A domain name is the address of a website; for example, wisegeek.com is a domain name. Simple and everyday names are often in high demand and sell for incredibly large amounts of money, if they are ever sold at all by the owners. Many people believe these names are very important to a business and spend weeks attempting to choose a name that is easy to remember and hints at the business’s purpose. In fact, there are services available specifically to help companies choose domain names based on the information and keywords they provide. A person can use a certain name after registering it with a domain name registrar and paying for the name servers to host it on.
Choosing a domain name is often seen as a big deal, especially for large companies. The potential owner may spend months searching for the perfect name in addition to hiring professionals to help. Large companies with a lot of money to spend on a domain name are often not limited to unregistered domain names. They can deal with people who are domain parking or who are actually running a website with the desired name. Many people end up transferring their names after a generous buyout offer or the threat of legal action for holding onto a domain for the purpose of getting as much money as possible for it when someone truly wants to use it.
Some people make a living by buying and selling names for domains. They usually seek out potentially popular but unclaimed names, register them, and attempt to sell them. For example, certain names experience a flurry of buying and selling activity after major events, like terrorist attacks and major political scandals. Sometimes the names are even put to use by building a website and, once the seller proves that the website is popular, he or she sells it to the highest bidder.
Domain names are relatively cheap and must be paid for every year. If he or she desires, the owner can pay several years in advance, sometimes making the overall price even cheaper. This fee is for the use of name servers, not the right to the name, because domain registers do not own the names of the domain. If the owner lapses in payment, the domain is listed once again as unregistered and can be claimed by anyone with enough money and an acceptable payment method.