Archive for the ‘Domain Information’ Category

Elliot from ElliotsBlog.com is running some great posts right now that have advice from some of the greatest domainers of all time: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3. So i thought it would be great to share a piece of advice straight from me to everyone out there. Otherwise strike me as a retard and just read what the greats have to say !

One of the best pieces of advice i can give to a new or part-time domainer is to not actually be a domainer at all. Do not take that literally… What i mean is diversify yourself and do more than just buy and sell domain names. Not everyone has the capital to dive straight in and start making a great profit off the domains they invest in. I would recommended starting out by getting to know the market and watch the auctions over at sedo and other major domain auction houses.

This will in return let see what types of domains sell for at certain price points. This is valuable information to you because it can help you gauge how much money you need to break in to the niche that you are interested in. Notice i mentioned the “niche you are interested in”, i said this because the smartest thing someone can do when buying domain names for profit is to invest in what they know best. Everyone is an expert at something.

If you are buying in to a niche that you know a lot about it becomes more about the niche rather than buying and selling domain names. By using this method it allows you more options to do things with those domains if you fail at flipping/selling them. For instance if you know a lot about training dogs, buy domains that make sense with that niche i.e. DogObedience.com. Now i know to get a name like that it would take some money but it will help you in the long run to sell the domain name and/or develop the domain name.

Basically what i am saying is buy domains in a niche you know a lot about. What this does is give you more than one out for the domain name and expand your options for what you actually want to do with the name.

I had done a poll asking How Would You Spend $100? in the past week. The results really did not surprise me at all. It went along with what i have heard in the past of what most people do and what i had actually done when i started and still do today.

Not to anyone’s surprise Hand Registrations topped the list. I can totally understand this consider you get the most bang for your buck in this situation. Though in today’s day and age its more like trading pennies. For instance if you can hand reg 14 .nets and then turn around and sell those at at double the price you are looking at $100 profit. Not bad considering you made a profit and it allows you to either buy better quality domain names or invest in better domain names.

Now look at it this way. To be able to sell 14 domains at such a low price, not to mention .nets. You would be looking at a great deal of time to sell these domains unless you have a specific method of liquidating domain names. Lets assume that is not the case since you would only have $100 to spend to get in the industry. Now the time and effort put in to that $100 would generally not be worth your time.

Lets say that you take that $100 do some research on some expiring domains through the big drop houses. You find a decent name that you could easily resell for a $100 or sell to an end user as the first option. Lets say its a .com and you manage to pick the name up for $69. You have $31 left over at this point that we will not even use at all.

As soon as you get that domain in your account you start pitching the domain to end users. Chances are that if it is truly a decent name you will get a bite or two and most likely make a sale. Seeing as you want to make a sale fast and the end user offers you $170 and you accept right away. You have just made the exact same amount of money off of one domain that took your 14 low quality domains to make.

Quality is always better than quantity when it comes to domain names. Not saying that hand registering is bad at all, just giving a bit of in site on what is possible out there. I think one of the most underrated things for most domainers is the domain aftermarket market places such as NameJet.com and Pool.com. They always offer quality domain names and most of the time you can get this super cheap compared to the profits you can make with them. I highly suggest that you do research and learn how the drop houses work and what types of names to pick up to flip for a profit. I know this method works because i have been doing it for a long time.

Also do not forget to check out GoDaddy.com Auctions. They have some decent domains that you can litterally pick up for $13 that are just as high quality as the large drop houses out there. Check out this post for more info. You can also see that not every domain will sell for a lot of money and sometimes you take a loss or a small profit. Just do your research.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. I know this is all hypothetical but all i am doing is giving another point of view and stating that quality research can pay off better than rushing in and buying a bunch of domain names that either make no sense or are low in quality.

I have seen many people come in to this industry only to quit because they can not make any domain sales or just simply do not connect with anyone around. I am not saying that this is the reason they fail, but what i am saying is that if they had that person to help them along and support them they may have stuck around a bit longer.

Best Buddies

I have had quite a few domaining buddies since i have started domaining. I can honestly say that it is refreshing to be able to hear a second opinion on a project or just a domain you want to buy. There are quite a few positives when it comes to talking with people with in the industry.

The first thing that i take to heart every time is the honest opinions you can get from people if you just ask. I can not tell you how many times that i have asked a friend about a domain name and they say no or it is not something they would pick up. This type of reaction does not change my mind every time but it opens your mind up to other peoples take on the situation.

Another great thing about having buddies within the industry is news or hearsay of things to come. Just by knowing some of the people that i know in the industry has allowed me to become a beta tester on quite a few products. Along with that i can usually gauge news as it comes out before some bloggers out there post anything about it.

Support is also very very important especially for the new domainer. There is a point in just about everyone’s time line in domaining that they either do not get it when they thought they did or just want to give up. Your buddy will either talk you out of this or give you great advice especially if they are the honest type. Finding a buddy that will support you is a huge quality in a person that will not be overlooked.

But Ross where do i find a domaining buddy?

Well its really quite simple. People in the industry LOVE to talk with each other and network. Just throw yourself in to these open networks people have, i.e. Facebook, linkedin, twitter, domain forums, blogs, basically anywhere people chat or connect within the industry. Everyone is looking for someone even if they are not actively looking they always like to make connections.

If you would like to find a domaining buddy go ahead and comment below. From there we can see who needs one and who is willing to connect with a new person. If you would like to connect with me go ahead and comment or send a message through my contact form.

Yes that is very true and most people making money in the industry will agree with me on that. There are many many strategies to be applied when domaining but most people just simply do not have the resources to make big purchases and create value out of them.

PocketChange

One of my favorite ways to make money with domains with less than $100 is playing the drop game. This takes quite a bit of research along with trial and error. Though it may take experience to actually make money catching domain names, it pays off quite well especially if you can make  a quick flip on the domain name.

Not every domain will sell and not every domain will sell for a lot of money. I have bought domain for $70 only to turn around and sell them for $100 because i could not get a decent flip. I have also turned $13 purchases in to $600 sales. Now that is some killer ROI.

Like i said it really depends on what you know about the domain market. There are a couple different places you can go to learn about making money with domains. The first place i highly recommend and that is NamePros.com. This is where i learned just about everything from domaining aside from the trial and error stuff. NamePros.com is a great domain forum that has plenty of great information along with a friendly staff and core group of members that are always there to help.

The next place, or places i should say, is Domaining.com. Domaining.com is a syndicate of all major domain name blogs on the internet. You can get everything from domain information to domain name industry news. This is a HUGE resource for the domainer that wants to take the next step in making money with domain names.

I highly recommend checking these two places out and getting to know other domainers. Pick up a few strategies from the blogs and even posts over at NamePros.com. Before you know it you will be flipping $13 domains for $1000. Never know it could happen to you !

Would you like to add anything to this or share a personal story? Go ahead in the comments section !

Alright its time to do some old school Domain Mining. I was over at Rick Schwartz’s blog yesterday and read a post all about ‘Keyword Mining’. He does not come straight out and call it this but it’s what i call it. Rick goes on to explain how he mines for domains by using nouns, verbs and adjectives. He takes a keyword, usually a noun, and then combines it with various verbs and adjectives to create keyword domain names. I want to bring this technique to light in the manual way and i will direct you in the direction of some automated tools, usually free.

Step #1:
You need to compile a list of adjectives and nouns that are popular words. This is pretty easily done with a search in google. Most list either can be downloaded or copied extremely easy. Put these in an excel spread sheet as a list. Check the picture below:

Verbs and Adjectives

Step #2:
Now that you have go your list of verbs and adjectives all you have to do now is come up with a keyword that you would like to mine. In this example i will use “Blog”. After you have chosen the keyword you will use just put the keyword either in front of or after the adjectives and verbs. Then just drag the word all the down to the end of the list. Check the picture below:

Verbs and Adjectives Next to 'Blog'

Step #3:
The next step is super super simple just highlight the 2 columns and copy them. Check picture below:

Copy The Keywords

Step #4:
Now that you have your keywords copied now you have to paste them in a bulk domain availability checker. My favorite to do this is GoDaddy.com but you can also use my Bulk Domain Availability Checker right here at YGrab.com ! Check Picture Below:

Before Submit at GoDaddy.com

Step #5:
After you click submit it will bring you to another page that lets you know what was available and what was not. From my search, i can tell that the keyword ‘Blog’ has been mined extensively. I know this because there were no available domains with my words.

This is a super simple method that produces some great results if done with the right keywords. Obviously as you can see that some keywords are mined more than others. Try doing this with a variety of keywords and i am sure you can find some great ones to be had. This method also works great with geo targeted domain names. Here is a small list of automated tools that do this same thing for you:

ShoutDomains.com

MakeWords.com

NameTumbler.com

DomainsBot.com

BustAName.com

DomainIdeas.com

Have fun with this and i hope everyone can find a good name or two using this mining method. Let us all know of the domains you have found using this method or one of the tools above. Also if you have something to add do not be afraid to do so.