How to Make a Living in the Domain Business

[danielr]

Currently, I am averaging about $70,000 per year in PPC, revenue sharing, and affiliate programs. And I would like to let some people in on a few secrets. I cannot promise you will do the same, but the following information I could easily write a book and sell (but you are gong to get the best info for FREE).

I currently own close to 1800 domains and close to 1000 of them are poker domains. Yes, I know what you are thinking (all the good poker domains are gone) and its not going to help you… well I have some very interesting news for you. I read an article last December on the internet, and purchased about 10 domains because of this article. 3 of these 10 domains I purchased make an average of $25 dollars per day in PPC. Together that is $75 per day and about 1/3 the revenue that I make on my PPC per day (from these 3 domains). But before I go into this, about getting the best name, I want to discuss how I got where I am today.

When I got into the domain business just more than 2 years ago, I fell flat on my face (just like I see many of the newbees today). But I learned from my mistakes and I learned from my profits. It’s just as important to learn from what you do right vs what you do wrong. If you do something right… can you do it better?

In the first 3 months of my venture in the Domain Business and maxing out one of my credit cards, I realized that about half the domains I purchased were going nowhere. I had them parked at Afternic and moved them to SEDO a few months later. However, there was just one domain that I picked up and it purchased it by accident. It was a typo from a non trade mark site. And I was actually getting traffic and PPC on SEDO with this domain. So I started buying more similar Typos, but I was not the only person buying typo domains and the really good typos domains for PPC were bought up quickly. So I had to came out with a method that really helped me find some great typos and I am going to share this with you…..


1) Use a spreadsheet or text document that you can SORT. I personally use excel

2) Type the name of the domain you want the typo for, over and over and hit the return key after each time you type it. This will have it appear each time on a new line.

3) After each time you type the name, you MUST pick your hands up off the keyboard because it prevents a repetitive pattern.

4) Sometimes I type it about 20 times and rest and save the document.

5) If you can, do not look at the screen when you type, or if you make a mistake do not correct it.

6) After you type the domain about 500 times, then sort out your column of text. Now you are going to be able to see the most common typos you make because the common mistakes will be grouped together.

7) Sometimes I have others (type) it out because I don’t always make the same typos. My cat makes the most typos now.

About the same time learned this method, I started getting more poker domains. And yes I was lucky to grab many nice typos of poker sites. However, I currently own over 400 poker site typos which makes up over 60 percent of my PPC.

After a while I did pick up some trade marked domain typos and even found a way to dodge them (I am not going to go into that now). But if I did pick up a very good trade mark domain typo that makes a large profit, I always do a private registration. It does not stop them from taking the domain; however it weeds out the attorneys that just send the normal certified letter to scare you.


The next bit of information is how to find and get the domains that have potential. This is how I found those 3 domains last December. And in a similar example….. a few days ago I saw this article on the GOOGLE news about how GoldenSpirit is going to get into the online poker business.
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=88803

Golden Spirit is a very rich mining company in Alaska and now they want to get into the online poker business. Well they did pick up GoldenSpiritPoker.com but guess who owns GoldenSpiritPoker.Net and GoldSpiritPoker.com. Of course it is just speculation, however, I like my chances with a company who has the money to advertise. Last December I did the same with FullTiltPoker.com and it is really paying off.

The bottom line is reading as much as you can about a domain you are interested in buying can be all the inside information to score big. It does not have to be a poker domain. Big companies make mistakes by only buying the .com and not any similar domains/variations, and that is were domain buyers like us have the edge.

I have said this in other post, and maybe I am shooting myself in the foot by saying it here, but everyday… I read the news on Google about poker. I also always monitor www.PokerPulse.com because I want to know how all the top poker sites are doing. If there is a new online poker site or event, I want to know. Sometimes I wonder if I should be reading about technology more than just poker.

I am not saying everyone had to buy poker domains to be successful, however, the domain industry and technology is NOT stagnated. 2 years ago “POD” was unheard of. What is going to be the next new key words? Well it’s not going to just fall in your lap, but one of the first to know really helps. There is tons of articles just waiting to be searched and read by speculators like me and you, and it’s all FREE.

I believe that….. To be successful in the domain business you have to learn from your mistakes, your profits, and with the information I have just provided you it only takes the initiative. I can just see it, I made everyone on NamePros a millionaire.

 

[primacomputer]

You don't have the full picture yet. If a person mistypes a domain and lands on one of Dan's sites, they immediately know they made a mistake. They have the choice of just going to the site they intended to go to, OR... they see something that interests them more and click on it! Control is completely in their hands. The consumer decides where they want to go. This system BENEFITS the consumer, because it gives them new options they didn't know about.

Yeah, like when I sell you a new computer and then you get home you find out there is no mother board or hard drive inside. Control is completely in your hands. You can decide to come back to the shop and collect the missing parts or just use it as it is. Fortunately the law provides remedies against bother scammers and cybersquatters

If there was NOT a PPC landing page like Dan's, the consumer would only get a "Page Not Found" error page. Is that better than being presented with many new choices?

This advertisement paid for by the Friends of Site Finder Foundation.

Nice thread!

This is what i did, i got a search engine Vonna.com and made this toolbar:

http://www.vonna.com/web-install/toolbar.html

What is does it LOG all domains typed in that do not resolve , so now i got this list of all the MOST typed in "Typo Domains".

But i dropped it again, there are to many trademark issues, and i have no time for the heat, but perhaps someone else would do the same

I do something similar with name servers. Queries that don't resolve are checked against domain availability and the number of queries counted. It is incredibly effective. But yes, 90% of the potential names aren't worth touching due to TM issues.

 

[Vonna.com]

thanks for the advice, danielr.

I have a list of a few typo domains that I made up.

My problem is, how to identify the relative value of each typo.

I'm running a test on thise domains:

pookerpages.com
pokerpagess.com
pojerpages.com
pokkerpages.com
pokerrpages.com

To find out what poker typo is the best, i will let you all know in this thread when they have been running for 1 month.

 

[Gene]

Yeah, like when I sell you a new computer and then you get home you find out there is no mother board or hard drive inside. Control is completely in your hands. You can decide to come back to the shop and collect the missing parts or just use it as it is. Fortunately the law provides remedies against bother scammers and cybersquatters

I don't agree with that analogy at all. When somebody 'buys' something, they should get exactly what they paid for. But if a person goes to a shopping mall and walks into the wrong store, they can either decide to stay in the that store or walk over to the store they had in mind in the first place.

 

[primacomputer]

Well I'm not sure that analogy is any better. A typo isn't someone walking into the wrong shop, it's someone being intentionally misled into the wrong shop. It's someone opening a burger joint with a yellow “M” on a red background and calling it McDonlads. You wouldn't expect to get away with this in the real world so why should it be acceptable online?

 

[Gene]

Well I'm not sure that analogy is any better. A typo isn't someone walking into the wrong shop, it's someone being intentionally misled into the wrong shop. It's someone opening a burger joint with a yellow “M” on a red background and calling it McDonlads. You wouldn't expect to get away with this in the real world so why should it be acceptable online?

If the web site they land on is pretending to be the website they wanted to go to, then you're right. But if the web site is completely different from the intended web site, then there is absolutely no deception going on. There is no big "M". Every typo/PPC web page I've ever seen is simply a page of various links to many different sites on the web. It's obviously not the page they intended to go to.

The web address is like the street address. If someone goes to the wrong street address, they may end up at Wendy's instead of the big "M". Then it's up to them whether they want to eat there or go elsewhere.

 

[Smith]

Well I'm not sure that analogy is any better. A typo isn't someone walking into the wrong shop, it's someone being intentionally misled into the wrong shop. It's someone opening a burger joint with a yellow “M” on a red background and calling it McDonlads. You wouldn't expect to get away with this in the real world so why should it be acceptable online?

Ever seen the development that happens around a new WalMart or Costco?

Whenever Walmart opens a new store (in the area I once lived anyway) it's usually on the edge of the city with farm land all around it.

What happens next is that all the property around the WalMart is bought up and almost the exact same restaurants and stores open up at virtually each new development. They obviously do not claim to be Walmart, but they know that the people going to WalMart might just be interested in whatever they are offering because the demographics match.

So without having to spend a large amount of money on demographic research etc they just watch WalMart & CostCo & any of the other large brands, where ever these giants open their doors; so do they.

 

[faisj]

great thread!

 

[Fleege]

$70,000 in PPC, maynn you can buy yourself a FERRARI on your cash

GREAT THREAD. Glad to see it is going stronger than ever. Also glad to see that a fellow domainHOPPER is doing alright.

Even though its 70K -minus about 8K in annual renewals (that people often forget with 1000+ portfolios) + all other stuff we spend on...

 

[primacomputer]

If the web site they land on is pretending to be the website they wanted to go to, then you're right. But if the web site is completely different from the intended web site, then there is absolutely no deception going on. There is no big "M". Every typo/PPC web page I've ever seen is simply a page of various links to many different sites on the web. It's obviously not the page they intended to go to.

The web address is like the street address. If someone goes to the wrong street address, they may end up at Wendy's instead of the big "M". Then it's up to them whether they want to eat there or go elsewhere.

I would say that the fact that a name is a typo constitutes pretending. Actually the courts and countless UDRP decisions say that. I just happen to agree. A “web address” is not like a street address. An IP address might be considered to be like a street address. A URL/Domain name is the big sign out front with the logo. You punch in the wrong IP address and you go to some random server. You mis-type the domain name and you end up on some cybersquatters parking page.

 

[Fleege]

Ok now you did it. I got inspired reading this thread and now there is one more domainer in the typo bidnis. Is there room for me? This is fun. Can't wait get them active and see the type-in results.
The target site is only alexa rank 33,720 but my two typos for the same domain are pretty easy to do - atleast in my own personal experience.

And as the fast study I am I willpark one at sedo (the one with a more foreigner "reason" typo) and the other one which is a more keyboard mistake typo I will park at my favorite domainhop.

Thanks again - or I guess I should hold off my kudos for a little longer. Maybe I'll come back for a refund.

 

[equity78]

Good points Gene, those who missed the boat seem to have a little envy.

 

[aboujouj83]

Thanks Danielr! I am sure only very few people in this world would have done the same! Thanks again!

Aboujouj83

 

[barefoottech]

For years, I always thought my mis-spellings was a problem ,now I realise I was just good at typo's :hehe:

 

[ThreeD]

Ohhhh! God, no! My hand accidently slipped and reged them all!

( I didnt really, i dont like Ron biting my ankles! )

lol do a lot of people actually make that typo though? (NamePrso.com) that is..

 

[MistaPrimeMinista]

This article is ...... ''refreshing''

 

[dweeb]

thanks for sharing that. but i don't suppose i'll ever go into the domain business.

 

[danielr]

Give some people credit

You know, I give most people credit on the Internet... that they are literate and know when they made a typo. They have the option of looking at whats on the page or realizing they made a common mistake and move on. But I, as a typosquater, try to accomidate the web surfer by giving him links that he was actually looking for. For example on my AlamoL.com - most are looking for "alamo car rental" and the will find that link there, its quick , easy, and simple. You cant trademark the word "Alamo" unless you want to go back 160 years and then you can honestly "Remember the Alamo".

But one of the issues that has made me so successful in this business is I always make my traffic "targetable" and relate to what the surfer is looking for. If you, as a web surfter have a problem with it, Then I can give you one word of advice .....DontMakeAnyTypos.

What really concerns me abuot this typo issue, is that there are some people who are not nice and very devious. For example, if they had a domain close to BankofAmerica.com or PayPal.com and made a website that look just like their landing page... and when you go to log in, it records your login and password and gives you the message that the site is down. Well that is bad and I am sure you will see more of this in the future. So i would like to make the suggestion for any accounts that you have or login/passwords website.. that you save these pages in your desktop of favorites. Everytime you login to a site check the URL bar at the top also. It has never happend to me, but I have heard some horror stories.

But in a few years I think the typos will be a thing of the past. The trends of the internet is to accomidate the end user (the surfer) and the search engines and web browsers are only getting smarter and making it easier for the surfer to find what they want. So to protect the value of all my typos I purchased the domain "MSvoice.net/org" because eventually the keyboard will be a think of the past.

 

[MistaPrimeMinista]

I like how you think !
Always ahead

You probably have 1000 years in the typo business than anyone i know that are in. And certainly 1000000 years on me
I just started here. Dont really know whats right whats wrong lol

As if i will ever know.

Your article is really informative. I hope typos will never be a thing of the past so that you continue makeing a good profit.

I need to ask where do you think is the best place to park typos ? Do you have all your typos parked on one place or are you using more than one.

If thats not too much of a secret let us know.

Thanks

 

[danielr]

I need to ask where do you think is the best place to park typos ? Do you have all your typos parked on one place or are you using more than one.
Thanks

This is a very good question, and ever good question deserves a good answer. Depending on the type of typo I have determines where I park the domain.... and I have experimented with many types of typos and parking.

I have many typos that get traffic but untargeted traffic (traffic I cant really do anything with). For this type of typo I use either DomainHop or DomainSponsor. For example if you visit www.yahdoo.com , i get the pop up taffic and there is the search bar. Domain Sponsor also has the search bar but not at the top. But some peple are just lazy and when the see the search bar and realize they are not at yahoo, they conduct their search anyway.

For targeted typo traffic use Sedo and Domain Sponsor. For names like HomesForclosed.com (typo for Homesforeclosed.com) I get the revenue sharing at Domain sponsor and sometimes I get some $4.00 clicks vs the $1.30 at Sedo. If it is a high money domain that has a potential for revenue sharing I will select Domain Sponsor. But some of the lower revenue domains I use Sedo for. Sedo allows me to set the keywords that relate to the domains. A while back when I first got AlamoL.com I set the keyword for "car rental"..... The PPC was higher for "car rental" but ALAMO CAR RENTAL did not always advertise on Google. So I changed the key word to "ALAMO" which caused Alamo Car Rental Links to appear, and the PPC was less .07 but now I am getting a very high click thru rate. Sometimes its better to get a higher click thru rate with lower PPC for maximum revenue.

But I own more pokersite typos than anytype of typo (over 500 typos) and I park them at Fabulous. Not all pokersites advertise on ROAR.com and the ones that do not ( and I have typos for that site) I am affiliates with their pokersite and I get the affiiate revenue for any real money sign ups. For example there is a pokersite called FullTiltPoker.com and I use a domain such as www.tiltem.com as an affiliate site with them. Fabulous is strict one what domains they allow to be set in their high traffic poker parking (usually the word poker / holdem needs to be in the domain).

But the bottomline is to experiment with parking at different services until you get the maximum revenue.

 

[Badger]

The unfortunate thing with all typos is that their shelf life has almost reached its end.

Typos rely solely on the keyboard, without it, theyre extinct.

Best guess on the life of the keyboard is around about 3 years from now.

 

[primacomputer]

The unfortunate thing with all typos is that their shelf life has almost reached its end.

Typos rely solely on the keyboard, without it, theyre extinct.

Best guess on the life of the keyboard is around about 3 years from now.

So how will be type without keyboards in three years time? I don't think the lack of keyboards will do it in, but there are other issues that could. As domains increase in value people will have more incentive to take these names from cybersquatters. There are may also be other technological advances that could make typo squatting less popular.

I've written a number of applications that do just this. I have an “auto correct” for URLs which corrects spelling errors. I also have a transparent proxy that inserts a warning page before a site if the name servers match a known cybersquatter, PPC service, or if the page contains a redirect to a PPC or affiliate programme. These are all simple bits of code that could be integrated into any browser. If MS were to add them to IE it would be the end of nearly all typo squatting.

 

[Jimmy Changa]

Best guess on the life of the keyboard is around about 3 years from now.

You seriously think that we are going to be willing to give up our keyboards in 3 years? Not at all. Maybe you only know tech-savy people, but the folks that I know are hard to change and like the comforts that they have come to know over the years. The keyboard is an integral part of the PC experience and not likely to be thrown out without a fight. Also, you have many people who have been using keyboards for decades (they used to be called typewriters ) and these people will likely NEVER give up the keyboard.

Typos will always be around....


...IMHO, of course.

 

[MistaPrimeMinista]

Thanks again for your answer. I definetly will experiment with different parking sites.


I have to agree a little bit with the above comments that typos will be gone pretty soon due to some sort of PPC preventing codes in browsers. Or check spelling in web adresses.

However i do not agree with the idea that keyboards will be gone. I find it more tireing to talk a word than to type it. Specially at a work place. Imagine if everyone would have to talk an adress instead of entering it on a keyboard ! We would all have to have sound proof offices.
Computers with no Keyboards ?
I dont think so. Not for tomorow. Maybe the day where computers can read our thoughts !!

 

[Ray]

thanks for the help mate!

 

[Smith]

I think that one thing that has to be talked about is the WIPO's, C&D's & Lawsuits connected with typos.

If anyone gets into typos, they have to go in with eyes wide open.

You WILL get WIPO's, C&D's and potentially Lawsuits regardless if it is a generic term or not.

C&D's $0 - $500 to settle (occasional positive cash flow from them)
WIPO's $0 - $2000 to defend
Lawsuit $1500 - $xxx,xxx+ to settle / defend

Don't think it's all sunshine and daisies kids, if you don't have the mentality to deal with getting sued and to deal with total prick lawyers, avoid typos