Successclick, Domain Monetization

WHY A WEIRD DOMAIN NAME CAN BE VERY VALUABLE

PLEASE NOTE THIS UPDATE:

THANKS TO READER, JERI

UPDATE 3/24/2011 From Stephen Douglas: I received a comment that my domain mentioned in this article might be wrong. I did some research and I think the name was instead,  “KLIQ.COM”, spelled with a “K”.  I am pretty embarrassed by this mistake. I didn’t keep the domain in my database after a few years, I just remembered it as “four letter .com ending in “iQ” and sounding cool for a website.  When I wrote the article, I just assumed that “Cliq.com” was the domain I had owned.  My lame excuse: I own and have sold thousands of domains, and I’m getting Al’s Hammer knocking more often.

This doesn’t diminish the general “truth” of the article’s premise that unusual domains can be valuable, though, and UDRP’s are like the wind  – you never know when, which way, how strong, and how long that stinky breeze will blow.

BELOW IS THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE AND AN EXAMPLE OF NOT GETTING YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT FIRST!  My Bad!:

I had a heart-stopping experience today when I came across some tech news about a Motorola cellphone called the CLIQ. This cellphone was “cutting edge” and connected to the Google Android… wow! Maybe.

A few years ago, I owned the domain name “CLIQ.com” and I sold it for a few dollars, I can’t even remember how much, but it was definitely nowhere near what that domain name is worth today. Just a quick google on it showed over 2.2 million results. I guarantee you that three years ago, those numbers didn’t exist.

Although I started analyzing the appraisal process on strange-sounding domain names that could be worth something as brands about a year ago, this domain name raised its pretty head today and showed me the “girlfriend” I dumped that turned out to be eye candy. (No worries folks, I married my dream girl, so I’m good here!)

So now, instead of paying a measly $7.50 a year to keep this nice pronounceable four letter domain, I sold it to someone maybe smarter than me for about three figures, if that.

The results? Currently, there is a website that promotes an internet development service on the domain. Based on the website design of this site, I’d be a little scared to venture further with this company in that area. However, the lucky dog owning this domain will probably get a phone call or email for buying this domain… or not. Taking into consideration that UDRP’s and WIPOs are willy-nilly hit and miss events filed so regularly it’s like filling out “win a free trip to Hawaii” surveys, maybe Motorola will mistakenly think they have automatic rights to this domain because they’re so… big. That will be a problem, but hopefully, Motorola will just do the honorable thing and offer the current owner of CLIQ.com a decent figure to buy it, straight up.  If not, I’ve already pointed out Motorola’s lack of a claim to this domain on this blog post.

The article, although not really friendly to the CLIQ phone, is here:

MORAL OF THE STORY:

If you have a short, pronounceable, and unusual domain name in a dot com, don’t sell it for less than high four or five figures. That’s usually the “buy” range for end users f0r a new “brand word,” if they really want it. Don’t be greedy and ask for six figures or more, they’ll just think of some other weird name, and maybe get the new domain OOTB.

I’d like to hear comments from other domainers who sold domains they wish they hadn’t… and the results of how those domain sales evolved with the new owners. Come on, bare your souls!