Mistakes you made as a newbie

[Joseph David]

As a newbie in the domaining world. What mistakes have you made in regards to name registration or closing a deal or any other mistake you made generally. Let others learn from you.

The experts can also share some info, it will be appreciated.


- As for me I registered some crappy names. I hate seeing them in my portfolio.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

I let my emotions take over in winning those overpriced domains as I saw the price going higher I thought it meant it was a good domain since other investors were bidding

Excellent clown placement! I couldn't stop laughing. We've all been there...going a little too far in auctions.

I finally got out of my I know everything mindset

This is the key to shifting your paradigm. Losing the ego. I was selling domains for over 14 years and thought I knew all there was to know about pricing because I was getting sales. But I didn't. Once you spend time studying data, prices, and other sellers successes with an open and analytical mind, that'll bring you to your next level.

Another primary skill that we should all be improving is our branding awareness and ability to spot a good or great brand, even if it's not a brand that we personally like.

Last but not least, go and watch all of Rick's (domainking) twitter videos as well. Twice.

 

[sadiq3051]

Well I made some sales on namejet auction in my first year of domaining, then decided to re-invest into brandables names.. I was dealing on geo domains.. I registered about 20names without the basic knowledge of brandables.. thank God I use netsol 1$ for those registration... Drop all those names and now research about brandable names... but unfortunately no much capital now to boost my portfolio.... Making use of squadhelp suggestions option presently to raise enough capital to buy names from majorly GD closeout. This is my mistake..

 

[CraigD]

Transferred my domains from Network Solutions to a registrar called RegisterFly.
I lost some good domains in the meltdown of that registrar, many many hours wasted, sleepless weeks/ months and $$$ down the drain.

EDIT: I wasn't really a newbie as I'd been buying and developing a few domains for about 10 years at that point, but it was a learning experience that I hope no-one has to go through.

 

[Kingslayer]

I pumped too much money into VR and virtual tech. Whilst i still believe in VR and virtual tech and believe i can see a ROI from investments i made (already made more money than lost), I think there's better things to invest in and i do regret 'some' of my buys.

I also hand registered 200+ domains one point and dropped 80% of those now, i can't see me hand regging a domain again, i think hand registrations in 2020 are a waste of time for the most part, domains unregistered are unregistered for a reason.

But no matter what VR made me start investing in domain names, if i never started investing in VR domains, i wouldn't have started investing in other domains, so it was something that needed to be done with me.

 

[NLP]

I started in 2010, and did fairly well for a newbie, in that I set studied what was selling, and had my first sale one month after I officially started (on Sedo, a .DE).

I set a few rules for myself, early on: 1) Don't buy anything you can't pronounce, 2) Don't buy anything that doesn't make sense, and 3) Ask, "Who (or what sort of business could possibly need this?"

I did make mistakes, though. My biggest mistakes were:

- Registering too many names that only had a few prospective buyers. (Rule #3 above). Back then, I'd see a handful of companies using similar terms, and think, "Maybe one of these 3-4 will be interested." Now I don't buy anything unless it's clearly a term people are searching for, and if there are at least 2-3 pages of competing companies that are actively advertising using the keywords, or sell/make products that are an exact match.

- "I'll launch a website about this someday." Easier said than done. The days of minisites are (mostly) over, and web development, if done properly, is time consuming. If you aren't interested in the subject matter, you'll be bored (I always think of Elliot Silver's story about TropicalBirds (dot) you-know-what. Back in the day, it had content on it). The point is: it's a lot easier to click and buy a domain than it is to build a quality site on it, and it's a dangerous way to accumulate too many names.

- Quality over quantity. Thankfully, I didn't get in TOO deep of a hole, but at my peak, I had 600 names. Now I'm at 300. It's much easier to manage.

The best way to keep from buying crappy names it to set rules for yourself, and study what's selling (on DNJournal, not just NP). Then buy names that are the same in length, quality, and extension to what's selling.

 

[Lee Latner]

The biggest memorable mistake I made was registering quite a few geo service domains that included the word "Realtor"; only to find out the word is trademarked. After a few more years, I've also figured out that most real estate agents are very cheap when it comes to their own marketing. We live and learn......

 

[invirzone]

my experience few months ago

1st : bought names based on my own vision and not as a reseller . like , i'l gonna sell those names to me .

2nd : i didn't learn and search sufficiency , i didn't care about SEO , KEYWORDS , ANALYSIS ... etc . i wanted take a unique way , well i did make a little progress and made a sale but i wasted time .

3rd : valuation tools , like godaddy , estibot . i based first time on them and i had the idea to sell domains fast without taking into consideration that some domains took years to be sold and maybe not

 

[xbank]

loosing more than 17k USD on registering names and not putting them on marketplace

 

[TheBaldOne]

Just do a google search for affiliate programs in the niche, you might be surprised how many there are.

A relatively decent unpublished website that a potential end user can see how the domain and a website on it could benefit him/her/them can increase the money the buyer is willing to put on the table between 2 and 10 times what they would willingly pay for just a domain name.

As for how much I make, well that is between me, my wife, the bank manager - and unfortunately the taxman.

 

[TheBuyerz]

In the first place, my biggest mistake was to buy a domain names that feet my imagined projects and not the targetted buyers, I spent a lot on domain names that worth million for me but zero dollar for others.

So, I had to change my strategy and the way I am thinking ... I invested on my self by learning and following the path of more experienced domainers on this space.

And of course, we learn everyday new things and we know nothing ...

Conclusion: Trying & Persistance.

 

[pb]

I regret registering some crappy names in my early days, also renewing some of them... but what I regret the most is *not* registering some cool names that I found available but wrote off. If I took some money from the "bad" registrations and put into these "right" non-registrations, I would have a much smoother start. But it's always so easy in hindsight. As long as you learn along the way, it's a way to go.

 

[iKhalyfah]

Use discipline, save the $40 a month you'd spend on lousy hand registrations and buy a decent .com.

For many, knowing what makes a decent .com is where the issue is!

 

[GoKaizen]

Sold great names way to early!

Learn to say, "No!" and negotiate.

 

[FolioTeam]

their upsales of "hey wanna add these 7 other extensions for only 50$ more

Had to laugh out loud at that. Now, people around me are like "What's wrong with her?"

 

[NickB]

Before finding Namepros I spent around £800 - £1,000 based on Godaddy valuations

Took a while to stop registering names that I thought looked good

Took a long long time to start to developing a website on one of my domains

Lessons learnt........

 

[BaileyUK]

Some Domainers have a large portfolio on this forum but have limited time for outbound( Geo domains mainly) and are looking to set up a team for outbounding. Am currently working with one. I make a sale and I get commission. That's where my capital is coming from while I also learn from his feet.

Thinking further, Perhaps you could share some of your experiences under this mentor, I appreciate it wouldn't be possible to name names, or direct examples of domains. But I'm sure we would all like to read how this is working out for you.

Perhaps a general overview of commissions earned, number of domains worked on. Your personal experience on replies to your outbound emails..

 

[ResoluteDomains]

My mistake was registering domains which have no business use at all.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

My mistake was registering domains which have no business use at all.

Somehow I think we have a lot in common. Catchy is great, but practical is better. Catchy and practical together is the best

 

[Joseph David]

Buying names that appealed to me as opposed to what companies might want or need.

Also stocking up on too many personal project domain names.

Some times there may be an iota of luck where name that appeals to you appeals to your end user, don't you think?

 

[lock]

Transferred my domains from Network Solutions to a registrar called RegisterFly.
I lost some good domains in the meltdown of that registrar, many many hours wasted, sleepless weeks/ months and $$$ down the drain.

EDIT: I wasn't really a newbie as I'd been buying and developing a few domains for about 10 years at that point, but it was a learning experience that I hope no-one has to go through.

WE LOST BIG TIME. But CraigD was actually onto it and helped save many.

 

[lock]

I do hope the alleged $27,000 male escort service, the $6,000 liposuction procedure, the $10,000/month penthouse apartment in Miami, the $6,000 chihuahua dog, and the $60,000 Moroccan office furniture were worth the aggravation caused to 900,000 customers!

If you guys are wondering what I am talking about, this Wikipedia page on Registerfly is a good read about what can go terribly wrong in the domain registry industry.

Seeing names on marketplaces as featured domains sucks big time when you lost them waving a receipt.

 

[FolioTeam]

U had the guts

This was way back in 2015. That's why I am a firm believer in time. Mind you, I don't think I am there yet, but I believe I am headed in the right direction.

My yearly goal is to do better than the previous year.

 

[Mahogany]

Turned down an offer I should have accepted.
Bob

You aren't getting away that easy. Pray, do tell and educate us at the same time.

 

[Cannuck]

As a super noob some 15-20 years ago, I had some very good domains that I dropped

 

[Joseph David]

Don't settle for bad names, i.e. carssale.com. People buy these because they are lazy, don't have a good understanding of english or are overly enthusiastic.



Thanks for this piece. This is my mistake. Laziness and overly enthusiastic. Am reading up tho.