“Leasing domains” has become increasingly popular over the years, it’s a service I dabbled in roughly 4 years ago and at the time, seemed like a good idea.
There are domain name investors like myself that have over time acquired a lot of valuable, locally focused service domains like Plumbing Denver.com, Basement Finishing Denver.com etc… and it’s a service that the late-comers are now offering by charging a premium, for reasons like ‘technology service fees,’ and more,
Leasing “Exact Match” Domains:
Early on, getting an exact match domain name like “Plumbing Denver.com” ranked for the keyword “Plumbing Denver,” was simple, there was a lot less competition and a lot less plumbers who hired an Local SEO companies.
Leasing a domain/website is a bad idea:
Here’s the breakdown of my thought process…
- You don’t own the domain: If you’re trying to build your business or your brand, it’s probably a good idea to invest in a web property that you own. If you’re not, it’s a lot like renting a home and remodeling it.
- Well I’m really investing in the ‘technology right’? Wrong. If someone sold you on leasing a website based on the fact that it has some kind of ‘propriety software’ that does things like controlling all of your social media from one dashboard, publish coupons through an ‘api’ to various websites etc… guess what… most open source CMSs like WordPress and Joomla have plugins that allow you to do that same thing for free so before you think your investing in some kind of ‘high-tech’ technology, there’s been someone before who has done exactly what your subscribing to, only for free.
- Well, I get to Lease a cool Domain Name at least… Are you more concerned with a ‘cool domain name’ or building your business? Heck, you might have even been told that by having ‘keywords in your domain name’ it will help you rank quicker in Google and the fact is, that’s an outdated theory and it’s inaccurate.If you’re investing in a ‘domain name lease‘ promoting a web presence that you don’t even own because the domain name has a few keywords in it – your wasting your money.
As yourself these questions:
- Am I using the leased domain as my primary website?If you answered yes, there’s a problem. Leasing a domain name and promoting it is a lot like renting a house and paying for a remodel.The owner of the property gets the benefit and that’s not you.
- Does the website rank well in search engines?If you’re leasing a domain name that already and/or currently ranks well in search engines and the primary use for the domain is to generate additional leads, that’s okay. If you’re leasing if for leads and the domain doesn’t actually rank well, drop it like it’s hot, because it is, and it will drain you.
THE BOTTOM LINE IS THIS:
Do not lease a domain/website for ‘technology.’ There are plenty of FREE platforms out there like WordPress and Joomla which could with more FREE technology that can do literally, just about anything you can think up in your head and you don’t have to invest into someone elses property.
Stop remodeling and investing into someone elses domain. Get your own, market yourself, and tell people why you are a rock-star.
