New and eager with great questions...

[Norris416]

This is my first and probably longest post here. If I’m posting in the wrong section, please let me know. This little novel can be considered my introduction and more importantly me reaching out to like-minded people and experts.

There is a lot of knowledge in this forum and I want a piece of it

I’m new to the Domain and Internet business but very excited about the opportunity. What I hope to get out of this forum is guidance, experience, industry contacts and hopefully opportunity to buy / sell Domain Real Estate.

I hope someone out there is nice enough to read thru this post and address my questions or better yet develop a mentor relationship that we can both gain from.

Here is some info about me that might help you gauge my experience & position:

• Currently a portfolio of 100 domains (approximately)
• Experienced, educated and interested in Advertising, Sales & Marketing
• Basic HTML & CSC experience (This is new and ever evolving)
• Experience in SEO marketing and how it works (I’ve written many SEO heavy articles and pages for businesses)
• I’m about to get a hosting plan. So far I like Inmotion Hosting. What do you think/suggest?

Here is my ideal situation over the next several months. I’m not afraid of hard work, putting in a lot of time, investing money or a challenge. I understand that all of the above are necessary in this business, so please instead of wishing me luck and telling me how “grande” my dreams are, offer me comments with suggestive/constructive criticism and direction.

Ideally I’d like to:

- Own & host 5+ domains that I’ve developed to well enough to consistently bring in monthly income of at least but definitely not limited to $1500 (amongst them all). I’d like to increase this as get more experienced.

- Grow my portfolio by purchasing strong .com and other good investment URLs

- Weed out the weakest domains I own (I made some rookie mistakes...brutal ones) by selling them for small and quick profit ie. $50-$200 per name when available but without putting in a lot of work

- Sell my strongest names for $XXXX or more

- Stay up to date on trends and technology in the industry

I’m open to so much more and I’m very excited to get my hands dirty and start making some money. I’ve got a lot to learn and a big appetite.

Here are some specific questions I have:

- I want to develop my own landing / mini sites. What are some best practices and where can I start? I’m expecting to drive traffic to these sites via SEO from blogs, topic related forums (without hard selling) and original article/content creation.

- Should I use affiliate programs? If so, where do they work best? How do I get started and what are the most reputable and profitable affiliate programs?

- I’m considering creating my own parking pages. Basically I’d like to create parking pages with original content and rely heavily on AdWords or Affiliate income. My goal is to make these pages NOT look like the million other parked pages (custom logo/design and useful content). Am I on the right track? If this is working for other people can someone point me towards an example of their work/this concept?

- How can I start selling the domains I have? I have some pretty strong ones but no one is coming after them. What is the best way to get the message out?

- Auctions for selling – I’ve got my domains listed w/ SEDO, what can I do to draw attention? Or should I give up on the auctions/switch to another auction house?

- Are Craigslist or Kijiji good places to sell domains?

- Parking – I’m parked with SEDO and I even gave WhyPark.com a shot. Both of these options seem useless unless you have a terrific and simple type in name. Even then, they still never click on the links and if you, WOW you earned .0002% of a cent. After 16 years of adding up your penny fragments. You might have enough to finally meet the “minimum payout” amount. Am I wrong? Is there a way to make respectable cash from parking?

- Transactions – So after I finally close a sale on a domain that isn’t thru SEDO or another auction house. How do I get myself paid without taking any wild risks?

This is a very long post and if you’ve made it this far, I appreciate your time and especially patience. If you can offer some insight to even one of my questions, I promise I’ll return the favour when an opportunity presents itself.

I think, even in such a solitary industry as this, that networking and building business relationships can be very advantageous to everyone involved. With 110% certainty I can tell anyone willing to help me here that I will one day be in a position to return the favour and that knowing the experience “me” will be valuable for both of us.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to some great advice and feedback 

 

[RJ]

- I want to develop my own landing / mini sites. What are some best practices and where can I start? I’m expecting to drive traffic to these sites via SEO from blogs, topic related forums (without hard selling) and original article/content creation.

On a small scale, WordPress is wonderful for minisite development. Original content is good for SEO of course. There's plenty of free content available too if you're looking to build up a bigger site.

- Should I use affiliate programs? If so, where do they work best? How do I get started and what are the most reputable and profitable affiliate programs?

Absolutely yes. Pairing a domain name with the perfect affiliate program will earn you far more than you would get from parking.

For example, I have a hosting related domain with traffic that earned less than $25/mo when parked. Using an affiliate program, it makes $65 per referral and gets a few referrals every month.

It's often difficult finding the right affiliate program for every domain name, so there's a lot of trial and error involved. Personally, I've had success with hosting, insurance, software, mp3, ringtone and adult affiliate programs. Some domains get traffic just don't do well with anything.

- I’m considering creating my own parking pages. Basically I’d like to create parking pages with original content and rely heavily on AdWords or Affiliate income. My goal is to make these pages NOT look like the million other parked pages (custom logo/design and useful content). Am I on the right track? If this is working for other people can someone point me towards an example of their work/this concept?

Whether it's parking or building mini-sites, you still have to get traffic to your domain to earn anything. IMO, building mini-sites is a better long term play than parking because it opens the door to search engine traffic and repeat visitorship.

- How can I start selling the domains I have? I have some pretty strong ones but no one is coming after them. What is the best way to get the message out?

If your goal is to sell your domains ASAP, be sure

Forums are good for selling domain names quickly and cheaply. If you want "end user" prices for your domain names, you need to let end users know your domain is for sale. Putting a notice on your minisite or parked page that lets visitors know that the domain may be for sale can be effective in generating inquiries.

The other option is listing on a domain marketplace like Sedo, followed by a lot of waiting and hoping.

Best of luck,

Ron

 

[Norris416]

Thank you for taking the time to get thru my novel. Not only did you address some specifics for me but you also pumped me up even more!

NamePros, in just a day and a half, has taught and inspired me a lot.

Thank you !!!!

 

[RJ]

No problem, sounds like you're on the right track!

 

[cmason]

Welcome to NamePros Norris! I'm always amazed by the Canadian involvement here - it's great to see! I got into domaining just a couple of months ago (after realizing I had a ton of domains on my own) and just recently joined NamePros. THIS IS A GREAT PLACE AND AWESOME RESOURCE!

It's great to see a newbie like yourself introduce yourself and what you want to accomplish instead of just asking for appraisals. I constantly read NamePros threads and take notes throughout the day to get myself organized. The biggest tip I can give you is organization - from spreadsheets with ALL of the pertinent dates/prices/offers/contacts for every domain you own (also good to keep track of similar domains that have been auctioned recently) to a giant text document to save great NP posts, template emails, and links.

Seems like you have a great head on your shoulder and are willing to put in the effort...I am closing in on developing about 10 of my sites in hopes of making them more valuable, while providing relevant content.

Welcome to NamePros and good luck with starting out!!

 

[John Baron]

- Transactions – So after I finally close a sale on a domain that isn’t thru SEDO or another auction house. How do I get myself paid without taking any wild risks?



i will answer this one
using escrow.com is the best way, very safe for the buyer and the seller, there is a small fee to be paid,but when dealing with high price domains its the only way to go

cheers:blink:

 

[cmason]

i will answer this one
using escrow.com is the best way, very safe for the buyer and the seller, there is a small fee to be paid,but when dealing with high price domains its the only way to go

cheers:blink:

Liror (hopefully this helps you too Norris as I don't want to hijack your thread :hehe, what is the best way to deal with transfer of over $10K? I know that you can transfer up to $10K to your PayPal account (I know Escrow.com doesn't do that), but will places like Sedo allow you to transfer $10K at a time..say, if it's a $30K sale? Or when dealing with large amounts like that is it generally always safer to deal with wire transfers?

Here's to hoping I encounter this problem! HA!

 

[John Baron]

Liror (hopefully this helps you too Norris as I don't want to hijack your thread :hehe, what is the best way to deal with transfer of over $10K? I know that you can transfer up to $10K to your PayPal account (I know Escrow.com doesn't do that), but will places like Sedo allow you to transfer $10K at a time..say, if it's a $30K sale? Or when dealing with large amounts like that is it generally always safer to deal with wire transfers?

Here's to hoping I encounter this problem! HA!

never sold a domain over 10k (hope it will happen soon:hehe
i did sold a domain for mid $$$$ then i worked with sedo escrow and it worked really well,the money was in my paypal account after 5 days
sedo also have the 10k limit with paypal,
if its less then 20k you can get direct deposit
above 20k its only wire tranfer
i think that when working with escrow or sedo there is no more safe and less safe ways to get the money, its all safe and the only thing that matter is the fee that you need to pay ( to your bank etc) and your own comfort

anyway cmason i hope that you will have a lot of 10k+ sells soon , then you will deal with this things for real

 

[cmason]

never sold a domain over 10k (hope it will happen soon:hehe
i did sold a domain for mid $$$$ then i worked with sedo escrow and it worked really well,the money was in my paypal account after 5 days
sedo also have the 10k limit with paypal,
if its less then 20k you can get direct deposit
above 20k its only wire tranfer
i think that when working with escrow or sedo there is more safe and less safe ways to get the money, its all safe and the only thing that matter is the fee that you need to pay ( to your bank etc) and your own comfort

anyway cmason i hope that you will have a lot of 10k+ sells soon , then you will deal with this things for real

Well explained!! I was aware of some of the limitations with PayPal, but good to hear more. I don't see myself selling for more than $10K unless it's an end-user and then it will be wire transfers with lawyers, blah blah blah.

Tried to rep, but apparently I like your responses too often!

 

[RalphAlt]

I just launched my first Niche Store

Hope this is a good place to post the news...Any feedback is much appreciated.
Thanks, Ralph

Buy Wii Games, New and Used Wii Accessories, Consoles, Great Deals on All Things Wii

 

[apersad]

Hey Norris, I have a FREE guide here that can help you with a lot of your questions, all the best with your domaining!