A Valuable Asset, Oftentimes Ignored...Your Domain Name Portfolio.

This is meant for C level folks, people whose passion?drive companies, managers and employees toward a common goal...a mission.

If I told you your accountants, financial guys and yourself are probably overlooking a multi-million dollar asset what would you think. "Nope. Not me". Well actually yes... in most cases. Once again I'm thinking about the value to corporations of their domain portfolios and the huge number?of medium and large companies that have delegated the strategic selection of their domain names to technical staff or brand management. The average large company owns in excess of 200 domain names. As an example Unilever NV owns 1,181 domain names and assuming those domains are worth in excess of $10,000 each that's an asset of $12 million (probably way more by a factor of 10X).

Why is this important? I think of Proctor and Gamble and their myriad brands. They stand for something in the world of permanence. If you saw the name P&G you knew you were getting a good product. Yet today a good product might be the 15 minutes of fame posted on a landing page.?

For the last 20 years, many established brands and especially mid-size companies have delegated the selection of a domain name (aka URL) to individual managers and their staff without a thought of what their combined flock of domain names meant?to the consumer. More important once a domain is selected how is it protected, surrounded by an impenetrable wall of secondary names, maximized through thoughtful?selection of keywords and I do not mean lead-gen keywords or Google ranking.

I mean when a consumer goes to a site, the first thing they see is the site name... the address. That is their first impression. The second thing they see is the first paragraph of copy. Pretty important elements in Google's eyes. Are your first?impressions about how?you want to be perceived by your long-term consumer? Or are you resigned to a series of quick impressions (websites) that leave no permanent and building impression of your parent company?

No wonder there's no more brand loyalty! When all it costs is $10 to establish a brand with a domain name and it's selected by mid-tier employees with no focus on YOUR vision/mission the end result has to be CLUTTER AND DILUTION.

There are many great companies with great leaders and great managers who do take this seriously, private equity firms especially. But there are way more that do not consider this at all.?

I have been waving this flag for a while. Try this! Make a list of your company's URL's-all of them,,, the brands, the divisions, the subsidiaries, the programs, the promotions, the faded brands, the ideas that never happened, the ideas that did happen. It will probably be a long list. Now multiply that list by 10 (the average years many domains have existed). Multiply that by $10 (the average cost of the domain). Probably still not a huge number. Now multiply that by say $3,000 (the average value of established domains (that's a guess). It's getting up there. Consider that some of those domains may be worth in excess of 5 figures.

Sit down quietly and stare at it! What picture do they paint? Is it one of disparate thinking or one of YOUR determined mission? Is your mission stated on those websites? Is the parent identified? Have you done a domain audit?

When you read the first paragraph of the domain's site has it been thought through by strategists or technicians? Do they clearly understand YOUR mission? Do you understand GTLDs (Generic Top Level Domains) and what they mean to every business?... specifically an extraordinary opportunity to carve out real estate. Are you considering what the value of your domain portfolio is? Do you realize that short, almost meaningless domains are currently selling for SIX figures? Do you know what your portfolio of names looks like/is worth/how it's managed?

So, here I am again waving a big blue flag that says in giant bold letters "THINK ABOUT WHAT COMES BEFORE AND AFTER THE DOT" .?