Years come and go about as fast as one breathes the precious air of life, so I’ve been told.

While 2018 has sailed on by the domain industry, we’re embarking upon the journey we’ll come to know as 2019.

And just like my wild domaining predictions of 2018, I’ve had some time to think, research, and prepare predictions for what to expect in domaining for 2019.

It’s crazy to realize the Internet is a little over 30 years old. Although I date myself when saying I remember life before the Internet and email, the invention of the Internet has forever transfigured how we live life and do business.

In some ways, the Internet has brought us together. In other ways, not so much.

From idea to planning to operate to find an audience, all personal and business brands have likely struggled with one thing when considering their launch.

Whether a new service, product, solution, or brand in general, finding the perfect domain can often feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack, thousands usually base the name of their brand on the availability of a .com domain name.

It’s been one week since I boarded a plane from Orlando heading back to good ole’ Austin, Texas.

I thought I’d take a moment to share a few thoughts and interactions from my MERGE! 2018 experience.

It’s hard to believe a year has passed since MERGE! burst onto the scene in its inaugural debut.

Many attendees have converged to meet in Orlando, Florida this year at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista – Disney Springs Area to pick up where we left off last year discussing an array of digital principles — Domains, Hosting, Digital Search, CMS, Cryptocurrency, IP, Blockchain, eCommerce and Security.

If you’re new to the domain investing (even if you’re not), then you likely encounter a how cumbersome of a task it is to identify undervalued domains.

From NameJet to GoDaddy to Dynadot to SnapNames along with many more domain auction aftermarket platforms, identifying and narrowing in on undervalued domains — whether expired, public, private, or closeout — is a full time job in itself.

Thousands of domains expire in auction daily (as a subset of data is shown via DomainState.com chart below), and an unidentified number of those domains go on to be caught, or deleted and made available for hand registration (small percentage, but still happens).

In today’s tech-driven world, it’s a given to establish a digital presence for one’s personal or company brand.

Now whether or not this digital presence uses a .com or non-.com domain name is an ongoing debate — one I shall refrain from addressing today somewhat.

While most may not agree on which domain extension should represent one’s digital presence — .com has long ruled the web for personal and company branding — ALL can agree upon a digital presence being a MUST HAVE some 30 years into the Internet journey.

And while the majority agree that a brand should have a single domain name, often overlooked is whether or not a brand should build a relevant domain portfolio beyond its primary domain name.