Making a living? (LONG post)

[Lasher]

As the cliche goes, "Do what you love", I think I've found it. At the time of writing this I've been awake for over 48 hours just reading and reading about domaining. I don't think I've gone this long without sleep since I discovered MUDs 10 years ago ( http://www.aardmud.org for an example, it is mine ). I recently found myself unemployed from a senior technical role with a Fortune 500 company due to a merger and while I am pretty sure I can find work with the IT market as it is right now, I have always wanted to "do my own thing".

Need some honest feedback from the more experienced folks here. How many of you make a living from domaining vs doing it as a hobby? How practical is it? I'm realistic about this, I don't expect to get rich overnight, I don't expect to just stumble across a $xxx,xxx domain and I know it will take a lot of work. I don't expect to buy a thousand domains, park them on Sedo and wait for the money to come rolling in.

I am fortunate because the merger caused some stock options I was sitting on to vest early. Basically, I can take up to a year to get this right before I make a penny. I consider myself fairly intelligent and have a lot of experience with how the business world works. I have programmed C++ for many years so I don't think learning PHP will be too much of a challenge, I was also Java certified at one point but haven't done any of that since 2001. Not trying to brag or pump myself up, just listing the reasons I think I have a good shot at this.

I plan to use a mix of:

- Direct marketing of domains to end users.
- Development of some domains I have good industry knowledge of to PPC funded sites with original content. Some "static" pages, some forums and some blog formats. I will look for meaningful domain names overlooked by a lot of domainers because they don't have any traffic or ratings and develop them. I guess it is possible that one site really takes off in a big way and I just focus on that exclusively, but that is not my goal, I will enjoy switching focus between sites.
- Some domains with more typical "landing pages", but upgraded from the typical parking page, something of a hybrid between the two.
- Some plain old domain parking/resale where I get lucky on an aftermarket listing service and make a sale.
- I particularly like the .US name (I am in the USA myself). We are a very patriotic country and sooner or later national pride will run this domain. We also love to watch our .TVs

So what do you think? I know some people will say "run for the hills!" but taking emotion out of it, in pure financial terms, am I crazy? Is this viable? I have even considered going all out, getting investor financing, hiring a few web developers and a smart domain scout or two, but would like to try it out "solo" first.

I am new on the forum so don't have NP$, but I would extremely grateful for any insight on this from others who have been there before. I think any answers to this would be valuable to all newcomers, but if you have some information you would prefer to share privately then please PM or email me and I guarantee that anything discussed will stay between us.

Thanks for reading...

Derek.

 

[Truthman]

Personally I think it would be quite tough getting into the buying-reselling game at this point in time... Only a few make serious money... and they are usually the ones that got into the game early...

If you do the maths, to make a $100,000 you would need to sell 100 x $1000 domains, or 20 x $5,000 names or something similar, I believe finding 20 unregistered names that can sell for $5000 would be very hard... you would probably need to buy them wholesale from a reseller, for lets say $2500, and then you would need to sell 40 of them to make a $100,000... Let say about one name a week... from observing the market, I think that would be quite unrealistic... Look at the reported sales at: http://www.dnjournal.com/ the volume of big sales really seems to be quite low.

For serious profits, I believe developing names is the way to go... That is why I have invested into a small collection of generic keyword domains, and have begun developing them to make them profitable website... and perhaps one day they can be sold as developed site... I think this is much more fun too, than just buying/selling plain domains...

So, my advice start hunting for some generic keyword domains with good development potential... i have had some good experience with .info's, in fact if anybody reading this is interested I am selling off Renting.info, which I got in a package when I bought AirTravel.info which I am developing...

May the Truth be with you

 

[Flaresolutions]

I have been in the market a couple years and have only just hit the reasonable money making line. I make $10-20 per day on advertising and buy/sell/develop various other websites and you can make some good money if you find the buyers.

Domains are a whole different market though and from personal experience its just too hard to sell domains. The market is very saturated and the ROI is usually very low.. unless you have a lot of money to invest I wouldent go into this market.

 

[Kate]

I think only a handful of domainers make a living just with domains. But there are (I know some).
Honestly I don't... yet.

If you have some fresh cash to invest I would suggest not putting your eggs in the same basket. I agree with you, .us has a future but .com remains a valeur sûre. There are ccTLDs that are worth a look too.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to invest in a few strong keywords and develop into active sites/businesses.
Some people are just parking and watching their PPC revenue roll out month after month, which is not bad because there is no effort involved. But I think the PPC industry is evolving and I am not sure it will still be profitable in the near future.
If you are looking for names that can be resold at a profit later, have a look at the drops. Sometimes there are still good ones that can be had at down-to-hearth prices. Often alas you need deep pockets. But to make even more money you need some money to begin with :hehe:

Just some ideas

 

[hawkeye]

I would suggest looking into trying to buy dropping domains, and seeing what you can do in the developing and reselling of those names. You'll find better quality names there, and though you won't get them too cheap, sometimes you can spot a name that not many others did, and get a good deal on it. You'll also go head to head with some big time spenders/buyers, but they don't get them all!! Just who wants what more. At this time in the game, in comes down to doing the research of the industry, how much money can you invest, and can you invest it rightly in the domains you go after. Good Luck!

 

[donlee]

The domain industry has taken a serious turn lately, and I personally think it is for the worst. What I see is everyone with $8 becoming a domain speculator, this includes adults and VERY young kids alike. I have been scammed and seen scams run amuck from people with no business ethics, no principals, and no experience. To many people are under the impression that you can reg a $2 .info and make $30,000 off of it and of course it does not work this way. The domain market is absolutely saturated right now. I think character domains are about to hit a ceiling, because no matter how "rare" they are, IMO rarity is not what makes a domain. I also see way to many XXXX-XXXXXX appraisals on domains because 90% of the "domainers" around have never actually held this much cash so they are illusioned by the grandeur and do not actually comprehend how much cash that even a mere $10,000 is. I think this whole "parking lot" we call an Internet is on the way out also. Sure there is money to be made from parking, and contented ad pages, but they are just that. Parking was origionally meant for premium names that were not being used at the time to help redirect traffic. But have turned into a corrupt system of click fruad, and just plain junk names.

That being said, you have a great track record from what you say you have done before. And it is by all means possible to make a living from the Internet and domain names, however I think the way to make the real money from domain names is unique development. Some domains are not worthy of this and can supply some rather helpful parking or ad generating revenue. There are opportunities opening every day in the domain industry and there are opportunites closing every day.

Personally i think finding good names and paying a little money for them is by far better than "digging for diamonds" at the registrars. And what alot of people are overlooking is that you don't have to sell 100, $1000 names to make $100,000 in domains. Far more likely you could reg 50,000 .info's and make that $100,000 in the same amount of time alot more work however for sure. I find it easier to find good names that are selling in the $50-100 range and reselling them for $400-500 very quickly. Or registering names that I have a unique concept for, build the site, and then push it off to someone who want's to go through with the actuall marketing and materialization of that site. That keeps me from being so bored with ideas.

I personally could live off what I make off the Internet, luckily I have two offline companies that make more than enough to live on, so I can take risks online here and there. It is real, It is possible, and I have no doubt it can be done again and again.

Do your research and really talk to some of the people who know what makes this big rat wheel turn. I help new people on NP and elsewhere every single day, and hopefully I save them from some costly mistakes and I hope that it is appreciated. And in return I gain valuable contacts for networking, and business deals that we might have a similar interest in.

Well I really hope you stick around, and I hope that you get to live your dream of "doing your own thing".

If there is anything I can do to help, or more in depth questions I might be able to answer for you please feel free to send me a private message or visit the chat room as I am almost always there.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!

 

[kranick]

mmm

 

[ammo]

Domaining isnt the way to go. You need to be in it years ago. But you say you could easily learn php. I think this is your way to go. With php you can make your own custom websites, you can sell scripts to make money, do jobs.

Thats your money making development. Domains are too hard to get into now.
- Dan

 

[franchise]

The domain industry has taken a serious turn lately, and I personally think it is for the worst. What I see is everyone with $8 becoming a domain speculator, this includes adults and VERY young kids alike. I have been scammed and seen scams run amuck from people with no business ethics, no principals, and no experience. To many people are under the impression that you can reg a $2 .info and make $30,000 off of it and of course it does not work this way. The domain market is absolutely saturated right now. I think character domains are about to hit a ceiling, because no matter how "rare" they are, IMO rarity is not what makes a domain. I also see way to many XXXX-XXXXXX appraisals on domains because 90% of the "domainers" around have never actually held this much cash so they are illusioned by the grandeur and do not actually comprehend how much cash that even a mere $10,000 is. I think this whole "parking lot" we call an Internet is on the way out also. Sure there is money to be made from parking, and contented ad pages, but they are just that. Parking was origionally meant for premium names that were not being used at the time to help redirect traffic. But have turned into a corrupt system of click fruad, and just plain junk names.

That being said, you have a great track record from what you say you have done before. And it is by all means possible to make a living from the Internet and domain names, however I think the way to make the real money from domain names is unique development. Some domains are not worthy of this and can supply some rather helpful parking or ad generating revenue. There are opportunities opening every day in the domain industry and there are opportunites closing every day.

Personally i think finding good names and paying a little money for them is by far better than "digging for diamonds" at the registrars. And what alot of people are overlooking is that you don't have to sell 100, $1000 names to make $100,000 in domains. Far more likely you could reg 50,000 .info's and make that $100,000 in the same amount of time alot more work however for sure. I find it easier to find good names that are selling in the $50-100 range and reselling them for $400-500 very quickly. Or registering names that I have a unique concept for, build the site, and then push it off to someone who want's to go through with the actuall marketing and materialization of that site. That keeps me from being so bored with ideas.

I personally could live off what I make off the Internet, luckily I have two offline companies that make more than enough to live on, so I can take risks online here and there. It is real, It is possible, and I have no doubt it can be done again and again.

Do your research and really talk to some of the people who know what makes this big rat wheel turn. I help new people on NP and elsewhere every single day, and hopefully I save them from some costly mistakes and I hope that it is appreciated. And in return I gain valuable contacts for networking, and business deals that we might have a similar interest in.

Well I really hope you stick around, and I hope that you get to live your dream of "doing your own thing".

If there is anything I can do to help, or more in depth questions I might be able to answer for you please feel free to send me a private message or visit the chat room as I am almost always there.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!

This is a very honest and good post by donlee

After personally having had success in business (not domaining) over the last 10 years, I can say without any reservation that anything is possible. It requires doing what others start and never finish...doing a little bit more than the masses...being confident and passionate about your ideas and the possibilities...finding mentors and modeling after people that are successful (not just people that want to give advice.) Every broke friend I ever had were the first people that wanted to tell me how to be successful...resist the urge to listen too closely to those that are not were you want to be.

Forums like this are great assets and some of the people on them are truely experienced and have achieved success. I am finding out very quickly that there are truely only a select few. I am just really starting my domain journey. I wish I could share with you a success story in this field but my story is just getting off the ground. As with anything including domaining, I believe that there is no real get rich quick. People may be able to make alot of money quickly here and there but creating a real revenue stream that LASTS takes time and work.

I wish you success and look forward to learning with you and hopefully from some of your successes.

Good Luck.

N Fran

 

[Lasher]

Some great advice, thank you everyone.