The Domain Name Obsession: A Hidden Phenomenon Among American Women

The All-American Webmasters

These women, who appear to be average American mothers, are also webmasters. They are entrepreneurs who believe that a good name should be registered before someone else claims it. "Every word or name that you hear, you wonder if it is taken as a .com or .net," says Wendy Shepherd of ComputerMommy.com. This obsession with domain names even infiltrates their dreams.

According to NetNames, there are over 22 million .com names registered globally, with ICANN estimating that 21,000 new domains of all types are registered weekly. This explains why getting the domain name of your choice can be challenging.

The Domain Name Collection

"Our company owns about 150 domains right now," says Nancy Price of Myria Media. "To one degree or another, about 30 are in use right now. The others are saved for future development, to protect our trademarks and/or intellectual property, and also some generic terms."

Like Price, most of these women purchase domain names for their businesses. Few of them collect domains with the intention of selling them later. Amy Fleeman of ColumbusMoms.com, for instance, has made some money selling domains she owns, but she is selective about her buyers. She prefers to sell to other webmasters she knows do good work rather than strangers on eBay.

The Domain Name Addiction

If domain buying is ever officially classified as an addiction, Shelley Pietras would qualify for treatment. As the owner of YourDomainForFree.com, Pietras has tripled the number of names in her collection to an even 90 in just one month. "Each domain that was registered came from an actual business idea. Whether or not all these ideas will ever be put into action remains to be seen, but at least we've got the first step out of the way!"

Nita Jackson also feeds her habit by being a registrar. Like Price, she started buying names related to her site, OrganizeTips.com, to prevent competitors from getting them first. She spends about $500 each year on a total of 16 domains, two of which are operating as websites.

The Challenge of Finding a Good Domain Name

With so many names already registered, finding a good one these days is hard. Price offers this advice: "Take your time coming up with a good name. You should probably check to see that it's not a trademarked term. Then, when you go to register the domain, also buy the common variations (hyphenated, pluralized, etc.). Finally, don't talk to anyone about your plans until you have the domain name on record!