How valuable are emoji domains?

At this precise moment in time, it’s the question of the hour as flurries of answers circulate the emoji domain circuit.

Before diving into answers, let’s settle on agreeing that .ws (and other extensions) IS NOT and will never be .com. There I said it, happy?

No matter how many single, double, triple, or any other concatenated combo to be imagined, emoji domains are not going to top 20+ years of .com history overnight, if ever.

It’s the truth. It really is the truth, literally and figuratively speaking.

I know I’m not making many friends with such a blunt intro, but we ALL must truly be objective as we consider how valuable emoji domains are in comparison to the domain industry in it’s entirety.

We can’t simply go about making up or pulling down numbers out of thin air because we’ve fallen in lust love with the hottest thing to hit domains in a while.

Though Penn & Teller have joined the emoji domain club using ♣️♣️♣️.ws (As of 12/30/2017, emoji domain club now forwards to a parked page), this doesn’t mean emoji domain name pricing and value should be treated as the good ole’ pull a rabbit out of a hat trick.

Or can we? From the looks of things, it appears we have done that and more. I’ve perused I❤️.ws’s Emoji Domain Marketplace, and prices are ALL OVER THE PLACE.

From $20 to $50K (YES, $50K) asking prices for one emoji domain, it’s apparent some of us have fallen hook, line, and sinker in belief that a .ws emoji domain has topped a long-standing .com domain.

Seriously, think about this for a moment…

☁.com was purchased for ~$13K and ☮.com for ~$4K. I’m quite certain there are other emoji domain sales to be reported, but we know these two for sure today.

But my question is this: How in the world does one arrive at non .com/.net emoji domains beyond $5K asking price today?

After all, .net domains are a percentage of .com values, so shouldn’t the same logic apply to .ws emoji domains?

Please DO NOT misunderstand me. I’m not saying that .ws emoji domains have no value, yet I’m simply suggesting each emoji domain owner should NOT overplay their hand with 1990’s .com prices for their newly found non .com/net emoji domain investments.

Truth be told, some of us purchased emoji domains 5 minutes ago, and now those same emoji domains are all of a sudden outranking DNJournal’s YTD sales. How?

Seriously, how much emoji domain organic traffic was generated in 5 minutes to warrant a 6- or 7- figure price tag?

In my opinion, we’re still quite early in the emoji domain game before any one person or entity can declare sizable victory of any sort for the industry and niche as a whole.

It’s going to take a bit of time and some transparent experimentation to truly set a baseline for how to soundly valuable emoji domains.

It is more than simply gobbling up all-you-can-buy emoji domains in hopes of striking it rich with emoji drunk pricing.

There must be a SOUND strategy to REALIZE PROFITABLE VALUE for each and every emoji domain that is to be sold to END USERS (not domain investors swapping emoji domains).

I said it a few weeks ago, and I’ll continue to say it pertaining to emoji domain value:

Not all emoji domains attain value worth buying or investing in, nor do all emoji domains lend themselves to representing personal and corporate brands well.

Again, it’s early in the game of emoji domain names, and this alone requires disruptive innovation to drive greater than status quo value of current day domain names.

Personally, I believe emoji domains will soon simplify an aspect of the complexities of current day marketing and advertising tactics.

But for this to happen, emoji domain owners MUST invest their blood, sweat, and tears into building objective, no-nonsense case studies for all to see, experience, prod, and decide on.

A good place to start for case studies is using emoji domains as url shorteners via PPC and billboard ads. Yes, I know Coke executed a billboard campaign 2 years ago, but that seems like a lifetime ago in my opinion.

As an emoji domain owner, if we’re not willing to make the needed investment to soundly test and transparently report what we each willingly forked over pennies on the dollar to stake an ownership claim, then don’t be surprised when brands simply shoo us away like flies on a hot summer day.

The MATH must make DOLLARS and SENSE before a company is willing to push A CHIP to the table to invest in a small, yet pivotal element of a comprehensive marketing strategy and campaign.

If not, then we will have not added a drop of value to our own investment not performing sound math to arrive at a reasonable emoji domain value, rather asking price.

In fact, we’ll likely damage the perceived value of not only our emoji domain investment, but overall emoji domain market values as well.

And what a waste of value and opportunity that will have been to arrive at such a destination, right?