While they were sleeping...

The medical professional community missed a perfect opportunity to create a strong presence on the Internet for a relatively small monetary investment.  Instead, because they were not 'minding the store,' the proverbial rug was pulled from under their feet.  Now, it will cost them a significant amount of money to regain their control over what we would have thought was rightfully theirs.  What pray tell am I referring?  The answer is domain names.

Domain names are at the core of the Internet.  For domainers who have figured this out, they are, and have been for years, capitalizing big time because the medical community did not.  This is based on what is currently available for sale and those that have been sold on the domain aftermarket.  Since we live in a so-called 'free society,' domainers have legally hijacked the domain names of the medical community and can do with them what they want and the medical community cannot stop them.

For example, if a domainer picks up a medically-related domain name, it is their prerogative to put whatever content they want on it - even immoral content on a website that should have provided treatment resources for serious health issues.  That domain owner can sell them to the medical community for a sizable profit or sell them to resellers at a lower but still reasonable profit margin whereby it may never get developed into a 'true' website.  Believe it or not, that 'undeveloped' website may make money for the owner via the lucrative domain parking industry.  The medical community cannot stop this from happening and it is widening as we speak.

To demonstrate how the market has progressed, some domains originally purchased for less than $10 may now be what is considered a 'premium' domain.  To see how the domain aftermarket has progressed, just about three weeks ago, 'Cardiology.com' sold for $550,000!  As you can see, good medical domain names are not inexpensive anymore.

How did this happen?  Evidently, no one at the various worldwide medical associations, et al. looked at the Internet seriously enough to say, "let's grab the most important domain names so we can control the content and provide our visitors and patients with the information they so desire when searching the World Wide Web."  Instead, they inadvertently allowed 'investors' to grab up this domain real estate to sell it to the medical community at a great profit.

 Daily, many more people are making this their full-time job because when done effectively, it is proving to be very lucrative; and they don't even have to leave the comfort of their home!  For the medical community, this situation is now analogous to closing the barn doors after the horses bolted.

What happened medical community?  Were you so into doing business as usual that it got past you?  How could you allow the main medical topic domains to be subjected to content other than medically-related information?  So far that may not be happening to a large extent, but unless you take control of them from this point forward, it is out of your hands for many years to come.

Now, what is starting to gather steam are the '.tv' domains since video clips are the 'in' thing.  There are a number of video clips pertaining to medical ailments, treatment options, medicines approved by the FDA, patient testimonials, physician descriptions of the ailment, preventive medicine, doctor interviews, seminar re-broadcasting, etc. on websites like Google's videos, YouTube.com, and others.  This is an indication that medical dot tv domains will most likely do well.  Owning the industry domain that brings various specialties and important general content together within a single topic-concentrated platform speaks volumes for its website traffic potential.

Also, '.info' is gaining steam as it is becoming recognized for containing topic-related information versus commercial sales content.  And then there are '.us' domains.  The '.us' extension is being used to separate out U.S. companies from the rest of the world's websites.  They also allow worldwide organizations to tailor their content to that geographical location/market since what may work in one country may not work for another.  Language differences are, of course, another variable.  We are starting to spot these TLDs as well as '.tv' domains advertised on television and in print ads.

As the clock ticks and this is proven more to be true, these domain name prices/values will likely skyrocket.  This will be especially true if '.tv' domains start receiving heavier type-in traffic since many web surfers are currently expecting or will soon expect to see videos, webcasts, and/or podcasts pertaining to medical content on medically-related dot tv websites.  Type-ins may start to occur more frequently for '.info' and '.us' domains possibly sooner than later and not be just for ".com's" anymore.  Only time will tell.

Watch out for '.mobi' domains for websites formatted for mobile devices.  They are the '.com' of the Internet for mobile phones and those domains are going fast, too.  Mobile devices are more portable than laptop computers and are getting into the hands of a whole lot of folks.  They are not just for businessmen anymore.

Medical community, will you continue to let this happen or will you stand up and take back your 'virtual' medical community?

Because you have waited, the only way to turn this around is to get your constituency to buy those domain names from domainers on the aftermarket and try to take back your World Wide Web community.  So, get your pockets ready.  The longer you wait, the price tag will continue to rise as Internet usage continues to rise and it becomes more ingrained into our daily lives. 

After purchase, your domain real estate can be 'parked' until you are ready to develop them.  In the interim, they will be appreciating in value to your benefit as it is a recognized asset in various venues.  If you choose, at retirement, you can then, or sometime in the future, resell them yourself to someone else in the medical community such as a colleague or hospital, or not, and realize a nice or even sizable return by those on the 'waiting list.'  While you are practicing, your domain name(s) can be pointed to your existing website for increased marketing, search engine, and type-in purposes.  This is a creative way to grow your business.

When marketing a generic industry name, your ability to reach high worldwide profile status becomes greatly increased as even your colleagues and medical students worldwide may stumble upon your website when using those generic search terms.  All of this traffic together positions you to reap increased financial success as your domain real estate becomes more attractive to advertisers e.g. pharmaceutical, medical supply houses, and many others.  They pay handsomely, too!

You can begin this process by acquiring these generic industry and search engine keyword names (Note: search engines ignore the extension i.e. .com, .net, etc. - a good thing):

•KidneyStones.tv (has link to videos), •GallStones.tv, •Lymphoma.tv, •RoboticSurgery.tv, •BloodlessSurgery.tv, •OrganFailure.info, •KidneySurgery.info, •RetinalTransplant.info, •BoneMarrowTransplant.info, •AntiRejectionDrugs.info, •BloodlessSurgery.info, •BoneMarrowTransplant.us, •RetinalSurgery.us, •Amputation.mobi, •HeartMurMur.mobi, and many more are available for sale, although some only by request if the terms are satisfactory.

If you would like domain advertising tips, visit 'DomainAdvertisingTips.com' to learn even more.  There you will also find additional resources including a link to DNJournal.com domain sales data.  For some, this will be an eye-opening experience to the realization of what domain names have sold for recently and historically.  Just like any other commodity, domain name prices follow supply and demand.

Contact us via IBNETLLC.com or via the 'Contact Us' link at IBNETLLC.com/site for more medical domain names (all TLDs) being considered for sale by our company.  If you would like to learn more about how to go about finding and securing domain names whether from us or someone else or to get development ideas, just let us know.

So, get serious about saving the future of your virtual medical community!!!  Begin the acquisition process today!  The early bird catches the worm.  The ball is in your court.

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