How do I make it big domaining?

[DJBee]

Hey pals,

I'm looking to make it big in domaining. I am completely new to this. I have about a million questions. This thread will be monstrous for those who want info about starting up!

Questions:

There are many investment options, why should people invest in domains?

Tell me every significant way I can make money domaining and also state the ones you feel are most lucrative. Why are they?

Tell me how to choose domain names. Be as comprehensive as possible. I know there are several articles on this subject, and i've read some of them, but they all each seem to be missing something the other one has. Let's lay it all out here!

That's it for now. I'll be asking a ton of follow up questions. Please try and explain things as much as possible since me and many other hopeful domainers are new. Thanks so much!

 

[-REECE-]

I hate to break this to you, but there really are no hard and fast ways to make money with domains that'll always work. If you would have gotten into domain names in 2004-2007, you could have made a killing with short domains -- there's not anywhere close to as much money in them today as there was back then. The game changes as do the strategies. What's worked in the past (such as tasting or parking) aren't working for anywhere near as many people today. There's probably a thousand different ways to make money domaining however one thing I can guarantee you is that while you may get a lot of advice in this thread, nobody is going to give away their best secrets -- and if they do, it's because they had no good secrets to begin with.

Choosing domains -- my advice is to get thoroughly acquainted with DN Sale Price, Namebio, and DN Journal. There's no hard and fast way to appraise a domain and it'll take months, maybe years to get a good grasp on prices depending on how large a market segment you're interested in taking part in.

 

[DnEbook]

find a good niche and then develope could be one way to go ??

 

[snoop]

Agree with what Reece has said. Basically you'll need to figure out some original ideas for yourself. It won't be easy, they won't come from ebooks.

find a good niche and then develope could be one way to go ??

This isn't domaining.

 

[DnEbook]

This isn't domaining.

exactly my point

 

[John Baron]

Tell me how to choose domain names. Be as comprehensive as possible. I know there are several articles on this subject, and i've read some of them, but they all each seem to be missing something the other one has. Let's lay it all out here!

Hey there, :wave:
this all have been talked in this forum , just search, there is tons of tips and info to be find here,

my little advise about buying a domain name,
the bigest question you need to ask yourself when buying a domain name :imho is
who and why would somebody will buy this domain from me and why he will pay me more then what iam paying right now

Good luck !

 

[Burano]

Like Reece said - after 2007 things have gotten really tough for most people. Domaining is not the right area to get into if you're looking to make money fast these days.

 

[hawkeye]

In reading the OP's post, I read more 'tongue in cheek' sarcasm, than an query of 'actual' interest. JMO.

 

[DJBee]

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate them very much.

Hawkeye: I am very serious about being a successful domainer .

So I missed out pretty big didn't I? That's okay. There is still money to be made. I look forward to it.

So what I'm looking for is some guidance really... I don't know where to start. Knowing what you know, if you were beginning right now, what would you need to do to become successful?

Can someone explain to me the major ways to make money with domains? I hear developing them can be very lucrative, and possibly fun! Not knowing any web design myself, taking the time to learn developing domains is a huge investment of time. What other benefits could I get with web design skills? Basically, what I'm trying to figure out is if it is worth the investment!

 

[accent]

The number one piece of advice that you can hear: Keep your money in your pocket. All of it. Study this forum until you know the answers to most of the posts before you open them. That will take a month, if you really work at it. Then register ONE domain. I have to tell you that you probably will feel a surge of well-being and power. This stuff is really addicting and most new people dump a lot of money quickly --- and then drop their names in a year or two when nobody will buy them.

Forget e-books unless you have only a little time available, all the information is on Namepros, you just gotta dig it up. Go to the general domain discussion section and read back 25 pages. Or more. Poke around in the legal section awhile, just to see why we tell you to avoid trademarks, and some other pitfalls. Read the specialty sections to get a feel of the vast possibilities. There are other good domain forums, but the best two are primarily filled with experienced domainers who bought great keyword domains years ago, make their money parking them, and don't understand that that route is not available for those starting today.

There are as many ways to succeed with domains as there are successful domainers. Following in someone's footsteps will only guarantee that that method has already been played out.

To your questions:

There are many investment options, why should people invest in domains?

Three very good reasons. You can invest as little as you want, you can substitute your time for much of your money, and the potential for profits is far beyond any other serious investment that I am aware of.

Tell me every significant way I can make money domaining and also state the ones you feel are most lucrative. Why are they?

KeyWord Parking. Unless you have a lot of money and not a lot of ambition this time has passed.
Development. Huge money for those with the next Facebook or Twitter, but, as mentioned this is not really domaining. Just making lots of websites is fun but probably not going to make you much money.
Flipping. Buy low, sell high - and as soon as possible. Develop a network of buyers and search out domains in obscure places to sell to them. Most flippers got caught by the recession, some remain and are doing pretty well.
Buy and hold. (this is my method) Find underpriced domains that you believe will be in great demand some years in the future. Be very aware of renewal costs. Turn down offers at reseller prices and get a few end-user sales to help pay for them all. I am looking at a 10 year timeline. Adjust your plans and holdings as the market changes and your knowledge increases.

Tell me how to choose domain names. Be as comprehensive as possible. I know there are several articles on this subject, and i've read some of them, but they all each seem to be missing something the other one has. Let's lay it all out here!

For a domainer the domains choose you! What I mean is that you want the best domains that you can get for the price, and the specifics of their keywords (or letters for short domains) don't matter. This is why there is such a difference between reseller and end-user pricing.

There are two main sources - registering domains and buying them from others. Both have their success stories. You can watch the drops or buy drops at auction (I am cheap so I mostly buy unauctioned drops.) There are tons of domains for sale here at namepros, realize that most of them are domainer's castoffs but people do get huge sales with them sometimes. Or you can find a specialty that you think will become sought after in a few years and collect those domains from all sources (I would not recommend this exclusively. As in all investments - diversify.)

Keep to .com and keep it rather short - 14 letters (+ the .com) is often mentioned as the upper limit. Both these rules can later be relaxed, once you understand why they are rules in the first place. But the big money is in .com, mostly.

There are tools that can help you. Use them, but rely heavily on your common sense.

Remember that you sooner or later have to sell these domains, so try to think like a businessman - would you want your company to have this name? Is this a business sector that will be building websites?

It is an overworked comparison, but domaining is very like real estate speculation - the trick is to anticipate growth and position yourself ahead of it.

So I missed out pretty big didn't I? That's okay. There is still money to be made. I look forward to it.

Nope, you have hit a really sweet spot. Really sweet, if you are a buy and hold investor. The recession is causing domainers to clean house, dropping and selling cheaply tons of domains. It is the best buyers market in years, and it will likely continue as long as the recession.

So what I'm looking for is some guidance really... I don't know where to start. Knowing what you know, if you were beginning right now, what would you need to do to become successful?

Spend 4 hours a day reading past posts on Namepros.

Can someone explain to me the major ways to make money with domains? I hear developing them can be very lucrative, and possibly fun! Not knowing any web design myself, taking the time to learn developing domains is a huge investment of time. What other benefits could I get with web design skills? Basically, what I'm trying to figure out is if it is worth the investment!

You can look into the development section here, or check out the development forums. Again, content is everything in development. Look at Google - no bells and whistles, just an effective product that whipped the competition based on the quality of their search results.

But thats not domaining.

 

[mwzd]

Buy one category killer .com domain, sell for a profit.

Rinse and repeat.

Make sure you know exactly what a category killer domain is before you do buy one. Good Luck.

 

[apersad]

Hey DJBee,

Here are some tips when buying from forums.....

Any business deal requires that you should check whatever you can so that you are not taken for a ride. When you buy domains from forums the same rule applies so that you can decide whether you should buy the domains or not. Don’t forget to use your own common sense; for instance, if you are buying a domain for a dollar, obviously you are not going to spend hours checking it thoroughly. However, you do want to carry out that check if you are parting with more than hundred dollars. Nothing is 100% airtight as far as the following tips go – but they certainly go a long way to ensure that your seller is indeed trustworthy.

Let’s look at the seller then.

• The seller should be an established member of the forum. While this does not automatically mean that new members are rogues, most people prefer to buy from sellers with some history. They also prefer sellers who are active members who post regularly. Remember how we talked about registering at DigitalPoint and NamePros, earlier on and building your reputation? It will all pay off now if you did.
• Look at the seller’s reputation; obviously if they have a bad reputation, you want to think twice about dealing with them.
• What is the seller’s trader score? This gives you a good idea of the sellers’s way of dealing based on earlier transactions. You can find this out from their tracker rating score where you can read both positive and negative comments from others who have been involved in a transaction with them before.
• Beware of just assuming that the seller is right when he says he owns the domain and that the details posted are accurate. You know by now that there are hundreds of Whois style tools that are out there. So invest time in checking that the domain registrar, expiry, owner details match with what the seller has offered you. if you wish, you can also send an email to the domain’s admin and ask for a reply from the seller. This precaution is best used for large value domains.
• If the seller says the website or domain has a lot of traffic and page rank, ask for proof in the form of screen shots of the numbers and parking figures. Just remember any claim to traffic and income must be supported by enough proof. For page rank, you can use your PR checker to see what the page rank is.
• Be careful about not being dragged into a trademark violation legal suit. Verify that the name does not look like a trademark infringement or shady typos.
• We have said this before and we’ll say it again. You want to make doubly sure that the registrar lets you set up a free account with them and once you have registered the domain, allows a free push between accounts. There are actually registrars that don’t let you do this. They even make the transfer process difficult. So – bear this in mind when you are working on your costing while buying a domain.
• If a deal looks too good to be true, don’t be surprised if it actually is too good to be true! There have been instances where the seller didn’t even own the domain or worse still, pinched it from someone and is trying to sell it off. So browse around and become savvy about what a domain could be worth. Can you imagine someone selling cars.com for $ 100? Look for genuine deals as far as possible.

 

[411domains]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but this was my initial thought when I read your post, "It sounds like someone is collecting info for an ebook." Again, that was just my initial impression.

Regardless, you're in the right place. There are a lot of trusted and experienced members here at Namepros. Many of which have knowledgable websites dedicated to the do's and don'ts of domaining.

Everyone has been a newbie at some point in time. Therfore, there's a lot of knowledge out there.

Before you go domain crazy, it's best to do your research first. It WILL save you a lot of money.

Browse the forums, find out what others are doing. Find out what is selling, more importantly, what is NOT selling.

Although our economy is in turmoil and people are pinching their pennies, surprisingly startup companies are hot right now. Simply put, people cannot find jobs, so they're creating them.

End user domain sales are considerably high for me this year just from the startups.

Ultimately, this is where you want to be. Selling to end users is where your highest profits will come from.

I wish you the best of luck in your venture.
​

 

[Soofi]

I am very serious about being a successful domainer .

Set your priorities right and invest! IMHO

Just like most of the pros said earlier, there is no hard & fast rule of going about it, and if you are lucky enough you can still fetch some pretty decent generic domains in the industries aftermarket business.

 

[Name Trader]

Ok. First things first. How much have you got to invest?

 

[mytreat]

Late to the game, somewat, takes money to make money, leverage. Not all real estate sells.

 

[-REECE-]

The best free advice I think anyone could give you would be to spend no money at all right now, no matter how excited you are about making money. Domains aren't like the stock market where even if you make a horrible choice you'll likely see some of your money back... If you make the wrong choice with domains, you stand to lose as much as 100% of what you invested and I've seen people do just that. Be careful, don't be in a hurry to spend money, read, network, and understand the risks.