I've always thought about this when seeing such big sales. and as a newbie I've always wondered if perhaps a "selling technique" for such domains is the HYPE of the seller ie. Mike Mann the King!
I think Mike has created a following for himself online so much so that just by him simply offering you a domain to purchase. You as a buyer must feel a bit like in the presense of Elvis or Frank Sinatra.
Even if you don't know Mike. a simple Google search will give you the "gist" about him.
so I think merely on online "clout" alone sells his domains.
I mean cmon I'm sure many of us on here believe we have better domains than this 3 letter domain. yet ours will never sell for this much. even if they were 4L.com's and single dictionary words.
So here's what I think happens.
I've always thought that when you "pitch" to a potential buyer and tell them you want $40,000 for a domain. and a 3 letter domain at that! That I think the "big boys" of domaining mention this:
When a domain sells for Big Bucks?
It will be TALKED ABOUT in all the news outlets for domaining online.
in fact the domain will be mentioned in all the best high ranking sites online. This is CONTENT for these sites. Content like this gets their readers to keep visting their sites.
In effect. the domains rank and popularity gets a boost.
so it's almost like paying $40,000 for advertising or the domain while thee other one is just the Cherry on top.
It's like paying $40G's for a domain and getting Free advertising that increases the value of the domain.
Or paying $40G's to advertise your website on all the top rank websites online and getting a domain for free.
I liken this scenario to when Reality Stars or Rappers or Celebrities (people who SHOULDN'T be famous or Popular i.e. NO TALENT)buy multi-million dollar homes and cars and live lavish lifestyles ( most of which is lease and rentals only)
Their PR people tell them to do this because it gets the Magazines and news sites and national enquirer types talking.
(this is why you end up seeing stars on skid row...depending if they had good financial advisors.because they are told to spend spend spend so the news site will gossip about them)
As they say in the biz. if No One is talking about you. Then you won't be worth crap.
So I think Mike Mann and all thee other guru's use this template to get themselves notoriety or fame. Even if it's a bad negative story. It's still free publicity.
So when they mention their other domains they literally piggy back off their past news of past domain sales.
It's pretty ingenious actually. Love it!
so next time you get a bite on one of your domains. why not tell them
"Did you know if you buy this domain for your company for $50,000 that it will get picked up in all the domaining news sites? and people will talk about it and mention it in all the top rank forums and blogs and news outlets?? This domain is already awesome as is. but the cherry on top is if you buy it for $50,000 it's like paying $50,000 for free advertising. and I guarantee all the SEO Ranking analysis software out there will value your domain more than what you paid for INSTANTANEOUSLY! In fact??? I'll even pay for a PR Release mentioning the sale of this domain for $50G's to guarantee this. So do we have a deal?"
ROCKSTAR!
LOL
sorry for rambling. I've thought about this obviously too much.
Does anyone believe this is going on behind the scenes? because the gurus won't spill their trade secrets like this one perhaps?
Everyone always says. "How the hell did he sell THAT domain for THAT Price?" and then think "What am I doing wrong?"
And then they say " I could never (with a straight face) ask for $XX,XXX for any of my domains.
Has anyone ever thought that the reason why Mike can confidently ASK for that much is because he has already scripted his sales pitch?
Mike is literally selling himself not his domains. His Name attached to each of his domains ads value to his domains. a piece of paper is worthless until Frank Sinatra signs it.
I mean think about it. if given the scenario above. What potential buyer wouldn't buy his domains?
"Say what? so you are telling me Mike? That if I buy this domain for $50,000 in a few weeks it will be worth 10%-50% or even 100% more because of the free publicity? Sign me up! and where do I send my check?"
lol
in a way it's kinda like the stock market pump and dumps where a bunch of investors make a plan to buy a stock to show it's increase in value which in turn gets people to buy more stock. Therefore the Value is created out of thin air. The company's value is not from sales of products or services but totally from stock investors. Value is created by publicity.
I do think that after a sale. Mike does follow thru and gets a domain he sells all the publicity in the world thereby creating happy customers.
I hope people don't think I'm crazy babbling. doesn't anyone agree with me? man I hope I'm not the only one.
Great Sale Mike! Best of luck!
I noticed started getting likes so I reread it an realized there's a typo. Please replace "3 letter domain" with "3 word domain". Sorry. I was using mobile when I posted .
I also wanted to add that by no means do I believe that the "technique" I mentioned is the main reason Mike's domains sell. His domains are of course topshelf and aged but many of us domainers have quality aged domains too but most of us won't ever get the prices Mike is getting for his domains. This is where the "technique" comes in. I think it can be used for both new hand reg and aged domains.
Also I think for all domainers who either are too lazy to develop or even do the due dilligence to create backlinks for their site naturally (like me) they should make connections with web designers on freelance sites. To offer potential buyers a "preconstruction". Think of domains as undeveloped landed. Sell them on the commentary PR BLAST you will do for free for them as part of the sale.
This PR BLAST of course you will have already factored into your final target price.
. tell them this PR BLAST will be sent to over 400k sites with hard backlinks.
This will of course increase the value of the domain.
The cherry on top?
You and your company will be mentioned plus whatever website you plan to sell next or your main website or even boost your own domain marketplace if you have one like Mike.
It's like piggybacking off each successful domain sale you make!best part? Your buyer picks up the tab basically .
It each of your domain sales gets mentioned on 400k sites times however many sales you get.
How popular and how quickly would it get popular ?
Plus even better.
U noticed on Mike's site he still mentions each domain he's ever sold. Why is that? I think it's part of his "package deal" with the buyer.
Imagine the domain you just bought for $40k that has a hard backlinks on Mike's super high rank websites?
Wouldn't that too bad icing on the cake?
I gotta admit it won't be easy you still have to hustle. Not many buyers will "bite" it's an exact science . But I think this is where Mike gets his confidence to flat out ask for $40k for a 3 word domain.
It's almost like asking investors for seed money even though you don't have a working product or service. You have to convince total strangers you will create something out of thin air.
In a nutshell.
1. Buy this new reg or aged domain that matches your business perfectly for $50,000.
2. After receipt of payment I will pay for top of the line press release that will get picked up by Google news and 400k sites thereby boosting your domains alexa or Google rank thereby increasing the value of your domain and what you paid for.
3. Everytime I sell a domain my company websites get mentioned. At no cost to you. I will personally mention the sale of your domain in my websites with hard backlinks back to your purchased domain.
4. I have partnered with web designers world wide to provide you with the best and most cost effective solution to develop a profitable website. The cost and time for Finding and vetting such talent is absolutely priceless. If you did it yourself you would most likely meet the wrong people who will cheat you and do poor work. I have done all the work for you.
I can't think of anything else here. But please if you can think of other things to add "value" to this scenario. Please feel free.
Also a few minutes ago I spoke to a new connection on linkined. My reply was.
"Thank you for your connection. Best of luck and have a great day! Also if by chance your company is in need of free passive search engine traffic please feel free to contact me. I have over 346 solutions ready to drive traffic to your 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year and my solutions never eat or sleep or ask for coffee breaks
If this leaves your curiousity peaked please satisfy it by contacting me. my solutions are ready to bring traffic to your website. For more info send a reply. Thank you again for the connection!"
In the scenario above my 346 solutions are my domains of course. And we all know that big companies like Johnson and Johnson and azon buy domains to boost their main websites.
Never try to sell prospective buyers JUST A DOMAIN.
Always start with how much traffic and $$$$ you will make them. This is their bottom line . Most buyers don't get the value of domains. Most are too busy to learn. You need to make things easy for them in terms they can understand. Like
"Triple my money"
Or
"Triple my traffic and make more money from the traffic"
This should be every domainers opening line. Not I have a great domain for you. It's 10 years old yadda yadda Yadda.
Simply having a great domain and having age isn't enough. Buyers need real world scenarios.
I know I talk like an expert which I'm not. But I thought about it hard and long and realized this has to be the way Mike sells domains consistently for top dollar.
I've seen his press releases and felt they were always a bit self promoting and showoffy but realized this is how the game is played.
And now I'm going to play it by the Mike Mann book.
How about you all?
Of course everyone could also simply shell out the money out of pocket to do a press release and develop a website in the "hopes" it will be great popular and generate a revenue . Too me that's too much risk like opening a new restaurant. " Grand opening grand closing".
I rather do it the cheap way and have the buyer pick up the tab for development and promo after they buy. Just make sure you give them what you promised them.
Sorry to hijack this post. Just felt the need to drop this here.
