Money.co.uk - $2.4m

[James]

evidently not.

 

[TinkyWinky]

Still too much for .co.uk domain..

Get real... how do you figure that?

Sorry but there's loads of reasons why .co.uk domains go for 6 and 7 figures...

The four that spring to mind are :

"search engine positioning", "revenue generating", "brandability/memorability" and "asset-value"

Admittedly the lion's share of .co.uk's are not worth even 5 figures, but there are some that most deinfitely are!

 

[stevebrowne]

Admittedly the lion's share of .co.uk's are not worth even 5 figures, but there are some that most deinfitely are!

I would argue with this as well. When magazines charge £25k for a full page advert, then £25k on a relevant domain name isn't exactly a rip off. And if you look through the magazines, there are a LOT of advertisers.

5 figures is small fry once the industry wakes up.

 

[landlord]

No longer remarkable

Interestingly web marketing is no longer remarkable but it is the web remarkable companies who are spending like mad to try and maintain what was once remarkable....this leads to spending excessive amounts of money on poor generating marketing tools....

The upside for domain name holders is that these remarkable web companies do not have a clue about domain names.....it is now time to milk the cow

Lee

 

[julian]

im must admit im still a bit suspicious of why a sale of this magnitude has not been reported properly?

suprised none of the bigger papers technology columists have not picked up on it - it makes cruises .co.uk pale into insignificance

 

[rob]

Interestingly web marketing is no longer remarkable but it is the web remarkable companies who are spending like mad to try and maintain what was once remarkable....this leads to spending excessive amounts of money on poor generating marketing tools....

The upside for domain name holders is that these remarkable web companies do not have a clue about domain names.....it is now time to milk the cow

Lee

Although this reply probably is costing a couple of quid due to vodafone roaming - I had to pull you up

PPC can work once to get targeted traffic, however PPC plus a cracker of a domain like this one means a potentially free return visit and word of mouth marketing.

123-uberfinance.co.uk might get the clicks on PPC, but money.co.uk is where people will return.

ps. if roaming ensure turn off auto-update, firefox just cost me a tenner.

 

[DomainMagnate]

was this sale actually confirmed? I haven't seen it on dnjournal

 

[landlord]

Like for Like

Hi Rob, I dont disagree with what you are saying but I was talking about a like for like comparison....the pure word money is too pure and with so much choice one as to work very hard to get returns....the word money represents very few opportunities for free traffic....money.co.uk/travel or money.co.uk/exchange or money.co.uk/holiday

If I had this money (which I dont) I would have chased a more searchable name

The internet is changing rapidly with alot more competition and driving returns...the big wigs like moneysupermarket have moved onto TV pumping millions in to keep up share value.....what made them remarkable (the internet) is no longer remarkable....Comparisons sites can be set up by nearly anyone

Lee

 

[Edwin]

Ah, but having a traffic-stopping name like Money.co.uk brings instant credibility, when talking to suppliers, the media, potential partners, advertisers etc. Not to mention the fact that it probably drops their advertising costs by 90% since everyone who hears or sees the URL will remember it. So it's a clever way for a bold company to slice through the noise and set themselves up as a/the market leader.

 

[landlord]

ah but

ah but... google.co.uk wii.com yahoo.com ....more traffic stopping and has nothing to do with a generic name AND even today a equivalent name can be picked up for a few pence....it was the invention that was remarkable and not the name

The comparison site invention is now well advanced and now most can milk it....indeed moneymadepink.com could be more successful than money.co.uk with the same money spent on it

Lee

 

[dougs]

talking to suppliers etc

As someone who owns some nice generics for industries...ie fly.co.uk, carrentals.co.uk, asap.co.uk I agee with Edwin. Partners, suppliers etc want to talk to us as they belive we will become big a we have a good name.....thats the fact

Doug

 

[domainseller200]

Hi Rob, I dont disagree with what you are saying but I was talking about a like for like comparison....the pure word money is too pure and with so much choice one as to work very hard to get returns....the word money represents very few opportunities for free traffic....money.co.uk/travel or money.co.uk/exchange or money.co.uk/holiday

If I had this money (which I dont) I would have chased a more searchable name

The internet is changing rapidly with alot more competition and driving returns...the big wigs like moneysupermarket have moved onto TV pumping millions in to keep up share value.....what made them remarkable (the internet) is no longer remarkable....Comparisons sites can be set up by nearly anyone

Lee

They spend a fortune on TV advertising to make people remember them. Moneysupermarket.com is not a word which people know or remember as it wasn't taught to them in school or in the real world. It is the TV advertising and the "branding" which they do to try and make them memorable.

Domains like fly.co.uk, cruises.co.uk and money.co.uk are practically unforgettable as they are all words that joe public know.

Someone isn't going to go to a search engine and think "what was they name ? ummmmm cruises 4 me or something" as cruises is unforgettable.

In my opinion, generic domains which do what they say on the tin are worth at least 10 times more from the start than some random "brandable" name.

If money.co.uk was built into a "one size fits all" website with all aspects of money on it (credit cards,loans,mortgages,remortgages,car finance,student loans,share prices and others etc) then it could make it's money back in less than 2 years if optimised correctly

Domains like money.co.uk advertise alot by word of mouth as people talk about them and remember them easily as they are already familiar with the word as they have heard it countless times before in everyday life. When had you heard of gocompare before, unless it was on tv or a billboard ? the answer is never, as gocompare means nothing to joe public without branding it first.

Granted $2 million or whatever it was sold for is expensive, but it is good news for us domainers with the generics, as it adds more public awareness and also value to other generic domains.

Just my opinions anyway

 

[landlord]

this is the point

Indeed...but it is good news for us domainers

The above is the case cause businesses haven't got a clue.

moneysupermarket spend millions on TV advertising as they have plenty to spend.....they created a comparison site that was remarkable for its time....users had no problem find them as they had something remarkable....consumers seek out remarkable products whatever the name......a comparison site is now every day and if you combine with a everyday name then it is much of a muchness....comparethemarket gocompare moneysupermarket confused are all much of a muchness....money.co.uk will not make me suddendly change my mind....what one can do with money can do with another name.....

and as you say it does exactly what is says on the tin...money.......so what does it do? it doesn't say car insurance it doesnt say mortgages it doesnt say loans.........it is merely a master of the term money

By contrast hotels.com has it all....pure perfection

Lee

 

[James]

Landlord, great point about the invention being remarkable, and not the domain name.

It would be interesting to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of generic domains.

Personally, I feel it is obvious that generic domain owners get the benefit of instant kudos and the immediate illusion of authority. The resulting benefits of this are difficult to measure, but they are many... not least the ability to charge a premium to advertisers. Generics also get some direct typein traffic without any marketing efforts (in the case of .uk this is usually not that big, but with .com domains this alone can be an extraordinary advantage, and extremely lucrative).

The most obvious disadvantage of owning a generic domain is that it can't be easily associated with any specific feeling other than its literal meaning. To take an obvious counter-example, "apple" is very wholesome, very delicious and healthy... many positive emotions are instantly associated... but of course, creating this association costs many many thousands/millions of $£€

It is interesting to me that very few generic domains have successfully become really big brands. Loans.co.uk is just one that comes to mind... perhaps this is to do with the sense of immediacy associated with the core product, i.e. it doesn't need to associate itself with anything other than its core meaning. It would be really interesting to see if anyone here can list more than, say, 5 comparable successes?

All interesting stuff. I don't know the answers. I guess you'd have to be silly to dismiss generics or brandable domains, each have their place.

P.S. Landlord, I agree with you that "money" is not the kind of thing that people will typically search for on the internet.

 

[domainseller200]

It is interesting to me that very few generic domains have successfully become really big brands. Loans.co.uk is just one that comes to mind...

Thats because Loans doesn't do what it says on the tin. They only offer loans which are secured on your property so therefore are missing out on a golden opportunity. Plus this is mostly subprime market too. They are targetting a niche (allbeit a big niche) but the don't strictly do what they say on the tin.

If they offered unsecured,secured and other sorts of loans, I feel this would have been a huge brand

However when loans.co.uk bought the domain name, I think they were just buying it as a domain for their business at the time and with no future thoughts behind it.

I agree that people wouldn't type "money" into a search engine, but the same could be said for Gambling as this domain name is in the same context as money is

F

 

[landlord]

must say

I must say James you analyse well as one should...very clever

It is no more than a game....a balance between two conflicting parts to a business...

brand
cost effective marketing

remarkable products make the most money but very few create such products on the up curve and therefore people generally get blinded by this fact....if you cant think of a remarkable product (as i cant at the moment) you then need to look at doing a remarkable thing with the once was a remarkable product.....spending over a million on a domain name that is called money is not remarkable......ah what IS remarkable is that the domain name holder was able to sell at a remarkable price.......as I said in an earlier post it is time for domainers to milk the cow.....the domain name is remarkable and is clearly at the top of the up curve and at this point you can milk it

Lee

 

[julian]

im not trying to contradict you just merely sightly bemused.. :mrgreen:

I think the word remarkable & product is a bit out of context here becuase it seems to me its about making money out of services as well as products?

remarkable products make the most money

not really true, lots of unremarkable products/services make money (online and offline)(bin-liners, books, dating etc - nothing remarkable about them?)

but very few create such products on the up curve and therefore people generally get blinded by this fact....if you cant think of a remarkable product (as i cant at the moment) you then need to look at doing a remarkable thing with the once was a remarkable product.....

why do you have to bother pumping dosh into a black hole to try and re-create a once remarkable product (risky)? - give me one current example of someone thats done something remarkable with a once remarkable product without spending money on it?

spending over a million on a domain name that is called money is not remarkable......ah what IS remarkable is that the domain name holder was able to sell at a remarkable price.......

this seems to contradict your last pargraph as you said you need to look at doing a remarkable thing with what once was a remarkable product. my main point -

How can spending 1 million on a generic domain of this type not be a remarkable thing in the sense that money is the very foundation and lubrication of everything that we would monitize - Money is a layer above loans, flights, insurance, mortgages etc as you need it to have any of those -

I dont think the price is that remarkable given the scope and how memorable the domain is.

thus imho very powerful tool.

as I said in an earlier post it is time for domainers to milk the cow.....the domain name is remarkable and is clearly at the top of the up curve and at this point you can milk it

Lee

I dont think we are at the top of the curve now. I think only 50/60% on the way back up from 2000 bubble. There is a lot more to come.

p.s I think ive just written a load of old bollox after I just read thought it :mrgreen:

 

[landlord]

Valid comments

Julian they are all valid comments, to clarify...

I said remarkable products make the most money...

to clarify....they make the most money per a £ invested over the shortest possible time....this doesn't mean you cant achieve the same with an exisitng product/service but its down to what you do with that existing product/service that makes it remarkable i.e. it is still the 'remarkable' element that takes you from point a to b the quickest.

The relevancy of this sale is that the purchase wasnt remarkable but the sale was....paying 2.4 million isnt a remarkable act probably more hopeful than anything

Lee

 

[julian]

yeah i think your generally right now - i just spent 10 hours fishing on a beach, was tired didnt really read your post properly

Julian they are all valid comments, to clarify...

I said remarkable products make the most money...

to clarify....they make the most money per a £ invested over the shortest possible time....this doesn't mean you cant achieve the same with an exisitng product/service but its down to what you do with that existing product/service that makes it remarkable i.e. it is still the 'remarkable' element that takes you from point a to b the quickest.

The relevancy of this sale is that the purchase wasnt remarkable but the sale was....paying 2.4 million isnt a remarkable act probably more hopeful than anything

Lee

 

[landlord]

another interesting point

I saw another interesting point on the forum that I want to cover off under this post...

Someone said why havent prices generally risen for domain names in-line with such sales as these....

I think we all contemplate whether we are just a few mad people with an obesession for names.....to some degree you do indeed need to have an obessession to become extremely successful but good business people will keep calculating the viability......

Personally I think we have too much choice....it is very very very easy for a NEW business or person to find an alternative name....despite millions of domain names registered new businesses will seek out a name that costs only £5...this doesnt mean you cant sell your prime name for £000's it just makes it harder. The higher the price the equation gets more difficult for the business....the business has to thinik.....shall i take myplumbershop.co.uk for £5 or buy plumbingsupplies.co.uk for £10,000 or plumbers.co.uk for £100,000.....until this new business makes incredible wealth from being remarkable on the web it is likely that this business will opt for the £5.....they will probably upgrade later (the price will obviously move upwards by then)

The trend I see is the early adopters of the internet (when i say early adopters in this sense I mean those who started an online business or servive such as moneysupermarket) making enormous wealth......these companies will spend enormous amounts of money to keep the growth upwards....part of this spending will be on things like domain names....they will act almost desperately and will pay high prices being hopeful that such prices will somehow equate into high growth rates.....the real winner at this point is the domain name holder BUT

as i said before remarkable products and services are few and far between and therefore high prices will only be achieved in low numbers.....domain name prices will of course grow at a faster rate than other asssets as the internet is still growing remarkably but the disparity between normal prices and remarkable prices will remain.....it will remain a game of luck....

Luck is however made......the more you have the more chance you have

Lee