opinion Why I Develop Every Domain Name Investment

alien51 · Apr 9, 2015

I am in the Development Business myself. Perhaps almost 85% of my revenue, comes from development. And i own close to 3,000 domains now.

Of course not all of them are developed. Many of them are just stockpiled in my freezer bay. Nearly all of them are COM extensions. Only a few NET and ORG extensions.

I like to buy domains that are in my view, have a good "branding" potential. I like to stockpile them in my own freezer, because i do not like them to fall into someone else's prison cells.

I feel sad about nice brand names that are just being held hostage in prison cells doing nothing. If you don't snatch them the first time, these domains will simply just get passed to one hostage-taker to another, with the price getting jacked-up every time the ownership changes. So i'd rather snatch the name early, and just stockpile them in my fridge "for future use". It is CHEAPER to pay renewal fees, than to pay ransom fees.

My business model revolves around partnering with business owners (the end users), who want their business to have an internet presence. The Development part, is pretty standard stuff. The usual e-commerce portals, corporate websites, etc.

Your basic problem with Development, is the CONTENT.

What i see, especially with Domainers, is that you are FORCING yourself to produce content to give value to the domains you own.

This is the reverse of being an End User. An End-User already has superb content, it's just that they don't have the domain to house those content.

The pitfall of a Domainer producing your own content, is that YOU ARE NOT AN EXPERT on the content you are making. You can't possibly be an expert in cooking, gardening, forex trading, fashion, politics, astronomy..... You can't be a jack of all trades.

If you do "forced development", you will just end up making Mini-Sites. These minisites are only meant for one thing - and that is to TRAP people into clicking advertisements by tricking them into believing that you have something "useful" to say on your website, when in reality you are either just rambling about your idea on the topic, or simply doing content spinning.

Other "forced developers" hire freelancers to write content for their domains. But mostly, these freelancers are nothing but professional content spinners.

Content spinners are like make-up artists. They can turn an ordinary woman, into Katy Perry. Imagine what kind of magic that will do to your domain, right ?? But deep inside, you know it's still not the real thing.

My business model is to partner with the product creators or the content authorities, to bring their creation or ideas to the internet and expand their reach.

I have about 200 fully developed sites. The rest of my domains either have minisites that earn ad revenue enough to pay for their renewals and hosting fees, or just sitting idle pointing to nothing. But mostly, i try to set-up some kind of static "corporate-looking" content on these idle domains, to create the illusion that they are being used. I don't want somebody to find a hole they can use to UDRP me about a domain they believe i am just squatting on.

Of course, if you do happen to own close to 3,000 domains, it would be inevitable that sooner or later someone out of the blue will inquire if one of the domains in your portfolio is for sale. So that part, is what makes up my Domaining sideline revenue.

I understand my model does not apply to many Domainers, because many domainers are lone-wolf warriors. You are a one-man army, just sitting infront of your computer, amassing domains by just clicking and typing your credit card number.

However, if you want to expand, you would eventually have to go out and reach out to do business. To make money, you need to fill someone else's need. What do people need? Some people just need the domains. So that's why you are a domainer. You just sell domains.

But i discovered that there are more people who want more than just domains. The more stuff they want you to do, the more money they want to pay you.

Domaining is a difficult business model for me. Because once you sell the domain, you are hard-pressed to go find looking for another gem to replace the one you sold. So mostly, it's a one-time payment. And there is no guarantee you can find another gem to flip again. Not to mention it is very time-consuming, and the time you do spend looking for domains in the dropped pools or someone's prison cells, are not very pleasant time spent.

But if you have a business model that produces a sustainable revenue, then you don't need to hang around the garbage dumps sifting through the thousands of trash looking for that gem, if you are lucky. And that, to me, is more comforting.

equity78 · Apr 8, 2015

Nice post Eric, I think some people don't develop because they think a prospective buyer will see it developed and think it is not for sale. Or that it is an existing business and the asking price will be higher to account for the buying of the business.

Acroplex · Apr 9, 2015

When one has hundreds or thousands of domains, they either drop the standards of what constitutes 'development' or simply don't bother with it. The healthiest approach is to select domains that generate consistent parking revenue and park them, identify the ones with short term potential and flip them, set aside the most valuable ones and tag them for sale long term, and lastly, pick a handful for developing a business on. The latter kind also enjoy a lower tax bracket when sold as a business, as opposed to as domains only.

Eric Lyon · Apr 9, 2015

webdomain said:
from my experience it has become challenging maintaining a large volume of sites. Keeping up with site updates and fending off hackers unfortunately has lead me to concentrate on a few number of sites that are worth the time.

JB Lions said:
I actually agree that more people should develop, I do with some of mine, it's where I started.

Your situation is different than most tho. In the video, you said you're down to 15 domains now, all developed. It's a whole lot different if you have hundreds/thousands. I don't know if I would even call you a domainer with 15 developed domains. And to put up quality, something that actually has a chance to rank, you can't do that when you have a bunch of domains. Maybe a glorified parking page or if it's something niche without much competition, you have a chance.

Might be something for another topic. Curious if there is some amount people have in their head where they would consider themselves a domainer. One of the first blogs I read on domaining, every domain they bought, they made into an affiliate site. They were more an affiliate marketer than domainer to me.

cocaseco said:
A good article, thank you. I agree with many of the comments, and many of the problems once you have hundreds of domains. I'm not sure how to build a quality site that will stay fresh with new content, as well as the general maintenance? I would loove to develop more of mine, and could easily build them, but I'm afraid they would age and slip down the chart, thus devaluing them in the eyes of some buyers. Can't wait to hear more.

Domain.BUZZ said:
Great post, Eric. Thanks.

My thoughts? You run a little risk with end users checking out the domain, realizing there's an existing site, and moving on... a potentially missed sale. On the other hand, an end user who REALLY wants the domain will figure out how to reach out to you and will likely offer a lot more money than he/she might on an undeveloped name... developed domains simply have more real (and perceived) value.

As side note, I have the same question as Snivo... what is your recommendation for high quality brandables? 5 and 6 letter dot coms that could work for any niche? For example, how would you have developed Zillow.com had you owned it?

Also, any recommendations for building out a site on a White Label platform? Something that automatically updates with content? I know autoblogging is long-deceased... but there are some decent options out there if one wants to power a site with, say, a white label dating company or a white label job board. Any thoughts on that?

Much appreciated!

Acroplex said:
When one has hundreds or thousands of domains, they either drop the standards of what constitutes 'development' or simply don't bother with it. The healthiest approach is to select domains that generate consistent parking revenue and park them, identify the ones with short term potential and flip them, set aside the most valuable ones and tag them for sale long term, and lastly, pick a handful for developing a business on. The latter kind also enjoy a lower tax bracket when sold as a business, as opposed to as domains only.

dv82 said:
Developing websites and domain name investing are two complete different beasts imo and I don't see how they relate to each-other whatsoever. Perhaps i'm from a different generation of investors that never cared about parking revenue as one or two sales already cover renewal fees on a 500+ domain name portfolio in my case. I buy domains in the aftermarket for their potential to sell to end-users. Most of them are looking to buy a great domain name and a developed site on the name might actually decrease your chances of closing a sale.

Don't get me wrong, I encourage anyone that has the time, knowledge and excitement to develop a domain or two into a site and build that into a revenue stream (I have quite a few myself) but this doesn't has anything to do with domain name investing imo and I personally wouldn't recommend someone to build something on their best domain names unless they are willing to take these names of the market as being for sale.

Ok, I wanted to address all the above comments together since they all basically talk about the same negative aspect (excuses) of why one doesn't want to develop. I'm going to separate each obstacle below and provide my opinion on each.

Large Portfolio / To Many Domains / 1k+ domains: I get it, It feels over-whelming. It just doesn't seem like there is enough time in the day or money in the bank to dedicate to developing each and every domain in your portfolio. First of all, There's no such thing as "to many domains to develop".

Secondly and most importantly, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to learn basic html / css. that can be learned as quick as 2 weeks (Everyone's different). With basic html / css skills you can easily edit FREE opensource templates / CMS / Blog scripts. There's no financial investment in those, just time. You can schedule 30 minutes to an hour a day to get a mini-site done. 1 site per day x 30 days = 30 sites per week / 365 sites per year. And if you are feeling really motivated you could knock out multiple sites per day & triple the yearly developments.

You don't need to develop them all immediately, stop stressing yourself out looking at how many domains you have and focus more on one at a time, feeling a little more accomplished after each completed development.

Or, if you can afford it, pay someone to do it for you.

I can't afford it / don't know how: See above answer

Developing devalues my domains: Really? Providing a steady traffic source, revenue model, and foundation for an investor to build on / expand devalues a domain? Not sure about that logic, from my experience everything you do to a domain increases it's value. Besides those being factors already that many investors look at during their research before making a purchase, it just add's that much more incentive to an investor that now already has viewers when they launch the "re-development".

Investors don't care about silly things like traffic, revenue, or foundation to build on. They just want a domain: See above answer

Domain Investing for the purpose of flipping for profit and developing are 2 different things: depends how you look at it, or how much you want to limit your sales potential. Whether you quick flip, long hold, park, or develop, the end game is usually the same. Sell for the most profit, right? So, with that said, there's really no reason at all to avoid developing if it boosts your bottom line and increases your profit margin.

Some domains are better than others, I don't want to waste my time on bad ones: Why did you invest in bad ones in the first place? Ok, never-mind, I still do that sometimes as well. it happens. We all invest in a few pieces of coal every once in a while. However, there is absolutely no reason at all why you can't compress that chunk of coal just right to make a diamond.

There have been more times than I can count where I regged a domain I later regretted and couldn't flip it for free, let alone a profit. It was these times that I realized after developing a few, that I was able to make a profit on what I thought was going to be a loss. try not to forget that there are several different types of buyers. Many look for a domain that has multiple positives, however there are buyers that focus on just traffic, or just revenue, or just PR, or just where a site sits on googles search pages.

Keeping the above in mind, if you can squeeze out at least one key buying factor from a trash domain, chances are you may break even or even make a good profit on it, rather than having to drop it and take a total loss.

Investors won't buy a developed domain / An investor won't know it's for sale if it's developed: Please review some of my previous responses, as many fit as an answer to this as well. In addition, it wouldn't hurt to put a little text in the header that says something as simple as "This domain / website may be for sale. Please contact us at (Phone / email) for more information".

Generally though, if an investor truly likes a domain, they will make an offer on it whether it's developed or not. Not only that, a developed domain helps you run off the tire kickers / low-ballers & retain only the serious investors.

JB Lions · Apr 8, 2015

I actually agree that more people should develop, I do with some of mine, it's where I started.

Your situation is different than most tho. In the video, you said you're down to 15 domains now, all developed. It's a whole lot different if you have hundreds/thousands. I don't know if I would even call you a domainer with 15 developed domains. And to put up quality, something that actually has a chance to rank, you can't do that when you have a bunch of domains. Maybe a glorified parking page or if it's something niche without much competition, you have a chance.

Might be something for another topic. Curious if there is some amount people have in their head where they would consider themselves a domainer. One of the first blogs I read on domaining, every domain they bought, they made into an affiliate site. They were more an affiliate marketer than domainer to me.

Eric Lyon · Apr 9, 2015

nyyyia said:
Powerful insight.. What are some worthy methods of monetization that have the potential to crank out cash like you mentioned? Adsense, paid private ads, products? Im curious to know what has worked for you with a site that you may not have time to heavily market and promote.

After a little more thought, I think this question deserves it's own article. So I'm going to take some time this week to dedicate to writing one that outlines some of my top choices for monetizing over the years that yielded the best returns. Please be patient, I should have it ready to roll out by Tue. and I'll update you as soon as it goes live.

Thanks,

JB Lions · Apr 9, 2015

Ok, lot of stuff I disagree with.

Eric_Lyon said:
Large Portfolio / To Many Domains / 1k+ domains: I get it, It feels over-whelming. It just doesn't seem like there is enough time in the day or money in the bank to dedicate to developing each and every domain in your portfolio. First of all, There's no such thing as "to many domains to develop".

How do you get it when you only have 15 domains? You can't compare that to somebody who has hundreds/thousands. It's like somebody who ran half a mile telling everybody to run a marathon and how it's not a big deal, even tho they've never ran one themselves

Eric_Lyon said:
You can schedule 30 minutes to an hour a day to get a mini-site done. 1 site per day x 30 days = 30 sites per week / 365 sites per year. And if you are feeling really motivated you could knock out multiple sites per day & triple the yearly developments.

This is a horrible message you're sending out. A minisite in 2015? 30 minutes? If this worked, how come you only have 15? Why aren't you cranking them out? Making more money? Doesn't this go against what you say in the video as well when you talked about development? You're pushing people to make crap sites, when you should be pushing quality sites. And you don't get quality done with a 30 minute minisite. I hope this isn't some lead up to some future product.

Time is money. To waste 30 minutes on something that has no chance in ranking, tell me how that is time well spent? If it has no chance to rank because a. quality b. (new) people usually go after really competitive terms, then why isn't parking the better solution?

How about you do a live example of this. Since it only takes 30 minutes. Get a new domain, film yourself and put it on YouTube. I want to see some 30 minute minisite rank for something even a little bit competitive.

tomcarl · Apr 8, 2015

Great post, Eric, and coincidentally posted around the same time I came to the conclusion that I need to develop out my entire portfolio.

I noticed something the past couple of years in domaining, there has not been a domain name that I haven't just only began to develop and then it eventually sold in one way or another, via an inquiry, outbound marketing, or a sudden gain of interest in the marketplaces/forums I had it advertised on that wasn't there prior to the site. When there is actually something on the domain to look at rather than a plain, cold, generic park page, it creates a visualization of a fraction of what the potential could be and sparks ideas and increases value. There is much truth behind this post.

It's like selling an autographed baseball card yet opting to put it in a thick glass frame with gold trimming, it will always sell for more than if it was in a generic plastic case. Website = the fancy frame for anyones domain.

Eric Lyon · Apr 9, 2015

Domain.BUZZ said:
Great post, Eric. Thanks.

My thoughts? You run a little risk with end users checking out the domain, realizing there's an existing site, and moving on... a potentially missed sale. On the other hand, an end user who REALLY wants the domain will figure out how to reach out to you and will likely offer a lot more money than he/she might on an undeveloped name... developed domains simply have more real (and perceived) value.

As side note, I have the same question as Snivo... what is your recommendation for high quality brandables? 5 and 6 letter dot coms that could work for any niche? For example, how would you have developed Zillow.com had you owned it?

Also, any recommendations for building out a site on a White Label platform? Something that automatically updates with content? I know autoblogging is long-deceased... but there are some decent options out there if one wants to power a site with, say, a white label dating company or a white label job board. Any thoughts on that?

Much appreciated!

Snivo.com said:
Here's a question: I understand if you have keyword domains to develop (you create a site geared towards the given keyword), but what if you own brandables? Lots of 5L and 6L .coms that have no keywords at all. What would you develop those into? Just create a custom landing page with an offer form?

Ok, Brandables...... Since there isn't a clear keyword / phrase to build on, one must get a bit more creative. Don't be afraid to develop in a direction that may not jive with what an investor wanted to develop. A serious investor (Not a tire kicker) will appreciate any existing traffic / viewers a domain has, rip a site down in a second & rebuild in a different direction without hesitation for the right brand name.

Generally I normally say the brand name a few times in different tones / pitches playfully while thinking till an idea pops in my head and then I run with it. If you aren't very creative (Not everyone is), then tell the name to a friend or family member and see what they think fits it. If all else fails, you can always ask a child, they are normally very creative with huge imaginations at young ages. Even if they say "Silly putty" or "purple unicorns", or "Fuzzy teady bears", It gives you a building foundation. Again, it doesn't matter how you develop it, a serious investor that likes a brand name will rip it down & rebuild it in a heartbeat.\

In the mean-time, till an investor comes along, you'll at least have a playful site that can pay for it's own renewals each year. And maybe something to get a smile / laughter out of people till then. Have fun with it.

As for Zillow, it rhymes with pillow or willow. Sometimes you can playfully developed on a rhyme and make it work. Personally, I would use some illustrative efforts around a Willow tree that's been converted into a house. Each of the doors and windows is part of the navigation that leads to another playful page. Each page is illustrated to look like a room inside the willow tree house. You can go even deeper and have objects within each room clickable. Heck, make it a playful, interactive learning tool for children to teach them something about the objects in a home. (E.g. Don't touch a hot stove, Don't stick things in light sockets, don't run in the house, Wet floors are slippery, etc.)

Just be creative and have fun.

Eric Lyon · Aug 17, 2016

Potential.Domains said:
Well said @WilsonM

Maybe a (private/closed) thread need to be started on NP, with domainers mentioning only one of their most potential domains, to be voted upon by participating members and to explore the possibilities of profitability and development – as a joint venture.

The most potential domains would then be developed, accordingly. Building each domain into profitable ventures should probably have no upfront costs, if everyone involved, commits expertises, time and resources needed to maximize the potentials of each asset.

Domainers are Entrepreneurs by nature; why aren't we discussing and exploring this possibilities on NP? Mike Mann turned phone.com into a profitable asset. Phone.us can equally be developed, offering VoIP/telecom equipments and services to businesses of all size in the U.S.

We do have a joint venture and partnership forum in the marketplace "here" if you would like to start a thread promoting a joint venture for some domains you own and feel have potential to develop.

Good luck!

Loko · Apr 8, 2015

Cool graphic too

mhdoc · Apr 8, 2015

Feel like talking about how you develop them?

Eric Lyon · Apr 9, 2015

JB Lions said:
I have more sites that make money than 15. I'm just trying to figure out why you don't since it's so easy. All those sites you sold, why if they were making money, profit? Again, why aren't you making new ones? Are you up for showing your method with a new live example? I would love to see anybody here literally work 30 minutes on a site and for it to make money. Show me.

Please re-read the article to identify with the point of developing in order to "SELL" it easier or boost the value to make more profit. Why would someone keep what they developed for the sole purpose of selling? your questioning makes no sense in reflection of what this article was intended for. If you want to debate developing to keep and never resell, that's a completely different topic. This article was just to get domains up to pay for them self till they sold ($12 a year each in renewals depending on extension?), not to teach anyone how to develop a long term sustainable business site.

I'll be releasing an article Tue. that goes into more depth and detail on how I build my long term business model sites. I would love for you to follow up with me after you read that one if it doesn't answer those long term development questions for you.

Again, this is not a tutorial to teach you about building a long term business website, just an article on one of hundreds of different techniques I've used. Rather than take this article off-topic from what it was intended for, I invite you to read the next article when it rolls out to help clarify the difference between a development to flip and a development to keep long term.

NameSugar · Apr 10, 2015

brandnow said:
One problem I've always noticed that has prevented me from developing more domain names I own into sites is well, Sedo. I like to list my domains for sale at Sedo, because that's how some buyers find names. However, one thing I have always hated about Sedo is that Sedo takes a much higher commission if your domain is developed and not parked at Sedo. What do you guys think about this? And do you just face the facts that you need to pay significantly higher commissions if your site is not parked at Sedo, but rather developed? I also see this pricing structure by Sedo as detrimental to the overall development of the web. Because it prevents people, like me, from wanting to develop certain domain names into full web sites.

I used to be troubled by this dilemma as well, I eventually realized you have to treat Sedo like Sedo treats you, cold and calculating. The only way I feel a "broker" (and man we domainers do often use that term loosely) deserves such high commissions is if they bring the customer to you. If the domain itself generated the inquiry then all Sedo provides is a restrictive and cumbersome negotiation platform that takes a massive slice out of your self-service profits. (Even worse for low priced sales because they have the audacity to charge a ridiculous minimum that effectively brings the commission to 50 and even 60%. WTF.)

Anyway, I now park my revenue names at DomainNameSales, list all my domains for sale there and point most of my non-rev portfolios there also just to route sales inquiries into their platform. I also list my portfolio on Afternic and Sedo as well as any internal markets registrars may have, like Dynadot or GoDaddy but I don't route any domain traffic there.

My basic logic here is that I want the inquiries generated by the domain itself routed to the best sales venue and for me that's DNS, even in this early stage. If an inquiry is generated by a user searching the database of a specific marketplace, then it's a lead I may not have gotten otherwise. Since I know any Sedo inquiry I get came from Sedo it doesn't stab me in the gut as much to pay the higher rate because it wasn't parked there.

Eric Lyon · Apr 14, 2015

Ok, I posted the next article in the domain discussion forum Here: How I Monetize My Domains

Enjoy,

@JB Lions
@nyyyia
@mhdoc
@Snivo.com
@cocaseco

NameVerve · Jun 6, 2015

@Eric Lyon Great video and some really insightful advice which may not work for some but certainly something I'm looking into. I haven't been interested in domains for too long and although spent my life surrounded with technology (self taught and confident in most basic things), have no formal education in design or anything computer related for that matter, hence joining this forum amongst others to increase my knowledge.

Even though it's interesting reading your thoughts on developing, monetization and domaining in general i just think your thoughts on life and freedom (in the video but also in other blogs Ive read of yours) resonate with me. The whole concept of breaking free and being able to travel and pursue a more rewarding life and not trapped in one location is so appealing. So that's basically my goal.

Teach myself as much as possible.
Learn from my mistakes.
Develop a few sites (doing free courses online with WordPress at the moment) that I have a genuine interest in or knowledge about but with an ability to generate a passive income.
The aim is not to become a millionaire but rather make $1.5k-$2k a month so I can relocate back to a small village on an island i fell in love with whilst backpacking in Thailand (Ko Chang, Google it )

I realize now that its all about taking baby steps...it's hard to look at a portfolio of 3k+ domains and get bogged down by the daunting task ahead (I've only got 50 by the way, all brandables). But I think if I take one step at a time and focus on it, maybe not 30 minutes but a day, long weekend or longer then maybe it will in time generate $50 a month.

Sounds small, but that's $50 closer to my dream and i'm still young (33 is young OK!) so I've got time and am enjoying the process as I know with every post I read, every question answered, every plugin I get introduced to I'm just that little bit closer to breaking away from the corporate prison I'm in and and embracing the off grid lifestyle i crave.

Keep up the great work, you're helping a lot of people get where they want to be and I don't think you even realise it.

golan · May 26, 2016

Domains and developed sites have a lot whole different buyer audiences.

Who buy developed sites? People who want to get a ready business, ideally with already existing traffic and revenue. Also site investors, who purchase a site, make it better and more profitable, and then sell further with a profit.

Who buy domains?
1. People who want to build their own site/business on a domain ("end users");
2. Brokers - who want to sell a domain to buyers from p.1;
3. Speculators or investors - who hope to see a market price for a domain higher in future.

Very rarely these sets intersect. Only if someone is experienced site developer, he can buy a domain to develop it just like buy a ready site to develop it further.

So in most cases, the prices on developed sites are much higher. Because they are standing higher in the "added value" hierarchy. And in this sense, you are totally right that it's better to develop the domains. But your advise to spend a half an hour for a site can only harm newbies, because they will just drain their time and money.

I can see only two cases when domains are more expensive as is than as developed sites:
1. Speculative/investment domains (any site wouldn't get any added value using such domain over any other domain);
2. Really premium name that will be used for a really serious business. If such business acquires a developed site because of the domain, they will throw an existing site and build their own site anyway, so in this case the existing site doesn't add any value to the domain for them.

Bottom line: Developing sites is of course very good, and in most case you can sell it for more money than just a domain; but for that, one needs to really invest in the development - time, content, SEO etc. And - these two are really different kinds of business, and have two different buyer audiences and different sale channels.

WilsonM · Jul 29, 2016

One of the best arguments about the potential of thinking about names as ideas and opportunities. And transforming these dormant properties into long-term sustainable assets.

And domainers are in a unique position to do so.

Not all will be 'developable'. Most will always be like trading commodities.

But once in a while you will come across and own a gem.

The trick is to spot them and realize their potential. And have the entrepreneurial acuity, acumen & perseverance to nurture them into a profitable venture.

Eric Lyon · Jul 22, 2019

Sumeeth said:
Great post Eric, as usual very detailed but I would like to know one example of any domain you own which end user don't want to buy when they see it as a domain not website but after you have developed it, it has given you good returns.

Please give numbers like domain cost, development cost before sale and how much profit finally after sale. Just to get idea how developing domain really increase the value and it's worth of the effort we pay on development.

Thanks,
Sumeeth

Reminder, this article is 4 years old and many of my strategies have slightly to drastically changed over the years, along with the domain industry, Google algorithms, niche focuses, and monetizing.

Most were not on marketplaces and done in DM, eMail, Over the phone, In-person, and sometimes in chat (back in older java days).

This one was public I sold back in 2011 for a mere $59.00 back then (Which, at the time nobody would buy it undeveloped): https://www.namepros.com/threads/personalmuse-com-website-unique-and-original.719777/

This one was also public in 2014 for a mere $50.00 (Which, at the time nobody would buy it undeveloped): https://www.namepros.com/threads/onlyzombies-com-traffic-3-yrs-old-5k-pages-pr2-6k-backlinks.828706/

The biggest developed asset sale was for $7,500.00, so far.

I can't even count how many quick flips I've done over the years that started as a $1 Godaddy coupon for a .com + 2 hours on a free template for 3 to 5 pages ($1 + 2 hours labor at $20 per hour = $41.00 total investment) for $50 to $250 each. A lot! But became way too time consuming for the return.

Keep in mind, in 20 years, the domains registered today (Without development) may also have more value. It's a patience game too, if one is not good at outbound or networking.

When it comes to a single website generating revenue of at least 3-figures+ per month, it's consistently been a digital product or service that I owned/operated and not affiliated with. Which also, eventually, died off when a trend faded away or the site(s) were DDoSed, SQL injected, etc... Leading to starting over from scratch again. It seems like once every 2 to 5 years I've had to rotate, drop, and rebuild to latch onto new trends and get away from the majority of the assets I've owned (With the exception of a few that survived the test of time).

I've had sites that got 100k+ visitors in a 3 month span (Affiliate) over the years and only generated $5. I've also had sites that only pulled 15 visitors in a month, but converted 10% to 50% of them, every month at $100 to $500 per month (Service/Product). If we count royalties as being similar to affiliate, those have converted anywhere between $10 to $100 per month with 30 to 200 visitors per website those months. Of course, not all campaigns convert like that, only the ones that are perfectly laid out, perfectly targeted to the viewer, and close to perfectly optimized.

Personally, while mini-sites do still have potential with all the right variables in play, it's very time consuming to do. Keep in mind that every 6 to 12 months, code can be outdated and replaced by new standards, causing a massive update on all developed assets to keep them in compliance.

It can still be done and is done. Take a look at various website sales from multiple venues to get an idea of which niche and type of sites are moving fast and which ones are not getting any play. If you're wanting to flip faster, then the asset needs to be targeted to the biggest demands. Otherwise, just make sure they are monetized so they have a chance to pay their own renewals each year until they do sell.

What works for one may not work for another. It worked for me, but the markets, industry, policies, algorithms, etc. have changed and are not what they used to be back then.

I'm more focused on mega 30k to 50k+ page sites these days (E.g. OfficeDrift.com / ScorpionAgency.com / Etc..), however, I do still have some older developed minisite assets that survived the test of time and still generate leads/revenue (E.g. LocalAutoSalvageYards.com / SanAntonioLogo.com / Etc.. )

I've turned down offers on both the mega sites/brands I mentioned, over the years. Each time I get an inquiry, it's for more than the last time, which is predominantly because of the massive reach in brand awareness the domains/brand/sites have now and continue to expand.

It's funny, but it seems these days, it's the domains you no longer want to sell that people inquire about. Go figure. lol - I suppose it happens that way for everyone after holding for a decade or two or speeding up the process by developing a genuine business model on a domain asset and scaling it until someone notices that reaches out to make a curiosity purchase offer or partnership offer. The OfficeDrift asset has only been developed 2 years now and has had 3 offers to purchase and 19 offers to partner.

I must reiterate though, What works for one may not work for another.

webdomain · Apr 8, 2015

from my experience it has become challenging maintaining a large volume of sites. Keeping up with site updates and fending off hackers unfortunately has lead me to concentrate on a few number of sites that are worth the time.

SuperbDomains.com · Apr 9, 2015

Great domains do cost a lof of $ to develop, market and make work BUT there are some really cool ideas one can do, like online franchising for example if they have the right domain for this model. Our url Sushi.com for example we have developed as a online portal for ordering sushi for delivery, takeout, eat in dining by walk in, paying on your phone or reservations, all bases covered and we process the transaction for the restaurant and take a commission on it, we're still in beta but roll out soon. A niche grub hub but for sushi, globally is the biz plan. We are now franchising for city rights by selling the rights to cities globally, this way you have managers in each city who buy in and they can never be cut out because they are going to get a cut of each order or reservation processed on Sushi.com for their city, all that goes through Sushi.com for that city they bought in to so they can advertise the heck out of Sushi.com for their city since they have the rights to it and never worry about being cut out, and we take a royalty on it as well, online franchising I think is going to grow and be something huge, I think they also do it at Hotels.tv, PropertyGuys.com and some others I am aware of.. we would like to do this eventually with our Salons.com domain but right now we would consider selling it so that we can fund Sushi.com....

Eric Lyon · Apr 9, 2015

JB Lions said:
Ok, lot of stuff I disagree with.

How do you get it when you only have 15 domains? You can't compare that to somebody who has hundreds/thousands.

This is a horrible message you're sending out. A minisite in 2015? 30 minutes? If this worked, how come you only have 15? Why aren't you cranking them out? Making more money? Doesn't this go against what you say in the video as well when you talked about development? You're pushing people to make crap sites, when you should be pushing quality sites. And you don't get quality done with a 30 minute minisite. I hope this isn't some lead up to some future product.

Time is money. To waste 30 minutes on something that has no chance in ranking, tell me how that is time well spent?

How about you do a live example of this. Since it only takes 30 minutes. Get a new domain, film yourself and put it on YouTube.

1. I'm down to 15 domains because I sold all the others (Discussed this in the video interview).
2. What works for me, may not work for others, there is no domain bible everyone must follow.
3. I had 250+ domains at one point and managed to sell them all just fine after developing them all first (I think that qualifies as hundreds, not to mention the thousands I've bought/developed/flipped over the years faster than I could let them sit)
4. I decided to stop buying in bulk (Hinse selling off my 250+ portfolio, also talked about in the video interview)
5. Just because I no longer own 250+ doesn't mean I have forgotten what it was like to have that many.
6. Even in 2015, a mini-site generates more revenue than a parked page or a domain that just sits and continues to accrue yearly renewals because it isn't selling.

You can make all the excuses you want as to why you refuse to dedicate any time in developing a portfolio of domains. That's your choice. If what you do now works for you, keep it up. What works for one may not work for others and I wish you the best of success in your business model. Obviously, developing isn't your thing and I won't knock you for it. Glad you found a niche in the industry that allowed you to finacially go full time with it.

Beezy · Apr 9, 2015

I've sold domains that I was actively using, btw. Not just mini-sites - active blogs that I was posting to daily. The buyers came at me with strong offers out of the gate knowing that they had to pay more than the value of the site itself to me at that point.

And I've made offers on domains which had active sites (probably too low in most cases).

So I'm not sure the argument that you won't get offers holds up if it's a really good name. However, ymmv.

rubencouto · Apr 10, 2015

Hello!

For a newbie, the perspective of developing a domain name into a real website, will also help filter out a few bad domain name ideas!

opinion Why I Develop Every Domain Name Investment

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