Help an Aspiring Domainer: $1000 and lots of time

[ethan390]

Hey all,

I've immersed myself with domaining for the past month, spending countless hours researching through forums and domaining blogs. In a few weeks I will start my summer vacation and want to start purchasing some domains.

My goal is to eventually earn a stable, livable income through domaining. I realize that this will take lots of time and effort, and perhaps a little luck, but am optimistic.

I should note that I'm a college student with years of website creation experience (design and programming) but limited experience with SEO, and would consider myself a quick learner.

That being said, given a limited starting budget of $1000, what domaining path/strategy would you recommend for me?

Any and all help will be appreciated!

 

[tinner666]

Look for names that have meaning. Catchy and meaningful is good. Avoid some of the hype and use common sense.
Be careful who you deal with.

 

[dezinerite]

I've made a mistake that many new domainers make: registering a domain that sounds really good to me, but sounds really off for everyone else. :D

 

[chovy]

buy a couple of sites that will yield a profit after one year.

 

[copper]

Decide on which niche market you want.
You must like that niche and have some knowledge.
You'll endup giving up if you don't like that niche.
Buy one domain that describe your niche market.
Decide what type of income you want.
Keep at it and never give up.

 

[nielsencl]

With your design and programming background and your nice budget you have several options that others may not have. Here is what I would consider:

1) With an idea for a "unique" site, research the perfect domain for the concept. Build the site, optimize and submit it, build content, and when it has reached a good level, sell it. If you have advertising on the site, you can be generating some income before you sell, and the proof of income will command a higher price.

2) Search for a tired old site that you can revive, or a new one that you can take to the next level. Since you have the background, you can put in some work after buying a "fixer-upper" and should be able to sell (flip) it again for a nice profit.

3) Buy domains that you know or think will increase in value. You'll need to know a lot about this or have a special edge on everyone else, like knowing what the next trends will be in some industry. This has a lot of risk, but man can it be exciting, not unlike gambling. And unlike gambling where you have nothing to show for it except for an expired comp card, if your strategy flops and you are stuck with a $250 domain that you can sell, you can always stick a blog on it and tell your sad story...

4) You could research domains that contain keyword phrases that have people using them AND have high bid prices. Park the domains with a parking provider that allows you to do some non-fraud promotion, like link building, to get traffic. Optimize the domains for best results.

Really I think since you have some web background the first two should be the best options for you. Of course if you create or rehab some web sites you may be able to generate some steady income and you can just keep the sites for the long term. The one thing you will want to learn about is scored keyword research and SEO, since it will help you whatever your choice is.

 

[ethan390]

Thanks for the tips everyone!

copper:
Yeah, it would be tedious to create new content for a niche that you are not interested in.

nielsencl:
Part of the excitement for me is researching keywords and finding a gem. For this reason and thinking about the future, I would prefer a combination of options 3), and 4) (without parking every domain). Regarding option 4), wouldn't it be more profitable to create a small, nice looking, niche site with SEO and AdSense than to just park a domain? Of course, if I have hundreds or thousands of domains, it would be difficult if not impossible to develop niche sites for all of them (without outsourcing), so a combination of parking and development seems to fit the bill. Do you see this as a feasible option?

 

[nielsencl]

Sure, but as you are thinking there is a certain amount of work involved, just in setting up the hosting account for each site. Then you have to have something for a site that is easy to set up and optimize, but also has some quality so people don't instantly hit the back button when they see the site.

But there is no reason you could not do both. Park them at first and then as you have time, put sites on them. And there is no reason you could not host a site for a while and then keep the hosting, but change the DNS back to parking for a while to see how that does.

By the way, if anyone was interested, you could use parking as a "backup" to hosting or vice-versa. Just set up hosting and parking and put what you want as your primary as the first two NS and then the second two NS. If the first goes down or is slow to respond, the traffic should go to the second. I would check with your parking provide to make sure this does not violate any of their rules, but I doubt it does.

 

[diegoid]

Taste your domains first. Specially if you want to get domains with traffic (type-in, typos, expired).

Good Luck.

 

[BitcoinDK]

Hi, here is some advise I got when I like you started:

I have made the advise in three parts; first part is Generel, second part is for the Domain, third for the Hosting and the third.

Generel
1. Make goals to where you see yourself in this domainbuisness in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years. BE REALISTIC.

2. Split your domain investing in parts; for short time investment and long time investment.

3. If you dont plan to park the domains (why should you, with your experience in webdesign) So make a unique website for each of your domains. With unique I mean between your own domains.

4. Make a plan for each of your domains. Park, minisite or unique site, decide before you buy the domain.

5. If you want to make a unique site, then develope a concept for the domain.

6. Market your domains through joining forums and smoothly drop in your links to your domains. This is the free mode style

7. As soon as you have bought each domain, submit your domain to Google, Yahoo and DMOZ, and all other search engines you can find.


Domain
1. stick to .com, until you have experience.
2. No Numbers in domainname.
3. No Hyphens in domainname.
4. MAYBE THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVISE, STAY AWAY FROM TRADEMARK DOMAINS!
5. Be sure that the domain, is REALLY pronounceable
6. If the .net and .org also are free, then take them too. THIS ONLY replies to the domains you want to make a unique site to.

Hosting
1. Do not host at UNLIMITED EVERYTHING hosting companies, the only unlimited thing they give is there lies.

2. Be realistic, do not expect millions of visitors right away, so in many cases you dont need a lot bandwith/space in the beginning.


Well for now this is what I can remember, maybe I will come back later and add some more.

I hope this is helping you.


Good luck with your domain investment and best regards...