If you’re in any way pursuing business opportunities on the Internet, whether it’s through building a blog, starting an online business, affiliate marketing, etc., you’re into buying domain names.  Sometimes you’re presented with an opportunity to buy a domain name, but you don’t know what you would do with it.     

There comes a time when you come up with ideas for online businesses, and those ideas spiral into more ideas, and all of a sudden you’re researching domain names, and you find 5 to 10 of them that (a) match your ideas, (b) are catchy and brandable, and (c) will probably be bought soon if you don’t act now.

However, you hesitate to buy those domain names because you don’t have time to dedicate to them or you don’t have the money to buy them all in one go.  If you find yourself int his situation, it presents an interesting dilemma.  Should you buy these coveted domain names?  Or should you wait it out until you either have money or time to dedicate to them?

Here are 4 reasons why I think you should buy those domain names.

1) Domain names are like real estate.  Buying a domain name is like buying a piece of land.  You don’t necessarily have to do anything with it.  If it’s a catchy and brandable, it has intrinsic value (like land does).  As time passes, and as other valuable domain names are snatched up, your domain name will increase in value. 

At some point in the future, someone else might come along and express an interest in buying it from you.  If it’s a brandable, two-word domain name, you might get a few bucks for it.  And if you have several of these (or hundreds), you can realize a substantial gain on your initial investment in buying them.

2) Brandable domains provide business ideas.  If you’re like me, you’re not the best at coming up with ideas for online businesses.  That’s where domain names come in.  I have found that a great way to come up with business ideas is to research available domain names.  Look for the shortest domains that are made up of two generic words.  You’d be surprised at how many of these types of domains are available and how thought-provoking they can be. 

For example, I subscribe to a newsletter from Dot Sauce, and here are some domains from a list of available domains that was e-mailed to me a couple of months ago:

  • KeepEnergized.com
  • MagazineFame.com
  • ExclusivePoll.com
  • ScentedThings.com
  • DesignerEnvelope.com
  • MoveSomething.com
  • MessageShirts.com

Amazing, isn’t it?  These domains were available just two months ago.  They’re likely gone now, but you get the idea.  When I looked at these domain names, my mind flooded with ideas for each of them.  ScentedThings.com . . . a business that sells scented candles, etc.  MessageShirts.com . . . a website that sells custom-made shirts with messages.  MoveSomething.com . . . need I say more? 

Sometimes, you don’t find the idea.  Rather, the idea finds you.

3) Build your queue of business ideas.  At times, you hesitate to buy certain domain names because you figure you don’t have the time to do anything with them.  My answer to that is, Who cares!  Buy them anyway.  If anything, buying domain names is like building a list of your business ideas. 

You might be working on one project right now and not have enough time to think about how to develop an available domain name into a profitable website.  No big deal.  Buy it.  Park it.  And get to it when you can.  Since you bought it, it won’t go anywhere unless you let it expire.  In the meantime, it’s another business idea you have in your arsenal in your quest for a web empire.

Last week alone, I bought three domain names in one sitting.  One of them was for a BANS site that I have yet to put up.  The other was for a membership-style site that a friend and I are working on.  And the third one was just a catchy, simple, two-word domain that I couldn’t pass up.  It’s just sitting there now, and I haven’t thought of what to do with it.  But I’ll eventually get around to it. 

4) Make passive income From advertising.  While you’re parking your domain name and figuring out what to do with it or what idea you should settle on, you can make money from it in the meantime.  If the domain name you purchased is related to some brandable niche (e.g., message shirts), you can place ads on it and make passive income from it while you settle on what to do with it. 

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