Can anyone make 5 Figure income doing what we do?

[trishool]

DOES anyone make a high 5 Figure income doing what you do?
(generally enough to live a simple and independent life)

If Not

1) Why do you do it?
2) Is it worth it? Would it not be better to try to invest your time in a more ROI business?

If Yes

1) Were you immediately successful? How long did it take you to earn a high 5 figure per year income?

2) Do you have a specific education background (such as degrees in computer science, web design, website development, marketing) that makes you better at making an income trading domains and/or developing running and operating websites/blogs?

I Think a Lot of Newbies Get Frustrated and this would give everyone a good sense of this business.

Thank You and A Thousand Pardons

 

[Premiere]

DOES anyone make a high 5 Figure income doing what you do?
(generally enough to live a simple and independent life)

This is only supplemental income to my business. It took two years and probably about $20,000 to understand domaining and the lessons I needed to learn to move forward and make money instead of lose money. These lessons are different for every domainer since methods of earning vary with knowledge and experience. I probably earn about $25k annually from buying and selling domains now.

Prior to domaining I had built several websites and spent tens of thousands paying Google for customers. I got frustrated with the massive payout to Adwords and decided that keywords with decent SEO were the key to resolving my business issues. I also own my own IT business so this is just part of my general technical skillset.

Here's some key advice that I ignored early on that would have saved some time:
Skip the ccTLDs until you understand .com / .net and .org. Money can be made on any name but don't rush headlong into buying without first understanding how to sell. Don't collect because value should go up. Valuation is always in flux.

 

[nielsencl]

I have about 1,500 domains and have been doing this since 2007. I have my own Internet consulting business, but domains have become a larger part of what I do. I lost/wasted a lot of money in the first couple of years. But now after expenses I make $500-$800 a month I think. You can figure out what the yearly reg fees are for 1,500 domain names. I make money from domain parking, a few sales here and there, and about 70 sites and blogs that are developed and generate income. I am working to sell more domains and increase what I am currently earning.

Buying domains is the easy part. Formal business education will help, but domainers should know as much as possible about everthing talked about here on Namepros and other sites. Don't keep spending money for too long if you are not making money.

 

[trishool]

thank you for your responses . I really appreciate this.

 

[glaxxon]

Okay but is earning from parking an essential/dominating part of this income?
So if you go this route then do numbers matter as well?
Also does developed sites/blogs imply fully developed or minisites?

 

[barefoottech]

You can make a high 5 figure income from Domains??
Now they tell me that after 5 years.

$50000 a year is not much at all for any of the SERIOUS Domainers:p

Allowing for a 5 day week and 2 weeks holidays
Equal 250 working days a year
You only need to make $200 a day to do that amount of income.
Allowing for an 8hour day that is only double the minimum wage for a Burgerflipper

So anyone working at being a serious domainer would need to earn a bit more than 50k a year

 

[trishool]

Djuga.. thats exactly right and my precise point. There are a lot of people on this site who say that they own thousands of domains and they have developed them fairly well but they dont make more than a few thousand dollars per year

and then we have people who say that they make high six figures. As a newbie, I am just confused. Is this something I want to spend considerable time doing? My goal is to basically live an independent and free life working for myself.

I dont want to be super rich or anything, just make enough to go fishing or play cricket WHENEVER i want without asking for the Boss for permission ( I used to work in Finance and have several Independence and Boss issues)

So is it really possible to live the free life by carting your laptop anywhere in the world and working on your websites and making money?

 

[bmugford]

Is it easy? No
Can it be done? Yes

It is not as much about hard work as smart work. If you keep learning you will get to a point where you are making good money at some point.

I know people who have started with a small budget and had $200,000+ in sales in the second year. It is like any profession, some people will succeed and some will fail. It really depends what skill set you have.

Brad

 

[ellinas]

In every business you can meet people who are doing well and those one who just lose money. 2 the same McDonalds in the different parts of the city will make different kind of money.
So, the answer for the question "is it possible to make 5 figure income with domaining" is not correct.You just have to know that in this business some people are making high 6 figure and it means you can become one of them at some time sooner or later.Try to follow successful people!

 

[theneals]

With the internet being free who do you make money from traffic or how are you making money off blog sites

 

[Michael Purse]

I make this figure through what I/We do (Mid to High Five Figures, and in a good month equivalent to Low to Mid Six Figures). However, don't be fooled into thinking buying 1,000's of domains is what makes you money. We currently own 1,000 domains and actively only publicise/market 600 of these. We make very little in the scheme of things through parking and development (it pays our renewal costs).

Most of our income comes from brokerage and other value-add services we offer and are nothing to do with OUR own domains. One of our services that makes us the most money is not publicised at all, and is invite only.

Find a niche - being a sheep means you get mutton

 

[trishool]

Thank you very much everyone for the great advice. This is why i love this forum

 

[syncvb]

DOES anyone make a high 5 Figure income doing what you do?

I Think a Lot of Newbies Get Frustrated and this would give everyone a good sense of this business.

Nice question raised here!
I am a n00b too and have spent nearly $2000+ in so called "domaining".(got an offer of $800 but my GREED rejected this- so no income till date)
Just here to add some more questions to it-
01.What is better in your view-own a single blog which earns you consistently $1000 a month OR invest in domaining where you don't have any guarantee that you will be able to make $12000 an year.
I have jumped to domaining after dabbling into blogging (which still gives me some $50 a month)

 

[jio970]

Some good solid insights here. As another total noob to this topic / business model, I am also very grateful for the posts above.
I would have to strongly agree with ellinas, bmugford, and Michael; there's winners and losers in just about all types of business and it usually comes down to mindset, smarts, and modeling what's known to work.

Success is: when opportunity meets preparedness, and when the yield from this meeting produces smiles for all involved.

And I also thank trishool for asking a great and well worded question

Thanks again all... be well.

 

[SpareDomains]

01.What is better in your view-own a single blog which earns you consistently $1000 a month OR invest in domaining where you don't have any guarantee that you will be able to make $12000 an year.
I have jumped to domaining after dabbling into blogging (which still gives me some $50 a month)

why limit yourself, my best domains are fully developed, some that wouldn't be easy for me to develop but are strong enough to keep are parked with sales links on them and domains I don't care about or have no intention of developing ever are forwarded straight to a sales page with zero parking ads on them as the main focus is a sale on those, If your interested in the topic of the blog and not just blogging for $ then revenue should increase as you are actually interested in the topic so you will continue to update, I have always mixed it up with web development, web hosting, seo, sem, domain sales, parking etc... so if one sector goes cold the others hold me up. If your interested in the topic of the blog then make that your priority and then dabble in domains on the side, fast forward months later and analyze how the domaining is going, if profitable continue if not evaluate your game plan and adjust or end it.

 

[enterpryzman]

I think we all confuse domaining with other forms of Internet business. Lately, I am learning that the biggest downfall in domaining is the same exact largest downfall in other forms of investment business-projects and that is without a doubt " Emotional Involvement ".

When we invest in anything to make money, it is very important NOT to get emotional or you will almost always make poor decisions and ultimately loose money.

Lastly, try to remember that a little bit of something ( selling a domain for profit ) is far better than owning 100% of nothing ( a domain that could be developed someday-maybe )

Enterpryzman

 

[syncvb]

why limit yourself, my best domains are fully developed,....contd...

Yup..I do not want to limit myself,but do we realize that it needs TIME...something which I (and many people) do not have in plenty due to my day job(9 to 5)...

 

[trishool]

great advice..thanks very much everyone. I , for one, do not have a day job. I grew a conscience and quit Finance after 8 years of formal education. I have a need for freedom and web based businesses give me freedom.

My goal is to dabble in pretty much everything. Plan to develop 5-10 affiliate based sites, pull traffic and then sell the whole package. A domain with good traffic is worth more than one with none at all.

A lot of people are looking for turnkey websites. Start a site, work my tail off to get it going, start getting in stable passive income, sell it, move on. Once I get good, start doing it on a larger scale and start my own company.

Money spent so far = $300 dollars, money earned so far = giant goose egg. Talking out my butt, so far? = yup

 

[Sparhawke]

I have heard that lots of people make serious amounts of money doing this, but what you have to take into consideration is that the large jackpots do not come overnight, but you need to collect lots of coins and hopefully some of them will be bronze pennies.

 

[John Baron]

i just wrote a few words about it on the "outer forum'
there is lots of people that are looking to make money online , whatever it is , domain names , web site flipping , affiliate marketing , CPA , etc etc ...
as i see it , most of them will fail to make a good profit , some will do well and very few will actually get rich .

whats the difference between does who "make it" and does who wont ?
got to know over the last years many people who are doing well with there online ventures, and i saw there is a few things all of those guys have in common :

- all of those people are straight , honest , not greedy , willing to share and have all around positive attitude .
- They understand that Money makes money - so they are not afraid to invest and learn from there success and from there failures .
- The ability the be in the right place and in the right time - i don think you can call it luck , its a basic understanding to which direction the wind blows and you can know that by not being lazy , reading a lot , being active on Professional online forums , reading blogs etc etc .
- Like Brad wrote here above - they are not necessarily work the hardest , but they work the smartest



Regarding domain names , the basic understanding that most people dont get ( thats why tons and tons of useless domain names are being register daily making company's like GoDaddy very happy ) is ..
Domain names are like any product ,they suppose to solve a problem . for example , some one open an online shoe store , he needs a Great KeyWord domain name - You contact him offering him the Domain name ShoeStore.com - Problem solved ! Buyer happy - Seller Happy

and that need to be the thought before buying any domain name ( unless you are thinking of developing it yourself ) , what is the problem some one could solve with that domain name i am about to buy ( It is brandable , it has exact Keywords , its A great GEO etc etc )
if you cant think of any so dont expect to get too many offers for it ( except domain appraisal scam emails )