New domainers...can they succeed?

[Keith]

It's hard enough to make a buck with domains after years of experience. Do newbies have a chance? The possible success rate has to be a single digit percentage!

 

[Josh R]

I started in June this year.

Didn't really have a clue, but I've managed to gradually filter out the crappy names I registered for slightly more than reg fee in most cases.

I have spent a large portion of my time studying, listening, and learning from people here and other resources.

I now have a fairly decent portfolio of about 40 names and 10 more that need to go.

I have sold a name for xxx that I bought for low xx and I'm currently still down a couple hundred dollars but have received a high xxx offer on one of my names that I have recently countered.

Do I think that I'll succeed in the long run? ... Yes.... Is it difficult? ... Yes, but I'm still learning.

 

[GravityEleven]

Just to add some experience from my first year in the Domaining business (started October 2013)..

1. Specializing in niches and finding niche defining keyword domains has been the golden path for me so far.. (of course in my own interest i can't share which niches those are)
2. Active selling (instead of passively waiting) to endusers definitely pays off if you manage to hone your sales pitch over time to get a reasonable conversion ratio (it's dwarfing my success with passive lists such as Afternic, Sedo, GD, Aftermarket, Flippa, Domainagents and Bodis)
3. Success with handregs (like someone else has already stated above) is far from dead, but requires lots of research efforts

Started with the obvious bad domain name choices for the first 1-2 months until decided to read and study more about the whole domaining business until i found out what works for me.. now trying to streamline the whole process and it definitely takes up a minimum of 3-4 hours per day for me.
Make sure to use coupons where you can to minimize the expenses, find your own success formula, never stop reading up on the latest Domaining topics and trends (i visit Domaining.com and related blogs/sites twice a day)

Here my stats so far after the first year (5th Oct 2013 - 1st Oct 2014):
Domains currently holding: 430 (99% com, 1% net & org, 70% handregged, 30% purchased)
Domains sold: 31 (ca. 80% endusers, 20% domain markets)
Income generated: ~ $72000
Average domain sales price: ~$2300 (highest $11000, lowest around $500-700)
Most popular type of Domains sold (niche defining keyword + keyword)

So from my point of view i do clearly believe that new Domainers can succeed as long as Domain names have value.
Hope this helps other new Domainers out there.

 

[Nitindomains]

I started about 3-4 months back.

Have sold domains worth $16k in total as yet.

Hold about 250-300 domains, so i am about 3k invested.

That still gives out a net profit of $12-$13k.

But i have worked very very hard for this. In the beginning i researched for about 18-20 hours for continuous days.
I am still learning, and it isn't my main thing.

 

[Kate]

Do newbies have a chance?

Yes they do

But:

But 99% of the new domainers I see are too eager to throw their money away and less eager to research market realities.

It's not about being the first to the game. If you are looking to pick up good regfee domains to resell for 5 figures then yes you are too late to the game. At least 15 years late.

But there are good domains to be acquired on the aftermarket (or from their owners), that can be resold with a profitable margin. Anybody who has a grasp of what makes a quality domain can do it.

Some people have been successful in spite of being late to the game. For example Frank Shilling could be described as a relative latecomer. Granted, there are not many such examples.
Yet I have seen newcomers score some nice sales. Sales do not happen by accident - okay there is a bit of luck involved But you don't make sales on a regular basis without the right inventory, and making the proper investment decisions.

By the way, I am not sure 'now' is a more difficult time to do domaining. Back in the old days, you were on your own but there were more good names, and less competition. Today there is a lot of information and free education available, and a more mature industry. But it has become very competitive too. And there is a lot of BS and disinformation too, so domaining is full of traps for newbies. Again, proper research and common sense will keep usually you out of trouble.

 

[ImageAuthors]

I have sold a name for xxx that I bought for low xx and I'm currently still down a couple hundred dollars but have received a high xxx offer on one of my names that I have recently countered.

Do I think that I'll succeed in the long run? ... Yes.... Is it difficult? ... Yes, but I'm still learning.

Early on, what matters most is getting sales -- even low sales to other domainers. That's proof of concept.

The main problem I see new domainers facing is that they start off buying domains in the riskiest, most speculative, most expensive to hand-reg, longest-term category of domains: the new TLDs.

Those new domainers will explain their vision of the future all day long, and a some of them attack anybody who gently criticizes their prophecies. But what they're not getting, meanwhile, is proof of concept.

They will boast about not needing short-term turnover because they're thinking long term. But how do they learn about negotiations? How do they gauge their own buying strategy in terms of offers? How do they appraise the value and risks?

@Joshua,

You're right to start out selling -- even selling for small profits or at a loss sometimes -- just to prove that you can do it and learn how to do it better.

 

[ImageAuthors]

It's possible.

But 99% of the new domainers I see are too eager to throw their money away and less eager to research market realities.

If they made better decisions and worked harder, they would have a decent chance.

 

[Keith]

Anybody who has a grasp of what makes a quality domain can do it.

In most cases, it takes years to understand what makes a domain, quality. There are rare exceptions but most folks show up to the party, buy everything in sight, and vanish without a trace.

This game is an art IMO.

 

[McDuke]

Some say I'm just a newbie,
All I wanted were a few names to sell doobies,
I hand regged them all,
Iv'e got renewals in the fall,
In time my garnets may turn into rubys.

 

[TheWatcher]

In every business, you will succeed if you will continue to learn and work hard to get it.

 

[N-A]

A lot of newbies get stuck in a hurricane of information thrown at them at once. As it's a natural disaster and they don't have cover, they seek shelter immediately. That tends to be "MAKE $500 A DAY BY BUYING AND SELLING DOMAIN NAMES" rather than long, thought out articles on how one made it from rags to riches by domaining. Usually these people never write or sell an eBook.

They will buy automated tools or enroll in ecourses when they're available for them: Keyword Planner, NamePros, etc.

By the time they've spent money on eBooks, courses, and software, they have little left to invest in actual domain names to make that $500 a day.

Can a newbie succeed? Yes. Only the ones driven to. I'd like to point out the sale of Whiskey.com and who made the $300,000 in brokerage commission. If I remember correctly, he started out selling hand registered domains. (Please correct me)

So can you succeed? Yes, you can. If you follow the right path.

Never quit and never give up.

 

[AEProgram]

I started in June this year.

Didn't really have a clue, but I've managed to gradually filter out the crappy names I registered for slightly more than reg fee in most cases.

I have spent a large portion of my time studying, listening, and learning from people here and other resources.

I now have a fairly decent portfolio of about 40 names and 10 more that need to go.

I have sold a name for xxx that I bought for low xx and I'm currently still down a couple hundred dollars but have received a high xxx offer on one of my names that I have recently countered.

Do I think that I'll succeed in the long run? ... Yes.... Is it difficult? ... Yes, but I'm still learning.

Anything good is diffacult, keep it up

Good on you Joshua,yes it appears easy to people (money from heaven) but as you are obviously becoming aware,there is a lot to it.
AEProgram,I agree with what your saying mostly,but I stand by what I said about some people just will never get it.....if everyone could do it we wouldn't be able to make money would we....horses for courses and all that.

Every industry is the same story, day trading, real estate etc etc

All have the same thing in common, people join with the lotto mindset. Let me buy 500,000 shares of this garbage stock as its only 0.00005 per share. After all I read somewhere that some guy started out exactly like this and now he runs his own hedge fund and a yacht.

Let me buy this terrible home with known problems in an area that is full of crime just because I can get it for just 18,000 and im sure I can flip it for 45k if I just repaint the bathroom and hang up new curtains. I will take the profit and reinvest and keep growing and growing until I buy buildings and small cities, maybe even my own island. If things really work out well ill make an offer to buy Japan.

Same with domaining, I can buy this name for so cheap and another name with a coupon. I will list if everywhere and even if I can make a little money I'm happy. The reality is they just keep on losing money. If you go out there and hunt for a .com that is a EMD in a huge industry (it should get at least 1000 exact match searches a month) and you buy it at a great deal, then focus on just getting that sold, list it everywhere, email people daily, call people etc. you can make more money in a month than most make in a year.

Even if your names are semi EMD's (city/geo+keyword or keywords also good), go out there buy some templates and create a site. When you email prospects tell them it comes with a site and when they buy it you switch out the info to theirs. A little bit of work and you can turn dead emails into real money.

The lotto mindset kills everything, it distorts reality and creates a new batch of broksters every second of every day. You cannot argue or reason with these dreamers and they must go down their little path of destruction until they either give up and become walmart greeters or they start doing things right.

PS Many will wonder why EMD's, whats wrong with meaningless cute brandables? Well if your goal is selling stuff, sell things the majority understand. While domainers understand brandables most joe schmoes do not, lower your risks by buying stuff that has the broadest possible audience as potential customers.

 

[Nitindomains]

@Nitin -If you are spending 18-20 hours a day doing domain research, how much time do you spend on your main thing Also, don't get addicted to your domains, because the renewals can come back and bite you in the a**.

@stub I am not spending 18-20 hours a day at present, but i were doing it when i started out reading and researching about this industry.
Also, i stumbled upon domaining just because i was looking for a better way of monetization for our mobile applications.

I devote anywhere about 2-4 hours now to domaining. And it has started to pay off really good.

I have about 10-15 offers currently, which i am either negotiating, or have rejected. And i am sure to trim down some of my portfolio as and when the renewals come, but the objective remains to sell off that i pick at expected price range before the renewals begin to haunt.
A good 7+ months left for most of my names to be renewed.

Just wanted to emphasize that if we research good, and listen to the experienced folks on here, we surely can succeed. And, i am ever as willing to learn more, from the community, and at the same time share back, all that i can, with the community.

 

[000]

Sure of course a new domainer can succeed, if they understand what makes for a desirable domain name.

Just this week I hand registered a domain (it had been sitting available a while) for $2.17 and sold it 18 minutes later for $395. I'm no newbie but anyone with a couple bucks and internet access could have done the same thing.

 

[kemjika11]

Alot of smart and wise advice given to the new domainers.

My advice(based on my experience)- read and study domain stuff in general and what draws you in....then find your niche. People try to generalize domains but there are niches- some are drop specialists, some are flippers, some are ccTLD experts, some are hack experts, some are new trend domainers. Once you find your niche, its only a matter of time before you start making money.

The advice about not handregging is correct IMO. That poster didnt mean to say dont hand reg. He meant to say that when you hand reg, you have so much freedom, and a newbie with alot of freedom is way more likely to reg names that please them rather than a real end user and i agree with that.

 

[BrandChimp]

I've started in 2007 with $8 and I now on Vij.com L60.com F8i.com Kyup.com FAQ.tv and many brandable domains. I'm receiving around 2 inquires per week on most of my domain names and made low $xx,xxx within the last year.

 

[namerav]

Domaining is still in nascent stage. So anyone can make profits. It further depends how much profit is profit for them.
But new domainers or for that matter any domainer now has to put more investment for successful.

 

[N-A]

This game is an art IMO.

I would say it's a science with some "arts" electives.

 

[AEProgram]

100% they can. This question is asked about almost any industry. Can people still make money day trading or getting into real estate etc.

Follow what works for most people and later on once you mastered that try your own methods, but first do what works for most who are successful.

 

[TotalWebsites]

They can succeed but not with hand regs.. Sure some hand regs can still get you a nice amount, but these can take a lot of time.

I absolutely hate hearing this.

Yes, I agree there is more money to be made in aftermarket domains. But there is also thousands of dollars to be made off hand regs. They have gotten me to where I am in domaining, and I will continue to handreg as long as I domain..

Regarding the OP, New Domainers can 100% succeed if they put in the effort. I'm in the exact same boat as @Nitindomains

I'm still somewhat of a "Newbie" domainer, and sure I've hit some speed bumps starting out, but instead of continuing with bad newbie habits, I spent my free time fixing those mistakes, researching, and finding new "outside-the-box" approaches to domaining.

From handregs alone I'm XX,XXX in the green, and I will continue to advance my strategies and learn as I see fit.

I just spent a lot of time writing this post in another thread and sharing some helpful insights if anyone wants to check it out. https://www.namepros.com/threads/ha...-domainers-and-end-users.834625/#post-4708000

But specifically this part:

2. For e-commerce, web based businesses, and blogs there are very different criteria for registering domains. Contrary to what people like to spout, hand regging domains to resell to endusers in this market is far from dead. If an enduser is naming an online business, they're more than likely going to choose a "brandable" domain name. And to be clear, a "brandable" to me is anything that is not an EMD - namely keyword+word.

So when I hand register a domain to resell, I look at past sales to find a popular keyword, and then attach it to all of the most popular suffixes. (I made a tool to simplify this, but believe me there are tons of good domains available out there.)

Here's an example of what I mean from a few days ago:

I saw that MerchantCard sold for $2,000, so I checked out other sales using the word merchant. I found that in the last year MerchantGuard sold for $3,000, MerchantSquare sold for $4,000, and MerchantConnection sold for $3,000.

So I used my method to find what "merchant" domains were available and tried to find similar domains to ones that have sold in the past. One of the available domains was MerchantCube/com. It fit the criteria I was looking for, keyword+cube names have sold very well in the past, so I regged it for a whopping $1.99.

Using systematic methods and doing quality research before regging a name goes a long way. Now that I've built up my domain profits I'm looking more into aftermarket domains, but regardless, there is plenty of room to be successful if you put forth the effort.

 

[Soofi]

I have been registering domain names since the olden days, but I still consider myself a newbie.

Been in this business since 2000 (part time back then), started full time in 2006.. however as you stated I consider myself a newbie as well who is willing to learn if taught right!

 

[DU]

1. Specializing in niches and finding niche defining keyword domains has been the golden path for me so far.. (of course in my own interest i can't share which niches those are)

Drone, 24/360, Simply, Smart, 3dPrint.......with emphasis on Health and Fitness, perhaps?

Have sold domains worth $16k in total as yet.
Hold about 250-300 domains, so i am about 3k invested.

That still gives out a net profit of $12-$13k.

That's gross profit. Net profit would be after you do things like pay taxes etc.
I say this only because a lot of people think that this is a tax-free business/hobby.

 

[Horizonconcepts]

That is a very,very good start Nitindomains,your better then me,my first year was horrible,couldn't sell sh$t,then the learning curve went right up.

I get you DKN,no worries Mate.

 

[venturefile.com]

They can succeed but not with hand regs.. Sure some hand regs can still get you a nice amount, but these can take a lot of time.

If you have an $x,xxx budget then you have a good fighting chance. I would suggest to them to go after a niche, study it inside and out, become an expert in the field and then make only 1 or 2 purchases in the $x,xxx range and flip those.

EDIT: A good quote that I read not so long ago.. You don't make the most money when you are selling something, you make the most when you are buying it.

 

[Soofi]

Living example of new domainers can succeed in the domain name industry, provided they have done the right research and read right threads on this forum.

A good friend, met and hung out quite a lot with Nitin in New Delhi and he accompanied us to the India's first domain name conference; DOMAINX 2014 where we spent a lot of good time discussing domain names.

I started about 3-4 months back.

Have sold domains worth $16k in total as yet.

Hold about 250-300 domains, so i am about 3k invested.

That still gives out a net profit of $12-$13k.

But i have worked very very hard for this. In the beginning i researched for about 18-20 hours for continuous days.
I am still learning, and it isn't my main thing.