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.

Many domain investors learn to effectively manage their domain portfolios by trial and error.

I can tell you from experience that this method of domain portfolio management can get quite expensive to say the least.

However, I wisened up from my days of reckless domain portfolio management thanks to help from a few seasoned domain investors.

2018 has been an interesting year to say the least. It’s certainly flown by in a flash.

Rather than attempt to recap all the twists and turns of 2018, let’s dive in to recap 2018’s wild domain predications as I saw it this time last year.

It’s not everyday I stumble upon a business or personal brand actively growing their business through the use of new top-level domains (new gTLDs).

When I do, I find most business or personal brands are simply experimenting with such domains with no sign of commitment or results.

However, I recently stumbled upon a LinkedIn post containing a video promoting an Energy Management Consultancy based here in Austin, Texas.

When I started my journey of podcasting, I knew not one thing about podcasting. I had no clue how to prepare for a podcast, how to find guests, how to achieve an optimal mix, how to record a podcast, or how to host a podcast.

Thank goodness technology has come a long way from the days of having to invest tens of thousands of dollars in the latest equipment to record and host audio and video files on a server and having to custom development a player to support playback.

Imagine how excited I was to discover how easy it was to record a podcast using the Voice Memos app when flying solo, and then Zoom.us or Skype when virtually interviewing parties of one or more.

Then, add in a user-friendly hosting service like Podbean — a podcast publishing and monetization service, providing free and premium hosting packages for individuals and businesses — that fully integrates publishing, management, syndication, and analysis tools. 

Attempting to figure out the best price for a domain name or portfolio is quite comparable to trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Most domain investors are often blinded by domain sales anomalies produced by the bigger personalities of the domain industry — Schillings, Berkens, Schwartzs, and Roseners.

And if not jaded by domain legends, then most domain buyers and sellers often try to hang their hat on the tree of domain appraisals as just and fair pricing.

This couldn’t be further from the truth as you’ll soon learn when listening to my latest podcast episode: 10 Tactics to Determine Best Price for Domains.

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.