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Arpit131

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Hello people...

I wish to point out a lot of things when you start a domain name business. Here is how you can reduce the learning curve and jump on the bandwagon early:

1) Belief: The very first thing when starting out is the 'belief' that this business is for real and to make a sale or two 'yourself'. When I started out, I had a doubt whether it was at all possible to make money online.
If it was, whether it was possible for me to make it? That was a doubt that I had until my first sale. Then I knew it was a combination of hard and smart work that will get it going.

2) Research: When appraising domain names in the appraisal section, I find a lot of newbies going for distant cctlds, .biz, .info etc. Which I personally think is the wrong way to start off. These don't sell easily and you end up losing hope and giving up on those dreams and this business altogether.
STICK WITH .COM when starting out.

3) Geo-domain names: When starting out, one of the things that has a high chance of working, is going for geo-domain names. Geo domains consists of a geography(City/Country name) + a niche(maybe a profession/product) etc. This is by far one of the easiest ones to flip than any other domain names(that's my opinion and it may differ from person to person). Example, TexasPhotobooth.com and similar names.
If it has worked for myself and some others, chances are, it might work for you too.

4) Reach out: When starting out and going for spamming a FB group/a whatsapp group or some other place with a sale post 'hoping' to make a sale, go for outbound. Ask for appraisals, take suggestions and then go for email outbound. Try different strategies, timing, email template. Experiment and improvise. Look for what is hot and selling.
Check out this section of post to see what's selling

Have a holistic and in-depth picture of what sells and what not. Once you are there, start buying and maintaining a cash flow, building a portfolio and putting up a game plan.

5) Once you make a sale, set up a plan: Having a plan is very very necessary. Once you are into it and doing it in the form of business instead of a 'hobby', work hard and smart. Set up a plan on the investment, cash flow and how big you wish to make a portfolio, the quality, sales prospect and everything else. Having it on paper makes it a lot more easier and clearer in your own mind.

6) Improvise: Everything will not go as planned. Learn to improvise along the way. As they say, "A great Entrepreneur is someone who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane along the way."

If you have any other suggestions or doubts or queries, you may put forth in comments.

This post is for everyone who is new to the domain business or for someone who thinks it's not working out for them in this business.

Remember, "No one said it would be easy. They just promised, it would be worth it"
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Hello people...

I wish to point out a lot of things when you start a domain name business. Here is how you can reduce the learning curve and jump on the bandwagon early:

1) Belief: The very first thing when starting out is the 'belief' that this business is for real and to make a sale or two 'yourself'. When I started out, I had a doubt whether it was at all possible to make money online.
If it was, whether it was possible for me to make it? That was a doubt that I had until my first sale. Then I knew it was a combination of hard and smart work that will get it going.

2) Research: When appraising domain names in the appraisal section, I find a lot of newbies going for distant cctlds, .biz, .info etc. Which I personally think is the wrong way to start off. These don't sell easily and you end up losing hope and giving up on those dreams and this business altogether.
STICK WITH .COM when starting out.

3) Geo-domain names: When starting out, one of the things that has a high chance of working, is going for geo-domain names. Geo domains consists of a geography(City/Country name) + a niche(maybe a profession/product) etc. This is by far one of the easiest ones to flip than any other domain names(that's my opinion and it may differ from person to person). Example, TexasPhotobooth.com and similar names.
If it has worked for myself and some others, chances are, it might work for you too.

4) Reach out: When starting out and going for spamming a FB group/a whatsapp group or some other place with a sale post 'hoping' to make a sale, go for outbound. Ask for appraisals, take suggestions and then go for email outbound. Try different strategies, timing, email template. Experiment and improvise. Look for what is hot and selling.
Check out this section of post to see what's selling

Have a holistic and in-depth picture of what sells and what not. Once you are there, start buying and maintaining a cash flow, building a portfolio and putting up a game plan.

5) Once you make a sale, set up a plan: Having a plan is very very necessary. Once you are into it and doing it in the form of business instead of a 'hobby', work hard and smart. Set up a plan on the investment, cash flow and how big you wish to make a portfolio, the quality, sales prospect and everything else. Having it on paper makes it a lot more easier and clearer in your own mind.

6) Improvise: Everything will not go as planned. Learn to improvise along the way. As they say, "A great Entrepreneur is someone who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane along the way."

If you have any other suggestions or doubts or queries, you may put forth in comments.

This post is for everyone who is new to the domain business or for someone who thinks it's not working out for them in this business.

Remember, "No one said it would be easy. They just promised, it would be worth it"

Thanks so much @Arpit131 ! I myself have been doing A LOOOOTTT of reading since I started taking this seriously and this post is very helpful! Particularly in actually moving from research to results as I am.
One of the things that stands out is what you said about Geo Domains and how it is much easier starting out with them. However I've noticed that those that generate sales consistently tend to stay in this area altogether. Is that generally where full-timers reside? In combination with being proactive with outbound sales? Or is there other niches you can generate flips very quickly AND consistently full-time? And no I'm not talking about buying someone's portfolio as a head start but for an avg. person.
Thanks!
 
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Thanks so much @Arpit131 ! I myself have been doing A LOOOOTTT of reading since I started taking this seriously and this post is very helpful! Particularly in actually moving from research to results as I am.
One of the things that stands out is what you said about Geo Domains and how it is much easier starting out with them. However I've noticed that those that generate sales consistently tend to stay in this area altogether. Is that generally where full-timers reside? In combination with being proactive with outbound sales? Or is there other niches you can generate flips very quickly AND consistently full-time? And no I'm not talking about buying someone's portfolio as a head start but for an avg. person.
Thanks!

Okay. So, while geo is 'comparatively easy' some people find it easier to flip brandables. Some others find generic terms as their best part. So, that depends from person to person. However, you may start with geo and then try or expand with others. That could be one of the best cases.
The others do require a little bit more effort.

In case you wish to know more about brandables, there is no better person than @Doron Vermaat . He could be one of the best persons to contact or follow. He writes at DNGeek.com

Also, you may try finding others who specialize in a certain niche. I particularly find geo as a good start and later you may diversify accordingly.

@AbdulBasit.com Would you like share some insight on this write up and question by @tjl92 ?
 
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@Arpit131
Thanks for asking me to share my views.
You're written so well and I'm thinking what more important to add ;)
I would like to say that while one should stick to .com at the beginning of their career, try to avoid buying domain with dashes, abbreviations or numbers+letters combination. Although they do sell but difficult and slow moving thing.
Another important thing is to check for Trademarks and avoid buying obvious TM domains which can easily be checked here - http://uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp

@tjl92
From my personal experience of almost a decade, I admit of not being very successful in selling Geo names compare to what I achieved with 1-2 word brandable domains. Geo names do sell very well but that's just not my cup of tea. I would suggest to invest in brandable domains which has wide range of buyers and potential to make a sale which can achieve you greater ROI compare to Geo names. I may be wrong but that's what I have experienced over the years...
Not sure about the best and quick flips since I don't do that anymore and wait for the right endusers to knock my door...
In beginning, better to buy one domain at a time than to buy someone's portfolio which will definitely have some junk and/or low quality names involved.
 
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@Arpit131
Thanks for asking me to share my views.
You're written so well and I'm thinking what more important to add ;)
I would like to say that while one should stick to .com at the beginning of their career, try to avoid buying domain with dashes, abbreviations or numbers+letters combination. Although they do sell but difficult and slow moving thing.
Another important thing is to check for Trademarks and avoid buying obvious TM domains which can easily be checked here - http://uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp

@tjl92
From my personal experience of almost a decade, I admit of not being very successful in selling Geo names compare to what I achieved with 1-2 word brandable domains. Geo names do sell very well but that's just not my cup of tea. I would suggest to invest in brandable domains which has wide range of buyers and potential to make a sale which can achieve you greater ROI compare to Geo names. I may be wrong but that's what I have experienced over the years...
Not sure about the best and quick flips since I don't do that anymore and wait for the right endusers to knock my door...
In beginning, better to buy one domain at a time than to buy someone's portfolio which will definitely have some junk and/or low quality names involved.

Hey! Thanks @AbdulBasit.com for your views, I really appreciate your advice! :) I haven't thought about brandables at first...however I've started to study 'em more since this thread and it does get my creative juices flowing. ;) Definitely more of an art than just Geo names. Plus it sounds like they're a good long term play for a good portfolio which I'm interested in. I like the idea of receiving more inbound offers than having to do outbound all the time to generate sales. I don't know how you would go about using outbound methods with brandables but I'm assuming like you said endusers come to you anyway if your names are good.
 
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Hey! Thanks @AbdulBasit.com for your views, I really appreciate your advice! :) I haven't thought about brandables at first...however I've started to study 'em more since this thread and it does get my creative juices flowing. ;) Definitely more of an art than just Geo names. Plus it sounds like they're a good long term play for a good portfolio which I'm interested in. I like the idea of receiving more inbound offers than having to do outbound all the time to generate sales. I don't know how you would go about using outbound methods with brandables but I'm assuming like you said endusers come to you anyway if your names are good.

Absolutely. Agree with you.
 
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Nothing's easy in this life and in this world. Whatever venture of business you have in mind, you alone have to work on it so hard and work alone, or when you're working hard, someone's working harder than you are. But still make your product unique and work hard at the same time work smart. always work on what's your edge.

Hello people...
Remember, "No one said it would be easy. They just promised, it would be worth it"
 
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@Arpit131
I would like to say that while one should stick to .com at the beginning of their career, try to avoid buying domain with dashes, abbreviations or numbers+letters combination. Although they do sell but difficult and slow moving thing.
Another important thing is to check for Trademarks and avoid buying obvious TM domains which can easily be checked here - http://uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp

Very sound advice for newbies. Thanks for adding those points.
 
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@Arpit131
From my personal experience of almost a decade, I admit of not being very successful in selling Geo names compare to what I achieved with 1-2 word brandable domains. Geo names do sell very well but that's just not my cup of tea. I would suggest to invest in brandable domains which has wide range of buyers and potential to make a sale which can achieve you greater ROI compare to Geo names. I may be wrong but that's what I have experienced over the years...
Not sure about the best and quick flips since I don't do that anymore and wait for the right endusers to knock my door...
In beginning, better to buy one domain at a time than to buy someone's portfolio which will definitely have some junk and/or low quality names involved.

This is what I would say, "finding your niche". That niche could be majority of the portfolio and then we could diversify into other sectors/areas as well.
 
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This is what I would say, "finding your niche". That niche could be majority of the portfolio and then we could diversify into other sectors/areas as well.
That makes sense. Helps to have some focus...now time to do so! Thanks! ;)
 
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Nothing's easy in this life and in this world. Whatever venture of business you have in mind, you alone have to work on it so hard and work alone, or when you're working hard, someone's working harder than you are. But still make your product unique and work hard at the same time work smart. always work on what's your edge.
I agree, esp. on working on what's your edge.
 
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I'd have to disagree a bit or not necessarily disagree but would like to suggest a different approach anyway.

Start by learning about naming conventions in general.

GEOs are a naming convention while brandables are NOT. Adding a +ly to a industry specific word is a naming convention while "VR domains" is not.

Companies, services, products are not named randomly but usually the same way that all the other brands are named before. What changes is the root keyword, i.e. the word that specifies the industry, product. Modifying keywords, prefixes, suffixes, inflections etc. are to a degree closed sets of words. Learn and study those words.

This way you're equipped to buy ANY domain names, in any niche, knowing that the sort of name you buy is indeed in demand by people who buy domains for their companies, services, products.

If you stick to some specific niche, or two, you end up buying A) a lot of crap [navigate to vr, coin, weed, flying cars threads etc. to see for yourself] B) overpriced good names because trending niches are super crowded because they're hip and cool.

My two cents.

EDIT: Btw, @Domain Shane talks a lot about naming conventions in his blog DSAD.com.
 
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I'd have to disagree a bit or not necessarily disagree but would like to suggest a different approach anyway.

Start by learning about naming conventions in general.

GEOs are a naming convention while brandables are NOT. Adding a +ly to a industry specific word is a naming convention while "VR domains" is not.

Companies, services, products are not named randomly but usually the same way that all the other brands are named before. What changes is the root keyword, i.e. the word that specifies the industry, product. Modifying keywords, prefixes, suffixes, inflections etc. are to a degree closed sets of words. Learn and study those words.

This way you're equipped to buy ANY domain names, in any niche, knowing that the sort of name you buy is indeed in demand by people who buy domains for their companies, services, products.

If you stick to some specific niche, or two, you end up buying A) a lot of crap [navigate to vr, coin, weed, flying cars threads etc. to see for yourself] B) overpriced good names because trending niches are super crowded because they're hip and cool.

My two cents.

EDIT: Btw, @Domain Shane talks a lot about naming conventions in his blog DSAD.com.
Thanks for your advice! I do tend to be very research-oriented when beginning to go into any particular niche to begin with anyways, but def. will keep this in mind going forward.
 
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