The importance of having the right domain name for your ecommerce websites was underlined today when Gambling.com became the most expensive domain name to change hands this year.
The name, which lends itself to search-engine optimisation and would be easily found by consumers through natural search, changed hands for $2.5m (£1.5m) in a deal announced today. The transaction points to the strength of the online gambling market. It was sold by the UK-based Media Corp to an unnamed company, in a deal brokered by online domain specialist Sedo.
Justin Drummond, chief executive of Media Corp, said: “We are very pleased with the result of the sale of gambling.com. The team at Sedo has made the negotiation process as straightforward as possible and have helped us secure a great price.”
Liesbeth Mack-de-Boer, of Sedo, said: “The high sale price paid for gambling.com is a real confidence booster for the global domain industry and demonstrates the value gambling companies are still prepared to place on their digital assets.
“Keyword domain names such as gambling.com offer significant advantages in terms of search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy, with web sites often ranking well in natural search listings and receiving better click through than paid search campaigns.”
The sale is the third biggest sale that Sedo has handled, following sex.com, for $13m (£7.8m) and vodka.com for $3m (£1.8m).
Our view: It’s easy to overlook the importance of the right name to your ecommerce venture, but a simple name that can be easily found by someone looking for your brand’s website is a valuable asset. Not only can it be easily found by someone searching for it, but it will also yield a result for consumers who simply guess at the name. Thus a guess at topshop.co.uk is easy to find, with the site redirecting automatically to topshop.com, while those who are more challenged by their brand name – think B&Q, whose site is found at diy.com – do well to come up with a generic yet memorable name that works for them.
