Domainer

A domainer is a person (or group) who participates in domain name speculation. Domainers purchase, sell, and publish of Internet domain names.

Under domain name speculation, domainers identify and acquire domain names. They try to get them for the lowest price possible, and later sell them for profit.

The most in-demand words for domains are general and likely to be typed in as search words. They must be commonly-used words in the particular field they belong to in order to be considered attractive names for speculation. One method that domainers can use is identifying and acquiring a domain name early, then waiting for the market to grow and demand to increase before selling it.

Certain domain names may be related to recent trends or current events. They can be popular for a time, but may lose their appeal after the hype has passed. Domainers must act quickly when speculating with these names.

The cost for the registration of a domain name under a top-level domain varies. Examples of top-level domains are COM, NET, ORG, and BIZ. The largest of these is the COM TLD, so a substantial percentage of all domain speculation takes place under this. Other TLDs are based on set country codes.

Domain speculation is considered by some as a form of cybersquatting, which is the use of someone else’s trademark as a domain name in order to make profit. However, speculation can be clearly distnguished from squatting if the domainer focuses on the use of generic words, as opposed to those which serve as known trademarks. Nonetheless, domaining is still frowned upon by the business community.