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guide Domain investing

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I see so many posts from newcomers asking how to make money from domains so I thought I'd write you all a little guide on the different possible types of investment in domaining. Consider carefully how you want to invest before spending your hard earned money. In my opinion the best investment strategy is dividing your investments across all different possible types.

This guide is catered to the 99% of typical domain investing. Getting into that top 1% means you need to learn to do all the following correctly in the first place.

PLEASE NOTE that all the following is not to be considered as definitive investment advice. Please use this as only a guide to help better learn and understand more about domain investing. Afterwards do your own research further before spending money.

The following guide is also only for .com domains.

Brandables

Firstly we have the brandable type of domain. These are usually conjoined keywords / phrases or keywords that match well together like a colour + animal. They can also be known business niche keywords combined with an adjective, noun or verb.

Examples of brandable type domains:

  • Intellizone.com (combines intelligent + zone)
  • Hempwave.com (business niche + word)
  • VrHome.com (business niche + word)
  • FlowFox.com
  • BlueBird.com

Brandable domains are one of the more difficult but lucrative types of domains to invest in. They are lucrative because they can typically be acquired for lesser amount than other types whilst yielding huge ROI. Most brandable type domains don't usually have an existing end user, you'll most likely be investing in these with the hope of a startup naming their company, product or service with the matching name.

Advantages:
  • Lower acquisition cost than other types
  • Still plenty to be hand registered
  • Has potential for the most ROI
Disadvantages:
  • Very low chance of being able to outbound
  • Can take a long time to sell
  • Low percentage sell through rate
Brandables are typically the domain of choice for those starting out with a small amount of capital. For example if you're only starting domain investing with $100 capital then it's either this or GEOs as your choice of investment.

You want to typically try and acquire brandable domains for 50x less than what you'd expect to sell it for. This is because sell through rate is typically 1-2%. The sweet spot for most brandables is the low 4 figure range. Of course there are 5 figure+ brandable sales but they are less common. The higher valued domains typically have a better sell through rate so you have more leeway on acquisition cost.

Tiered acquistion cost of brandables:
  • $1000-3000 sale price: Acquire for between reg fee - $50 at 2% expected sell through rate (50x cost)
  • $3000-5000 sale price: Acquire for between reg fee - $250 max at 5% expected sell through rate (20x cost)
  • $5000-10000 sale price: Acquire for between reg fee - $750 max at 7.5% expected sell through rate.
Take a look at brandable marketplaces like Brandpa or SquadHelp to get a feel of what makes a good brandable.

GEOs

Next up we have the GEO type of domains. These are a service or offering targeted at a particular city, town, state or country.

Examples of GEO domains:
  • ChicagoWindows.com
  • LondonPhotography.com
  • NewYorkCitySEO.com
GEO domain values are based on primarily the following factors:
  • Population
  • How many companies are offering said service in the geographical region
  • Search volume for the keywords
  • Advertising competition for the keywords
GEOs can be a great investment if you know a particular business niche really well, or if you know the competitors within said niche.

Advantages:
  • Relatively high sell through rate compared to brandables, typically looking at 10-15% depending on keywords and location
  • Best type for outbound by far, so it's a great choice if you see yourself as a salesman
  • Easier to identify what makes for a good GEO domain compared to other types, they're typically very intuitive
Disadvantages:
  • One of the lowest ROI of all types, the majority of GEO domains typically only sell for $xxx
  • More time consuming to invest in, requires plenty of research to identify good niches / markets to target
As mentioned most GEO domains typically go for $xxx with the sweet spot usually around low to mid $xxx. This means you'll only want to acquire for between reg fee - $99 at most. Yet again of course there are more premium GEO domains but this guide is targeting the 99% as I stated.

The value of GEO domains increases along with search volume. Consider the following search volume to sales price list as an example only:
  • Search volume between 100-499: $100 - $299 sales price.
  • Search volume between 500-999: $300-799 sales price
  • 1000+ search volume: $800-$xxxx+
GEOs are again a good choice for those just starting out with less capital. Take a look at deleted .com domains or closeout auctions to try and find some gems.

Keyword Domains

Next up we have keyword domains. These type of domains are what people search for. Their value is primarily based on the keywords search volume online. GEOs, generics and category killer domains are actually highly specific subsets of keyword domains. The difference between general keyword domains and those specific types is that they are typically more targeted searches within a particular niche.

Examples of keyword domains:
  • CBDOil.com (CBD but specifically CBD oil)
  • HotelsNearMe.com (not just hotels but hotels near me)
If you choose to invest in keyword domains you typically want to only buy keyword domains that have medium to high competition in advertising and above 1000 in search volume.

Category Killer

These are domains whereby the keywords are the exact match for an entire niche of product, offering or service.

Examples of category killer domains:.
  • Cannabis.com
  • VirtualReality.com
  • Crypto.com
Category killer domains are some of the most valuable. You either have to be incredibly lucky to register them ahead of a niche blowing up or you will require a lot of capital to invest in this type of domain.

Final Thoughts

Domain investing is NOT a get rich quick scheme. It takes time, effort and realistic pricing if you want to have any hopes of making a successful return on investment.

The numbers and figures I've used in this guide are based upon my personal experience with the various types of domains. When I started out in domaining I wasted money on nonsense domains for a long while before I turned a profit, so with this guide I can only hope to help others not do the same. Since those awful beginnings I've only ever been in profit from domaining, which to me is a success as I'm sure many will agree.

Please only take you what I've written here as a guide and reference to help in your own investment choices.

Thanks
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Awesomeness. This should be permanently stuck at the top of the beginners section. Fantastic advice and insights, thanks @Dave.
 
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When completely resting on a bed far away from all worldly distractions, one is filled with renewed energy, strength and inspiration to share thoughts and ideas that are good and beneficial for mankind. Thanks @Dave for all these helpful tips. (y)
 
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Nice article. This is a good starting point for people new to the field.

Brad
 
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.com is king, but there is opportunity in others as well. .net, .org, countrycodes too.

I have had offers on numerous domains outside of .com

VirtualReality(dot)us
Privacy(dot)pro
Handicapped(dot)us
Hashish(dot)us
others

I agree. I sell plenty of non .COM domains, especially .US.

However, I would still recommend .COM if you are new to the field.

It is going to be very hard to turn a profit in far less liquid extensions if you can't do it in .COM. You start with the proof of concept, then can move to other extensions when you have a good understanding.

Brad
 
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This is of immense benefit to a newcomer like myself. Thanks for the post.
 
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This is of immense benefit to a newcomer like myself. Thanks for the post.

Good luck to you on your domaining journey. :xf.smile:
 
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Nice post. @Dave I think you should change the title to Domain Investing Guide so it stands out for newbies searching for info.
 
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I am glad I came across this post because I am about to start my journey. I heard about this zone from Ali Zandi, so here I am. Thanks for this @Dave.
 
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@Dave - Nice post. Probably the most outstanding post of 2019. Concise and well written. Very informative. I give it 6 out of 5 stars :)
 
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Very good info.

Sharing is caring.

Thanks
 
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how can i register brand able domain some guide please......

An in depth and more specific guide like that would take some serious time to write. There are so many variables and factors at play. I will try to breakdown brandable domains for you further though and then provide an example of a recent hand registration of mine that has been accepted at BP for over $3k.

There are 3 primary types of brandable domains:
  • Niche specific
  • Generic
  • One letter difference
Niche Specific

These are domains that have a clear identifiable niche keyword. Examples of this type of brandable are:
  • CryptoPlanet / com (crypto)
  • FinSpot / com (finance)
  • CannaBox / com (cannabis)
  • HoloBase / com (hologram / holography / vr)
These are in my opinion the easiest type of brandables to get started with. You want to try and focus on trending, popular or evergreen niches and appropriate prefixes or suffixes that flow well with the niche keyword, are pronounceable and preferably a maximum of 3 syllables. The sweet spot for the maximum length is 12 characters, however there can be exceptions to this if the niche is a long keyword.

Pros:
  • Much easier to get started with, you have a base keyword (crypto, vr, nutri, medi etc) as a foundation to work with
  • Temporary increased chance of selling during a hot phase for any particular niche, take Crypto and Blockchain in 2017-2018 as examples
  • If a niche is in its infancy but you know will BOOM, you have chance to acquire many names early on. This is exactly what happened with crypto, coin, token, vr etc. I recall vrxxx selling for $10k, cryptoworld selling for $200k, so on and so forth.
Cons:
  • More time consuming research, identifying what niches to take a punt on and what niches to avoid, recent sales data etc.
  • Much lower chance of selling during times where a niche is not so popular, less startups forming in the niche etc.

Generic

These are generic with no identifiable niche. Examples of generic brandables are:
  • RedRooster / com
  • GreenGoose / com
  • IntelliZone / com
  • SmartBase / com
  • BlueBird / com
  • HappyMonkey / com
  • HappyBee / com
Try to follow the same rules as niche specific, max 12 characters and 3 syllables.

Pros:
  • General purpose use, no need for end users to pigeon hole themselves into niche
  • Higher chance of selling than niche specific brandables. In my experience niche specific brandables are the 1-2%, these are the percentages above that I showed in my tiered list
  • Doesn't take much research to identify a good generic brand name, a quick company search to see how many are using the name is good enough
Cons:
  • Generally more difficult and costly to acquire than niche specific on the aftermarket, although if a niche is really hot like cannabis is at the moment there are exceptions
One Letter Difference

This is taking a niche or well known word and replacing one letter with another so it minimally affects pronunciation.

Examples:
  • Krypto / com
  • Konversions / com (I actually paid $25 for this and later sold for 4 figs)
  • Bedz / com
  • Ignyte / com
No real need for pros or cons here, one letter difference domains are more self explanatory imo.

Example of a recent hand registration of mine

I recently hand registered HoloRiver, which has now been accepted at Brandpa with a price of $3.2k.

How did I know to register this? What was I thinking at the time?

Holo, which encompasses holography, holograms, virtual reality and such is a niche identifying keyword that is gradually growing in popularity in recent times. According to dofo there are over 109,000 domains registered containing holo and over 299,000 containing river.

There are many reported .com sales with holo as the starting keyword, over 71 reported on Namebio:

holoform / com - $10,000
holoride / com - $5,499
holoshop / com - $3,000
holohome / com - $3,000

and many more.

There are also many reported .com sales with river as the ending keyword:

GoldenRiver / com - $6k
GreenRiver / com - $6k
OakRiver / com - $4k

With the number of registered domains containing each keyword and sales, it started to become clear to me that river was a commonly enough suffix used in branding. Plenty of existing companies using this in their branding is always a good sign. For example Fresh River healthcare.

I decided that for a hand registration in a niche that was growing HoloRiver / com was for sure something worth taking a chance on at $6.99. If I were to register 100 domains of similar quality I would hopefully have a somewhat decent chance of selling one some day for $2k-3k, hence profit.

Brandpa of course agreed with me on the quality and hence the name is now published.

Final Thoughts

There is never any guarantee in domaining. Brandables are NOT like liquid domains. Please please please remember this before spending thousands on them. Most will likely NEVER sell, but the hope if you follow the numbers is that if register enough brandables of similar quality you have a CHANCE of selling one someday and make a PROFIT. You can then use that profit to buy higher quality domains that have more liquid value and higher sell through rate.

Brandables of this nature and quality are a good choice if you're starting out and don't have a lot of capital to invest in highly liquid domain names like LL, LLL, LLLL and quality one word .coms.

I can't stress it enough though. Simply having a domain accepted at a brandable marketplace is no guarantee you'll get a sale.

If you can't afford to lose money you'll be spending on brandables then take a look at other type of domains to invest in. You can still acquire LLLL's for low $xxx and those have more liquid value. You can also take a look into GEO domains that typically have a much higher sell through rate via outbound, although much lower profit margins.

Also please remember to do your own further research before investing your money!

I am not an authoritative figure on domains but I have sold hundreds since 2007. I don't sell anywhere near as many as I used to but I still like to think my experience still counts for something and if I can help you guys breakdown your own thought processes, buying patterns and such in more depth and SAVE you money than I am happy to offer my advice in this manner.

Thanks and please be careful out there. Domaining can be a dangerous game at times!
 
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@Dave - Another great addition to your 1st post. IMHO.
 
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An in depth and more specific guide like that would take some serious time to write. There are so many variables and factors at play. I will try to breakdown brandable domains for you further though and then provide an example of a recent hand registration of mine that has been accepted at BP for over $3k.

There are 3 primary types of brandable domains:
  • Niche specific
  • Generic
  • One letter difference
Niche Specific

These are domains that have a clear identifiable niche keyword. Examples of this type of brandable are:
  • CryptoPlanet / com (crypto)
  • FinSpot / com (finance)
  • CannaBox / com (cannabis)
  • HoloBase / com (hologram / holography / vr)
These are in my opinion the easiest type of brandables to get started with. You want to try and focus on trending, popular or evergreen niches and appropriate prefixes or suffixes that flow well with the niche keyword, are pronounceable and preferably a maximum of 3 syllables. The sweet spot for the maximum length is 12 characters, however there can be exceptions to this if the niche is a long keyword.

Pros:
  • Much easier to get started with, you have a base keyword (crypto, vr, nutri, medi etc) as a foundation to work with
  • Temporary increased chance of selling during a hot phase for any particular niche, take Crypto and Blockchain in 2017-2018 as examples
  • If a niche is in its infancy but you know will BOOM, you have chance to acquire many names early on. This is exactly what happened with crypto, coin, token, vr etc. I recall vrxxx selling for $10k, cryptoworld selling for $200k, so on and so forth.
Cons:
  • More time consuming research, identifying what niches to take a punt on and what niches to avoid, recent sales data etc.
  • Much lower chance of selling during times where a niche is not so popular, less startups forming in the niche etc.

Generic

These are generic with no identifiable niche. Examples of generic brandables are:
  • RedRooster / com
  • GreenGoose / com
  • IntelliZone / com
  • SmartBase / com
  • BlueBird / com
  • HappyMonkey / com
  • HappyBee / com
Try to follow the same rules as niche specific, max 12 characters and 3 syllables.

Pros:
  • General purpose use, no need for end users to pigeon hole themselves into niche
  • Higher chance of selling than niche specific brandables. In my experience niche specific brandables are the 1-2%, these are the percentages above that I showed in my tiered list
  • Doesn't take much research to identify a good generic brand name, a quick company search to see how many are using the name is good enough
Cons:
  • Generally more difficult and costly to acquire than niche specific on the aftermarket, although if a niche is really hot like cannabis is at the moment there are exceptions
One Letter Difference

This is taking a niche or well known word and replacing one letter with another so it minimally affects pronunciation.

Examples:
  • Krypto / com
  • Konversions / com (I actually paid $25 for this and later sold for 4 figs)
  • Bedz / com
  • Ignyte / com
No real need for pros or cons here, one letter difference domains are more self explanatory imo.

Example of a recent hand registration of mine

I recently hand registered HoloRiver, which has now been accepted at Brandpa with a price of $3.2k.

How did I know to register this? What was I thinking at the time?

Holo, which encompasses holography, holograms, virtual reality and such is a niche identifying keyword that is gradually growing in popularity in recent times. According to dofo there are over 109,000 domains registered containing holo and over 299,000 containing river.

There are many reported .com sales with holo as the starting keyword, over 71 reported on Namebio:

holoform / com - $10,000
holoride / com - $5,499
holoshop / com - $3,000
holohome / com - $3,000

and many more.

There are also many reported .com sales with river as the ending keyword:

GoldenRiver / com - $6k
GreenRiver / com - $6k
OakRiver / com - $4k

With the number of registered domains containing each keyword and sales, it started to become clear to me that river was a commonly enough suffix used in branding. Plenty of existing companies using this in their branding is always a good sign. For example Fresh River healthcare.

I decided that for a hand registration in a niche that was growing HoloRiver / com was for sure something worth taking a chance on at $6.99. If I were to register 100 domains of similar quality I would hopefully have a somewhat decent chance of selling one some day for $2k-3k, hence profit.

Brandpa of course agreed with me on the quality and hence the name is now published.

Final Thoughts

There is never any guarantee in domaining. Brandables are NOT like liquid domains. Please please please remember this before spending thousands on them. Most will likely NEVER sell, but the hope if you follow the numbers is that if register enough brandables of similar quality you have a CHANCE of selling one someday and make a PROFIT. You can then use that profit to buy higher quality domains that have more liquid value and higher sell through rate.

Brandables of this nature and quality are a good choice if you're starting out and don't have a lot of capital to invest in highly liquid domain names like LL, LLL, LLLL and quality one word .coms.

I can't stress it enough though. Simply having a domain accepted at a brandable marketplace is no guarantee you'll get a sale.

If you can't afford to lose money you'll be spending on brandables then take a look at other type of domains to invest in. You can still acquire LLLL's for low $xxx and those have more liquid value. You can also take a look into GEO domains that typically have a much higher sell through rate via outbound, although much lower profit margins.

Also please remember to do your own further research before investing your money!

I am not an authoritative figure on domains but I have sold hundreds since 2007. I don't sell anywhere near as many as I used to but I still like to think my experience still counts for something and if I can help you guys breakdown your own thought processes, buying patterns and such in more depth and SAVE you money than I am happy to offer my advice in this manner.

Thanks and please be careful out there. Domaining can be a dangerous game at times!

Great post Dave, I would add a fourth which would be invented, a solid % of BrandBucket sales are those, just made up or invented words like Cobsi.com or Diaxi.com (actual sales).
 
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Great post Dave, I would add a fourth which would be invented, a solid % of BrandBucket sales are those, just made up or invented words like Cobsi.com or Diaxi.com (actual sales).

Yes, I should've listed made up brandables, but those are very hard to write about and really do have the lowest chance of selling if over 5 letters in my opinion.

One quick thing, I think for best success with brandables like that go for repeating letter 5L's. So domains like frigg, boomo, dappa, pommo. Again in my opinion.

Thanks
 
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Yes, I should've listed made up brandables, but those are very hard to write about and really do have the lowest chance of selling if over 5 letters in my opinion.

One quick thing, I think for best success with brandables like that go for repeating letter 5L's. So domains like frigg, boomo, dappa, pommo. Again in my opinion.

Thanks

Agree those are some of the best.
 
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Thanks Dave. Its a refresher for me.
 
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Interesting read. Thanks for the good job in putting this together.

Category Killar domains is my focus these days. It doesn't have to be a massive niche like the examples you gave. It can be just exact match domain for small niches or specific products and services.
 
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Thank you Dave! Very useful and well-written.
 
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I had a question regarding search volume and if I could elaborate further.

What I mean by search volume is the local exact match search volume. Not broad. Use Google Keyword Planner and set your filter so that it targets either the country / state and only do exact.

It is very important to be based on exact not broad. You want your domains keywords to be exactly what people are searching for and what advertisers are paying for. Not broadly related.

Thanks
 
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Dave, this is definitely one of the best posts I have seen as an intro to domaining, if not the best. Very nice job.

Anyone who would like to enter into domaining, before you invest your hard earned money into domain names, I truly suggest you read this whole thread TWICE before jumping in and making some costly mistakes.

Thanks for taking the time to put this together.
It's priceless.
 
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Great helpful material @Dave. We need more guides like this on this platform. Pinned for all eternity.

The next guide I would like to see is other things taken into account before registering or picking up a dropped name. Not sure enough people know they have to do some research and not just grab it because it’s available. Even with the drops the first question should be —why did they drop this —followed by some research.
 
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Thank you for the great post.

For anyone looking to invest in brandable domains, I have included a few tips in the following thread that you may find useful .. Click here
 
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Can't find Dave post about brandables it was a very valuable information.
 
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