Domain Name Uses:

Domain Names are utilized by their owners in the following ways:

Web Site Address: The most prevelant and obvious use of a domain name is as an address for a Web site on the internet...just as businesses and homes have street addresses. It is utilzed as the primary means for people to navigate the internet and locate a Web site of a company, organization or individual. In most instances a domain name for a company or organization will closely reflect or abbreviate the actual name of the business or the topic that the Web site pertains to. Some companies are fortunate enough to have acquired a domain name that matches their company name exactly.

E-Mail:  A domain name is an essential component and enabler of  E-Mail (electronic mail) over the internet. A domain name is essentially a Web address and E-Mail addresses are created and derived from Web addresses. Some people and organizations actually use a domain name so they can have a preferrential E-Mail address(s) even without developing an actual Web site.

Investment: Since domain names are the equivilent of electronic online addresses, they are often viewed virtually as pieces of  "internet real estate". There are many companies and individuals who purchase domains for the purpose of investment and/or speculation with the hope that they will appreciate in value and can be resold in the future at a substantial profit. Some domains are actually resold for thousands, hundreds of thousands and sometimes even millions of dollars. For extreme examples - Business.com sold for $7,500,000 several years ago and Diamonds.com sold for the same price this year. Some other examples of notable recent domain name sales in 2006 are Bike.com: $500,000; WirelessPhones.com: $355,000; HotelDeals.com: $171,250; Bingo.net: $56,500. Furthermore, in 2005 Marchex, a publicly traded company purchased a porfolio of over 100,000 domains for $164,000,000 in 2005; this is highest known domain transaction value in the world since the internet began.  

Pay Per Click Advertizing: Some domain owners and investors buy/own many domain names that they don't build traditional Web sites for or plan to resell. They monetize (generate revenue) these domains by engaging in pay-per-click (PPC) programs which are often aligned/partnered with the major searh engines like Google or Yahoo.  Here domains are "parked" with companies who specialize in managing PPC programs by pointing/directing the domains' nameservers to the DNS of the PPC manager. Web landing pages are established for each domain that resemble mini Web sites. Various links to companies who advertise on the internet are placed on these Web landing pages that are related to the meaning of or keywords included in and/or attached to the domain. Each time a Web surfer clicks on a link to a particular advertiser then the domain owner gets paid for refering the "clicker" as a potential customer. This type of venue has become increasingly popular for advertizers and profitable for domain owners as well because the internet has been growing swiftly as an effective advertizing medium. 

Traffic:  In addition to having a primary domain name as a main Web site address, some companies will own a couple or multiple additional domains that they utilze to propel or generate Web traffic (internet users/ Web site visitors) to their main Web address. Through a process called domain name forwarding the electroinc name servers (which are attached to each domain) are pointed and directed to the primary Web address/domain name. When Web visitors type in any of the "additional" forwarded domains into a browser or search engine, they actually arrive at the primary or "receiving" Web site. Usually these forwarded domains include words or phrases that relate to the name of the company and/or its products or industry.  For Example: Tiger Direct is a leading online and catologue mail order retailer of computers and computer related equiptment and accessories. Their main Web address (domain name) is TigerDirect.com. They also own the domain name Computers.com; if you type in this domain name into an internet browser or search engine you will be forwarded to and arrive at TigerDirect.com - their main Web site. Since the word computer is so relevant to their product lines, this has been a very succesful means for that company to attract incremental customers and prospects to the company. Similarly: Harrah's, the worlds largest casino-gaming company owns the domain Casinos.com and has it directly pointed/re-directed to it's main Web site Harrahs.com to generate more traffic from casino seekers; Johnson & Johnson owns Baby.com and Bank of America owns Loans.com.