How many new people stop hand registering in the first year domaining? I'm stopping as of today.

[Super-Annuation]

I've been domaining for almost a year now. Sold two domains that has covered half my forst year expense. I've dropped 200 (so 2k, no biggie guys) and now hold 400 with an annual cost of 4k, with the intentions of dropping down to 200, and maintaining that amount with my so called potential domains.

Anyway, I'm no longer hand registering because I've learnt, unless you pick up a future value domain like blockchain .com back in 2014 or Masternode .com back in 2015, or SecurityToken .com, it becomes very difficult to hand register anything of value.

After spending the last two weeks researching and finding what's of value, I've concluded it to be better to stick with names that are already registered ane being listed for a fair bit.

I'd rather WebDesign.com for $150,000 (worth $250,000) than 15,000 hand registered domain names. Less work, and you own something that's worth investing in.

Plus, you don't have to worry about the cost maintenance that comes with a portfolio.

Buy CityLife or FinancialAdvice or InternetCafe over hand registed names. Spend a little extra. If you go into the industry thinking you'll find a name that's worth millions, you might, but only if you spend money on the name in the first place.

Moreover, just be careful with your money (I have a bit of money and I've been frivilous, but not too frivilous) and don't expect to become wealthy from hand registered domains. If your strategy is to flip them and build your way up, by all means, but remember, quality over quantity.

God speed.

 

[biggie]

Would you care to share some of your sales techniques and your successes so far.

Hi

it's not about me, but here are a few recent posts that may shed some light:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/wh...most-success-selling-on.1160804/#post-7464075

https://www.namepros.com/threads/whats-your-greatest-domain-ever.135234/page-2#post-7457882

https://www.namepros.com/threads/4l...st-4-letter-com-domains.1160059/#post-7456086

https://www.namepros.com/threads/ho...r-your-domain-portfolio.1150023/#post-7363620

you can always view any members profile to see past posts/threads and trader rating.

imo...

 

[Mister Funsky]

I just hand regged a name 15 mins ago...been hand regging for two decades with no plans to stop.

ALL my sales this year were from recent (within 2 years) handregs...just got to sift through the dirt to find the diamonds where they hide...my hand reg ratio over aftermarket buys are roughly 3 to 1.

 

[Silentptnr]

When I hand reg a domain, I always plan on when I will begin selling it actively. Sometimes I plan for 60 days after registration (mostly trending names), or sometimes, I plan to keep a couple of years (while closely monitoring traffic and offers received) to get some aging on the names.

And for the record, I have had numerous hand regged domains that sold for $x,xxx after roughly only 60 days.

A few that come to mind are...

Token/Pros $1xxx
i/thereum $1xxx
Hal/loThere $1xxx
The/Others $1xxx
Alt/Token $1xxx

I can't even remember all of them but the list goes on. I have probably made 20k+ in the last year on recent hand reg domains. I would have to look back at my Namejet sales reports. No joke.

Not saying it's easy, but it is true.

 

[mani0307]

I do hand reg 3-5 domains in a week and mostly godaddy expired auction and closeout but fact is i selling more hand reg domains to enduser.

 

[Josytal]

Do what you think is right and maybe in six months time it might be.

No, I don't think it's right. Too many wrong presumptions.

. Beginner to now is 6 months. I have 142 names registered and all were hand regd. I've spent €2,000 so far and they have an estimated GD valuation of €76508.

I seriously doubt the quality of the names. Estimated GD valuation has little or nothing to do with real market value of a domain name. Sorry, if GD valuation had been the rationale behind those registrations.

Now, I haven't really tried to sell any but just suppose that I sold one for €200. That is 10% of my outlay recouped with one sale.

Start doing it right now. In fact, you should have started with just that!
Selling or/and monetization should be your topmost priority, buying - last on the list.

Imagine what a person in my situation could really do if they put in the effort and hours required to make selling as important as acquisition.

To sell, you need at least x10 more hours, than you need to buy.
Again, start selling now!
You may also want to explore ways of monetizing those domains, while waiting for offers - which may or may not come for months (if not years).

For example, this week I have hand regd www. carivore .com and www. vervean .com

One is probably better than the other in terms of it being a dictionary word but the other which is less valuable as a made up name has possibly more in terms of brand-ability.

Another wrong assumption. Mere fact that a domain name is dictionary word does not necessary mean it has aftermarket value. Obscure names will fetch you next to nothing. Get the distinction.

first rule of domain investing is that there are no rules and we don't talk about domain investing.

Wrong, except you don't relate to domain investing as a business.

 

[BaileyUK]

Don't forget that I'm a relative newcomer to domain investing and have learnt so much already and I have so much more to learn.

And do let me tell you that biggest lesson will come around pretty quickly - It's called 'Renewal time' A growing number of Hand registering domains in your first year with your eye on 'Registrar appraisal valuations' (Which are total rubbish - designed to fool) Makes you just about every registration services dream-client.

Setting-up listing sites/pages won't necessarily lead to any sales. But not (or delaying) setting them up guarantees NO Sales. And of course It'll probably more likely wake-up that awareness of No Visits/No Offers/No Sales

I look forward to reading your posts 12 months after you've been hand-registering domains By my estimate of your total registrations so far (first few months) you should be in the $4,000 a year (Total domains) renewal cycle by then. It's called the REALITY-BITES lesson

 

[lock]

See this is learning and when you kick yourself you will come back to hand reg. As you may find some success with expired dropped domains it will be your learning curve that will bring you back to hand reg. Every name at one point was hand registered you just have to become good at it you know what can sell. You don't need to register a domain a day or 20 in one go you just need to foresee potential gems and filter out with strict culls. I used to hand reg switched to expired then started buying them for traffic as it was best value. I would use names till slow clicks. My portfolio started sounding worse becoming watered down. So had to cull those and stick to niches that have faith in and now back to hand reg. I am still finding my own gems get lost in my list so need to separate or cull more

 

[Bob Hawkes]

This has been a really informative thread, and thank you for starting it @Super-Annuation. I think most of us have hand registered names that we later regret, and I certainly agree with quality over quantity. That being said, one only needs to read the Report Completed Sales thread to see that many are selling hand registrations, however, so both strategies can work.

If your strategy is to flip them and build your way up, by all means, but remember, quality over quantity.

Because hand registering from what is available today is both science and art, most people just dont possess all the necessary skills to be successful on new hand regges.

I had never thought about it quite the way @Silentptnr expressed, but what he said is really important. To be successful in hand-registering it seems logical that you have to be successful in "science" (e.g. study past sales on NameBio, current trends using analytics, what other TLDs are already registered, what similar names are for sale, work out the probabilities of sale and net proceeds and compare to holding costs, etc. But you also need to be creative, finding valuable combinations no one else has thought of.

I'd rather WebDesign.com for $150,000 (worth $250,000) than 15,000 hand registered domain names. Less work, and you own something that's worth investing in.

I am not sure whether your example is just a thought example, or if you really are considering going the opposite of just one or a couple of super high value names. If so, it is really important to realize those carry risks as well (as @karmaco has expressed well below). Yes, probably a name you buy for $100,000 will be saleable at some price, but there is no guarantee that it will be saleable at a price higher than what you paid. To get that premium price you may well need to wait years to find the right end-user, and in those years there is also the risk that trends in branding will change in a way that harms the worth of your domain name.

The domainer pool out there is extremely competitive and some have very big wallets. So there is a risk to paying hundreds or thousands for one name the same as hundreds or thousands for many names.

I like the idea of being reflective and being open to changes in strategy, even extreme shifts. But we must always realize that all forms of domain investing carry risks.

Thanks again for a great discussion everyone.

Bob

 

[Super-Annuation]

This has been a really informative thread, and thank you for starting it @Super-Annuation. I think most of us have hand registered names that we later regret, and I certainly agree with quality over quantity. That being said, one only needs to read the Report Completed Sales thread to see that many are selling hand registrations, however, so both strategies can work.


I had never thought about it quite the way @Silentptnr expressed, but what he said is really important. To be successful in hand-registering it seems logical that you have to be successful in "science" (e.g. study past sales on NameBio, current trends using analytics, what other TLDs are already registered, what similar names are for sale, work out the probabilities of sale and net proceeds and compare to holding costs, etc. But you also need to be creative, finding valuable combinations no one else has thought of.

I am not sure whether your example is just a thought example, or if you really are considering going the opposite of just one or a couple of super high value names. If so, it is really important to realize those carry risks as well (as @karmaco has expressed well below). Yes, probably a name you buy for $100,000 will be saleable at some price, but there is no guarantee that it will be saleable at a price higher than what you paid. To get that premium price you may well need to wait years to find the right end-user, and in those years there is also the risk that trends in branding will change in a way that harms the worth of your domain name.


I like the idea of being reflective and being open to changes in strategy, even extreme shifts. But we must always realize that all forms of domain investing carry risks.

Thanks again for a great discussion everyone.

Bob

Thank you Bob,

Yes the inherant risks with any purchase strike me, which is why I'm only looking at a $10,000 purchase. If I had the money I wouldn't be purchasng anything over that for a while. Just the one word.

Having said that, I do believe that an expensive name fairs better in the marketplace than many hand reg. Are the odds 10,000 to 1? I have no idea haha. Whether it sells or not depends on the demand from end users. Right now and for a while, single words with a broad market are doing well. As are names like LiveWell.

Maybe some statistics of hand register sales data and number of hand registered out there, vs premium names number of sales (against number of them registered too.) If I'm to speculate, premium name probability of a sale and of a good amount outperform hand registers probability of a sale and hand register.

 

[Super-Annuation]

Hi



Names like StockQuote, LiveBetter, DebtSettlement, WebDesign, HomeInsurance, HomeFinance, PhotoBooth, PostCard, MedicalCenter are all valued highly by Esti and other tools.

Now Esti rates them because of traffic, CPC, sales data etc

I think it would be fair to assume the guy you mentioned that lost out of BeautySpa or something like that. Bought it for 60 and sold for 10 3 years later? This will happen all the time, it happens in the property market, the FOREX, the used car market.

You win some and lose some, and this can depend on your urgency to sell, negotiation skills, capital behind you and stuff.

My point was, I think there is more of a statistical probability that names with traffic and value are less risky than names you hope have an end user, because they're worthless otherwise.

You can't frankly tell me that buying names with traffic and a broad range of end users shares the same risk as hand registering names? I might have misunderstood so be gentle haha

 

[biggie]

please provide link to above quote
Thanks

 

[hookbox]

Part of the fun of domaining is finding a needle in a haystack. Registering a name for $9 and selling it for $2,500 is much more gratifying then buying a name for $500 and selling it for $5,000. I love handregs!

 

[Silentptnr]

Part of the fun of domaining is finding a needle in a haystack. Registering a name for $9 and selling it for $2,500 is much more gratifying then buying a name for $500 and selling it for $5,000. I love handregs!

Me too.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Part of the fun of domaining is finding a needle in a haystack.

I agree too!

While I do dutifully go through the great lists people provide of the best of expired auctions, closeouts and more, and occasionally buy domain names from others here and on several registrar marketplaces, I like the challenge and creativity of coming up with domain names others have not thought of (that said, now that I realize I can look back using domain tools I see that even many that I thought I first thought of were in fact registered years ago but dropped sometime in past).

Definitely there are lots of very successful domain investors who never (any more) hand register, though. Probably if I had less time, or needed to generate funds to live by from domains, I would mainly concentrate on other types of domains, though.

Bob

 

[Silentptnr]

Here's the thing. There are many, many salable names that are available for hand registration. Tons.

What excites, and perplexes me, is how many people (consumers) know nothing about domain names.

Just this week, I was sharing my excitement about a domain I won at auction. This colleague, a bright guy, says, "What's a .us? Is that a new domain or something?".

Honestly, the guy didn't know anything existed but .com, .net and .org. Had also heard of .gov and .edu. That's it!

The more I talk about my domain investing, the more people in my office want to learn more.

I am thinking of ways to broaden awareness of domain names. I'd love to see an ad campaign around the idea of DoYouDot? or WhatsYourDot?. Perhaps a YouTube series of funny short videos that ask WhatsYourDot?, or something like that, could go viral.

Anyway, I think we have only seen the tip of the tip of the iceberg with domain names. Hopefully the big players in the industry will put more focus into universal awareness of value of domain names.

Good domains are good domains. Recent hand registrations are no exception. They just have to be good.

We should dedicate a thread to this. A sort of thinktank.
IMO

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Honestly, the guy didn't know anything existed but .com, .net and .org. Had also heard of .gov and .edu. That's it!

I actually, now quite a few months ago, did a similar thing with some people I know. Here in Canada while everyone knew .ca and .com, surprisingly a number could not name another extension even though they had undoubtedly used several.

Also surprising to me in this tiny group (about 12) is not a single person came up with .net, and even when I mentioned it after getting what extensions they knew, most did not recall using one! Both .app and .blog were known and .net not.

A number did come up with .org, and when I mentioned it almost all said they recognized it.

I was at a science conference a few months after and asked a similar question to this different demographic. There people did list .com, .ca, .edu, .org, .net and .io right off, and a few listed other things including .app, .science, and single mentions of a few others like .tech, .ai, .co, .me and .dev.

The strange thing is in the first group I knew for sure that many of them had used websites on domain extensions they could not list. Like they all used Wikipedia a lot but never noticed it was an .org. Several major organizations in our area are on .coop and I knew for sure people had used their website, but they did not mention .coop.

I am not sure that it is positive for domaining, but the way Google does self-completion people are simply not noticing extensions or even domain names much. One person thought anything could be an extension. I wonder if others think that or if she was a complete outlier. Like she thought if you wanted a domain name ending in something odd it was sort of like a vanity plate and you could apply to someone to get it.

Bob

 

[Reddstagg]

Someone recently questioned my lack of experience and the possible quality of my hand registered domain names.

Here's one I am/may develop further:

www. makemoneyfrom .domains

I have to agree with @Silentptnr when he says that generally, people in the public domain (pun very much intended!!!) just don't get domain names at all. I am in Ireland and everyone insists on using the .ie country code when I feel that they could gain further appeal by running with Dot.Com or be more creative and use one of the many alternative domain extensions.

It will be interesting to see whether things change in Ireland, the UK and for the most part the rest of the EU.

I am also a believer that languages in general will cross the divide and become more widespread in teh domaining industry.

As the famous Del Boy Trotter might have said..."I wonder what the French word is for Entrepreneur?:

Good day.

 

[Reddstagg]

I actually, now quite a few months ago, did a similar thing with some people I know. Here in Canada while everyone knew .ca and .com, surprisingly a number could not name another extension even though they had undoubtedly used several.

Also surprising to me in this tiny group (about 12) is not a single person came up with .net, and even when I mentioned it after getting what extensions they knew, most did not recall using one! Both .app and .blog were known and .net not.

A number did come up with .org, and when I mentioned it almost all said they recognized it.

I was at a science conference a few months after and asked a similar question to this different demographic. There people did list .com, .ca, .edu, .org, .net and .io right off, and a few listed other things including .app, .science, and single mentions of a few others like .tech, .ai, .co, .me and .dev.

The strange thing is in the first group I knew for sure that many of them had used websites on domain extensions they could not list. Like they all used Wikipedia a lot but never noticed it was an .org. Several major organizations in our area are on .coop and I knew for sure people had used their website, but they did not mention .coop.

I am not sure that it is positive for domaining, but the way Google does self-completion people are simply not noticing extensions or even domain names much. One person thought anything could be an extension. I wonder if others think that or if she was a complete outlier. Like she thought if you wanted a domain name ending in something odd it was sort of like a vanity plate and you could apply to someone to get it.

Bob

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Maybe we could convince these people to become domain investors and we could let them have a few domain names for a good price!!!

Is .coop just for chicken farmers or would you need to be in a co-operative? Another word that has lost the hyphen over time I supppose.

 

[biggie]

Someone recently questioned my lack of experience and the possible quality of my hand registered domain names.

Here's one I am/may develop further:

www. makemoneyfrom .domains

Hi

i would say, that the quality of that one, is questionable.

for one, the extension.
if, you had considered the advise of many who say "to stick with com", then you could register 'makemoneyfromdomainnames.com'. even if it is longer, it's more descriptive
additionally, many may not know what a domain is, without the suffix "names" included.

and secondly, I think one would/should have thorough knowledge and experience in domaining, before they try to put in the work for a site like that.


and if you don't develop it, then who you gonna sell it too?

imo….

 

[frank-germany]

.. Beginner to now is 6 months. I have 142 names registered and all were hand regd. I've spent €2,000 so far and they have an estimated GD valuation of €76508..

that's impressive

now drop all names that have a valuation below $2K USD

 

[frank-germany]

Someone recently questioned my lack of experience and the possible quality of my hand registered domain names.

Here's one I am/may develop further:

www. makemoneyfrom .domains

 

[Reddstagg]

Hi

i would say, that the quality of that one, is questionable.

for one, the extension.
if, you had considered the advise of many who say "to stick with com", then you could register 'makemoneyfromdomainnames.com'. even if it is longer, it's more descriptive
additionally, many may not know what a domain is, without the suffix "names" included.

and secondly, I think one would/should have thorough knowledge and experience in domaining, before they try to put in the work for a site like that.


and if you don't develop it, then who you gonna sell it too?

imo….

Firstly, let me start by apologizing to you as I may offend you later on, which is not my intention. I agree with the principles of fair and frank discussion and also that there will always be two sides to every story. Remember those who promoted Betamax over VHS? No, nor do I. They appear to have vanished.

I cannot, and probably never will be able to dabble in the high end stakes of this industry, so I will plough on regardless, and trust my intuition. Conventional wisdom teaches us many things, but sometimes don't you just want to break the roolz.

I have my above mentioned domain named set up as a page on Facebook and I may or may not develop it further or create a website. It only cost €10 to register so even if I let it expire it is now Biggie. (see what I did there lol!!!).

Now the bit where I may insult you. Every piece of relevant advice from the world in general and particularly NP suggests that there is absolutely nothing that validates your suggestion. It is horrendous. Five words.com. Need I say anymore? I appreciate your advice and the time and trouble taken, but that makes no sense to me, whether I am a 20 year vet or a complete novice.

I hope that other domainers can share their thoughts on this two-way thread. I would be interested in the views of others.

My GD appraised value is less than €100 but I would probably never sell it after I have registered the name and can afford the renewal cost for a while longer.

However, the GD appraisal tool (whether we believe in it or not) states that your domain suggestion would be worth €327, or possibly €227 more than mine.

Comparable domains sold:
makemoneyfromtheinternet.com $688 (USD)
makemoneyinyourunderwear.com $188 (USD)
makemoneywhileyousleep.com $699 (USD)

• Valuable keywords: names and money are high value keywords with an average sale price of $2153 and $2133.
  

• Popular keywords: money and from are widely used keywords.
  

• Great extension: Uses the .com extension.

• Therefore, one could argue that my domain name also uses the valuable keyword 'money' and 'domains' as an extension which is also a valuable keyword in our industry, although I accept that it is not one of the more popular choices for an extension. However, just for one minute think outside your box and consider the concept rather than the name itself or its intrinsic value. There are probably hundreds of domain names which start with the words..."make money from..." and I am sure that there are probably statistics which indicate how many people type in these words on a regular basis. I'm just not sure myself where to find such information but I'm fairly certain that it is probably in the hundreds of thousands per year.

• I will finish now, as you are probably already asleep.

 

[Reddstagg]

Show attachment 133923

Apologies now, if I manage to offend you too, but please refer to my monologue above for my reasons for registering my domain as opposed to yours. Your suggestion is not quite as bad, as it only have four words, and to be honest with you I hate your suggestion too and would never register such a name in the professional arena of domain investing, as nearly everyone tells us to concentrate on one or two word Dot.Coms. and although I don't always agree with the more experienced members, I can see more merit in their advice than yours.

Admittedly, both alternate suggestions to me were Dot.Coms but I am spreading my relatively small portfolio across several different spheres as I don't want to be tied in to one particular arena should the bubble get a slow puncture rather than burst completely.

Whether we can agree in principle about appraisal tools in general is neither here nor there, but if I use the same appraisal tool for all of my domains, then regardless of value, whether it be €1 or €1,000 I take at least take away some pertinent information.

Six of my top ten highest appraised domain names are NOT Dot.Coms


www. love.furniture 3412
www. men.loans 2675
www. single.rocks 1917
www. escuter.com 1895
www. vodka.coffee 1887
www. microfinancetoday.com 1528
www. microfinance101.com 1508
www. gin.coffee 1420
www. too.irish 1403
www. single4.com 1362

Maybe, someone who is more experienced than me can properly explain this logic, 'cos it sure as sh1t make no sense to me bearing in mind all the good advice that people give me.

 

[Reddstagg]

If you type in just the words..."Make money from..." there are 482,000,000 directly related results.

 

[frank-germany]

so it must be great domain

maybe you want to talk to
@ThatNameGuy