Gold Rush - Why the worlds largest companies are investing in premium generic .com.au domains

20/08/2008 - 11:19 am | By Richard Green | Place Comment

Buying a domain name is an important step in building a successful online business and brand identity. The right domain name will:

• Improve Your Marketing and Visibility. The right domain name allows customers an easy way to remember and find you. It’s your location on the web. It’s also your email address. The more descriptive and generic, the easier it is to remember. For example, a person looking for “bars” would remember the domain bars.com.au because it is what they are looking for and it describes the keyword search the user has in their mind entirely.
• Build Your Credibility. The world recognises domain names and websites as Real-estate. The domain names we have listed for sale are like waterfront Property. Highly valuable. Not every person may know your brand name but everyone knows the generic term. So by using the generic domain name as well as your own brand you get far more sales enquiries and market share! That’s why all the largest companies who have spent billions promoting their own brands also now buy generic word domain names for added market coverage. 
• Protect Your Brand. Buy the domain name that best represents your business name and activities. Domains are very valuable online real estate that appreciates in value over time. Secure the right name and keep it out of the hands of your competitors. You may also find many attractive generic .com.au domains for your business. Securing more than one helps protect your brand and increases your reach. 
• Increase Traffic. Single-word generic .com.au domains already receive traffic. This traffic principally comes from direct type-in or referral traffic. Direct type-in is when an internet user types the domain directly into her browser, such as typing ‘www.bars.com.au’ instead of searching for the keyword “bars” in the search engines. Referral traffic typically comes from links on other websites. Furthermore, it helps increase your web search ranking in Google/Yahoo/MSN since a generic domain name already contains the keyword in the URL name. 
• Be a Sound Investment. Similar to real estate, generic .com.au domain names are investments. One-word .com.au domain names increase in value on a daily basis given their scarcity and free traffic they generate via direct type-ins. A .com.au name can also become more valuable if the site is developed and marketed. 

Premium Domain Names (or “secondary market domains”) are domains that have already been registered, but may be available for sale from the current registrant. Although Premium .com.au Domains are generally more expensive than unregistered (or “primary market”) domains, they tend to be much higher quality.

The advantages of investing in a Premium .com.au Domain include:

• Easier to remember: Shorter, catchier domain names will keep visitors coming back to your site.
• Better Brand Image: Certain domains—such as single word generic .com.au domains automatically convey an image of prestige and added credibility. Users are much more likely to place an order with a generic site named, for example, realestate.com.au, than one named jonshousesforsale.net.au or sometimes even a brand name they don’t know. Successful companies know this, and many purchase multiple Premium generic .com.au Domains to complement their own brand names and own branded websites
• Improved Search Engine Ranking: Domain names that contain search engine keywords are more likely to gain top search engine rankings for those keywords. Try it yourself: Search a keyword on Google and see how many of the top results contain that keyword as part of the domain name.
• Traffic Generating: Despite the growth of search engines, a surprising number of people still “search” by typing in what they’re looking for and putting a .com.au on the end. Thus, many generic .com.au domain names receive hundreds or even thousands of visitors per day, perfectly targeted according to keyword. What is the value of this much targeted traffic to your business?
• Investment Potential: A Premium generic .com.au Domain name is an asset that your business invests in and can later resell for a profit.

Recent .com sales include:

• Israel.com - $5.88m USD
• Sex.com - $12.5m USD
• IRS.com - $12.5m USD
• Fund.com - $9.9m USD
• Porn.com - $9.5m USD
• Diamond.com - $ 7.5m USD
• Beer.com $7m USD
• Vodka.com - $3m USD
• Pizza.com - $ 2.6m USD

Premium .com.au domain owned by large Australian corporations include:

• happybanking.com.au now owned by BANKWEST bankwest.com.au
• bestbank.com.au now owned by St.George Bank stgeorge.com.au
• smartbanking.com.au now owned by National Australia Bank nab.com.au
• mortgage.com.au now owned by ING Bank  ing.com.au
• businessbank.com.au now owned by Macquarie Bank  macquarie.com.au
• privatebanking.com.au now owned by Commonwealth Bank cba.com.au
• photocopier.com.au now owned by Fuji Xerox fujixerox.com.au
• milk.com.au now owned by National Foods Milk natfoods.com.au
• vodka.com.au now owned by CARLTON AND UNITED BEVERAGES fosters.com.au
• rum.com.au now owned by Guinness United Distillers and Vintners Australia guinness.com.au
• beer.com.au now owned by CARLTON AND UNITED BEVERAGES fosters.com.au
• scotch.com.au now owned by 3M   3m.com.au
• tennis.com.au now owned by Tennis Australia  tennisaustralia.com.au
• honey.com.au now owned by Honey Corp of Australia Ltd  capilano.com.au
• cows.com.au now owned by George Weston Foods  georgewestonfoods.com.au
• pigs.com.au now owned by George Weston Foods georgewestonfoods.com.au
• ham.com.au now owned by George Weston Foods  georgewestonfoods.com.au
• itjobs.com.au now owned by FAIRFAX DIGITAL  fxj.com.au     
• bikini.com.au now owned by Tiger Lily Swimwear tigerlily.com.au
• kettles.com.au now owned by Sunbeam  sunbeam.com.au
• toasters.com.au now owned by Sunbeam sunbeam.com.au
• oil.com.au now owned by Valvoline valvoline.com.au
• drinks.com.au now owned by CADBURY SCHWEPPES cadburyschweppes.com        
• drink.com.au now owned by CADBURY SCHWEPPES cadburyschweppes.com      
• chocolate.com.au now owned by CADBURY SCHWEPPES cadburyschweppes.com     
• trucks.com.au now owned by Western Star Trucks westernstar.com
• batteries.com.au now owned by Bob Jane T-Marts bobjane.com.au
• actuaries.com.au now owned by KPMG kpmg.com.au
• fuel.com.au  now owned by Caltex Australia Petroleum Pty Ltd
• Petrol.com.au now owned by Caltex Australia Petroleum Pty Ltd
• steel.com.au now owned by BHP 
• metal.com.au now owned by Smorgon Steel Group Ltd
• interestfree.com.au now owned by GE Consumer Finance

Further Reading:

http://www.melbourneit.com.au/successbox/online-marketing/important-dotau-land-boom-starts-1-june-2008/
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Blog/Paul-Wallbank/20080407-Beat-the-domain-name-gold-rush.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=domain+name+gold+rush&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/domain-name-gold-rush-hits-cyberland/2007/08/03/1185648143743.html