Why Luxury Domains are Hot Now

The domain name market has seen some global upticks and none more rapid than the interest in luxury names of late. Why are luxury domains hot? Because the consumer markets that luxury brands are reaching out for are growing more broad. Because companies holding luxury labels have to vend goods to wring value from the brand. And with the new Internet shopper, the online domain is the gateway to tapping the luxury market consumer clicks.

Luxury brands are spending more money on advertising for more modest consumers and getting lean and mean for the bottom line.That means their ad spending online is up as well, a boon for webmasters and domainers. PPC and Adsense minded webmasters have long been searching for new markets in traffic and search engine referrals. For the good life, premium travel, fantasy living, celebrity lifestyle, and glamorous brands, the luxury market is here.

Witness the PPR brand Puma leading the sports pack of franchise brands with Usain Bolt, and Burberry refashioning its clothing line to the signature plaid. Shopping sites with keywords like top, grand, posh, gourmet, luxury and other luxury domain name root words are very brandable and very promotable at the present time. The Gilt Groupe (Gilt.com) got dual rounds of financing, not chump change in a global recession.

Luxury properties are being auctioned off to the lowest bidder as mortgage banks and finance companies flee long term structured debt on properties in densely for-sale neighborhoods. Attracting the luxury buyer, both from middle class and top tier demographics is more appealing and lucrative than ever before. Sites like Net-aporter cater to the designer savvy online shopper. These are the new affiliate sponsors.

Hedge funders like the Fortress group will be vending their luxury properties soon, and where will their brokers look for frugal shoppers with luxury tastes? At the sites savvy domainers have the skill to buy names for and make. As one expert domain in the retail sector says, “With the fall of the shopping mall and the rise of the online bargain hunter, any geo market right now should have its own luxury goods consignment shop.”

Christie’s Great Estates is a good example. The real estate market has always been a fast-moving domain name arena, but the current hybrid market for real estate in the luxury demographic at fire sale prices means floodgate traffic based on the quality of listings and the strategy webmasters employ getting new eyeballs arriving and sticky. Luxury hotel revivals like the Los Angeles mainstay Chateau Marmont and Miami’s Raleigh need sites to deliver customers from.

That mean domainers can craft communities of customers ready for bright ads. But credit card and hospitality niches are looking most hardily for visitors. Says the webmaster at www.luxury.org.uk, “Sites like Gilt.com, for frugal but posh shoppers looking for designer seconds, with an invitation-only user base, show premium consumer appeal”.

Luxury travel now is also so steeply discounted that advertisers are paying top affiliate rewards to populate their sites with banners and links. This is good news for webmasters with premium or luxury travel or hotel domains. For a development site project that is hot right now, luxury and its domain has never looked better.

Dell Wins Brand Domain Victories

Defending its brands from all domain comers was Dell Corporation which scored massive arbitration vistories over domain owners touching their brands Alien, Dell, Dell notebook and a typo that would adequately score traffic meant for Dell.

 The need for searching defensible brands before purchasing or bidding on a domain name is emphasized by these decisions. Analysis can be found at a search site like www.UDRPtalk.com and www.defendmydomain.com.