My 5 Best Domain Purchases in 2009

This is kind of a scary post to write, because I'm shamefully behind on developing my portfolio (look for a New Year's Resolution post about that soon!) and I'm sure many people will get a good chuckle out of my purchases and my lack of production with these sites. But this post is for me. To document my results for the year, my feelings at this point about what I've picked up and to hopefully start a discussion of what other people are most proud of picking up this year themselves. Without further ado, here's my top 5 list of names acquired either via "the aftermarket". I'll not plug my amazing hand registering skills here, but I may do a separate post on my best hand registered names of the year if you all are interested.

5. .IN Geo's - This is a difficult one to put on the list as it's not just one deal that I'm proud of, but the total number of high quality names I've been able to acquire at really great prices. To sum up - I've got 25 US State .in's (Colorado.in, Tennessee.in, NorthCarolina.in, etc.), all the Canadian province's (and most territories), about 60% of the US cities with over 100k population and a huge number of popular destinations like Gatlinburg, Williamsburg, Gettysburg, Hilton Head, etc. etc., about 50% of the major cities in Canada and the UK along with major destinations around the world. Over 600 names in total. My total cash outlay has been in the low five figures with over 100 of those domains acquired in the aftermarket. My favorite? Atlanta.in for less than $1k. Expect to see a lot out of our Vocav.com platform in the next year as we start to power up these sites.

4. SpaGetaway.com - This was my highest single domain purchase at the time I picked up via a GoDaddy drop auction. The search numbers aren't amazing, but it has huge development potential. Spa listings, booking services and travel accommodations means this domain will be a big earner in the years to come. Total price paid was $893.

3. BirthdayCards.info - This isn't so much a purchase as a drop catch, but as this was a recent capture, it's fresh in my mind as a great value for the money. The keyword phrase "Birthday Cards" has huge exact search volume, and the monetization options are really broad. Yes, it's a low dollar transaction in most cases, but there are subscription services, bulk orders and related services such as flowers and gifts that go perfectly with this domain. I'm really excited about building this name out. The best part? I picked this up using GoDaddy's backordering service with essential no competition. Total outlay was less than $30 for this great domain.

2. FunnyVideos.TV - Again, the most recent transactions come to mind as this was yet another new acquisition. This highly searched keyword phrase fits the extension perfectly and there's plentiful content in this category. The real question I have is monetization, but that will come with traffic. FunnyVideos.TV was purchased using my favorite auction site - Bido.com - for a whopping $111. Oh, and there are no premium renewals fees for this great keyword .TV domain.

1. TechCritics.com - This is my "Crush it" project that will be monopolizing my time in 2010. You may have heard me drop hints as to my new blog site via Twitter - well, this is it. It'll be launching very soon and I'm really excited about the possibilities of this name. The purchase agreement won't let me disclose the purchase price, but it was a fair price considering it's potential, but more than most "domain investors" would have paid. There will be more posts about TechCritics.com in the future, so stay tuned.

Honorable mention: VideoEffects.com - This is still my single most expensive single domain purchase (just under $3,000), but I knew the domain was not a name I was going to flip for big profits. I was buying it as an end user and so I see the value in this transaction as a long term investment. It may well be that this turns out to be my best purchase of the year, but it will take time to capitalize on it. VideoEffects.com was also purchased via GoDaddy's Drop Auctions.

So now, you get to decide. Which one my purchases was best?

I'd love to hear from you about your favorite purchases this year. You can post them in comments, blog about them or just tweet them to http://twitter.com/UtterDomain.