discuss Incognito Domainer

[MapleDots]

Quite a while back I mentioned that I've put my domains to work and I have over 1000 domains forwarded to one of my online stores. So instead of parking income I'm harvesting the traffic and hopefully selling some items from my online store.

A few interesting things have happened during this time and it's not what you would expect. I'm selling more items than ever on the online store and I cannot say for sure if that is because of covid, or the increase in traffic, but that is another issue altogether.

What I really wanted to talk about with this post is kind of surprising...

Since I stopped forwarding my domains to a mapledots lander, and forward them masked (address remains in address bar) to my online store, the inquiries have shot up substantially. The clients basically email or call my business and ask for the person in charge.

The number one thing the email inquiry, or caller, says is "I notice you're not using the domain".

I say....
Ohhh, I forgot about that domain, I use it to drive traffic to my online store.

Client says...
Would you consider selling?

I say...
If the right offer came along but I'm really in no panic to sell.

Client says...
How much are you asking?

I say...
Never thought about it but it would have to be a genuine offer worth my while for me to consider selling.

Here is where it gets really interesting...

The dialogue is so civilized, there is nobody calling me a domain squatter, there is no name calling, nothing! It all seems sooo polite with me basically always repeating that it would have to be a significant offer worth my while for me to consider selling the domain.

Since I operate all of my businesses as a sole proprietorship I bill right through my online store and the end user has no idea that they ever did business with mapledots or a domainer.

I don't think I'll be going back to my previous way of selling domains anytime soon. I still use mapledots for my auction and marketplace activities, but for most inquiries I now use one of my regular business names.

Selling incognito is truly a refreshing way to sell domains. When the end user does not know they are dealing with a domainer the transaction is so much more pleasant.


============================================================================

PLEASE DO NOT POST, OR DISCUSS, MY PERSONAL BUSINESS OR NAME IN THIS TOPIC.

Discuss the topic at hand without getting into the personal details of my business. - Thank You!

 

[xynames]

The chances of anyone landing on some random domain name and then being redirected to some unrelated site and then buying your product that has nothing to do or any connection whatsoever to that “name” are not worth considering.

However it does make some sense that someone who has been eyeing a particular domain and now noticing that it no longer redirects to a business might think that this means that the domain is no longer needed and now available for sale. But the best way to show someone that a domain is for sale is - obviously - by having it redirect to or land directly on a For Sale landing page.

 

[MapleDots]

Thanks!

Yet another reason for switching to anonymous mode that I described above

Seriously, I don't think I'm going back.

The best advice I have for domainers is not to be a domainer, people feel alienated when they feel they are dealing with a professional domainer. Everyone likes to believe they found a domain and snapped it up before it hit the open market. In fact in one of my negotiations that is exactly what happened. I said to the person inquiring maybe I should offer it for sale for a while to see what happens. Right away they seemed more eager to negotiate wanting me not to test the market.

Sooooo many advantages to NOT officially being a domainer.

 

[MapleDots]

I mean, it’s not difficult to pretend you’re an end user when asking, say, 2-3K for an average quality two-word domain name (because “you like it”), but how do you reasonably justify a 10K+ price tag for a similar quality domain name that was “once used to drive traffic to your website” without looking suspiciously greedy?

Some of the highest domain sales have been by people saying the domains are not for sale.
As long as you leave the door open and let the end user know you are willing to talk then anything is possible.

It's really is not about looking greedy, for me it's all about not looking needy.

 

[MapleDots]

I know, I know. And those are usually not two-word (average) domains. My question was specifically about NOT a one-word-dictionary domain type.

So speaking about your personal experience, have you sold any 5-figure names this way?

Yes, I sold a 5 letter .ca this way just recently - end user $13,800
That was one of the reasons I made this post, negotiations went remarkably smooth.

Edit: Had to reread your post...
I sell most of my two word domains for 5-10k so this method is ideal.
However my one word domains are also using this method now so I will keep you posted if they sell.

 

[MapleDots]

My secret #1

Here is a secret I have been using for quite a while and I will disclose it today...

GoDaddy has poor bulk tools and it only lets me change about 50 or so domains with forwards until it times out. I used to be able to forward 1000 domains in a few keyclicks and now it takes much longer.

How do I get around that?

I forward all my domains to domains.mydomain.com in the godaddy control panel so now I never have to touch it again.

My main business domain uses google domains so I go there and make a subdomain called domains.mydomain.com.

Now I forward domains.mydomains.com to my online store number #1.

If I want to change the forward of all 1000 domains to online store #2 then all I do is change the forward of domains.mydomain.com to my other store address.

So at any time I can change all 1000 or so domains to forward to any one of my online stores or businesses with a couple of keystrokes.

 

[SuperBrander]

Interesting tactic. Do you remove the domains from all the marketplaces? If a potential buyer looks around and finds a domain listed for sale in one or more places, it ruins the perception of you being a business owner who just uses his domains as forwards.

 

[MapleDots]

My secret #2

Here is another one of my tricks

Since my google analytics are loaded on the main domain it shows me exactly where each keyclick comes from, I can see when someone types in any of my domains and how many times it lands. If I switch back to mapledots I can also see how many keyclicks I get and how many times people land.

So I can direct all 1000 or so domains to numerous businesses and companies with one keyclick, let it run for a month and analyse my google analytics.

So far I get many more keyclicks when they forward to my online store and if only a few people poke around I might just pick up some business.
I also get more domain inquiries when forwarded to my online store instead of my domaining page.

It's called putting my domains to work instead of just sitting there looking pretty.

 

[MapleDots]

HeHe, Just for your information...

As of the time of this post the term IncognitoDomainer.com is still available to register.

 

[MapleDots]

Yeah, I think you'll sell less high sales this way.

Actually, one of my best domains took the largest offer to date using this method.
The thing is it still was only about half of what I wanted for the domain but it was a substantial offer nonetheless.

 

[MapleDots]

@Brands.International it's always nice to hear from you but showrooming does not work for me. It might with your generic new tld's but someone looking for a red domain is not going to shop my site and say I'll take the green one instead and maybe the nice orange one. I can add fancy logos, which I did for years, and try to say how my domains are better than the next guys but none of that matters in domaining.

In your case if someone wants my.city there is no use showing him my.other because he already know what he wants. The only person that benefits from showrooming is the domainer. He can brag about his shiny website with lots of colorful domains but to the end user that is irrelevant. He wants the domain he came for and that is it. By not telling him I am a domainer I increase my odds of contact. I have been experimenting with this back and forth a couple of years now and my stats are clear, I get more interaction when the client thinks they are dealing with an ordinary joe.

I have all my files and can re-launch my logo website in 10 minutes if I want. It looks great, it's super fancy but nobody calls. I feel great looking at the website and other domainers tell me they are jealous of all the nice logos. Problem is.... it still does not make for inquiries other than on the domain someone is interested in. If I intimidate him and he decides not to inquire because he thinks he will have to deal with a squatter then I miss the sale.

So lets face it, we can call ourselves whatever we want, domainer, a broker, a virtual property manager, but in the end the majority of the public will still call us squatters. It's a perception that is hard to overcome, I have figured out how. I simply don't tell them... period, nothing else.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Thanks for kicking off a really interesting discussion, @MapleDots . The idea that users might be more willing to purchase from someone who is not a domainer is definitely reasonable, and among other things suggest that we need to do work to change how the domain world is viewed. Imagine the same thing with real estate: most would be more willing to buy via a real estate agent than otherwise.
Bob

 

[uzver]

The dialogue is so civilized, there is nobody calling me a domain squatter, there is no name calling, nothing! It all seems sooo polite with me basically always repeating that it would have to be a significant offer worth my while for me to consider selling the domain.

Have you sold 5-figure domains using this tactic?

I mean, it’s not difficult to pretend you’re an end user when asking, say, 2-3K for an average quality two-word domain name (because “you like it”), but how do you reasonably justify a 10K+ price tag for a similar quality domain name that was “once used to drive traffic to your website” without looking suspiciously greedy?

 

[NickB]

The beauty is it comes across as no pressure to sell from his end, no need to quote a price, just keep saying not enough and would rather use as a forward......

I suppose you could always say after a few offers for the domain you have done some research and it seems this domain is worth xyz because of xyz take it or leave it

Interested to see how @MapleDots handles the enquiries and closes them if he is willing to share.....

Edit: which he has done below

 

[biggie]

The best advice I have for domainers is not to be a domainer, people feel alienated when they feel they are dealing with a professional domainer.

Hi

i disagree, with quote above...
and agree, with quote below.

Without being free to discuss his names and his exact business this thread is pointless as far as the “benefit” of directing names.

To me, be who you are, when the opportunity arises.
when someone contacts you, they expect you to be responsive to their inquiry.

i'm certainly not going to act like a carpenter, when asked if wellcare.us is for sale.
nor am i going to try and presume their emotional state of being.

just saying.....

imo...

 

[Brands.International]

The "incognito domainer" is certainly a very interesting idea For some people, it might work well. But for this idea to work well one needs to be very, very, very patient.

Honestly @MapleDots you have great domain names, you invested a lot of time and money to make a nice portfolio. Your names are generic, and clean when it comes to things like TMs, etc. It is a very good portfolio.

So in your case, why be anonymous or incognito? I would do vice-versa if I would be you, start doing more social media, be more visible. This will also eliminate any shady or unpleasant interactions one might encounter, as shady people like to operate in dark. Once you are kind of visible/public/direct, this ceases.

The thing is, that except .com names you have a lot of great ccTLD names. But those are limited only to 1 country with less than 40 mil people. This means this is a limited end-user pool, compared to 7 bil end-user pool .com names have (and for this matter also generic new gTLDs have when I am at it).

A limited end-user pool means slow action (low liquidity), particularly in case you have high demands on your ROI. This leads me to the conclusion, that either you will be very patient (and simply sit on your names for the next 5-20 years, which would be the best approach in your case as you are still very young, IMO, and it is really an investment for your future, so why selling now), or, if you want some action now, go to social media, promote, and be proud on what you own.

This "incognito domainer" idea will probably lead to a lot of lowball offers (tricky domain investors will try their luck), which can lead to frustration in time. Your tricky idea will attract other tricky people, who will try to trick you... I guess it is best to be very truthful in what we are trying to achieve, sometimes simple truth is the most effective.

This is just IMO and I might be wrong, and no damage is done if you test the idea of "incognito domainer", which is certainly very interesting. GL

 

[MapleDots]

The chances of anyone landing on some random domain name and then being redirected to some unrelated site and then buying your product that has nothing to do or any connection whatsoever to that “name” are almost nonexistent.

However it does make sense that someone who has been eyeing a particular domain and now noticing that it no longer redirects to a business might think that this means that the domain is no longer needed and now available for sale. But the best way to show someone that a domain is for sale is - obviously - by having it redirect to a For Sale landing page.

Yes a For Sale page is pretty clear, I will not dispute that.
However I find my way is working for me, and I am getting more inquiries than with my for sale lander.

 

[MapleDots]

This looks very interesting.

Just want to be clear,
1 - [Domain A] has keywords totally unrelated to [Online Store Domain B]
2 - [Online Store Domain B] is a fully functional marketplace that acts as a real biz selling physical/digital goods
3 - Whois privacy can be enabled on all [Domain A] as long as there's contact details mentioned at the online store's contact page
4 - [Domain A] redirects to [Online Store Domain B] while remaining under [Domain A] in all URLs related to the online shop (in other words, zero traces of [Online Store Domain B] in the URLs when customer types in [Domain A])

Is this correct?

It's just set up for type ins so basically the typed in domain is visible in the address bar upon landing. Because the domain is a masked forward you can add any tags or descriptions to customize it if you want. I don't do that because I want it to seem like I am only using the domain to gain traffic for my online store.

So basically the domain name stays in the url for one keyclick and I have a java script loaded on my store which breaks it out of frames and loads my real domain address upon any click thereafter.

 

[SuperBrander]

Thanks for your previous response regarding the different marketplaces. I have another question if you don't mind answering- why mask the domain instead of just forward it to the business and show the business url? I imagine some unsavvy people who follow the redirect and end up on the business site might think the domain they were trying to see is being used as a business since they still see the url at the top and that might make them not approach you to inquire about the domain.

 

[MapleDots]

Thanks for your previous response regarding the different marketplaces. I have another question if you don't mind answering- why mask the domain instead of just forward it to the business and show the business url? I imagine some unsavvy people who follow the redirect and end up on the business site might think the domain they were trying to see is being used as a business since they still see the url at the top and that might make them not approach you to inquire about the domain.

So if someone types in bestdomain.com and gets to mystore.com I want it to say bestdomain.com. In a sneaky way I still want the person typing the URL to see it in use. Because I don't advertise my domains anyone typing it in is doing so only to find out who owns it which ultimately might lead to a sale.

If they see the site and want to know anything else they will click on something and that leads them to the real store URL. From there on there might be some curiosity as to who is using the URL so they might poke around and in a small percentage of cases I might even pick up a sale of product but that is not the real purpose. The real purpose is to show who is kinda using the domain, to the person looking it is obvious the domain is only used as a redirect so they naturally think.... hey maybe I can buy it.

On the other hand if the leads straight to marketplace site asking for 10k they will probably just click away because they think another squatter own the site. With my method they are not intimidated, instead they think the url is not in use and I may have a chance to purchase it. From there on the negotiation starts. Using my analytics I can tell you I get more inquiries when I use this method than when I forward to godaddy auction or my landers.

So remember I am not talking about sales, I am saying my method gets me more inquiries than my landers and from there on everything depends on my skills as a domainer. The results will vary for every domainer depending on their sales and closing skills.

 

[tonyk2000]

The dialogue is so civilized, there is nobody calling me a domain squatter, there is no name calling, nothing! It all seems sooo polite with me basically always repeating that it would have to be a significant offer worth my while for me to consider selling the domain.

Would it be possible that there are domainers on another end, trying to acquire something from an enduser?

 

[MapleDots]

Interesting tactic. Do you remove the domains from all the marketplaces? If a potential buyer looks around and finds a domain listed for sale in one or more places, it ruins the perception of you being a business owner who just uses his domains as forwards.

Again, that happened where on person said they also saw the domain on Godaddy.

I just said really? They are my registrar, is it parked or listed?
I pretended it was a surprise to me but something that could have happened back in the day before I forwarded the domain.

Since the majority of my domains are at make an offer it really did not come into play.

 

[RogueWriter]

Quite a while back I mentioned that I've put my domains to work and I have over 1000 domains forwarded to one of my online stores. So instead of parking income I'm harvesting the traffic and hopefully selling some items from my online store.

A few interesting things have happened during this time and it's not what you would expect. I'm selling more items than ever on the online store and I cannot say for sure if that is because of covid, or the increase in traffic, but that is another issue altogether.

What I really wanted to talk about with this post is kind of surprising...

Since I stopped forwarding my domains to a mapledots lander, and forward them masked (address remains in address bar) to my online store, the inquiries have shot up substantially. The clients basically email or call my business and ask for the person in charge.

The number one thing the email inquiry, or caller, says is "I notice you're not using the domain".

I say....
Ohhh, I forgot about that domain, I use it to drive traffic to my online store.

Client says...
Would you consider selling?

I say...
If the right offer came along but I'm really in no panic to sell.

Client says...
How much are you asking?

I say...
Never thought about it but it would have to be a genuine offer worth my while for me to consider selling.

Here is where it gets really interesting...

The dialogue is so civilized, there is nobody calling me a domain squatter, there is no name calling, nothing! It all seems sooo polite with me basically always repeating that it would have to be a significant offer worth my while for me to consider selling the domain.

Since I operate all of my businesses as a sole proprietorship I bill right through my online store and the end user has no idea that they ever did business with mapledots or a domainer.

I don't think I'll be going back to my previous way of selling domains anytime soon. I still use mapledots for my auction and marketplace activities, but for most inquiries I now use one of my regular business names.

Selling incognito is truly a refreshing way to sell domains. When the end user does not know they are dealing with a domainer the transaction is so much more pleasant.


============================================================================

PLEASE DO NOT POST, OR DISCUSS, MY PERSONAL BUSINESS OR NAME IN THIS TOPIC.

Discuss the topic at hand without getting into the personal details of my business. - Thank You!

Nice post, gives me something to think about.

 

[xynames]

The domain doesn't have to be random. I use the same method as @MapleDots does with domains related to my business.

For me it works. I want to add that it highly depends on the quality of your domains. Like you said, random domains would probably do better on landers but if you're selling an exact match for a niche you're operating in you know for sure the inquiry is serious, or another domainer operating in the same niche.

He doesn’t want us to discuss his business even though to respond intelligently to these threads he keeps creating on this topic you really have to - but as far as I know his names have nothing to do with what he’s selling.

Without being free to discuss his names and his exact business this thread is pointless as far as the “benefit” of directing names.

But as mentioned it does make some sense that anyone who has been eyeing a particular domain and then suddenly notices that it no longer redirects might now be roused to make an inquiry assuming the WhoIs is not private.

 

[MapleDots]

You've inspired me in more ways than one @MapleDots .

This was actually my plan B from the beginning. The niche domains I currently hold just needed a focused lander as they already have organic traffic. I've noticed others doing similar, particularly in the real-estate industry. Correct me if I'm not wrong, it will increase SEO on the home page if you use A-record redirect vs domain forwarding.

I can't use A-record because I bulk forward over 1000 domains, I don't know how to do that with A-Records but in the next post I will disclose a little secret.