A good domain is a terrible thing to waste.

One of my favorite Internet activities is the Domain Game. There’s nothing I find more enjoyable than typing domain names into the lookup box at my favorite registrar. I’ll see some trend story on the news or read about a current fad and off I’ll go to see if I can win the game with the phrase: This Name is Available!

"I started to notice I had all these domain names just sitting there, parked in development limbo. When it came time to pay up, that's when I realized I had too many domains."

Mind you, I don’t often collect the spoils when I win the Domain Game. I very rarely register a domain just because I can. I used to. I used to think that every new domain was a ticket to riches and if I passed up the opportunity I would regret it forever. I got over that kind of thinking after I started to notice I had all these domain names just sitting there, parked in development limbo. In fact, I wouldn’t notice them until it came time to re-register. When it came time to pay up, that’s when I realized I had too many domains.

Today, it’s pretty inexpensive to register a new domain name. The going rate is less than ten bucks for one year. Because registration is so cheap, it’s easy to get carried away. Some webmasters have tens, even hundreds of domain names. Some webmasters are in the business of buying and selling domains. Some webmasters own ever-expanding networks that require a fresh crop of new domains. I am not one of those webmasters.

There are valid reasons to own a lot of domains. As I said, there are those webmasters that buy a batch of domains expressly for the purpose of re-selling them. There are webmasters that run those quasi-search directory sites, garnering traffic by re-directing surfers that misspell or mistype a URL. There are webmasters that build and submit a new free site every single day. There is absolutely nothing wrong with registering new domain names. What is wrong is letting domain names go to waste.

But hey, Titmowse. You yourself said a domain costs less than ten bucks. What’s the harm with registering two or ten or twenty?

My answer? There is no harm, now. But how about a year from now, when those twenty domain names come due for re-registration? Individually, each one was cheap but how about all together? Will you re-up each one as it comes due or will you go ahead and pay off all of them so that you only have to re-register once a year, or once every two years? In twelve months, will you be so successful that you can afford to drop a few hundred bucks on domain names you have yet to use? And when will you use them? How long will you hang on to idle domains before you decide to let them go? How great do those domains look to you now that you’ve had a year to develop your websites?

Things change. When you bought that wicked cool domain name, you were sure it was a moneymaker. Are you so sure of that now? You've been working hard to get your Internet business off the ground. Do you honestly think you’ll ever have to time develop a site for each one of your registered domain names?

Here’s a bit of advice from a Titmowse: If you’ve got a domain name that’s been sitting around undeveloped for a year, it’s time to be honest with yourself. Why did you buy it in the first place? Are your plans for it in the works? Do you have a plan for it? Do you plan to have a plan? Is it worth your time to develop that domain into a website? Do you feel as strongly about the potential for that domain as you did when you first registered it? Are you going to re-register it only to let it park for another year? Is that domain really important to your future? Is it time to Dump that Old Domain?

It’s not hard to dump a domain. All you have to do is let it expire. You’ll get a few urgent emails from your registrar. You might feel a pang or two of regret. Then one day, you won’t own it anymore. You will have let your domain free. You’ll have released it back into the wild where it can be claimed by another webmaster who will appreciate more than you did. You’re not being cruel. You’re doing the right thing. A good domain is a terrible thing to waste.