I’ve seen similar names selling for four figures recently, so I thought I would list two similar geographic insurance domain names for sale. The asking price is $625/each, but I will sell the pair for $925. The two domain names I am selling are:

SantaFeCarInsurance.com
WestPalmBeachHealthInsurance.com

9/2 – Domain Names have been sold.

I personally don’t own many domain names that end in Blog.com or News.com, but I think they have considerable value. Just about every industry, hobby, sport, country, city….etc has a blogger or news source that covers the segment. Many people perform searches for “topic blog,” as well as “topic news” to get great information.

A developed site with unique content on one of these types of domain names can lead to big advertising deals and increased traffic. First off, Google loves blogs, news, and other websites that have frequent updates and new content added regularly. When you have a blogging platform (such as WordPress) installed on a site that ends in Blog.com or News.com, Google and Yahoo are given two big hints about what will be seen on the site, and by all indication, will rank them well.

So these names clearly have value, but they can be difficult to sell at a premium price. The difficult thing about selling these domain names – especially Blog.com domain names – is that many people begin to blog for the love of the topic rather than to make money. These people don’t necessarily start their blog site to earn a living, and therefore can’t justify paying significant money for these valuable domain names. However, if you can convince them of their ability to make money from writing about their passion, it can help you raise the price when they inquire.

One way to increase the value of your domain sale is to ask a person who inquires what he has planned for the site. Probe further and ask about the topic and the amount of traffic he hopes to receive. Do a bit of research and see who is advertising in that vertical and remind the blogger that if he owns the category defining domain name, he is already ahead of the game. With his traffic goals and the key domain name, he can command more advertising revenue, which will defray the cost of the domain name. You might also research more and show him affiliate programs in that vertical allowing him to make money.

Remind him that you have the best domain name for his blog, and while the cost might be high up front, it will pay dividends in the future. You can also offer him a lease to own deal, allowing him to build his website on the domain name you ultimately control. This will allow him to slowly build his base at a fair cost, while still providing the opportunity for a buy out down the road. Of course you need to be cautious about lease deals, but they can and do work.

Below are some good Blog.com and News.com domain names that are for sale (some premium and some drops) – I do not own them:

AstronomyBlog.com
BermudaBlog.com
CapeCodBlog.com
DadBlog.com
HeadhunterBlog.com
LacrosseBlog.com
LaptopBlog.com
MatchmakingBlog.com (IMO, this is a great deal because of the high value dating leads)
NursingBlog.com

AcupunctureNews.com
AnthropologyNews.com
BeerNews.com
BritishNews.com
CosmeticSurgeryNews.com
EconomicNews.com
FarmingNews.com
GeneticsNews.com
InvestorsNews.com
ObstetricsNews.com
TeachingNews.com

Although I believe a great domain name can help catapult a company’s website over others in search engine rankings, I believe the content on the site is as important when a person develops it. Owning Lowell.com and having the Lowell Spinners section at Lowell.com/lowell-spinners.php probably helps my website’s rankings (although the second “lowell” may be overkill”), it’s the good and fresh content that continues to drive people to the site during the season.

If your content isn’t accurate, some people may not even notice, and it’s just a bit of a disservice to them which they won’t realize until they bet a friend at a party and turn out to be wrong. Others who are experts on the topic, the people who might want to advertise on the site for example, will think it’s unprofessional if there are many errors. At best, they will send you a small email to point out your inaccuracies. At worst, they won’t return to your site and won’t contact you about advertising.

It’s also imperative that the content is unique to your site. Sure, a city’s history doesn’t change, but they way it’s presented should be unique to your website. Facts are facts, but oftentimes, one site leaves off some facts and each site’s information is different. Research is important to get facts correct, and that can mean researching a variety of trusted websites and offline sources for the correct information. Oftentimes, it can be as easy as calling on an expert to get the information. This is time consuming and expensive, but it’s well worth it.

Tomorrow, I will provide some insight in to hiring a good copywriter and preventing plagiarism/content theft. A domain name, cool web design, and great SEO are all very helpful to driving traffic, but good and unique content will keep visitors returning for a long time.