India to be one of the largest domain market by 2016

BANGALORE, INDIA: As the domains aftermarket and monetization industry in India starts to take shape, domain names are increasingly seen by businesses as potential investments.

GoDaddy is a technology provider dedicated to small businesses and Afternic a subsidiary is a one-stop site to buy domains, sell domains, and park domains. In an interaction with CIOL, Bob Mountain, chief revenue officer at AfterNic explains about the prospects of domain market in India and the potentials.

CIOL: What are the opportunities available for the Indian domain resellers?

Bob Mountain: With India expected to be one of the largest domain name markets by 2016, there are a number of tremendous market opportunities for resellers to get in early and leverage new domain names.

GoDaddy provides a turn-key service which enables anyone to run a full-featured domain name registrar with little to no cost. This expands the products and services that a reseller can offer their customers and it's backed by 24/7 customer care.

In addition to products and services, the expansion of domain name extensions provides new opportunities. For example, if a reseller identifies a trend online such as the introduction of new gTLDs like .HOTELS, .PHOTOGRAPHY, .CLUB, etc., he/she has the opportunity to register high-quality domain names and attempt to sell them through the aftermarket. This generates revenue and creates a way to meet potential new clients.

At GoDaddy we are creating a robust partner and reseller ecosystem to help us serve potential customers by making it as simple as possible to buy and sell domain names. Since our partners and resellers are the ones who take the end product to the consumers, we want to ensure they are well-positioned and equipped to offer the right solutions. We are working with them to offer the full suite of products needed for small businesses to succeed - all of which are offered by GoDaddy.

CIOL: Is domain market a potential investment in a market like India?

BM: In India there is plenty of potential for investment in the domain market. Internet users in India are expected to reach 243 million by June 2014. According to a recent eMarketer report, India will see double-digit growth till 2018 in its Internet population, highest for any other country in Asia Pacific. By 2018, 26.7 percent of Indians will be on internet. This is due, in no small part, to people using smartphones and the increase in 3G and 4G connectivity. Considering this growth in online businesses and Internet users, buying domain names can be a great investment with careful planning.

To succeed at buying and selling domain names, businesses should remember that the most important key to success is to seek out familiar and commonly used words or phrases which are short and easy to remember for optimal SEO results. These phrases should relate to the brand's offering or core values.

CIOL: How do you think the dynamics of Indian market are different from other international markets with regard to domain?

BM: Currently, only 10 to 15 percent of the population in India is online and that percentage is growing rapidly. As a result, the domains industry is also nascent. Looking at the domain name penetration relative to the internet population of a country, India stands at just about two percent in comparison to a more mature market like the U.S. where domain name penetration is upwards of 20 percent. We see there being a few key characteristics that make the Indian market unique:

In more developed countries such as the U.S., we see not only businesses, but also individuals, buying domain names to build personal websites, create blogs, wedding registries, portfolios etc. This is not currently the case in India. But we believe that the culture of domain name buying for personal use in India is also slowly gaining traction.

Unlike the west, India is a ‘Do-It-For-Me' market where customers expect someone to find the right domain name and set up their web presence for them.

In addition, it is widely believed that India is a price sensitive market. However, with affordable domain names available for as low as Rs.99 per year, it is clear that India is a value sensitive market. Wherein business owners will only spend even a small amount of money if they recognize the value it provides.

CIOL: Domainers, how they can better monetize domains?

BM: If you have a good domain name, you can earn revenue in a number of ways:

• Sell the domain name through the aftermarket

• Develop the website. If it's a really good name - it might be worth developing with information and products

• Keep the name and place ads on the site.

• Rent the name to someone else. There have been examples in the past of individuals renting a name they own to another party for a set period of time.