Looks like President Elect Barack Obama knows the importance of keyword domain names: http://www.change.gov.

I will caveat this post by saying that I do occasionally buy domain names based on emerging trends once in a while, although I never buy domains related to brands, people, or other potential trademarks. However, I generally think buying based on trends is a way to lose your investment quickly, especially when you are frequently speculating on trends and/or buying dozens of trend-related domain names.

Based on my experience, it seems that most people who buy domain names based on new trends are looking to make money quickly. You can tell this is the case by viewing lists of newly registered domain names for sale on forums and on Ebay that are related to what’s going on in the US or world (Obama domains, anyone?).  When you do a Whois search for various terms related to trends, many have for sale notices or show that the DNS is set to Sedo or other domain sales venue. Most people who buy based on trends do it to make money fast.

While buying a domain name to sell quickly isn’t a bad thing, it’s very hit or miss. There literally could be hundreds of variations of domain names (not even including the various extensions) based on certain trends, and maybe a few of them will have value. While buying 5-10 domain names isn’t a big deal, I know quite a few people who buy dozens or hundreds of related domain names so they don’t miss out on the big one, and that can be expensive – especially if this is done for a few trends.

I think this is a very flawed strategy. If you buy one or two domain names based on every trend of interest (with the sole intent being to sell it), chances are good you won’t get the domain name that has considerable value. If you buy dozens or more, you are better served doing keyword research and spending $300 – $2,000 on a single good domain name. Shoot – NNNN.com names seem to be selling for anywhere from $250 – mid $xx,xxx, so why not try to buy a couple of these (I do not currently own a single numeric domain name).

I’ve had many people email me lists of names – literally hundreds of hand registered names – asking me what I think they are worth.  I hate to say it, but most aren’t worth anything short term unless someone in the business wants it – or unless they are receiving traffic and good conversions.  It really bothers me when I see someone who is new to the industry investing $5,000 on domain names hoping to get rich quickly, when a smarter investment would have been to buy 1 or 2 strong domain names in the aftermarket to sell or build.

Just like I wouldn’t go out and spend $2,000 on lottery tickets (although I would spend that in a blackjack session), I wouldn’t go out and try to catch a trend by registering dozens of trend domain names. If you do that a few times, you will probably lose your shirt and be out of the domain industry quickly.