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Yesterday @Bob Hawkes asked me a question about the daily lists I share here and at NameCult, and then he also touched upon NameBio domains. I quoted his question and my reply here, but I felt it was an important enough issue to give more details and to start a conversation about not just my lists, but all daily domain lists in general ...
First of all thanks to all who follow my daily lists and blog (and my ramblings about my squirrel-chasing adventures with my dog Steamie .. lol)
That being said, I want it to be very clear and I cannot stress enough that you should NEVER consider domains on anybody's list as a "recommendation". For myself, I go through the daily master list of about 50,000 domains to create a list of about 500 of what I consider the most NOTABLE domains.
There are many types of domains you'll regularly find on my lists that I only put because I know some people like to follow or track or invest in those specific types of domains. It does NOT mean I think you should acquire them. In fact, unless a domain has added attributes then I personally recommend domainers stay away from and do NOT acquire ANY liquid domains unless at a noticeable acquisition cost below the liquid price (including numerics and 4L .com's, etc).
Other reasons I add domains to my lists are just because I thought the domain was interesting for any of a million possible reasons. I'll also add names simply because I think they are funny and want to give people who go through my list a smile/laugh. I could also add a domain because it's interesting, unusual, curious, odd or unique in some way even if it still has no value.
I sometimes will also add names that I think could be of interest to someone I know or a NamePros member. Canadian/Maple related domains for @MapleDots for example, and I'll often try to tag people with domains I think they could use as end users or domains that are close to their usernames.
On top of those, the daily master list of all expired domains going to auction at GoDaddy (about 50,000 domains on average) is long and boring (it's a LOT of work that people who make long manually curated lists do for you). Sometimes my mind goes numb or goes into zombie mode where I click at names I usually would not have for no good reason other than I'm tired. I'm also sure there are at least a handful of domains on my list a week that were added because I miss-clicked and actually intended to add the domain above or below it on master list.
There are also times when the active imagination my inner want-to-be developer/entrepreneur kicks into high-gear and I start adding names that I think could be cool if someone wanted to start X Y or Z types of businesses. Which generally are the type of trap/pitfall domains I recommend against unless it's a name you're sure other people will think up separately on their own. Or sometimes I do deliberately add such names because they are cool (remember my list is specifically not just names I'd recommend acquiring)
Then there's also the very simple fact that most domain list makers build their lists in advance. When obviously most of the bidding happens at auction at the last minute, so I may indeed actually have put a domain I "recommend", but only at a certain price or if there was no other bidder. Because I also feel strongly that you should never blindly buy good or even amazing domains .. EVERY domain you ever acquire should always be analysed not just for quality, but also for value, and the only way to assess value, is based on the actual current (up to the second) price. A domain I think is of fantastic value at $12, could be a horrible value at $100. So always keep in mind I do not know the final price the domain will actually cost you when it's on the auction list.
Now that that is out of the way there are two other type of domains to be aware of ...
TRADEMARKS:
The first is domain potentially containing trademarks. On that I want to be extremely clear that I have ZERO policy when it comes to listing trademarks (marked with TM). Sometimes I actually will deliberately put a trademark domain in the list if the company is known to aggressively defend their marks and even take UDRP actions against domain owners. That reason I add these domains to my list is exactly because my list is of notable/interesting domains .. within which I consider domains that you want to see what happens to to see if anyone actually buys it.
Beyond that, just because a domain is or includes a trademark does not automatically mean it can't be used or sold. Trademarks are a little too complex to start discussing here, but until you've informed yourself of trademark basics and how they apply to domains, you should not buy a single domain .. PERIOD. Stop buying domains and inform yourself of the laws and rules. NamePros is actually a fantastic place to start, and I recommend you search for threads and posts by @jberryhill who is experienced with many aspects of domain legal issues ... he and his postsprobably are THE best assets of all of NamePros.
I only mark some of the most obvious trademark domains. Sometimes I forget, sometimes I'm not sure, sometimes I don't bother because I think it's obvious, sometimes I don't add comments simply because I'm running late and it's not a priority to me specifically because everybody should ALWAYS do their own due diligence on EVERY domain they acquire anyways.
TYPOS / ALTERNATIVE SPELLING:
I sometimes mark domains that are misspells or typos with a "Sp" (short for spelling). But again, sometimes I miss typos, sometimes I think they are deliberate or obvious so I don't mark them. I'm also far from being the perfect speller. Also there are times where words are spelled differently in different country (color/colour). Always double check domains for spelling.
I go through the master 50,000 domain list VERY quickly. Sometimes I even click on the wrong domain. Never EVER EVER buy a domain on my list because you think I recommend it. Let it be EXTREMELY clear that for EVERY domain on all of my lists you should search for trademarks, typos, investabilty worthiness, etc etc. I simply list what I consider are the most interesting domains. Particularly when it comes to TMs, I will probably miss most domains with trademarks. More importantly just because a domain has a trademark does NOT mean you can't buy or use it (same thing goes for typos I suppose). I only mark some of the most obvious ones when I have time .. but even then it could still be very safe to use, while others I didn't mark might be an instant UDRP. ONLY use my lists as a starting point. Consider it a first filter, and from my list you should filter several more times for various things before considering buying any domain. On that note .. have a great day!
Credibility / Integrity:
Finally it also should be noted that most people who share lists do so for a reason. When I started sharing my lists here at NamePros I didn't even have affiliate links for the first year. I was already going through the daily master list for myself and it was very easy for me to find names I felt were good, but that I didn't want for some reason or another. But you should all be aware that most people who post lists make some revenue from affiliate links (not as much as you think for most of us .. lol .. but it's not zero). So always be aware of that fact when looking at people's lists.
For myself personally, I'd hope that the considerable time and energy I spend trying to be involved and help others in the many other areas of NamePros is a testament to my credibility and integrity, and that it's not just about the money for me, but for some people (NOT all) who make lists it is about the money and they might not care what you buy. Also, some others who make lists also might not even be good domainers or might not even recognise a good domain if it was staring at them in the face. I don't mean that in a bad way to say they are bad people, but actually the opposite in that they could genuinely be recommending you buy a domain without realising the domain is actually garbage or too expensive, etc.
To be clear, while I've had domains for ages, I only made the decision to actively start domaining in late 2016 (a little over 3 years ago). Although I did make a nice little profit (in domains) in 2019, and I think I've absorbed enough information as well as have enough broad life experience and knowledge to get things right more often than wrong. But to get to the point, you definitely need to also look into who is creating/generating the lists you use. Many lists are simply automated bots or algorithms/programs that list domains simply based on numbers. For some of you that might actually be what you want .. I obviously do have some automation to help me get through the master list quickly, and there are certain categories of domains I never check (25 character .mobi's for example .. lol), but for the most part my lists are MANUALLY CURATED .. which means that I go in and actually access each domain one by one. It's obviously a very quick/basic analysis, but still, the end result is that I usually find plenty of names that automated lists miss .. which in terms can be the best acquisitions in terms of value specifically because relatively few other people see them.
In the end it's also important to note that doing the list just for affiliate commissions would never be worth my time unless I had a much bigger audience like some of the others making lists many more years than I've been around. But I won't deny one of many reasons I do this every single day over and over is that I'd like to get there one day. However I also share the lists because as a domainer I was going through the master list anyways, so indeed some of the work is for the benefit of my own personal domain portfolio.
Which leaves me to say that sometimes there are domains I leave off the list because I want to grab it myself. I'd think that was obvious .. but wanted it to be clear. When I started 2-3 years ago I kept back a large portion of my daily lists .. but as time has progressed, now I only hold back a small handful of domains a day .. on some days it's actually zero.
While 2019 was good for me with domain sales, I was actually rather disappointed with the revenue from my lists. I keep going in hopes that changes and things get better. But I also want to be transparent in that for over a year now I've been thinking about also doing some wholesaling, and obviously having a couple hundred followers who like my lists would obviously help any wholesaling I eventually start.
Ultimately .. as much as I hate to admit it .. if you want to be the most successful as possible, you should spend 3-4 hours a night going through the ~50,000 domain long master list yourself if you truly want to find the best names for your own preferences and portfolio.
Although if you don't have that extra 25 hours a week and find people who make lists like I do helpful, please do remember to thank them:
- If you follow them here at NamePros, definitely do click on Like or Thanks each time you look at each of their lists .. even if you don't buy domains .. it's not about thanking them for the specific domains .. it's about thanking them for their time and effort .. particularly those with longer and manually curated lists.
- If you do buy anything, then please make a point of using their affiliate links. Remember that your purchase only counts for the last affiliate link you used. So if you use multiple lists, be sure to spread the love proportionately between all the lists you use based on how helpful they are to you. Also remember that if you click on our affiliate links but then pay on a different device or browser, we get nothing for our time.
The same should be true for any web service you receive supported by ads or sponsors. Never deliberately click on something you weren't already interested in, but remember that when you click on the ads here at NamePros it helps pay for their servers, or to pay for the development of a new feature, etc. Similarly, when you click the affiliate links from us "listers", you help us pay for our time and effort .. you might think just one person won't make a difference .. you're wrong .. I speak on behalf of all content creators/provider .. every little bit counts and adds up.
... and on that note, on a more personal level, I just want to say thanks to all of you who click on my affiliate links .. and to those of you who click like/thanks here at NamePros as well as those of you who write me personally. I particularly love to hear from those of you who have made sales from names you found thanks to my lists .. please keep those coming!
I hope this post helped give you all some insight behind all of us who make and share lists with all of you. If there's something I missed or something else you'd like to know, please feel free to ask!
[..] I was wondering your policy re TM? I see that YWCA is on your list, and it of course has active TESS-listed TMs. I note that you have TM by the listing. I find a similar issue in my daily NameBio Noted list - if a name seems TM to me, but it sold, should I list it. [..] but like to read through your list to see the quality of what is expiring, and the types of names you recommend by inclusion (maybe recommend is too strong, could not come up with right word).
[..]I want to be extremely clear. I have ZERO policies when it comes to listing trademarks (marked with TM) or alternative spelling/typos (marked with Sp). I go through the master 50,000 domain list VERY quickly. Sometimes I even click on the wrong domain. Never EVER EVER buy a domain on my list because you think I recommend it. Let it be EXTREMELY clear that for EVERY domain on all of my lists you should search for trademarks, typos, investabilty worthiness, etc etc. I simply list what I consider are the most interesting domains. Particularly when it comes to TMs, I will probably miss most domains with trademarks. More importantly just because a domain has a trademark does NOT mean you can't buy or use it (same thing goes for typos I suppose). I only mark some of the most obvious ones when I have time .. but even then it could still be very safe to use, while others I didn't mark might be an instant UDRP. ONLY use my lists as a starting point. Consider it a first filter, and from my list you should filter several more times for various things before considering buying any domain. On that note .. have a great day!
First of all thanks to all who follow my daily lists and blog (and my ramblings about my squirrel-chasing adventures with my dog Steamie .. lol)
That being said, I want it to be very clear and I cannot stress enough that you should NEVER consider domains on anybody's list as a "recommendation". For myself, I go through the daily master list of about 50,000 domains to create a list of about 500 of what I consider the most NOTABLE domains.
There are many types of domains you'll regularly find on my lists that I only put because I know some people like to follow or track or invest in those specific types of domains. It does NOT mean I think you should acquire them. In fact, unless a domain has added attributes then I personally recommend domainers stay away from and do NOT acquire ANY liquid domains unless at a noticeable acquisition cost below the liquid price (including numerics and 4L .com's, etc).
Other reasons I add domains to my lists are just because I thought the domain was interesting for any of a million possible reasons. I'll also add names simply because I think they are funny and want to give people who go through my list a smile/laugh. I could also add a domain because it's interesting, unusual, curious, odd or unique in some way even if it still has no value.
I sometimes will also add names that I think could be of interest to someone I know or a NamePros member. Canadian/Maple related domains for @MapleDots for example, and I'll often try to tag people with domains I think they could use as end users or domains that are close to their usernames.
On top of those, the daily master list of all expired domains going to auction at GoDaddy (about 50,000 domains on average) is long and boring (it's a LOT of work that people who make long manually curated lists do for you). Sometimes my mind goes numb or goes into zombie mode where I click at names I usually would not have for no good reason other than I'm tired. I'm also sure there are at least a handful of domains on my list a week that were added because I miss-clicked and actually intended to add the domain above or below it on master list.
There are also times when the active imagination my inner want-to-be developer/entrepreneur kicks into high-gear and I start adding names that I think could be cool if someone wanted to start X Y or Z types of businesses. Which generally are the type of trap/pitfall domains I recommend against unless it's a name you're sure other people will think up separately on their own. Or sometimes I do deliberately add such names because they are cool (remember my list is specifically not just names I'd recommend acquiring)
Then there's also the very simple fact that most domain list makers build their lists in advance. When obviously most of the bidding happens at auction at the last minute, so I may indeed actually have put a domain I "recommend", but only at a certain price or if there was no other bidder. Because I also feel strongly that you should never blindly buy good or even amazing domains .. EVERY domain you ever acquire should always be analysed not just for quality, but also for value, and the only way to assess value, is based on the actual current (up to the second) price. A domain I think is of fantastic value at $12, could be a horrible value at $100. So always keep in mind I do not know the final price the domain will actually cost you when it's on the auction list.
Now that that is out of the way there are two other type of domains to be aware of ...
TRADEMARKS:
The first is domain potentially containing trademarks. On that I want to be extremely clear that I have ZERO policy when it comes to listing trademarks (marked with TM). Sometimes I actually will deliberately put a trademark domain in the list if the company is known to aggressively defend their marks and even take UDRP actions against domain owners. That reason I add these domains to my list is exactly because my list is of notable/interesting domains .. within which I consider domains that you want to see what happens to to see if anyone actually buys it.
Beyond that, just because a domain is or includes a trademark does not automatically mean it can't be used or sold. Trademarks are a little too complex to start discussing here, but until you've informed yourself of trademark basics and how they apply to domains, you should not buy a single domain .. PERIOD. Stop buying domains and inform yourself of the laws and rules. NamePros is actually a fantastic place to start, and I recommend you search for threads and posts by @jberryhill who is experienced with many aspects of domain legal issues ... he and his posts
I only mark some of the most obvious trademark domains. Sometimes I forget, sometimes I'm not sure, sometimes I don't bother because I think it's obvious, sometimes I don't add comments simply because I'm running late and it's not a priority to me specifically because everybody should ALWAYS do their own due diligence on EVERY domain they acquire anyways.
TYPOS / ALTERNATIVE SPELLING:
I sometimes mark domains that are misspells or typos with a "Sp" (short for spelling). But again, sometimes I miss typos, sometimes I think they are deliberate or obvious so I don't mark them. I'm also far from being the perfect speller. Also there are times where words are spelled differently in different country (color/colour). Always double check domains for spelling.
I go through the master 50,000 domain list VERY quickly. Sometimes I even click on the wrong domain. Never EVER EVER buy a domain on my list because you think I recommend it. Let it be EXTREMELY clear that for EVERY domain on all of my lists you should search for trademarks, typos, investabilty worthiness, etc etc. I simply list what I consider are the most interesting domains. Particularly when it comes to TMs, I will probably miss most domains with trademarks. More importantly just because a domain has a trademark does NOT mean you can't buy or use it (same thing goes for typos I suppose). I only mark some of the most obvious ones when I have time .. but even then it could still be very safe to use, while others I didn't mark might be an instant UDRP. ONLY use my lists as a starting point. Consider it a first filter, and from my list you should filter several more times for various things before considering buying any domain. On that note .. have a great day!
Credibility / Integrity:
Finally it also should be noted that most people who share lists do so for a reason. When I started sharing my lists here at NamePros I didn't even have affiliate links for the first year. I was already going through the daily master list for myself and it was very easy for me to find names I felt were good, but that I didn't want for some reason or another. But you should all be aware that most people who post lists make some revenue from affiliate links (not as much as you think for most of us .. lol .. but it's not zero). So always be aware of that fact when looking at people's lists.
For myself personally, I'd hope that the considerable time and energy I spend trying to be involved and help others in the many other areas of NamePros is a testament to my credibility and integrity, and that it's not just about the money for me, but for some people (NOT all) who make lists it is about the money and they might not care what you buy. Also, some others who make lists also might not even be good domainers or might not even recognise a good domain if it was staring at them in the face. I don't mean that in a bad way to say they are bad people, but actually the opposite in that they could genuinely be recommending you buy a domain without realising the domain is actually garbage or too expensive, etc.
To be clear, while I've had domains for ages, I only made the decision to actively start domaining in late 2016 (a little over 3 years ago). Although I did make a nice little profit (in domains) in 2019, and I think I've absorbed enough information as well as have enough broad life experience and knowledge to get things right more often than wrong. But to get to the point, you definitely need to also look into who is creating/generating the lists you use. Many lists are simply automated bots or algorithms/programs that list domains simply based on numbers. For some of you that might actually be what you want .. I obviously do have some automation to help me get through the master list quickly, and there are certain categories of domains I never check (25 character .mobi's for example .. lol), but for the most part my lists are MANUALLY CURATED .. which means that I go in and actually access each domain one by one. It's obviously a very quick/basic analysis, but still, the end result is that I usually find plenty of names that automated lists miss .. which in terms can be the best acquisitions in terms of value specifically because relatively few other people see them.
In the end it's also important to note that doing the list just for affiliate commissions would never be worth my time unless I had a much bigger audience like some of the others making lists many more years than I've been around. But I won't deny one of many reasons I do this every single day over and over is that I'd like to get there one day. However I also share the lists because as a domainer I was going through the master list anyways, so indeed some of the work is for the benefit of my own personal domain portfolio.
Which leaves me to say that sometimes there are domains I leave off the list because I want to grab it myself. I'd think that was obvious .. but wanted it to be clear. When I started 2-3 years ago I kept back a large portion of my daily lists .. but as time has progressed, now I only hold back a small handful of domains a day .. on some days it's actually zero.
While 2019 was good for me with domain sales, I was actually rather disappointed with the revenue from my lists. I keep going in hopes that changes and things get better. But I also want to be transparent in that for over a year now I've been thinking about also doing some wholesaling, and obviously having a couple hundred followers who like my lists would obviously help any wholesaling I eventually start.
Ultimately .. as much as I hate to admit it .. if you want to be the most successful as possible, you should spend 3-4 hours a night going through the ~50,000 domain long master list yourself if you truly want to find the best names for your own preferences and portfolio.
Although if you don't have that extra 25 hours a week and find people who make lists like I do helpful, please do remember to thank them:
- If you follow them here at NamePros, definitely do click on Like or Thanks each time you look at each of their lists .. even if you don't buy domains .. it's not about thanking them for the specific domains .. it's about thanking them for their time and effort .. particularly those with longer and manually curated lists.
- If you do buy anything, then please make a point of using their affiliate links. Remember that your purchase only counts for the last affiliate link you used. So if you use multiple lists, be sure to spread the love proportionately between all the lists you use based on how helpful they are to you. Also remember that if you click on our affiliate links but then pay on a different device or browser, we get nothing for our time.
The same should be true for any web service you receive supported by ads or sponsors. Never deliberately click on something you weren't already interested in, but remember that when you click on the ads here at NamePros it helps pay for their servers, or to pay for the development of a new feature, etc. Similarly, when you click the affiliate links from us "listers", you help us pay for our time and effort .. you might think just one person won't make a difference .. you're wrong .. I speak on behalf of all content creators/provider .. every little bit counts and adds up.
... and on that note, on a more personal level, I just want to say thanks to all of you who click on my affiliate links .. and to those of you who click like/thanks here at NamePros as well as those of you who write me personally. I particularly love to hear from those of you who have made sales from names you found thanks to my lists .. please keep those coming!
I hope this post helped give you all some insight behind all of us who make and share lists with all of you. If there's something I missed or something else you'd like to know, please feel free to ask!
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