How long do you keep your domains before letting go cheap or expire?

[Icenevermelts]

I would like to know how long does majority of people keep their average domains for? I understand that if the keywords are rich then no doubt someone pays 5+ years for renewal. But what if you hand registered a domain and you think you might make some profit out of it but year goes buy and nothing. Do you renew the domain or you find a way get it off your hands?

In what case are you going to renew the domain if you never had any offers neither had anybody interested buying it for $50.

Appreciate your comments.

I would love to hear from more experienced domainers, not from someone who registered just yesterday. No offence

 

[namerav]

The Generic domains are surely going to sell if not today than maybe after 10 years.
The best call is your own discretion and whether you can or cannot afford renewals.

 

[Icenevermelts]

Thank you but you did not answer my question in any way .

 

[inforg]

It really depends on the name and your domaining strategy. For hand regs, I try to cut whatever I see as the worst 25% each year. That may be stuff from this year or stuff I've held for several years. I usually dump them 60-120 days before expiration, trying forums first and then ebay. I am more of a buy and hold person.

I know some people that are mostly flippers that just do hand regs using coupons and they dump almost all of them every year and just reg new ones with coupons, also dropping the price as they get closer to expiration.

Even with good names, you can end up holding them for a long time, you have to figure out which ones to dump and which ones to keep. Even with a buy and hold strategy, I think most domainers should be culling at least the bottom 10% of their portfolio each year and trying to upgrade.

 

[SpareDomains]

Sadly I'm too busy so I just hit renew on 40-50+ a month, most are solid or I wouldn't own them but sure there is a small handful I could let go. Lot of times after I renew I get offers as they are waiting to see if I drop them. Sure some people hate me as very rare for me to drop anything so they waste their time stalking my portfolio.

 

[tomcarl]

If you must liquidate, do it with at least a couple months left before renewal.

 

[DomainVP]

If they are good, and the metrics are there, hold onto them... if they were bad decisions let them go... they are only costing you more money.

But what if you hand registered a domain and you think you might make some profit out of it but year goes buy and nothing.

If nobody buys after 10 years, then I say you let it go... let it go... don't hold onto it any more.

Keep in mind, that some domains have gotten 6 figure offers after a 9 - 10 year hold.

The best thing I can associate this with is the person that walks away from the slot machine, and then the next guy comes in and wins big after three or four spins.

How long you are willing to pay to play is strictly up to you. Good luck.

 

[Icenevermelts]

Thank you guys for all your advices. I have my own strategy that I follow and will be following. I just wanted to see what is everyones strategy and how you deal with your portfolio. So most replies are here teaching me what to do instead sharing their own experience. Thanks anyways :D.

 

[DomainVP]

So most replies are here teaching me what to do instead sharing their own experience. Thanks anyways :D.

 

[AEProgram]

So most replies are here teaching me what to do instead sharing their own experience. Thanks anyways :D.

Its like relationship advice, most peoples relationship is in shambles but they have lots of advice to offer. It's worth listening thou, you never know when someone by mistake says something smart.

 

[main]

When it comes renewal time, I check a few things:

1. It's essential to have stat tracking on every domain. I look to see how much real traffic the name has gotten over the last year (not crawlers from Google and other search engines).

2. I look to see if any of there are any exact match / hyphenated / singular or plural versions of my name registered AND developed in other extensions.

3. I do a quick Google search on my name to see if anything related is popping up. Looking for what I might have missed from step 2, an exact match name in Facebook / Twitter / other social accounts, etc.

Usually after going through these steps, I'm pretty confident whether to renew or not.

4. Finally, I put a watch on any names I decide to drop just in case they get significant interest in the redemption period / pre-release stage.

 

[RaiderGirl]

I just made a post in another thread where I wrote that I cut my portfolio in half, and looking back, most of the names I allowed to drop were hand regs... Only a few I paid good money for, one I paid $500 and it's currently marked for deletion, It had a horrible combination of keywords, I always wanted to let this one go but my investment kept me renewing it, I finally came to terms that it would never sell and I'm throwing good money after bad.. Take the loss and move on.

.

 

[inforg]

I just made a post in another thread where I wrote that I cut my portfolio in half, and looking back, most of the names I allowed to drop were hand regs... Only a few I paid good money for, one I paid $500 and it's currently marked for deletion, It had a horrible combination of keywords, I always wanted to let this one go but my investment kept me renewing it, I finally came to terms that it would never sell and I'm throwing good money after bad.. Take the loss and move on.

.

I have a few that I need to take this advice on, but it is hard. The cutting process also helps you refine your criteria and make better, more disciplined decisions going forward. Most of my junk ends up getting acquired right after I sell a few names in a row, so I have cash and think I am a domaining genius...bad registrations/buying frenzy usually follow.

Money management, metrics, and ROI are things I don't see the newbies paying much attention to, but they are as important as the domains you choose. Once you actually start selling, you need to know what your sales percentage is, how much your average acquisition cost is, your expenses, and whether what you are doing is actually profitable before scaling up too much too fast. How much of your latest sale needs to go into renewals? How much for expenses like forum memberships, hosting, development tools? How much to reinvest in domains and should they be hand-regs or aftermarket purchases?

Most seem to go with the standard:
1. register domains
2. ?????
3. Profit!

 

[420domainer]

Awesome response inforg!