A quick search in Google suggests a query for how many domains do Google and Amazon have. Not that anyone is searching for how many domains I have, but I’ll tell you anyway.
On March 30, 2008, I bought my first domain paleolithicfilms.com. At the time, I thought it was silly to buy my name. Over 12 years later, I think it is ridiculous that I didn’t buy aarongarcia.com when I likely had the chance.
For a good while, I only owned one domain, paleolithicfilms.com. I used it for everything, from blogging about my life to creating URL shortcuts to my Google Slideshows for class. Eventually, I realized that the name Paleolithic Films is not only hard to spell but also had nothing to do with what I was posting.
So, one day while riding with my parents in the backseat of their car, I got the idea to buy photo4dollar.com. I was starting to think about business and, more specifically, photography. Most photographers charged more than $1, and I thought it would be an excellent way to attract attention online. So I bought the domain.
And I did nothing with it. After holding on to it for a while, I let it expire. Instead, I opted to purchase a new Top-Level Domain (TLD) agarcia.tv.
Again I used agarcia.tv for all sorts of uses that had nothing to do with Online Television. Initially, I had intended to use the domain for online streaming. I attempted that, but eventually, I used it to blog about my political views, post my class essays, and share my professional portfolio.
I liked the domain because it was short and, in my mind, memorable. But just like Paleolithic Films, it was hard to remember for everyone but me.
While attending the University of the Incarnate Word, I got the idea to start a social network. Notably, a social network dedicated to education. A place where students could publish class notes for those who missed class because they were sick or in sports.
The site was uiwstudy.com. I was very excited about it and shared the idea with my classmates and professors. I even got a lawyer interested in it over the legality of posting scans from textbooks. Because most professors like to share scans from other books and distribute has a handout. If you missed class that day, you’d want that handout as it is a class note. Posting it to UIW Study would then attract copyright infringement attention. The lawyer said he’d defend me if I had the cash, but unless I’m as rich as Google, it is advisable not to try it.
After holding on to that domain for a while, I let that one go too.
Then I got the idea to create an app called Shuttle Tracker. And you guessed it, I bought shuttletracker.com and held on to it for a while. The site did what I intended for it to do. It advertised an app that was never fully developed. I received lots of emails about when I’d finish the app from the school newspaper and student council.
Sadly, I let it go after never finding the time to finish what I started. Now it’s for sale for thousands of dollars by a domain squatter. For the record, that was my idea, my domain, so that you know.
Then I met up with a group of guys who wanted to take photos of ghost towns. I suggested that we start a documentary series and launch a website. We called it Deserted Texas, and so naturally, we purchased desertedtexas.com. Since I had the misfortune of buying so many domains and never using them for their intended purpose, I let my friend Johnny buy it this time. And just like me, he too let it go after a while.
To keep the dream alive, I bought desertedtexas.org just before the original domain expired. Redirecting all the traffic to the new domain, I’ve maintained it since and almost let it go last year.
You can imagine how much money ICANN has made off of people like me who buy random domains and then let them go and buy more domains.
And you’d think I’d stop there, but no, I didn’t.
I realized that agarcia.tv wasn’t memorable, so I bought agarciatv.com. And that was short-lived, because I realized that no one is searching in Google for agarciatv. Only me.
Then aarongarcia.net became available. The wise person who bought aarongarcia.com owned aarongarcia.net too. I guess he let one of them go. And I picked up with gleefully. Yes! Finally, a domain with my name in it.
I forgot to mention that somewhere in this long history, I bought aaronjosephgarcia.com, now realizing the error of not owning aarongarcia.com. But that’s a long domain. I almost let that go with desertedtexas.org but renewed at the last minute.
Because I owned so many domains, my friends and family started confusing aarongarcia.net with aarongarcia.tv, so I bought that too. You can see where this is going.
My domains were either too long, not related to the broad range of interests I have, or too expensive! Certain TLDs cost more than others.
While owning so many domains and launching so many websites, eventually family members wanted a website of their own. So I bought three more family-related domains to host genealogical records.
I even bought llamaleads.com and leadsllama.com to start a business around websites and marketing. I couldn’t decide at first, which name sounded better, so I bought them both. Eventually, I let one of the names go.
This story is getting long, so I’ll summarize a few more purchases. I bought newhonda.club to create a work-friendly blog to promote the dealership I work at.
I bought aaron.video for my growing YouTube channel. Then garcia.love for my wedding and digital scrapbook with my future wife.
Because of all the domains, I purchased I have gotten good at transferring them between registrars and updating DNS records. So why not make a resource website aaron.help?
This reminds me I once bought osxtutorial.com for the same reason, but it was geared to Mac users wanting to learn more about the computer. Yeah, I let that go after Apple renamed OS X to macOS.
If you’ve lost count of how many domains I own and have owned, I am right there with you. The good news is that by holding so many, I have learned a lot about web administration.
And don’t get me started on all the domains I manage for other people and businesses.