The Domain Game

Posted by admin | July 4, 2009 .

Almost everyone has heard a tale of someone getting rich by selling an Internet domain name for a staggering price. But few understand the secretive world of domain investing, a game that a growing number of people are playing around the globe. The Domain Game chronicles the exploits of leading domain investors and explains how this mysterious market works. Learn how an Oklahoma watermelon farmer wound up owning some of the world’s most valuable Web addresses, from recipes.com to chairs.com, and how a college dropout became a multimillionaire by scooping up domains that others abandoned amid the dot-com bust. Find out how the rise of Google and Yahoo has helped boost the fortunes of domain investors. And explore the shenanigans of investors who snag names associated with corporate trademarks. Finally, read how you can jump into this exciting market with a relatively small initial investment. It’s a market with high risk, but huge potential reward.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Interesting historical account.
The subtitle of this book, “How People Get Rich…”, would be more accurate by using the past tense; “How People GOT Rich…” However, although it is no longer possible to do what the early domaim name speculators did to get rich, a fundamental knowledge of the evolution of this industry is probably an important prerequisite for spotting future opportunities.

3 Stars The short, but fast paced history of internet domain names
I believe this book is totally fascinating to those who are new, hear about, or never engaged in real domaining practices, but were aware of what was happening. As a journalist’s account of those who were successful in the domain name gold rush this book is a great piece of work. It denotes how value is undermined for companies and corporations until it hits them where it hurts them. As for future domainers or people interested in the real and future possibilities of making money from domain names and the internet itself, is not really useful. Those bucks should rather go invested in a hosting account and a domain name right away, since there is no better teacher than experience.

5 Stars Modern Gold Rush?
If you like reading about and imagining yourself living in the “gold rush” days of the 1800s, you might also enjoy reading about a modern-day gold rush in the book “The Domain Game” by David Kesmodel.

The difference here is that there may still be some gold to be had – since a hundred years from now, the current time period will be regarded as the infancy of the Internet.

I enjoyed reading David Kesmodel’s behind-the-scenes stories – and kicked myself even more for not registering www.realestate.com back in the day as I thought to myself, “I bet that might be a good domain name to have . . . .”

5 Stars The Complete History of the Domain Business
[...] is a wonderful book for those that want to know the history of the domain name business started, and progressed through the years. It covers the players and strategies involved in the business and exposes the business models used to generate domain portfolios that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Interesting read.

5 Stars An Intriguing Read
The Domain Game provides an insightful look into the somewhat “hidden” world of domain name trading. This review is from the perspective of someone who owns a couple of business websites, but had no knowledge of the “ins and outs” of the this market. Having seen press coverage detailing the extraordinarily high prices some names have sold for, my interest was piqued.

The Domain Game is a well researched and written book that details the history of domain trading and introduces some of the key players in the “game”. I enjoyed reading the stories of the risks taken and gains realized. The final chapter whets the appetite of those wanting to try for themselves.

Overall, a highly-readable and informative book that is a must-read for anyone interested in the field.

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