Three Reasons To Register An XXX Domain - Or Not!

.XXX is on the way and there appears no way to stop it.

So what to do, buy in or ignore it? There are probably more reasons to register an .XXX domain than the three I'm proposing, but these are the only three that make some sort of sense to me: first reason, you're in the porn business; reason two, you're looking to make an investment; three, you are looking to protect your brand.

At first glance reason number one looks like the best reason to register a .XXX; after all, if you're in the porn business and these domains are officially for porn sites only, shouldn't you have one? Oddly one of the business sectors most fervently opposed to .XXX was the porn industry. Porn dealers felt that making an official porn domain would only further stigmatize and ghettoize them. Not only would porn filters find it easier to keep them out, but paying customers would stay away to avoid being stereotyped dirty-old-men (or women) by search bots and cookies; every industry has dot-coms, but only one will use dot-xxx.

Reason number two, buying .XXX as an investment, looks like a loser at the moment. For one thing they're expensive, selling in the hundred dollar range; for another, how popular can they be if their own industry isn't thrilled with them? Most porn sites are still happy with their dot-coms; they have no intention of giving them up or allowing them to be taken away without a fight. Besides, with the recent ICANN announcement allowing unlimited generic domain names, how long do you think it will be before someone with money decides to underwrite .PORN--or even better .SEX. Which do you imagine will bring a better price, .XXX or .SEX? The only thing that could change this equation is the growing opposition to ICANN's new plan; if such powerful groups as the Association of National Advertisers have their, way the idea of an unlimited proliferation of domain names will be strangled in the crib.

Reason number three, protecting your brand, is perhaps the best reason to register a .XXX domain. Existing porn sites as well as trademarked, heavyweight businesses and national organizations of all kinds are already doing exactly that. Bet on the same people owning the dot-com "sex" and the dot-xxx "sex;" while the dot .XXX's for "IBM" or "NCAA" will never see the light of day! The real question for each of us lesser luminaries is, can our brands withstand the existence of a porn site with the same second-level name and a .XXX? That's a question that each individual domain-name registrant must ask themselves. Chances are they can; chances are most registrants' don't own all the possible domain extensions like "net," "org," "info," or "co" for their brands now. Why worry about one more? And for those that think they must, you had better hope ICANN is stopped before the floodgate of new domains opens because you will never stop paying.

Mike Nardine owns CheapMikesDomains where you benefit from cheap domains and affordable, reliable hosting along with friendly, individualized attention and free advice. Give us a try. You will never be just another number at Cheap Mike's!

Three Ways to Make Money By Selling Domain Names

Some of the domain speculators wouldn't bat an eye if they heard the words "selling domain names." This is because a lot of them consider domains to be of value. Do you know that you can still make money online with domains?

There are at least 3 methods you can use to make money with a domain name. Let us discuss each method in details...

1.) Domain Name Flipping

Domain name flipping involves the practice of buying domains and then reselling them for a profit. It is like real estate. An investor purchases a home or land and then turns around and sells it to someone else for a higher price. In this method, it's a domain that is bought and then sold. How do you flip a domain name?

It is not all that difficult but you should do your research well so as to avoid making losses. Remember your aim is to make a profit. The first thing to do is buy a name. Be sure to make a wise choice. The domain needs to be short, easy to remember and possibly contain a popular keyword phrase. If possible get a dot com however, you can settle for a dot net or dot org when the dot com is not available (already registered).

Now, you have to resell that domain. You can easily do this by using third party websites like Sedo, eBay or Flippa. You can create a listing for the domain and put your desired price. Those interested will be able to contact you with their offers.

Bidding sites can be of advantage or disadvantage to use when selling domains. They're advantageous in that you can sell at higher amount than the price you had paid for that domain hence making higher profit. The disadvantage is that you may be obligated to sell to the highest bidder, even if the final amount to you is very low.

2.) Using the Domain Name

Another technique for earning money with a domain name is to use it. With this method, you'll need to purchase web hosting. This service allows you to upload content, images, and videos to the internet so they're viewable to everyone.

When building your site, forgo trying to make it too pretty and instead create it to be easier to navigate its pages. Next, you'll want to find a money making opportunity to use with the website. Choose good site concept to monetize your domain name. For example Christmas shopping, wedding gifts, gifts for friends etc. Create content on the topic you choose and publish it on your site. Note that the content should of good quality. It should be of use to potential buyers or visitors who visit your site. Are you worried that you can't write? You shouldn't worry about your writing experience since you can simply hire a freelance writer to do this for you.

You can also choose to promote affiliate products, place AdSense around the content, sell your own products, or sell advertising space. Get these monetization methods up and running so you can get the money rolling in.

As mentioned before, your website must have good quality content. If you have it optimized for the search engines, this content will rank and bring you free traffic. To increase earnings, you can also rely on other marketing techniques such as article marketing and banner ad exchanges.

3.) Turnkey Website

If you decide to use your domain to create a website, you may find that the process isn't all that simple. It may be six months or longer before you start to see profits, and it takes a while to get everything set up. If you don't care to wait forever to make money, sell the site.

Register domains and create websites then sell them to earn profits. When you sell a domain name with a site attached, this is known as a turnkey website. It is ready for immediate use, can be used by the buyer to earn an income the moment it has been transferred to their hosting account.

Use a third party website if you plan to sell a turnkey site. These websites will help you sell turnkey sites as well as domains. When listing on these sites, you can easily find buyers for your sites. All you need to do is spend a few minutes creating the listing.

To conclude, like any other business, people have managed to make money by selling domains while others haven't.

If you are a complete newbie and you are stuck where to start from in choosing a good name for your business on the internet just visit Nikenya domain names to get a step by step guide. Your questions will be answered and you will know more tips and resources to use.