How to Manage Domains

[namekart]

I own 300+ domains scattered across different registrars.

I would like to use a domain management suite, a web-based app or a desktop app, to manage these.

Could you guys recommend any such low-cost/free solution?

 

[JB Lions]

I just have mine in a spreadsheet.

domain name
expiration date
extension
registrar
category - geo, product, brand etc
exact match
other information - related sales etc.

I keep it pretty simple. First you have to decide what you want from a domain management suite. What are you looking for it to do, might help in getting recommendations.

 

[Erdy]

I do the same as the previous poster. I use an excel file because of the flexibility. I use things like colour coding which makes it easier to process. For instance if something is being process I mark the cell blue.

Let's say I'm adding a domain into my sedo account but it is waiting to be verified by sedo, I would simply write "yes" under the sedo column and then make the cell blue.

Similarly, let's say I have forwarded the domain to it's godaddy listing page but the forwarding isn't active yet because nameserver propagation takes a few hours. I would simply write "forwarded to godaddy sales" and then make this cell blue. Then I check this again and if it forwards I remove the blue colour.

You can not beat the flexibility you get with spreadsheets. You can use google documents as well instead of excel.

If you want to keep things in order create an excel file with multiple columns. On one column write down what you are going to do with this domain. For instance, "drop", "keep til 2014", "keep forever". This way you won't need to remember things.

Here is a tip for MS Excel 2007:
On the first row write column names and then go to "View / Freeze Panes / Freeze top row". Now as you sort according different columns the top row with column names will always remain unchanged.

I have the following columns in my excel file:
1. domain name
2. creation date
3. expiry date
4. registrar name
5. what language the domain is
6. whether whois data is checked
7. amount I paid
8. to renew or not
9. have contacted potential buyers or not
10. date I contacted potential buyers and price I gave
11. where the domain opens. (Here I have things like "parked at sedo", "forwarded to sedo seales page", "forwarded to godaddy sales page")
12. whether the domain is in my sedo account or not
13. other notes

I also use the same excel file for recording potential buyers. Here is a screenshot: http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2654/clientsearch.gif

Read my message about this here:
http://www.namepros.com/68798-how-to-find-potential-end-users-77.html#post4048328

And I record finances on the same file as well.

You might use these tools:
1. To get creation and expire dates. Use the export button after you are done:
http://www.domainpunch.com/products/domainstatus/
2. To open and check domains: Paste 10 domains and open all with one click:
http://www.linkrr.com/

 

[Domainace]

Erdy, nice post. May I ask how much time you spend each week keeping that all up-to-date?

 

[agentscarn]

I do the same as the previous poster. I use an excel file because of the flexibility. I use things like colour coding which makes it easier to process. For instance if something is being process I mark the cell blue.

Let's say I'm adding a domain into my sedo account but it is waiting to be verified by sedo, I would simply write "yes" under the sedo column and then make the cell blue.

Similarly, let's say I have forwarded the domain to it's godaddy listing page but the forwarding isn't active yet because nameserver propagation takes a few hours. I would simply write "forwarded to godaddy sales" and then make this cell blue. Then I check this again and if it forwards I remove the blue colour.

You can not beat the flexibility you get with spreadsheets. You can use google documents as well instead of excel.

If you want to keep things in order create an excel file with multiple columns. On one column write down what you are going to do with this domain. For instance, "drop", "keep til 2014", "keep forever". This way you won't need to remember things.

Here is a tip for MS Excel 2007:
On the first row write column names and then go to "View / Freeze Panes / Freeze top row". Now as you sort according different columns the top row with column names will always remain unchanged.

I have the following columns in my excel file:
1. domain name
2. creation date
3. expiry date
4. registrar name
5. what language the domain is
6. whether whois data is checked
7. amount I paid
8. to renew or not
9. have contacted potential buyers or not
10. date I contacted potential buyers and price I gave
11. where the domain opens. (Here I have things like "parked at sedo", "forwarded to sedo seales page", "forwarded to godaddy sales page")
12. whether the domain is in my sedo account or not
13. other notes

I also use the same excel file for recording potential buyers. Here is a screenshot: http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2654/clientsearch.gif

Read my message about this here:
http://www.namepros.com/68798-how-to-find-potential-end-users-77.html#post4048328

And I record finances on the same file as well.

You might use these tools:
1. To get creation and expire dates. Use the export button after you are done:
http://www.domainpunch.com/products/domainstatus/
2. To open and check domains: Paste 10 domains and open all with one click:
http://www.linkrr.com/

Thanks for the tips Erdy! I already have something similar to your setup, but you've clearly taken it to the next level - and given a lot of us some things to think about.

 

[Erdy]

Domainace,
At the moment I have little more than 200 domains and keeping the list up to date takes minimal time, maybe about 10 minutes a day. I would say it is very easy and even if I had 1000 domains it would be still very easy.

Shortly after each new purchase I search for potential clients. At this time I also decide whether I should keep this domain. I write down things like 'renew', 'drop' or 'long term'. I also write down notes about the price. For instance drop until $400, which means I start listing and offering the domain at a higher price and then gradually, each two months I drop the price to that level.

I have a second paypal account that I use only for domaining. My paypal balance matches the balance I have on my excel file on the finances page and that money is divided for different things. For instance I know exactly how much money I have for renewals, for new domains and for other things like hosting or programming.

If you have some money assigned for renewals and you have a few domains that say 'renew' next to them, you don't have to think about anything. You just process things automatically.

 

[Domainace]

Thanks. My record keeping skills are sloppy as hell, and I've been trying to fix that this year. Hard to improve/analyze things when there aren't clear records.

 

[dotker]

Im using google docs.

 

[renek]

estibot has such a tool in development. Try contacting them.

 

[namekart]

@Erdy: Thanks for the excellent post Erdy. Reps added.

Could you please elaborate how do you record finances?


@ Renek:I have contacted Estibot. Their tool is expensive.

 

[Erdy]

Could you please elaborate how do you record finances?

Of course. Follow along with me. We will create a small table with some simple excel formula and at the end it will look like this:
http://i51.tinypic.com/2zp388n.gif

Step 1: On MS Excel or Google Docs go to an excel page, copy the following text between the lines and paste starting from the A1 cell. It should cover from A1 cell to A26 cell after you have pasted.
-------------------------------------------------
1. Have
undecided
savings
hosting
programming
renewals
new domains
total
2. Earned
sedo sales
godaddy sales
other
total
carried over
3. Spent
savings
renewals
dynadot
godaddy
name.com
namecheap
snapnames
hosting
programming
other
total
-------------------------------------------------

Step 2: Now copy the following text and paste it starting from the B1 cell. It should cover from B1 to B26.

-------------------------------------------------
=SUM(B13+B14-B26)
100
300
85
150
300
400
=SUM(B2:B7)
2011 Apr
445
219
0
=SUM(B10:B12)
800
none
0
40
50
19
0
0
20
0
0
0
=SUM(B16:B25)
-------------------------------------------------

When you are finished the B1 and B8 cells will both show 1335 in this example. B1 is calculated by taking money I earned and subtracting money I spent. This gives money I have. B8 is calculated by adding up items I have money for. Again this gives money I have. These two cells should always show the same. Also this should match the amount I have in paypal.

Notes:
1. I use the term 'savings' for money that I transfer (or plan to transfer) from my domaining paypal account to my personal paypal account.
2. In section 3 (Spent), I have things like dynadot, godaddy, name.com, namecheap, snapnames. These are only for new domains. You could of course remove them and just say 'new domains'.
3. In section 1 (Have), I have actually written some percentages next to each item. For instance next to new domains it says 50%. Next to renewals it says 10%. This means when money comes in, I divide it according those percentages. I sometimes play around with these numbers to fine tune things. Let's say I have 100 domains I plan renewing. This will cost me 800 USD during the following 12 months. I will take half of that, because 6 months reserve is good enough. So I should have 400 USD for renewals.

 

[rmg]

MS Excel :D

 

[namekart]

@Erdy:

Wow. That was helpful indeed.

You had mentioned that you use the same excel for recording potential buyers as well. Could you provide further pointers on this?

 

[Erdy]

@Erdy:

Wow. That was helpful indeed.

You had mentioned that you use the same excel for recording potential buyers as well. Could you provide further pointers on this?

It is very easy. Check these two images:

http://i56.tinypic.com/scbdpy.gif
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2654/clientsearch.gif

Excel pages have the letters of the alphabet as column names. The first column is A, the second B, and so on. So I put buyers of all domains that start with A to the first column. On the second image you see 11 groups under the A column. This means I have 11 domains that start with A.

As you see in the first image, I record the following:
1. Date I sent an email (I use orange colour). I copy this date to the first page to the column that I mentioned in my first message as "10. date I contacted potential buyers and price I gave". If you write in the "year/month/date $price" format, you can sort according that column. Wait two months after the last email, reduce the price and send a new email. For instance start with $900, then two months later drop to $750 and then two more months to $600, and keep at $600. I decide what price range I should go with when I search for buyers. I use Google.

2. Buyer emails (I use green colour, after emails are sent, red for bounced emails, means don't sent any more email too these addresses)

3. Buyer site names (no colour)

You can find an email template of mine here:
http://www.namepros.com/68798-how-to-find-potential-end-users-77.html#post4048389

 

[Kate]

An Excel sheet can be enough.
Keep track of the expiration dates, never ever rely on the reminders. Because you might not receive them, for some reason.

Some registrars allow you to export the list of domains in CSV format for example, so you don't have to build your list from scratch.

 

[xrvel]

estibot has such a tool in development. Try contacting them.

Why should we use external tool to manage our domains?

I agree with the excel / plain text idea.
More privacy here.

 

[JB Lions]

And if you don't have Excel, I would get OpenOffice (free) - http://download.openoffice.org/index.html

Or Microsoft Works spreadsheet that most computers come with but Excel and OpenOffice, much better.

 

[Toni]

I use paper and pen (notebooks) and a plain text file as a backup.

Each site in my notebooks is dedicated to 1 domain/website where I drop all my thoughts for each name, monetization stuff, reg. details etc.

I have used management tools in the past (even bought one for $40) but for me it's a lot easier seeing it on paper..

 

[spikedo]

I use Watch My Domains Pro V2.0. Purchased it when I started domaining 5 years ago and it still does the job. It is still being sold today. Search via Google.

 

[MattheP]

I have similar table as Erdinc in Excel, and it suits me well. Plus, I keep it in the Cloud (dropbox) so I can easily access it from all my computers wherever I am (home computers, laptop, mobile phone).

And as Sdsinc said, you can easily import .csv to excel.

BTW, same thing can be done with Open office, free alternative to MS Office, in case you dont own Microsoft product.