Categorized | Domaining Tips

Temporary vs. Permanent Domain Selling Points

Posted on 30 December 2013 by Andrei

At a certain point for example, the term “exact match” was all the rage and the exact match search volume of the term was used extremely frequently as the domain’s #1 selling point in a lot of cases. The only problem was this: all it takes is one policy change and bam, everything disappears.

That’s why today, I’d like to make an important distinction and refer to temporary as well as permanent domain selling points.

As the name suggests, temporary selling points can be valid today and gone tomorrow.

This is illustrated by the example I started with, exact match domains. All it takes is one policy update and all of a sudden, this selling point becomes considerably weaker.

Traffic/revenue numbers are another example of a temporary domain selling point. Sure, they’re nice to have but there’s no way to accurately determine how long you’ll be able to count on the current traffic/revenue numbers. Ok, the domain might be receiving x visitors per month now and it might be generating $y in parking revenue.

But the number of visitors can go up or down.

The parking revenue can increase or decrease as well.

Therefore, traffic/revenue numbers are interesting but cannot be considered a reliable or let’s say permanent indicator.

Alright then, so what are those “mysterious” permanent selling points?

Simply put, they are the things nobody can take away from you.

They are things that don’t depend on short-term policies or circumstances.

For example, the memorability of your domain.

The domain Cars.com is just as memorable today as it was ten years ago and ten years from now, that won’t change.

So that’s one example of a permanent selling point.

Another example would be the low holding costs.

Let’s refer to the Cars.com example again. Such a domain would cost a *lot* of money and even if the dot com renewal price were to be higher 10 years from now, the holding costs would be a ridiculously low fraction of the domain’s value. So compared to other assets, we can safely conclude that the low holding costs represent a permanent selling point.

Another example would be the ease of ownership transfer. If you choose a domain push, the ownership transfer can be instant or if you choose a “traditional” transfer, it won’t be instant but pretty close. That’s another example of a permanent selling point.

… the list could go on and on when it comes to both temporary and permanent domain selling points.

It’s important to understand this distinction because in order to make an educated capital allocation decision whenever you’re buying a domain, you have to calibrate your strategy based on things such as your short and/or long-term goals.

It sounds straightforward and it is, yet most domainers still end up making purchase decisions for all the wrong reasons. C’est la vie 🙂

1 Comments For This Post

  1. Tauseef Says:

    Good thought, but, both permanent and temporary domain selling points are required to convince a buyer. Often people see what instant benefits they can have before thinking about long term.