advice Some things new domainers should consider

[JudgeMind]

Before hand registering any domain names you should ask yourself these questions:

1. Would I name my business or product this

2. Am I confident enough in the quality of this name to pay the renewal fee or to purchase a transfer to another registrar

3. Are there similar domains that have sold

4. If I spend an extra $10-$20 could I get a better name than this one

5. Are there any registered trademarks that registering this domain name would infringe upon.

follow this model when starting out and you will be ahead of the game.

cheers

JM

p.s - feel free to add to this list. Make your own list and follow it strictly. Once you discover the strategy that works best for you fine tune it and you will be successful

 

[frank-germany]

....Maybe, sometimes it is better to say nothing at all.....

yes

 

[twiki]

@Reddstagg , be careful, don't mess with @frank-germany here about hand regs. He recently sort of recommended me psychiatric advice for a mere theoretical, "what if" thread about hand regs

Out of care for the other and kindness of heart, I guess... But I took it also theoretically.

 

[Reddstagg]

Don't worry, he's a pussy cat really. I think we agreed to disagree once but it was all done in a good spirit and we parted amicably. I do listen to good advice as long as it is good advice, according to my standards anyway and not all advice pertains to all domainers. Everybody is different and their circumstances are different too. What works for one person will not necessarily work for someone else today as nothing stands still and part of the skill is identifying your own trends, rather than following the crowd.

For example, I feel that the future will not just be about .coms. They will be the playground of the top 10%, and the rest of us mere mortals will have to fight (metaphorically) for the scraps. My portfolio is quite diverse in itself and not always a follower of the status quo as my situation is different as I'm on a small island that insists in using the .ie and I am on a one man mission to convert everyone to .com, or indeed at least some of the more 'regular' meaning domain extensions. Maybe it is just me, but I can't believe that the future will not change the way many people use domain names and I feel that there will be more love (from everybody) for the new gtlds.

To prove that not all hand regs are a waste of time, I have just registered:

www. tvstud.io

Now, that makes more sense to me than many other .io registrations. The corresponding www. filmstud.io has already been registered by someone else and I can't think of two more practical uses for the .io domain extension.

Maybe, others can think of alternate names using the .io domain extension, but I'd confidently state categorically that not all great domain names have already been registered and yes, I repeat yes maybe the good and the great have not registered all of the good name. They just think that they have.

LOL-LOL-LOL-LOL.florist

 

[xynames]

No one is suggesting where to buy your domains, but any hand reg you may register, especially if it has never been registered before, has already been discounted by the rest of the world's population. Sure you hand reg guys think you know better than the rest of the Earth's inhabitants, but that is rarely the case. Yes sometimes someone will come on NP crowing about how he bought something for ten dollars a year ago and sold it for three grand today, but people hit the lotto every month too.

The odds of a domain that is worth (not necessarily selling for, but worth) a couple hundred dollars re-selling at a profit are much higher than the odds of a hand reg selling for anything at all.

I will agree that a lot of the domains being sold at NP are nothing more than hand regs that someone is trying to unload, but again, the point is to buy a domain that is worth something to begin with. That evaluation of value is something you must make before deciding to buy anything.

In all, I think that Reddstagg and ThatNameGuy (a.k.a. Bulloney) might get along well.

 

[Ntmt]

No one is suggesting where to buy your domains, but any hand reg you may register, especially if it has never been registered before, has already been discounted by the rest of the world's population.

What about hand-reg of expired .com?

The odds of a domain that is worth (not necessarily selling for, but worth) a couple hundred dollars re-selling at a profit are much higher than the odds of a hand reg selling for anything at all.

Asking price does not guarantee reselling odds. How can I treat asking price as a criteria for my filter?
What if someone is selling me handregs for 200 dollars?

 

[Reddstagg]

No one is suggesting where to buy your domains, but any hand reg you may register, especially if it has never been registered before, has already been discounted by the rest of the world's population. Sure you hand reg guys think you know better than the rest of the Earth's inhabitants, but that is rarely the case. Yes sometimes someone will come on NP crowing about how he bought something for ten dollars a year ago and sold it for three grand today, but people hit the lotto every month too.

The odds of a domain that is worth (not necessarily selling for, but worth) a couple hundred dollars re-selling at a profit are much higher than the odds of a hand reg selling for anything at all.

I will agree that a lot of the domains being sold at NP are nothing more than hand regs that someone is trying to unload, but again, the point is to buy a domain that is worth something to begin with. That evaluation of value is something you must make before deciding to buy anything.

In all, I think that Reddstagg and ThatNameGuy (a.k.a. Bulloney) might get along well.

You had me at 'No'.

So, one of the world's largest producers of vodka, or indeed well known producers of vodka has had the bright idea to mix vodka and coffee together. Who saw that coming. I'm sure many of the elite domain investors amongst us (including you) may have been aware of it and as you quite wrongly state..." especially if it has never been registered before, has already been discounted by the rest of the world's population."

Well then expert tell me how was I able to hand register the following:

www. vodka.coffee
and
www. vodkacoffee.com

(p.s I also have www. gin.coffee - that's a real thing too - you should Google it!!!)

You can't tell me that no one else on the planet had thought of the vodka related domains and then passed them by as they were not worth the 10 bucks it cost to register them both.

Tell me honestly that they are not good hand regs and I will eat my laptop...then go and have a coffee with vodka in it or is that vodka with coffee in it.

If you can't bend a little and meet me (and all newbies) in the middle, then I give up and our business is done.

Advice costs nothing and giving praise where due can sometimes have a beneficial outcome.

Each to their own I guess, but thanks for your input regardless.

Have a happy holiday.

Grinch

 

[TheFifty9Sound]

The reality is, it doesn’t matter how many times you tell newbies this stuff, they rarely learn until they go and make these mistakes on their own. Trying to offload a bunch of low quality names or face a mountain of renewals you can no longer afford is the best teacher.

Speaking from experience.

 

[Reddstagg]

The reality is, it doesn’t matter how many times you tell newbies this stuff, they rarely learn until they go and make these mistakes on their own. Trying to offload a bunch of low quality names or face a mountain of renewals you can no longer afford is the best teacher.

Speaking from experience.

So, are you saying that I am making mistakes, or do you have any opinion at all regarding the domain names mentioned above. They say you should know your end user when you register a domain name, so the above example should be obvious to everyone...even those with 'badges'.

See. I did listen to some advice.

Keep-on-keeping-on.basketball

 

[TheFifty9Sound]

So, are you saying that I am making mistakes, or do you have any opinion at all regarding the domain names mentioned above. They say you should know your end user when you register a domain name, so the above example should be obvious to everyone...even those with 'badges'.

See. I did listen to some advice.

Keep-on-keeping-on.basketball

I was just making a general statement. Every newbie thinks their names are the bees knees until they've gone a year with no sales and are faced with a load of renewals.

But if you want my opinion on the above names:

I don't think tvstud.io is good. Two word hacks are hard to sell, and the general public doesn't "get it." If I was actually a TV studio, I'd want a domain that matched my studio name, or I'd maybe throw in a geo locator if we rent out etc - not a generic hack. It also doesn't pass the radio test and I doubt TV studio is a huge keyword.

VodkaCoffee.com or vodka.coffee is slightly better, but still has teeny-tiny target market imo. I imagine the only way this is going to sell to a Smirnoff or any other alcohol company is if they run a short term advertising campaign around a specific product. Even if that's the case, they're likely to include their own branding in the domain somehow, and because these things have a short shelf life, they often won't shell out loads for the domain (source: worked on many digital campaigns with many advertising agencies - including alcohol brands) and will drop it in a year or two.

If I was a new brand starting out making Vodka Coffee, I wouldn't put my business on that domain, because then I haven't given myself any room to grow. What if I want to start making Cinnamon Bourbon? It would no longer make sense. Instead I would go after something that matches my brand name, rather than a generic match to one particular product, or be more general about vodka if that's my niche.

The mostly likely use case in my opinion is a recipe / review site with some affiliate links. But I also don't see a lot of $$ in that. You need liquor licences etc to sell alcohol direct, and if I was going to go to that trouble I wouldn't pigeon hole myself into one flavour of one type of alcohol.

This is just me thinking aloud. If you have other ideas and you can find an end user all power to you. But they both fail point one in OP's post in my opinion, because I can't really think of a really solid case to put a business on either of them. And that's the most important point of the lot, again, in my opinion.

I'm also nobody, so no-one has to listen to me.

 

[xynames]

Ntmt: you are not reading very carefully. Reread, then comment. You keep harping on "selling price" whereas I was clear to state that value is what matters. I also stated exactly the same thing, that some NP people are trying to re-sell hand regs. I don't think you're reading much at all, or maybe there is some other barrier, because you seem to be repeating the same things I posted, and then saying, why did you say that?

Reddstagg: You definitely would get along with ThatNameGuy (a.k.a. Bulloney).

 

[Reddstagg]

I was just making a general statement. Every newbie thinks their names are the bees knees until they've gone a year with no sales and are faced with a load of renewals.

But if you want my opinion on the above names:

I don't think tvstud.io is good. Two word hacks are hard to sell, and the general public doesn't "get it." If I was actually a TV studio, I'd want a domain that matched my studio name, or I'd maybe throw in a geo locator if we rent out etc - not a generic hack. It also doesn't pass the radio test and I doubt TV studio is a huge keyword.

VodkaCoffee.com or vodka.coffee is slightly better, but still has teeny-tiny target market imo. I imagine the only way this is going to sell to a Smirnoff or any other alcohol company is if they run a short term advertising campaign around a specific product. Even if that's the case, they're likely to include their own branding in the domain somehow, and because these things have a short shelf life, they often won't shell out loads for the domain (source: worked on many digital campaigns with many advertising agencies - including alcohol brands) and will drop it in a year or two.

If I was a new brand starting out making Vodka Coffee, I wouldn't put my business on that domain, because then I haven't given myself any room to grow. What if I want to start making Cinnamon Bourbon? It would no longer make sense. Instead I would go after something that matches my brand name, rather than a generic match to one particular product, or be more general about vodka if that's my niche.

The mostly likely use case in my opinion is a recipe / review site with some affiliate links. But I also don't see a lot of $$ in that. You need liquor licences etc to sell alcohol direct, and if I was going to go to that trouble I wouldn't pigeon hole myself into one flavour of one type of alcohol.

This is just me thinking aloud. If you have other ideas and you can find an end user all power to you. But they both fail point one in OP's post in my opinion, because I can't really think of a really solid case to put a business on either of them. And that's the most important point of the lot, again, in my opinion.

I'm also nobody, so no-one has to listen to me.

Thanks for taking the trouble to explain in more detail. It is appreciated. I'm not saying that I'm right or wrong, just trying to offer an alternative viewpoint.

I guess the proof is in the seasonal pudding so I will have to get my sticky toffee pudding finger out and get selling a few.

Cheers

 

[Ntmt]

Ntmt: you are not reading very carefully. Reread, then comment. You keep harping on "selling price" whereas I was clear to state that value is what matters. I also stated exactly the same thing, that some NP people are trying to re-sell hand regs. I don't think you're reading much at all, or maybe there is some other barrier, because you seem to be repeating the same things I posted, and then saying, why did you say that?

Reddstagg: You definitely would get along with ThatNameGuy (a.k.a. Bulloney).

You are right, I was not attentive.
Let me ask you:

1. When you say handregs are mistake, what sale price range is targeted by you? I mean there may be different expectations from handregs for different domainers. One may want to sell a handreg for xx other may be targeting xxxxx.
2. What metrics do you use when you do evaluation of domain value?

 

[xynames]

Well #2 is the million dollar question. I suppose this sometimes comes with experience?

I don’t think we’re so much saying that hand regs are an absolute mistake as the odds of making money off them is low. I think the main reason people like hand regs is they put very little money into it and figure - if I buy a domain for 1 - 9 dollars I’ll always be able to sell it for more.

 

[Ntmt]

Well #2 is the million dollar question. I suppose this sometimes comes with experience?

I don’t think we’re so much saying that hand regs are an absolute mistake as the odds of making money off them is low. I think the main reason people like hand regs is they put very little money into it and figure - if I buy a domain for 1 - 9 dollars I’ll always be able to sell it for more.

Right, but I think odds of making money depends on asking price as well. That is why I want to clarify price range in context of handregs.

 

[xynames]

Most hand regs (registered today, not twenty years ago) end up not selling for anything.

 

[Reddstagg]

As I understand it, the sell thru rate is around the 1% mark so it doesn't matter whether you have invested 200, 2,000, 20,000, 200,000 or 2,000,000 bucks, it is perceived that you will sell 1% of your portfolio.

The ideal situation would be to know your limitations, i.e. budget, time or experience and to only invest what you can afford to lose. Also, maximize your own strengths for your own situation.

If you're not so good at thinking up names to hand register, then buy some domains whereby you can draw on your own skillset, which might be outbound sales communications, research or indeed marketing.

You will be the best person to judge your local markets and this would probably be a good place to start, but you would need to be quick. It would probably be quite easy to get the name and contact details (including website and e-mail address) of companies in your local area who may not know so much about websites, branding or even the new gtlds.

Put in the time and effort and you will learn a considerable amount on a short space of time.

 

[Ntmt]

Here is my list I consider worth hand regging. Will be appreciated for feedback of experienced domainers. I do not need exact appraisal. I posted this list to prove that not-bad (in my opinion) names may be handregged nowadays. But I am open for criticism.

Spoiler: my recent handregs

adminvr(.)com
airportdisplay(.)com
bitwisefund(.)com
datanesting(.)com
datatrophy(.)com
datauniv(.)com
digiplaying(.)com
e-glossary(.)com
engagingsite(.)com
i-practice(.)com
i-yield(.)com
lockedhouse(.)com
masspaying(.)com
momentpoker(.)com
moneytransferal(.)com
monitorfund(.)com
panatrader(.)com
payingbits(.)com
playingsite(.)com
shooterplay(.)com

 

[xynames]

1-5% of a good portfolio will sell per year, on average, year in year out.

Closer to 0% of a poor portfolio will sell, ever.

Sell rate as used here just means how fast something sells, not whether it ever sells.

 

[Reddstagg]

Here is my list I consider worth hand regging. Will be appresiated for feedback of experienced domainers.

Spoiler: my recent handregs

adminvr(.)com
airportdisplay(.)com
bitwisefund(.)com
datanesting(.)com
datatrophy(.)com
datauniv(.)com
digiplaying(.)com
e-glossary(.)com
engagingsite(.)com
i-practice(.)com
i-yield(.)com
lockedhouse(.)com
masspaying(.)com
momentpoker(.)com
moneytransferal(.)com
monitorfund(.)com
panatrader(.)com
payingbits(.)com
playingsite(.)com
shooterplay(.)com

Have you run them through the appraisal tools at either Godaddy or estibot? The values should be taken as a rough guide only and if you try to sell on NP you could expect to be offered only 5-10% of the appraised value. Sometimes, you may only see a flat fee offered which can range from $1-$10.

Unfortunately, I'd not consider myself experienced enough to offer advice on someone else's portfolio, but it is safe to assume that some of your names are better than others (and there are multiple reasons why) and the skill to learn for yourself is which is which.

I'm sure you will be fine over time, but don't be in too much of a hurry to follow the heard. Find your own niche and be better at it than other people and that's how you will eventually succeed.

Good luck dot com

 

[frank-germany]

Have you run them through the appraisal tools at either Godaddy or estibot?

expect these appraisals as worthless

a godaddy appraised name below $2K USD
is most likely unsellable

 

[frank-germany]

You had me at 'No'.

So, one of the world's largest producers of vodka, or indeed well known producers of vodka has had the bright idea to mix vodka and coffee together. Who saw that coming. I'm sure many of the elite domain investors amongst us (including you) may have been aware of it and as you quite wrongly state..." especially if it has never been registered before, has already been discounted by the rest of the world's population."

Well then expert tell me how was I able to hand register the following:

www. vodka.coffee
and
www. vodkacoffee.com

(p.s I also have www. gin.coffee - that's a real thing too - you should Google it!!!)

You can't tell me that no one else on the planet had thought of the vodka related domains and then passed them by as they were not worth the 10 bucks it cost to register them both.

Tell me honestly that they are not good hand regs and I will eat my laptop...then go and have a coffee with vodka in it or is that vodka with coffee in it.

If you can't bend a little and meet me (and all newbies) in the middle, then I give up and our business is done.

Advice costs nothing and giving praise where due can sometimes have a beneficial outcome.

Each to their own I guess, but thanks for your input regardless.

Have a happy holiday.

Grinch

new products may make up a usefull handreg .com

new techology as well

new slogans will do too.

so you have a chance to get a good handreg

but that doesn't make handregs
recommendable to newbies

 

[frank-germany]

Here is my list I consider worth hand regging. Will be appreciated for feedback of experienced domainers. I do not need exact appraisal. I posted this list to prove that not-bad (in my opinion) names may be handregged nowadays. But I am open for criticism.

Spoiler: my recent handregs

adminvr(.)com
airportdisplay(.)com
bitwisefund(.)com
datanesting(.)com
datatrophy(.)com
datauniv(.)com
digiplaying(.)com
e-glossary(.)com
engagingsite(.)com
i-practice(.)com
i-yield(.)com
lockedhouse(.)com
masspaying(.)com
momentpoker(.)com
moneytransferal(.)com
monitorfund(.)com
panatrader(.)com
payingbits(.)com
playingsite(.)com
shooterplay(.)com

add them to the appraisal section of namepros
and be prepared for a disapointment

 

[frank-germany]

@Reddstagg , be careful, don't mess with @frank-germany here about hand regs. He recently sort of recommended me psychiatric advice for a mere theoretical, "what if" thread about hand regs

Out of care for the other and kindness of heart, I guess... But I took it also theoretically.

sorry

-if you took that seriously-

 

[Michael Ehrhardt]

what domain isn,t trademarked ?

there is none
they are all trademarked in some way

 

[WatchDogue]

Before hand registering any domain names you should ask yourself these questions:

p.s - feel free to add to this list. Make your own list and follow it strictly. Once you discover the strategy that works best for you fine tune it and you will be successful

I would like to add these question to a new domainer's list of questions to consider pre-purchase:

Am I interested in " fast domain flipping " hoping for a quick modest ROI or am I an investor willing to hold a name for months and more likely years before a potential high ROI sale;

Are the names I am acquiring suitable and feasible for my purchase plan;

What sales platforms and what selling techniques and strategies will I use to sell my names;

Is my domain name price realistic or ridiculous;

Will I and, can I, negotiate as necessary;

Do I know who and where are the potential buyers for my name/s and, importantly, how to reach 'em;

Am I going to do " outbound " sales and if so and quite importantly, am I familiar with the various
regs and potential pitfalls re real or perceived " spam " email?

Have I read and re-read enough pertinent and relevant threads and posts on NamePros to understand how I can best go forward and be a successful new domainer?

JM has provided a provided a nice list of relevant questions for the new domainer to consider prior to purchasing their domains.