A couple of words for newbies..!
Back in 2007, I was myself a newbie and started in domaining cause I saw «a kind of» opportunity to make money on the side. In my case, learning was a matter of TIME and MONEY. No experience, no knowledge and no help in this jungle. I started to register any names based on feeling. So what happen? I lost much money on registering anything with any extensions. Quantity vs Quality... I didn't know the difference. So I lost more than I won..! But TIME is always an investment if you are focussed on something.
At each period of time there is a commercial trend, needs, opportunity. We can surf on it if we are fast enough and aware. My process was about «learning», «reading», «spending» (time and money), «losing» and sometimes «winning». Build on this «winning» feeling. I had to find «MY» way in this jungle. What's the target? I learned that my motivation was on building something.
I also learned that one important thing was to never lose money. Always buy a name by asking yourself : «Will it be possible to resell it, no matter what happen?» Break even or profit..! It's an international business, so think wide..!
A couple of years ago, I got rid of everything except «.COM», and started to invest time and money mostly in brandable names. Why? There is a major international interest around starting a business. More entrepreneurs and more and more startups are coming. Every startup needs a strong name with a strong identity. So?
In this vision, today I got a portfolio of around 350 brandable names with a global investment of $9 to low $$$ per name, with an average of low to mid $$$$ reselling profit. All based on a «Build & Cleanup» motto.