16 Tips For Beginners - Domaining Since 2007, Here's What I Learnt in 7 Years

[sOliver]

Hi guys,

I haven't been very active in this forum lately, but I hope to post some tips I learnt over the years.

I currently run the site webmaster.net and I managed to sell quite a few names the past 7 years. Here are 16 tips I consider essential for beginners:

• 1 Dont Buy Names Starting With "The"
• 2 Dont Register Names Ending In "24"
• 3 Avoid INFO Domains and other extensions when starting out
• 4 Avoid dictionary names like the plague (e.g. wrenches.info?)
• 5 Avoid cybersquatting, (e.g. facebook.company)
• 6 Always check uspto.gov and avoid registering trademarked names!
• 7 Avoid hyphens like the plague!
• 8 Stop listing exact searches as a selling point
• 9 Stay up to date on industry news: dnjournal.com / namepros.com
• 10 Analyze sales patterns / Build a portfolio with names that sell
• 11 Pick up negotiating skills by playing virtual markets
• 12 Start web development (start with a topic you already know LOTS about)
• 13 Buy domains for own development purposes
• 14 Re-invest money from sales
• 15 Invest Into Premium Names
• 16 Connect with professional domainers

If you are interested in my full story, you can find the detailed version of all 16 tips here:

https://www.webmaster.net/16-domain...-i-got-a-100000-roi-on-my-domain-investments/

I see quite a few common mistakes happen over and over again and this could really be avoided

Any feedback is welcome. Without Namepros I wouldn't be where I am today, so I am very grateful for this forum and hope that some beginners out there will appreciate my tips

Cheers,
Oliver

PS: I don't consider myself a domainer per se. I am a webmaster and developer in the first place and dealing with domains just comes with the territory so to speak.

 

[tomcarl]

Basic tips that everyone should know. Nice post.

 

[sOliver]

Basic tips that everyone should know. Nice post.

Yes, indeed very basic, but as a beginner it's very difficult to figure this all out

 

[Nattydomain]

Love it. Should be a sticky. Great points all around BUT sadly many will still feel there domain "does not fit this criteria" and its gold! We all learn from our mistakes but many are to hard headed to get past most of their own mistakes.

What makes it worse is when you see Sedos weekly report and you see names like that of the quality on here sell for $x,xxx so they assume that theres can to. What they miss is that the buyer of those domains for what ever purpose had an exact idea in mind for use with that domain. 1 person. Now to try and duplicate that on crappy domains is about the same odds of winning the lottery. So instead of the odds against you, just buy better names and have the odds on your side that more then 1 person would want that domain.

Again great job and hope it gets put to use.

 

[JB Lions]

Have to disagree with some of them.

1 Dont Buy Names Starting With "The" - I've sold domains starting with that word. Depends on name, blanket statements don't hold up here.

4 Avoid dictionary names like the plague (e.g. wrenches.info?) - Again, how are you defining dictionary name? Every domain being sold is in the dictionary.

8 Stop listing exact searches as a selling point - Why? It can be a very good selling point. If you look at some of the top generic sales ever, they tend to have a lot of searches. Or if I asked anybody here what they consider premium keywords, they're going to have high exact. Even when developing, it's something I take a look at, there is a sweet spot I try to find. Too high, probably lots of competition. Too low, not enough interest, probably wouldn't make a good site.

4 Avoid dictionary names like the plague (e.g. wrenches.info?) - Don't have any myself but I do see sales happening over on Flippa. You don't like .info but .tips is good? I noticed you have a bunch of those. An essential tip would have been to stay away from those.

 

[TravisS]

Have to disagree with some of them.

Yeah, I'm going to have to agree. And it's funny you choose to use Wrenches.info when there's an auction for Wrench.info going on now. Coincidence?...

Edit: No you are are slamming domains. Read your article that includes Room-Prices.com... another auction that's going on. Hypenated domains still have value, they'll just always be harder sales...not comparable to "the plague".

 

[nomen]

Great tips. I'd like to add one more:

Learn NOT to buy names.

If it's available, it usually sucks. Don't rush it, think it over. Is this really a good name or just available?

I compile gigantic lists every day and reg probably 1 out of 100 of the available ones if even that. That said, there are still a lot of good names available for registration if you're willing to do the work.

 

[donname]

Good topic, the opinions here are also valuable, for those who have to walk way

 

[tomcarl]

Great tips. I'd like to add one more:

Learn NOT to buy names.

If it's available, it usually sucks. Don't rush it, think it over. Is this really a good name or just available?.

I don't exactly agree with the whole "If it was a good name it would've been purchased already" saying because maybe you are the person that is at the right place at the right time and make that purchase where the next guy who wants it will find it already snatched-up (by you) = good name now?

But again, this is an acquired skill/judgement and not for newbies.

 

[Riddles]

The point about keeping upto date with news and industry is the key part for me.

For example with the Drone market about to explode and expand into hundreds of different directions, the domainers in the Drone Domain Names thread have hand registered some brilliant names that should produce a nice ROI. This of course ties into the saying of 'all the great domain names have already been registered'. As new tech and products emerge and expand into new markets, it is the responsibility of a successful domainer to snap up these domains before the competition whilst they can. I suspect within the next few years there will be some very happy people sitting on their drone.coms, as with a bit of research and forward thinking they have held on to some pretty valuable investments.

Atleast thats my thoughts anyway .

 

[Name Trader]

I would say you can register/buy/sell trademarked domains, just as long as you don't infringe on any of the registered trademarks (which usually means avoiding parking like the plague), and the website you put up doesn't infringe on the trademark either. Usually, a simple for sale page, will not infringe on a trademark. But you might still have to fend off people who think a for sale page is trademark infringement. But you shouldn't be buying a domain which has a trademark thinking that somehow the trademark will help you sell the domain. It won't. In fact, it will do the opposite. You need to be buying the domain thinking that it could be sold outside the trademark usage. Of course any domain which is a made-up name, with a trademark, would make any domain with the trademark, a trademark infringing domain.

To give a couple of examples. If you register any domain with the word Google in it, or even looks like Google, you are most likely to be busted at some point, and in any case, nobody is going to buy the domain from you. But if you see a domain with a trademark, err, cant think of one right now, so I make one up, say Rivets.com, and rivets was trademarked for the manufacture/sale of metal rivets, etc, you could register PaperRivets.com, just as long as rivets was not used in the same context as the trademark. Say, for some other kind of paper binding, for example. But you have to have an eye on what a buyer would consider buying. This is oftentimes beyond beginner level, and might be why it was included in the list above.

 

[nomen]

I don't exactly agree with the whole "If it was a good name it would've been purchased already" saying because maybe you are the person that is at the right place at the right time and make that purchase where the next guy who wants it will find it already snatched-up (by you) = good name now?

But again, this is an acquired skill/judgement and not for newbies.

Well, I don't agree with that either. Good names are still available, for sure.

My advice was for the newbies to not go crazy and reg gazillion names right away but to do a ton of research and reg the initial portfolio slowly. If you, as a newbie, reg more than two a day, you're doing it wrong IMHO.

Over the years I've found that when you find a good name, it's a good practise to not reg it right away but to carefully think it through and try to find every possible reason to not reg it. As a result, I only rarely have a buyer's remorse anymore.

Again, learn NOT to buy names.

 

[N-A]

Again, learn NOT to buy names.

Supposing there were coupons like FREE 1-9 again, why not buy 9 .com domains for $45 in the same day betting against two odds: coupon will expire and one of those domains should sell for $45 by the end of the year.

Reg if you got the capital, but reg what you know out of those 100.

Set your own limits with your own expectations.

 

[sOliver]

But again, this is an acquired skill/judgement and not for newbies.

That was my thinking too, advanced members of this forum like yourself obviously know when the rules don't apply. There are always exceptions. Even hyphenated domains have value at times to certain end-users, but the chances that a beginner will be able to pick a winning horse that way are slim. They should stay away from it in my opinion.

The problem these days is that the best names are taken, so hand-registered names that are truly valuable in a few years are rare and possibly limited to new and emerging niches. Let's say you're located in Silicon Valley, SF and surrounding areas, chances are your knowledge of upcoming tech that will change the worlds is pretty good. This knowledge can be put to use to build a portfolio of names that could possibly sell for a lot in 1-5 years from now. Same goes for other industries.

 

[sOliver]

Have to disagree with some of them.

1 Dont Buy Names Starting With "The" - I've sold domains starting with that word. Depends on name, blanket statements don't hold up here.

4 Avoid dictionary names like the plague (e.g. wrenches.info?) - Again, how are you defining dictionary name? Every domain being sold is in the dictionary.

8 Stop listing exact searches as a selling point - Why? It can be a very good selling point. If you look at some of the top generic sales ever, they tend to have a lot of searches. Or if I asked anybody here what they consider premium keywords, they're going to have high exact. Even when developing, it's something I take a look at, there is a sweet spot I try to find. Too high, probably lots of competition. Too low, not enough interest, probably wouldn't make a good site.

4 Avoid dictionary names like the plague (e.g. wrenches.info?) - Don't have any myself but I do see sales happening over on Flippa. You don't like .info but .tips is good? I noticed you have a bunch of those. An essential tip would have been to stay away from those.

Fair points JB! Since this is a forum let me address your points:

First, all of the points mentioned above apply to beginners only.

@Dictionary - A lot of domains you find in the sales forum are not in any dictionary.

@Tips Domains - I have already several 4-figure offers for multiple dot tips names. In my opinion there is a market for ultra premium keywords such as software, hunting, etc. What would you rather own an info domain or a tips domain? I know what I would pick any day. Consumers are actively looking for tips and not "info". Info is too general. People enter "Hunting tips" into a search engine, not "hunting info". Well they do too, but more people look for tips! Domain hacks have more value than you think.

@Exact searches - again, listing exact searches for a name such as wrench.info? No one is really interested in buying such a name because it simply has no commercial use and encouraging beginners to register info domains is a mistake unless they are ultra-premium keywords such as "poker, software, loan..."

 

[JB Lions]

As far as exact match:

"8 Stop listing exact searches as a selling point"

I was speaking in general. Few things on that, because somebody else posted it wasn't that important, which I found pretty amazing.

You can read this, where they concluded search volume was the #1 indicator - http://www.dropmining.com/data/learning-from-the-master-how-mike-mann-values-a-domain-name/

Or how Andrew Rosener figures a price:

Rosener Equation

Domain Name Valuation = A x B x C x D

where:

A = Exact-match monthly search volume
B = Average CPC
C = Click-through rate
D = Payback period (months)

Where search volume again is very important.

Or just realizing exact match, search volume is what? It's interest. It's people looking for something. It's good to have those domains. Those big generic domain sales, those we consider premium keywords, all have high search volume in common. It is a selling point and a very good one at that.

Even with development, would it make sense to build a site on something nobody is actually searching for, or extremely low search volume? No, I learned that myself by going too niche with 1 site.

What would you rather own an info domain or a tips domain? I know what I would pick any day. Consumers are actively looking for tips and not "info". Info is too general. People enter "Hunting tips" into a search engine, not "hunting info". Well they do too, but more people look for tips! Domain hacks have more value than you think.

Between the 2, I would pick the .info, because it actually has sales behind it. tips a little over 30,000 regs, info 5,500,000. So more chance public is familiar with it. So didn't understand that one. Why you seemed so against .info, but liked .tips, when it's in the same realm just not as popular. New gtlds is not something I would advise for beginners, but we've gone over that one to death in the forums. To each his own on that one.

 

[sOliver]

May I ask where you got the numbers from? I would be interested in tracking the growth of new TLDs.

"New gtlds is not something I would advise for beginners" - Totally agree, it's very difficult to gauge the demand. There are so many extensions it's unbelievable. The maintenace and registration costs are so high, I am not sure all of the extension will still be here by 2016-17

 

[SimpleDomaining]

Can agree and disagree with any of the points listed at the beginning (well besides the one about exact monthly searches). Still have to remember that this is posted for newbies, and for newbies this is very good starting point to begin with. What is important for newbies? Not to invest their money into junk. Avoiding registering the type of domains listed here on top, they are being given a better chance to learn whats difficult to sell. It is later they will learn differentiate good "the" domains from bad.
For start, they should keep themselves away from "the", also away from domains with numbers, and domains with hyphens, try to stick with .com, try to have them on high monthly exact searches (because this is still relevant for domainers!), to avoid trademarks, and... (i am keep saying this for years) to go check previous domain sales and to try to answer, why exactly this or that particular domain was sold at high price... was it just the keyword, was it the revenue, was it the CPC factor, was it generating typein traffic or what? Why someone actually agreed to pay for it. Once you understand it - try to play another game. Pick a domain that already sold, dont look at sales price and try to appraise it yourself. If you will guess the sale price of the domain correctly, and can explain why, then, and only then you can start slowly investing into domaining.

 

[JB Lions]

May I ask where you got the numbers from? I would be interested in tracking the growth of new TLDs.

Few places I have boomarked:

http://ntldstats.com/

http://www.registrarstats.com/TLDDomainCounts.aspx

http://www.namestat.org/

 

[equity78]

Have to disagree with some of them.

1 Dont Buy Names Starting With "The" - I've sold domains starting with that word. Depends on name, blanket statements don't hold up here.

4 Avoid dictionary names like the plague (e.g. wrenches.info?) - Again, how are you defining dictionary name? Every domain being sold is in the dictionary.

8 Stop listing exact searches as a selling point - Why? It can be a very good selling point. If you look at some of the top generic sales ever, they tend to have a lot of searches. Or if I asked anybody here what they consider premium keywords, they're going to have high exact. Even when developing, it's something I take a look at, there is a sweet spot I try to find. Too high, probably lots of competition. Too low, not enough interest, probably wouldn't make a good site.

4 Avoid dictionary names like the plague (e.g. wrenches.info?) - Don't have any myself but I do see sales happening over on Flippa. You don't like .info but .tips is good? I noticed you have a bunch of those. An essential tip would have been to stay away from those.

Exactly on #1 JB Michael Berkens owns many and has sold quite a number of The domains for xx,xxx. I know buyers looking for TheKeyword.com domains all the time, they have to make sense. The best keywords are worth some money.