Amanda Sutton
The right domain name for a company’s website can mean the difference between profit and failure.
Companies prefer to use their own name, but this is not always possible if someone else has previously registered it.
Names with “property” in the title are also useful when carrying out a search and property is typed into the search engine. All sites with property in the address will be pulled up.
It is possible these sites will simply be used as signposts providing a link to specialist property sites. This is where generic names, such as the 12 auctioned by Conrad Ritblat, come in (News, 20 May, p40).
Only five dom.com addresses were sold out of the 12 on offer at the Portman Hotel last week, where 47% of the lots sold for £5.1m. Simon Riggall of Conrad Ritblat says: “They were a bit of an unknown quantity, so everyone was watching to see what prices they reached.”
Despite the 47% success rate, colleague Stephen Bellau said the sale was “encouraging”. Conrad Ritblat plans a repeat.
It is unlikely this auction will spark off dot.com fever in the auction room, but the more desirable names could achieve substantial prices.
Richard Auterac of Jones Lang Lasalle says: “It wouldn’t be our core business to sell domain names. Some people might think there is value in registering names. My advice is, register your own name – I have!”
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Names sold at auction |
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sellukproperty.com – £325 |
