Why I Renewed These 13 Domains This Year

Every year, renewal season forces the same question on every domain investor: which names still earn their keep, and which ones quietly get let go. This year I renewed thirteen domains across .com, .net, and .org for a combined cost of a little over $150. Here's the reasoning behind each one.

Brandable "-able" adjectives

RECOMMENDABLE.net, RECOMMENDABLE.org, and EXCHANGEABLE.net belong to a well-known brandable category. Adjective-plus-"able" names read as clean, modern, and easy to build a company around — think of how many successful brands use this exact naming pattern. Holding both the .net and .org of RECOMMENDABLE keeps the surrounding namespace controlled in case a buyer eventually wants the matching pair.

Fintech and crypto-adjacent names

HASHTAGWALLET.com and ARBITRAGING.net sit in active, well-funded niches. Wallet products and trading tools are categories that consistently produce new startups looking for a name that says exactly what they do, which is what keeps exact-match domains like these valuable even without active development.

Exact-match keyword domains

POLICYMAKER.net, TECHNOLOGYRESEARCH.org, DIGITALEXPO.org, and APPCODING.com are straightforward keyword plays. Each describes a category rather than a brand — a think tank, a research nonprofit, an events company, or a coding education platform could all use these names as-is. Exact-match domains like this tend to have a long shelf life because the underlying industry terms don't go out of style.

Evocative and niche names

PASSERBY.org has the kind of understated, literary quality that fits well with storytelling, travel, or photography brands. INTERACADEMIC.com speaks directly to academic collaboration and publishing platforms, a market that's been steadily growing.

Short acronym holdings

M2I.org is a three-character acronym domain. These are inexpensive to hold relative to how many organizations could plausibly want them — any number of companies, programs, or products could be built around the initials "M2I," and the renewal cost is low enough to make the long wait worthwhile.

The bigger picture

None of these renewals were about active development. They're all consistent with a simple thesis: hold domains that are cheap to maintain and broad enough in appeal that it only takes one serious buyer to justify years of renewal fees. A $150 renewal bill is a rounding error against the kind of five- or six-figure sale that a single strong match can produce.