Ok, you find someone, yes I said you....ok, lets take a step back for second because I can hear the shock and gasps of that statement I just made by using the terrifying word..YOU!
If you are expecting to make a lot of money in the industry, do NOT think for one second that all end users will come looking for you. In my estimation, I would say less than half of one percent will start actively looking for a domain name. Why? because that is probably the last thing on their mind when starting a business that's a brick and mortar store BUT on the other hand, if it's someone who's setting up an online business, that number will jump to about 10-15%...."Hey wait a second !", I hear you say, "I have the best domain names in the world so why won't they buy mine?" , my answer to that is "Why should they?" Just because you may think you have the gold names, you have to market the names in a way that will make ANYONE feel fuzzy and warm about why they should make you an offer on your name. AND if you think that end users will come to Namepro's OR any other domain name forum looking for a domain name, guess again!. I would say that 99.5% of all online business's have never heard of Namepros or others. Why? Why should they !!. All they will be interested in finding an agreeable name fast because they just don't have the time to scour the earth for the right name. Now saying that, alot of reputable businesses WILL wait until the right name comes along....So after all this rambling, we come back to YOU!
You have to market your names, not just to domainers on here and other forums BUT YOU have to start getting under the nose of the people who make the financial decisions for companies. "Ok, I'll find out who is the boss and then email them" 99% WRONG!! The person you want to contact more than likely is the person who is in the marketing department because they have the companies future focus in their mind 110% of the time. If you email the boss of a company (Not that its 100% wrong), chances are he'll forward it over to the marketing department and then rip the marketing department a new one for not coming up with the name or finding the name first. Then you'll have a battle because the marketing department is now pissed at you for getting ripped by the boss. Do you want to chance that? I don't think so!
Anyways, I'm not saying try to re-invent the wheel in finding end users, just use common sense.
Ok, here's a doosey I hear all the time:
"If they already have a website, then they have no need for a domain name!"
Where's my fly swatter because I'm gonna slap someone?
Just because they have a website and a domain name, who says you can't help them better their online prescence by choosing a more appropriate name or shorter name and in some cases, a longer domain name!
Don't just put a "for sale" "price" and email address" on the page of your domain. Get creative. Sometimes all you need is a nice logo and some creative wording on a page, not 6 types of fonts with red and blue lettering! You are a professional, be professional and do it right the first time. You only get one chance to make the first impression!
"Get a logo, what the heck are you talking about, I'm not spending money on a logo!" So you don't want to spend between $10 and $50 for a great logo that portrays the domain name and you think you can do better with just the red and blue text, go ahead! I would rather spend the cash on something that can help me get a better price rather than being passed by by a potential buyer because of what I have on the webpage. That logo might get you an extra $100+ at a minimum.
Ok, some of you are pissed at me now and I know why, its because you are stuck in the mentality that if you post a domain name on a forum, it might get sold quicker and you don't want to put in the time and effort to market your domains. Thats fine, BUT do you realize how much money you are losing out on? If you don't, ask some of the more senior domainers on here and they will tell you and be prepared to pick your jaw up from the floor.
Summary:
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Get out there, make a call, drop an email, get creative.
Use whats between your ears, it does work you know!
Thanks for much for posting this information! If you scroll through the comments you'll find a lot of other useful information as well - I like that about this forum!
Ok, this has reared it's ugly head alot over the past few months and I'm going to address it as best I can.
I've lost count on how many times I've been asked lately "Should I buy domains if the market for xyzabc style of domains is bottoming out?"
My answer is simple:
If you are domain reseller, you are exactly the same as a stock broker of sorts in the fact that you are buying and selling stocks & assets (domains in this case) for the purpose of gaining a portfolio value, then you take a chance in any regard whether you are trading and selling chicken guts or gold bars. The principal is still the same. Sure we'd all like to buy low and sell high, who wouldn't, now get your head out of your (_)_) and face facts. Prices go up, prices go down, thats business!
The only value that is dropping is to domain resellers ONLY, not end users. Just because say 3 months ago you had a domain that was worth $50 in the reseller market but is now worth $20 in the same market does NOT mean the end user pricing has done the same thing, if anything the price has gone up.
Be smart people, do you homework. I'm not a guru on this subject by any means as 99.9% of what I write is common sense that has been written about in one shape or form somewhere around the net. I just put it into a different perspective!
I've been reading your guide to newbies today, and it's really very good, i've started to get into the domaining world about two months ago, i've done some stupid things, i've made some of the mistakes you've talked about it like buying a domain that seemed cool to me, 2 months later i look at some of the ones i have and feel they're not that good, as i learn my perspective changes.
One of the most important things is always keep learning, it's the only way to have success, to treat it like a big business and not just some part time listing of domains in a few places. Above all things i believe the end user should be the most important in our minds.
The dot com is king, true, but i believe an end user will prefer the right keywords no matter what extension, i believe the end user will prefer a domain that is a bit longer, but reflects what he/she has in mind than a LLLL.com that makes no sense. I'm getting the idea that some kind of domains are only worth among domainers, and not to end users, i know nothing about this, but that's how i feel about it for what i've been seeing around.
I also see that no one among domainers seems to agree on other TLD's other than dot com, for some TV is the best, for other NET and ORG follow the COM, others say INFO is the best for some keywords, the same goes for BIZ, others say ME is the new king and we see dot me domains being sold for high prices, the same with dot info.
The domainers just don't agree with each others on the value of extensions, the only ones who seem to know what they want are the end users and those want the best possible keywords, besides when you get to a search engine and you look for something (no matter what) you'll type "something" you won't type something.com in google, unless you're looking for the domain specifically, but that's a domainer searching, not a webdeveloper or entrepreneur.
Those are my newbie thoughts so far, i'm not claiming to be right, that's just my vision of things so far
Sure here's the example and I won't mention the domain name because the name was sold to a member on another board by coincidence.
Domain xyz was bought for $100, nothing fancy about the name and the person in question had tried unsuccessfully to market it. They were just sending it to the wrong people. The other factor was that the domain page was just blank, just a blank index.html page so the emails they were sending out had zero color in the fact that was no reference to the name itself on the link they were sending, nothing relevant. They were trying to sell the domain for low $xxx.
I had spoken with them and I said to them, "Tell you what, I'll create a simple logo that's relevent to the domain name and we'll match up the colors of the page to the logo, no text, just a nice logo." They agreed. Also told him the type of client to look for in sending out the email.
Within 3 days of them sending out the email (25 emails), they had 5 responses and on the 4th day, the payment was in escrow for low $x,xxx . Now I'm not saying that it was the logo that sold them but if you are going to send someone an email with the domain name, the first thing they are going to do is click on the name and if there is nothing there, they are not going to get all "warm n fuzzy"!
It could have been many factors that sold the domain. It could have been the wording, the logo and the type of client that it was sent to. Either way, they sold it just by them getting out of their comfort zone and spending time to get everything just right before hitting that send button.
can we get some idea of $$? 
