domain will truly generate a large value for several strategies within your business. I’ll touch on that more in another article.
Pricing of a domain will also adjust based on your search history. Ever wonder why hotels and flights get more expensive each time you’re planning your trip? Their website knows you’re shopping. Shopping drives demand. Demand drives pricing.
When I was rebranding (currently in process as of this release date) I was wanting to make the adjustment to just my name. Naturally, I wanted Crystalsmith.com. It was around $5,000. After several more price checks and some online searching, the pricing went as high as $30,000. As of today, it’s $6,500. Eventually, I settled on Crystaldsmith.com. Because I have a really common name, I usually use my middle initial to help distinguish me on digital searches. Adding that middle initial to the domain name cost me around $50. That’s a savings even Geico can’t do.
Consider unique extensions and how they fit into your branding. This could lower the costs of your domains, and prevent you from dealing with a flipper.
When I was rebranding (currently in process as of this release date) I was wanting to make the adjustment to just my name. Naturally, I wanted Crystalsmith.com. It was around $5,000. After several more price checks and some online searching, the pricing went as high as $30,000. As of today, it’s $6,500. Eventually, I settled on Crystaldsmith.com. Because I have a really common name, I usually use my middle initial to help distinguish me on digital searches. Adding that middle initial to the domain name cost me around $50. That’s a savings even Geico can’t do.
Domain Flipping
Some people make a living on flipping web domains. Just like houses, you can buy domains you believe to be valuable and sell the rights to them to someone who desires it. Like if you owned .net, .co, .biz and someone else owned the .com. They could flip it to you for a price even higher. Not only do you want it, but you also want it and cannot easily buy it from a domain registrar. That jacks the price up.
Very Expensive Domains
So what do you think the most expensive domain is in the world? Hah! You’ll have to wait
How about the 3rd most expensive?
Insurance.com. You heard that right. Insurance is a very powerful industry. Having that domain is huge for SEO and branding. Everyone can remember Insurance.com. When you Google “insurance” they come up just under the PPC ads and Google listings. So, how much is this domain worth? Purchased in 2010, Insurance.com is worth $35,600,000. Yup, that’s $35.6 million dollars! The power, demand, and potential of that domain name are enormous enough to warrant such costs.
There are domains close in value too:
- VacationRentals.com is worth $35,000,000
- PrivateJet.com is worth $30,018,000
That’s Millenium Falcon money right there!
These more obscure insurance domain names have quite the price tag. Your industry can reflect the costing of these names and extensions.
Notable Mentions
I found this information directly from Wikipedia. Now you know you can’t really blame me if you don’t like the list. 😉
- Internet.com $18,000,000
- Hotels.com $11,000,000
- Business.com $7,500,000
- Toys.com $5,100,000
There are about 18 domains in the range of $5 million to $18 million.
World’s Most Expensive
I’ve kept you in suspense long enough. This domain name was only recently acquired in 2017. Cars.com is valued at $872,000,000. Yeah. $872 million. I could produce my own Star Wars film for less money.
To place an idea of just how high of a value that is, let’s look at the #2 spot. Carinsurance.com is worth $49,007,000.
Value Comparison
Crystaldsmith.com is worth $806. Yeah, that’s it. Eight hundred and six bucks. Shineconsulting.biz is worth $100. Contentwriting.com is worth $10,287. Do you see the pattern? Domain names can easily interact with SEO and branding tactics, so the more value there is there, the higher the cost will be. Each site may appraise your domain at a different value. It doesn’t actually have anything to do with the valuation of your company, products, services, etc. Nor does it have anything to do with the quality of anything on the site.
Even my cat is sad about my domain’s worth
Act Now
There’s always a moral to the story. Don’t wait too long to buy your domain names. Buy multiple extensions. If you can, buy multiple names as well. The average cost is affordable enough that it’s usually possible to buy what you want early on. You can always give up the domain name if needed. I own 5. 3 different domain names and 4 different extensions. 1 of them I don’t plan to use for 2-3 more years, but I didn’t want to lose it.
As always, thanks for stopping by!