TYPO DOMAINS- DOES IT HAVE A VALUE??

Misspelt domains or Domain Typosquatting as it is usually referred to, is the acquiring of a domain name which has typographical error when compared to the generic name or the parent name from which it may have been taken. The parent name may be any generic name or a name taken from the names of popular websites.
The sole purpose of such a domain is to divert traffic going to the parent website and make them visit their website in order to generate a financial profit.

WHY WOULD USERS VISIT A SITE WITH TYPO DOMAINS??

Most of the Internet users are terrible typists. In typing the web address of a website in the URL address bar, they make typographical error. As a result, they are taken to a totally different website which may have nothing to do with the parent website.
Hence, these web addresses with TYPOS may receive a huge amount of traffic. The more common the typo, the more the traffic and more valuable it is. And where there is traffic, there is business. Therefore, some of these domains may be highly valuable in the domain industry.
For example, I want to go to Facebook.com but instead I type Facebookcom.com ,i.e., I missed the dot in between. Therefore, I am taken to a different website which adds to the traffic of the website.

IS IT ILLEGAL TO HAVE A TYPO DOMAIN??

Possessing a typo domain may or may not be illegal depending on whether it infringes the trademark of a company. If it does so, then the domain is definitely illegal. And the possession of such a domain may lead to extremely difficult circumstances to the owner.
When there is no trademark infringement with the parent domain and it do gets a lot of visitors daily, I would say the domain is highly valuable if used properly. It may lead to a good business advertising on those domains and generating a substancial amount of money. You may get many potential customers who may be converted to sales if the website is designed properly.

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A TYPO DOMAIN??

The value of any domain name is always the amount of money a buyer is ready to spend on that domain. Be it any domain, if there are people ready to buy that domain, it is valuable and if there are no buyers for the domain, there is no value to it. And that is how domaining industry works. A 3-letter domain is valuable. How valuable?? There is no answer to that. While one 3-letter domain may fetch $5000 on selling, another similar 3-letter domain which may be valuable to a particular company or organization may be valued over $20,000 depending on how much is the buyer willing to spend and the negotiation skills of the seller. In case of auctions, it is the market which decides the value of a domain but you can always set the 'Reserve Price' for those domains in auctions.
Again, in case of typo domains, trend is not different. The value of one typo domain may be less or more than other typo domains. Even some of the typo domains may have zero value.
For selling a typo domain, I would always recommend approaching the end user, who in this case, is the owner of the parent domain from which the typo domain derives its name. In case the owner of the primary domain approaches you to buy the domain, the ball is in your court. Negotiate a deal and profit from the domain.

To conclude, any typo domain has a value at which a buyer is ready to buy the domain. In case of generating revenue, if the domain receives a lot of traffic, or is a name that is predicted to become popular in the near future, there are bright chances of the domain being high valued and ending up in a purchase worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

ACQUIRING THE NEW gTLD - IS IT RISKY??

According to recent meetings by the WHOs WHO of the domain industry, over the subject of introducing new generic Top Level Domains, some very big news have come up.
The Internet's governing body ICANN has accepted about 2000 applications regarding the introduction of new domain extensions which may include product related names like .Shoes and brand related extensions such as .Nike etc. 

With the announcement of this news, the future of the domain industry is highly unpredictable. While one may easily predict that .COM is going to be the unchallenged leader in the near future, long term perspective is still unpredictable. No one can predict if any of these new TLDs are going to be more popular than the older ones. Will they overcome .COM or not is a big question mark!! But for sure,with the advent of the new extensions, the vendors are finally going to have a hand on some of the domains which will stick to the minds of their customers, or lets say, perspective customers.

The introduction of new TLDs may mark a significant and massive change in the domain industry. The marketing industry is going to be affected at a great level. So, Internet Marketers better be prepared with this. Having a hand on some of the top domains with different extensions is anyways going to contribute to the online business.

If a particular classified extension becomes popular, chances are that others too may take off. Lets say, if .shoes becomes popular, there would be no shoe company without an online presence with a .shoes extension. The same applies to other extensions as well. Definitely, the domains are going to attain high value in such cases.

The SEO industry is going to change as a whole. Instead of competing on a particular keyword with a .COM extension, they will have the classified categories to compete in.

To conclude, I would say that the new upcoming domains have a huge potential in making your online presence felt. They may contribute significantly in shaping your online business, acquiring new markets, getting massive online consumers and ultimately, ruling a niche as a whole.

For those in the domaining industry, it is time for you to invest in this high-risk high-return venture. Acquire some of the top domains, sit on them for some 2-3 years and then cash out with extensive profits!!

WARNING- The venture may be risky and may lead to loss if the market does not get good response from the consumers as otherwise predicted!!