How Important is a Domain Name?
A few years ago I purchased the domain Shinedown.net I had intended to build a Shinedown website with some information about the band, a discography, news updates and maybe a forum. I am a fan of Shinedown, but ultimately my plan was to capitalize on the great domain name and traffic generated by providing links to merchandise and profit from affiliate marketing.
Quite some time has gone by now and I have yet to develop the website. I had a few unexpected expenses come up and decided I would sell Shinedown.net by way of an internet auction and get the money I needed. I started the bidding at $150 with a Buy-It-Now price of $2,000. I thought this was a steal for whoever bought it, but figured it would result in a quick sale and allow me to get the much needed money. It was a seven day auction that ended on a Tuesday afternoon at about 5:30 central time. All things considered, the auction was set up fairly well. I suddenly had quite a few pageviews and then a few watchers. I was excited to check it everyday. Unfortunately, there was no action. I thought maybe the watchers were holding out to bid at the last minute and get it for around the opening bid price. I watched as the time ticked away and the auction ended without a single bid! Now I know there are tricks to presenting your item for sale and things you can do to promote your auction, but I'm pretty sure there isn't much explaining needed. I did explain however who Shinedown is and listed all their chart-topping hits incase an investor who was unaware of their success was checking it out.
Anyway, when I put it up for auction I went in and looked at the DNS settings and where it was parked. I couldn't believe it had been parked and directed to a GoDaddy page and honestly, it had probably been that way since I bought it. So I created a sub-domain to direct my for sale domain names to: http://domains.devisionllc.com Now I could direct all my domains to one page that would let everyone know the domain is for sale.
As fate would have it, I made a mistake with the Shinedown domain and directed it to my primary domain: http://devisionllc.com It was by complete accident that I discovered the misdirected domain. I did a Google search for Shinedown to find other websites that might be interested in buying my domain. When I got to the sixteenth result listed I saw the page title deVision Designs! What?! Really?! Is the domain name that important that the website would rank so high in the search result based on the domain name alone? My answer is YES! The content of the website that shinedown.net was pointed to had nothing to do with shinedown, music, rock bands or anything even remotely related.
After overcoming my amazement caused by the results I was able to achieve with a domain name for such a popular, well-known, and loved rock band, I have decided to build that website that was never done. With proper content, I think I can rank in the top five. I'll let you know when it is complete and keep you updated and the success.Otherwise, be sure to check it out yourself at http://Shinedown.net
Oh and by the way, if this site produces like I think it can, the sale price just got a lot higher! :)