n00b advice

[howardhaj]

I am a newcomer to the domain selling buisness and i was wondering if anyone had any advice on making my first sale?

 

[ninjadomain]

Hi Howard,

Welcome to NP!

PM sent.

 

[howardhaj]

Thanks ninja

Anyone else?

 

[nrmillions]

buy good names and you will have good sales. dont hand register any names.

 

[Kate]

buy good names and you will have good sales. dont hand register any names.

^^ what he says.
PS: had a look at your sedo link, I don't see any name that has the potential to sell. Fortunately you only have 8. Don't hand register more domains for the time being.

 

[Corey]

g'day and welcome re your names @ Sedo...did you do a search for those terms? @ http://www.google.com/insights/search/

Cheers
Corey

 

[Sparhawke]

buy good names and you will have good sales. dont hand register any names.

^^ what he says.
PS: had a look at your sedo link, I don't see any name that has the potential to sell. Fortunately you only have 8. Don't hand register more domains for the time being.

I would agree with that which both say however there is a caveat, great domains do drop from from time to time but you HAVE to know what you are looking at, I was looking to buy AfricanMusic.info from droplists not 30 minutes ago but it was gone already...the one in my signature is a drop...

What they mean is don't randomly think up any on your own, thinking it is a good idea...99.999% of the time it isn't lol

(Droplist/expired domains are not fresh regs as they are preowned and abandoned exactly but they can be bought for reg fee)

 

[howardhaj]

Thanks a lot for the comments.

Will take on board for future purchases. Would you recommend investing in a few more domains?

 

[Sparhawke]

Personally, and only because I speak from experience in doing this is to spend some time in the appraisals section of the forum reading some posts, trying to figure out values of domains and reading the posts of more experienced members and see what they look for.

Some are good at technology domains, some are good at geographics, some prefer brandable domains, some prefer commenting on high value killer keywords and I prefer exact match product domains.

While you are doing that I would hang around looking through closeout domains (DO NOT BUY ANY YET!!!!), these are those that haven't had anyone pay their registration fee so Godaddy tries to dump them to the highest bidder first; but the ones that make it to this closeout stage are first come first serve. And yes, you can get some phenomenal domains here from time to time.

I would not buy any more in the next 6 months but read all you can, go through closeouts to try to identify those that might be interesting and then read some more. What this will do is hone your eye to such an extent and train you to look deeper than what your heart rushes into and after time you will be able to pick winners with far more consistency; or at least pick those that might have someone pay what you bought it for so you do not lose money lol

If you absolutely must buy domains in the early months then restrict it to ONE per week, see if you can find the best you can in closeouts and ignore all others.

The best will not necessarily be a .com, or even a .net. It may not be a single keyword or in a high competition field...when you see it you will know

(To shamelessly toot my own horn again, the domain in my signature was a reg fee domain that dropped through Godaddy with no one seeing it, I picked it up for $2 and there should be no problem with making $1000 on it for the one who can find the right end buyer; it fits the extension perfectly in a high competition field with great CPC revenue and could go to pretty much any lawyer in the world. I didn't even think twice about it)

Oh yeah, whatever you do keep well away from buying anything that looks like a TM name:

If you see something like faccebook.com it is a no go.

If you see G0ogol.com it is a no go.

If you see Mocrosift.com it is a no go.

You get the picture, they will cause you nothing but grief

I know you are likely chomping at the bit to get going and buy everything under the sun that you think is likely to make you a fortune but that is the quickest way to lose money; you have to remember one rule, what you buy this year you have to pay for next year to renew...if you buy 100 domains this week can you guarantee having $1000 to renew them this week next year? Slow down, take your time...there are millions of domains out there for everyone, it is not the jackrabbit that wins the race but the tortoise that is building a tripwire device.

 

[biggie]

dont hand register any names.

yes, stay away from fresh hand regs


and leave them to me ::


regged a domain one day, the next month it was making $400 a month, when i sold it 8 months later, it was making $800 a month

it sold for $16k


yep...stay away from hand regs

 

[Kate]

yep...stay away from hand regs

It's because you know what you're doing, experienced domainers can find hidden gems in fresh regs but when you're starting out you invariably register mediocre domains.

 

[nrmillions]

yes, stay away from fresh hand regs


and leave them to me ::


regged a domain one day, the next month it was making $400 a month, when i sold it 8 months later, it was making $800 a month

it sold for $16k


yep...stay away from hand regs

so you think this person who just started domaining this week should start hand regging domains?

 

[Sparhawke]

No, someone who started this week may find a hidden gem but it is highly unlikely...simply because they will not know the nuances of the market. 99.999% of domains have no use to anyone, do not buy them. Find the ones with obvious end users.

When you have been around for about a year and done what I said about simply watching and learning all you can you will find yourself asking what the hell is wrong with a domain that it slipped through the cracks; it may have a typo, it may be grammatically incorrect, it may have people not knowing what to do with it...you will be able to evaluate them in a split second and pounce straight onto them.

Waiting and watching will hone your eye because at the end of the day most people do not have $100,000 to keep testing forever like Frank Shilling.

Keep to one or two domains every month that you know are the best in the field and you will do far better. At least then you will not be hit with insane renewal fees you cannot meet.

That is why most people drop out after the first year, it is not about lack of spirit but lack of funds.

The trick is to find what people search for the most and find what businesses will naturally see the value in without explanation

I haven't sold a single domain yet to an end user, but I know that mine can go to anyone in its field and they would be proud of it; be it InjuryLaw.info, AmericanFlights.net, KaraokeMachine.info, Blackburn.biz or whatever

And yes, enthusiasm will go a hell of a long way, I have missed some absolutely phenomenal domains like Hairdressing.info, Sunbathing.info and SouthWales.info...you just have to carry on and not let it get you down.

You will win some, you will lose some but at the end of the day if you do not absolutely love the domains you have how can you expect others to as well?

(Oh yeah, keep away from all the cappuccino domains unless you can find it in the single keyword lol)

 

[FX]

Nice posts Sparhawke

 

[Kate]

The OP is already banned lol

 

[biggie]

The OP is already banned lol

lol


did we waste our energy with imput?

 

[nayfeee]

No it was not a waste, I read it all and took a lot from it

 

[Sparhawke]

I don't ever think any of my posts are a waste...I spend a lot of time crafting replies on forums and even if the opening poster never reads them I hope someone else will eventually

I stand by what I say, there is a definite tier system in the domaining world as there is with any business; Frank and Rick Schwartz is at the top with Rick Latona and others and then you have us at the bottom nibbling away. And some eventually make it to that millionaire domainer status which I hope one day to reach.

Without someone to help newbies come in and make some profit we all fail...it is essential that we do not alienate newcomers but help them as much as we can.

In time they may compete for the same domains as us but on the other side of the coin it is that which makes everything we do viable

Bring on the noobs!!!

Never underestimate the new people regardless of who they might be; I once joined a forum as a newbie knowing absolutely nothing and rose through the ranks to be pretty much absolute supreme ruler of the forums (The best Runescape forums in the world officially recognised by Jagex themselves) ...and still I am regarded in high esteem by all the forums associated with the games industry. (or at least those in the mmorpg world)

I only came to this forum and the Warriors because I had somehow hit upon interest in my posts which were garnering almost 100,000+ readers a day...I had hit upon a new gaming trading system and almost crashed the server due to so many people reading my posts and wanted to know what happened and why. (At one point my forum posts garnered 98% of all views on the website per day for a month) I did not know what the hell was happening but spent some time learning in the WF about the power of persuasion and my blog started a HUGE movement in the gaming world and then later here from the likes of Michelle, Firefly, John and Microguy as well as Kate and finally started to get it.

If people had rejected me from the beginning and just written me off as an idiot noob I wouldn't be here today talking.

Never ever disregard anyone, treat everyone with due respect is all I ever have to say because one day they may rule the world

 

[johname]

I am a newcomer to the domain selling buisness and i was wondering if anyone had any advice on making my first sale?

Yeah dont get banned from namepros is a good start. %%-

 

[ninjadomain]

So early too! I was looking for new excitement.

Yeah dont get banned from namepros is a good start. %%-