Will people ever be able to put domains into a 529 College Plan?
Will governments ever try to tax domains based on their real or perceived “book” value?
Will governments ever use the power of “eminent domain” to take custody of a domain?
Will every bank trustee ever need to know domain optimization as part of their job description?
Would domains ever need to pass through probate?
Will banks ever loan people money based on their domain portfolio value? Will banks ever offer “domain development loans” that will finance the development / build-out of a domain into a website?
Will domain custody ever be part of a contentious divorce proceeding? Might a judge award joint custody of a domain portfolio…or would the judge try to divide the portfolio equitably?
Will we ever see a domain dispute featured on Judge Judy?
Will we ever see “designer” domain extensions? How much would poker.poker be worth? What about poke.her?
Will Todd Rundgren ever write a song called “I Hate My Frickin’ Registrar”?
Will domain registrars ever start soliciting new parents to purchase a domain name for their new arrival?
Will domain transactions ever be used as a vehicle to launder money?
Will people ever receive spam emails from African Royalty stating they will receive large sums of money in return for transferring domains needed to publicize the campaign against Saddam / Quadafi / Mobutu / Idi Amin?.
Will parking companies be able to provide “instant, unique, search engine indexable, rich content, rich media, contextually relevant, well-monitizable websites” for all domainers that plug into their network, instead of drab parked pages?
Will there ever be rules governing cybersquatting / typosquatting that are precise and easy for laypeople to understand and follow? Will there ever be a process that prevents many of the infringing names from being sold or being improperly utilized in the first place? Will there ever be safeguards against predatory actions against non-infringing domain owners?
I wonder.
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.
The idea of designer extensions is one that ICANN has been considering for years. In fact, they would love to open up the breadth of extensions so wide that everyone can have their own extension. There’s a great post on CircleID about using .city-name extensions and the power that they provide people to identify with a domain name: https://www.circleid.com/posts/urban_identity_by_city_top_level_domains/
…. Imagine .london, .paris or .nyc !
Domains are Assets – they should be and have been treated that way when they are looked at in the eyes of the law. That means that, yes; Judge Judy may one day see a domain dispute, and whether she understands the dispute is another story. Regardless, a domain name is an asset; a domain is a revenue stream, an identity, a brand, and a piece of real estate. The power of a domain is in that no one else can own that exact end-point. It’s pretty powerful, and one can assume that many people/businesses/governments will want to try their hand at gaining a piece of that power.
I know several people that own large portfolios of domain names, which generate a substantial 5-figure income, monthly for them. Just like other assets and revenue streams, this can be used as collateral. Domaincapital.com is the bank; they use a domain’s revenue stream to loan money out to a buyer of a domain name, in return, they assume a partial ownership of the domain until the full amount is paid back.
Thanks for a great domaining post, Todd!
Very good 😉 I’ve wondered about a lot of these things myself and actually, domain names are specified in my will already, along with my registrar accounts and all domains they include.
They’ve gotta be!