Domain Development

We believe that behind every great domain name, there is a business just waiting to emerge. At Left of the Dot, we develop businesses for the very best domain names. After all, while domain parking can be lucrative, it doesn’t do justice to the best names in your portfolio.

Not every domain name is appropriate for our Domain Development program. Presently, we are only looking to partner with domainers who have “million-dollar domain names” or category-defining concepts. These are not the names that you think are worth one million dollars if built into a real business, but ones that the real world would value as such (e.g., they would sell at or near that amount if listed for sale in the aftermarket).

The domains appropriate for development include:

  • Professions or career defining concepts (doctors, lawyers, homestagers, realtors, photographers, etc.)
  • Geographic place names or regions (city names, state names, tourist regions, etc.)
  • Category killers (names that define an entire industry)

For us, a domain name has to have an intrinsic business model and brand attached to it. If you say “Villa.com”, everyone should know what the website is about… it is about villas. An outsider who would see the name would think that the name is about renting, buying, selling villas (which is what the business now does).

Click here to suggest a domain name for our Domain Development services.

The 10-Step Development Process

Here is quick snapshot about what is involved with our Domain Development services:

  1. You Submit a Name that is suitable, or we may approach you.
  2. We will use our algorithm to assess the domain and see if it is suitable for our platform. This includes assessing the market potential, competitive landscape, search volume, and likelihood for success.
  3. We start a Site Development Agreement (SDA) and you provide your input until all parties are happy to move forward. This Agreement outlines the high-level development plan, documents the financial arrangements sets expectations about tasks and resources.
  4. Initial site development costs are shared between us and the domain owner; these are typically $10-$20k each per domain name. In some exceptional cases we may agree a longer term contract and cover a higher share of the initial development costs.
  5. We create an in-depth site development and operations plan (consider this a site-specific business plan), this is used to drive the creation of the site as well as the ongoing management.
  6. We design and build the web business. The new business is integrated with our proprietary platform and hosted within our staging environment until launch.
  7. You keep the domain pointed to your existing monetization or parking platform until ready for launch.
  8. We prepare full sales, marketing, and launch plans for the web business and agree to go live with you.
  9. The domain is pointed to our name servers (you maintain control) when we are ready to launch the business.
  10. The new business is launched and moves into the operational world.

What happens after launch

After a domain name has been built into a real business, the work has just begun. While the actual operations depend on the business that was launched (and site development agreement), many of the elements listed below are consistent across brands:

  1. The website is launched and announced via a media/PR campaign
  2. Direct sales are started to target customers. For many domains this involves a telesales campaign (if the Lifetime Value of a Customer is greater than the cost of acquisition through this medium)
  3. We operate the business (including customer support, sales, social media)
  4. Any revenues generated from the domain (less the cost of sales) are split according to the revenue share agreement as detailed within the Site Development Agreement and Contract. This includes any advertising revenue, Marketing Name revenue, or site-specific revenue (e.g., a share of revenue for the booking of a villa on Villa.com).
  5. You control and retain ownership of the domain name
  6. We control and retain ownership of the business built on the name (though in reality, it is nothing without the domain name)
  7. Should the domain name and business be sold after a negotiated period of time after our management of the domain name for a pre-determined price, we get to share in the upside on the transaction. For example, if you have a domain that is worth $1M today. We build out the domain into a real business and the brand and business is sold for a sum greater than $2M, we would receive a percentage of the overall sale. This number is negotiated as part of the SDA and is typically in the range of 20-40%. For illustration purposes, if your $1M domain is sold as a business for $10M, at 20%… you get $8M and we retain $2M.

Click here to suggest a domain name for our Domain Development services.