advice Newbies keep learning the Wrong Things from Oldies

[johnn]

The important thing in Domaining is you need money to make money. Don't expect to spend $10 to register or buy junk name and turn around selling them for $10,000. It may happen but the chance is 1/1,000,000

Here are the things that make up from Oldies and Newbies keep falling in the trap:
- Name that taking in 100 Extensions. Why? The more extension is taken the more chance you will have trade mark issues
- Begging for Appraisal. Why? No one knows the value of a name. The funny thing is in some cases a newbie gives an appraisal to am oldies. You can sell the same name to an individual for $100 - small company for $10,000 and big company for $100,000. Also the information is indexed by Google. If someone appraised your name for $10 how can you sell to someone more than that?
- Keep buying Trade mark names and want to sell back to the company who own the trade mark.
- Names that has back links. Who care and Why?
- Exact match and Domain Authority. Who care? People do stupid searches all the time
- Buying names based on past sales? If IamStupid.com sold for $10,000 it does not mean YouAreStupid.com will sell in the same range.
- Here are some people copy cat from others in the request to buy section wasting everyone time:
-- Dictionary Word maximum 7 letters - Budget $1,000
-- Budget $10-$10,000 - Total budget $100,000 - meaning they will pay $10 per name. Who care about the total budget
-- Names that taken in 300 Extensions
-- Brandable Names - Meaning junk names and have no meaning
-- Members who normally deal with $10 names now want to buy LLL.com names
-- Wholesale or Reseller price only - Who would pay reseller price in this Forum - Also mean they will low ball you
-- SH or BB Premium for $10 - Give me a break!

And more. If you take a look at Trader Rating for most of these members, there is nothing for months or years.
The only thing that you need to know when buying a name is "What type of website or company can use it?"

Stop learning the wrong things. All the Analysis, Make up information, Statistical information MEAN NOTHING when it comes to Domain Name Business.

 

[zotix]

Dear Johnn,

Impressive post; I saw myself in most of the cases again when I started with Domain Trading last year.
Still, I'm a fan of getting an indication for at least the Appraisal, from people who can analyze essential key criteria which might increase the value.

What I learned in this post (which I was not aware of before)​

More Regs are not always better.
Past sales: It's for me an indication, yes - but you can not predict the future, that's definetely true. It also depends on the pronouncement of the Domain Name.

---

-- Dictionary Word maximum 7 letters - Budget $1,000
-- Budget $10-$10,000 - Total budget $100,000 - meaning they will pay $10 per name. Who care about the total budget



- Wholesale or Reseller price only - Who would pay reseller price in this Forum - Also mean they will low ball you

---

One thing to add: Appraisal tools are not accurate, at least I found nothing that gave me a correct estimation

Things I probably don't understand or have Questions​

What is the exact reason for you to argue that SEO: Backlinks, DA, DR, Do-Follow, etc. are not that important? Especially if it's a name that a bigger company wants to invest in. I mean, isn't this a potential risk to lose the value of the Domain if it's not even indexed by Google, and has spammy Backlinks probably Casino or XXX?

Isn't this the same as the Domain Age; a clean History without any too big Gaps?
I agree, that "brandable" Names are probably 2 Word Dictionary, or a Mixup of 2 Words, which are not so easy to Liquidate. But as a Domain Seller, who is more advanced (I'm FAR away from that), that could be a mix in the portfolio to get probably something more margin, since you might hand-reg them.
That comes to my last Question, which is related to the one before What is actually the context of SH Premium? Do you refer to people who sell their SH-Premium (approx 10% chance to get in), here for 10 bucks?
What do you think in general about SH Premium? I'm very new to that, got only 10 approved as Premium so far.
Let's assume a Newbie made mistakes, hand-reged silly Names that will never sell, any inner value. What would you recommend them, after learning all the great things here? How to get rid of them? I mean, wrong ccTLDs and number-word combinations that are not easy to sell.

Many thanks in advance!
Much appreciate your post and all the information that is provided for beginners!

Hope to read more of you =)

Have a great weekend,
zotix

 

[VadimK]

@johnn

I agree with 98% of it, minus the last sentence that all the stats from sources make no sence. I would add ''for newbies''. All the sources - dotDb, NameBio, Spyfu, etc. - do add the value and simplify domainer's life a lot in terms of analysis, trend or keyword popularity research, work in bulk - if you know how to apply them correctly and generally, - what are you doing. But it arrives with time and experience.

- Here are some people copy cat from others in the request to buy section wasting everyone time:
-- Dictionary Word maximum 7 letters - Budget $1,000
-- Budget $10-$10,000 - Total budget $100,000 - meaning they will pay $10 per name. Who care about the total budget
-- Names that taken in 300 Extensions
-- Brandable Names - Meaning junk names and have no meaning
-- Members who normally deal with $10 names now want to buy LLL.com names
-- Wholesale or Reseller price only - Who would pay reseller price in this Forum - Also mean they will low ball you
-- SH or BB Premium for $10 - Give me a break!

120%. Especially the ones that say 1000+ the budget in header, then it's $10-50 per name in description, which of course mean they will never ever pay any more than a reg-fee. Oh, wait, for $20 they might buy sex.com from you, and it's them being generous ))

 

[MariaEl]

The only thing that you need to know when buying a name is "What type of website or company can use it?"

As a beginner still making lots of mistakes myself, not sure this is the "only" question, but it certainly is the essential one, in my opinion. Many of my names I chose because I thought of how I would use them, but I am not the end user, that's why my selection may go wasted.

Thank you for your post.

 

[deleted_20231022]

If someone appraised your name for $10 how can you sell to someone more than that?

Hahha!!

 

[MariaEl]

Regarding Appraisals, I see your point about inconvenient disclosure of our assets' details and valuation on Google Search. I think Professional Appraisals are hidden, aren't they?

I am truly grateful to @Eric Lyon for all his time and dedication to produce such appraisals. In my particular case, I have learned a lot through reading those inputs (especially, about the main question to be asked when choosing a name, i.e., who will use it and how you will reach them).

 

[zotix]

@MariaEl That's exactly what I had in my mind; because I learned so many things from his analysis.

Waybackmachine, Namesbio, SEO / Spam score, possible use cases, etc.

But well, we are not discussing Eric; but probably the KPIs like SEO related, how important are they really?
I mean, a good name could probably lose his value when it was bombed with trash links or Redirects to sell backlinks.

 

[MariaEl]

but probably the KPIs like SEO related, how important are they really?
I mean, a good name could probably lose his value when it was bombed with trash links or Redirects to sell backlinks.

I sincerely wish these mattered very little, since I find them the less attractive and more difficult to learn aspects of domaining; SEO tools simply overwhelm me. Yet, it seems they are basically negotiation items that can be used to lower your asking price.

 

[zotix]

So true, @MariaEl
It's definitely not a front against Johnn, but this specific point made me a bit confused. In other Forums, SEO is an important topic, even when you do not develop it. Some people buy old Domains with good active backlinks, develop them a bit, check if they are listed on Google, and sell backlinks from those domains with high DA & do-follow.

Especially if a Domain has for e.g. 10k Backlinks, which you see quite often in ExpiredDomains, isn't it a showstopper to buy this domain? I have SEMRush, and the amount of "toxic" backlinks is sometimes more shocking than the "good" Dropped Name.
Do you know what I mean?


It's just a question to all of you, how important is this topic? Just for people who might have very valuable 3L or 4L domains, pronounceable, etc. Would you buy these with bad SEO? Especially if a company wants to buy it probably?

I asked for that already once in another Thread I guess.
Because for me it's confusing.

On the other hand: A Domain with Zero Backlinks might be good because there is no "bad stuff" happening. But is it the same case when a Domain is 15 years old?


Sorry for that confusion, Im very new to that SEO topic, so I'm not sure and that's why I ask these questions, hopefully, the answers will help other Newbies, like me.

Best

 

[MariaEl]

So true, @MariaEl
It's definitely not a front against Johnn, but this specific point made me a bit confused. In other Forums, SEO is an important topic, even when you do not develop it. Some people buy old Domains with good active backlinks, develop them a bit, check if they are listed on Google, and sell backlinks from those domains with high DA & do-follow.

Especially if a Domain has for e.g. 10k Backlinks, which you see quite often in ExpiredDomains, isn't it a showstopper to buy this domain? I have SEMRush, and the amount of "toxic" backlinks is sometimes more shocking than the "good" Dropped Name.
Do you know what I mean?


It's just a question to all of you, how important is this topic? Just for people who might have very valuable 3L or 4L domains, pronounceable, etc. Would you buy these with bad SEO? Especially if a company wants to buy it probably?

I asked for that already once in another Thread I guess.
Because for me it's confusing.

On the other hand: A Domain with Zero Backlinks might be good because there is no "bad stuff" happening. But is it the same case when a Domain is 15 years old?


Sorry for that confusion, Im very new to that SEO topic, so I'm not sure and that's why I ask these questions, hopefully, the answers will help other Newbies, like me.

Best

@zotix123, good questions, and of course, nothing against, but rather the opposite, really thankful to @johnn for opening this and other useful threads. I'm sure questions are welcome and we shall continue to learn through their answers.

 

[Eric Lyon]

Regarding Appraisals, I see your point about inconvenient disclosure of our assets' details and valuation on Google Search. I think Professional Appraisals are hidden, aren't they?

I am truly grateful to @Eric Lyon for all his time and dedication to produce such appraisals. In my particular case, I have learned a lot through reading those inputs (especially, about the main question to be asked when choosing a name, i.e., who will use it and how you will reach them).

@MariaEl That's exactly what I had in my mind; because I learned so many things from his analysis.

Waybackmachine, Namesbio, SEO / Spam score, possible use cases, etc.

But well, we are not discussing Eric; but probably the KPIs like SEO related, how important are they really?
I mean, a good name could probably lose his value when it was bombed with trash links or Redirects to sell backlinks.

Thanks for the mention and kind words.

As Gold members you also have access to the insiders lounge where I broke down different evaluation/appraisal methodologies commonly used when assessing IP (Intellectual Property) value (Including domain names): https://www.namepros.com/threads/insight-domain-evaluation-appraisal-methodologies.1299646/

If you liked the insight of professional appraisals, I'm sure you'll appreciate the breakdown to see what goes on behind the scenes of different types of professional evaluations.

Note: The Insiders Club is only accessible to VIPs, Pros, and Gold members)

Regarding SEO/SEM (Search Engine Optimization / Search Engine Marketing), you are correct in your assessment that a domain name that was bombed with BlackHat backlink campaigning can also be effected negatively when it comes to it's value.

A good acquisitions team leverages everything they come across to get the best deal. Having bad neighbor backlinks coming from penalized sites, link-wheels, blog comments, bookmark sites, forum signatures, and other low-quality sources can show some manipulated ranking data that looks good on the surface, but tends to attract a spam score, search penalties, de-indexing (Supplemental), negative reviews, scam reports, and more...

All of which a good acquisitions team will leverage to devalue a domain asset, since a new start-up would need to get a lot of that cleaned up before they could launch a trusted and authoritative brand on it. This is generally a part of most corporations damage control policies/procedures.

Keep in mind, some companies/corporations unable to successfully clean up their brand and assets from the damage may declare bankruptcy and or liquidate. Leaving the headache of cleaning up the damage to the new owner of the brand.

In some of the smaller, less known brand instances, it's like buying a used car because it has a great body and paint-job, but the mechanics of it are faulty. It's great looking on the surface to give the impression of value, but once you drive it down the road and it throws a rod or starts miss-firing, you wish you would have looked under the hood and chassis better before investing into it as dependable transportation.

A good acquisitions team looks everywhere, prior to negotiations, so they have bullet-points and rebuttals to assist with driving the value down to get the best deal or to pass on it completely due to it being more of a liability issue.

Helpful information about spam scores:

• This guide from MOZ can help walk you through some stuff regarding spam scores: https://moz.com/help/link-explorer/link-building/spam-score
• This one provides a checklist to reduce high spam scores: https://www.copernica.com/en/documentation/some-tips-to-lower-your-email-spam-score
• This one will help with email blacklists: https://uptime.com/blog/domain-blac...:text=If your site is on,to ask to be removed.

Of course, that's all just my opinion. We all do it differently. What works for one may not work for another and vice versa.

At the end of the day, a domain name asset is truly only worth what a buyer and seller agree on.

 

[MariaEl]

Thanks for the mention and kind words.

As Gold members you also have access to the insiders lounge where I broke down different evaluation/appraisal methodologies commonly used when assessing IP (Intellectual Property) value (Including domain names): https://www.namepros.com/threads/insight-domain-evaluation-appraisal-methodologies.1299646/

If you liked the insight of professional appraisals, I'm sure you'll appreciate the breakdown to see what goes on behind the scenes of different types of professional evaluations.

Note: The Insiders Club is only accessible to VIPs, Pros, and Gold members)

Regarding SEO/SEM (Search Engine Optimization / Search Engine Marketing), you are correct in your assessment that a domain name that was bombed with BlackHat backlink campaigning can also be effected negatively when it comes to it's value.

A good acquisitions team leverages everything they come across to get the best deal. Having bad neighbor backlinks coming from penalized sites, link-wheels, blog comments, bookmark sites, forum signatures, and other low-quality sources can show some manipulated ranking data that looks good on the surface, but tends to attract a spam score, search penalties, de-indexing (Supplemental), negative reviews, scam reports, and more...

All of which a good acquisitions team will leverage to devalue a domain asset, since a new start-up would need to get a lot of that cleaned up before they could launch a trusted and authoritative brand on it. This is generally a part of most corporations damage control policies/procedures.

Keep in mind, some companies/corporations unable to successfully clean up their brand and assets from the damage may declare bankruptcy and or liquidate. Leaving the headache of cleaning up the damage to the new owner of the brand.

In some of the smaller, less known brand instances, it's like buying a used car because it has a great body and paint-job, but the mechanics of it are faulty. It's great looking on the surface to give the impression of value, but once you drive it down the road and it throws a rod or starts miss-firing, you wish you would have looked under the hood and chassis better before investing into it as dependable transportation.

A good acquisitions team looks everywhere, prior to negotiations, so they have bullet-points and rebuttals to assist with driving the value down to get the best deal or to pass on it completely due to it being more of a liability issue.

Helpful information about spam scores:

• This guide from MOZ can help walk you through some stuff regarding spam scores: https://moz.com/help/link-explorer/link-building/spam-score
• This one provides a checklist to reduce high spam scores: https://www.copernica.com/en/documentation/some-tips-to-lower-your-email-spam-score
• This one will help with email blacklists: https://uptime.com/blog/domain-blac...:text=If your site is on,to ask to be removed.

Of course, that's all just my opinion. We all do it differently. What works for one may not work for another and vice versa.

At the end of the day, a domain name asset is truly only worth what a buyer and seller agree on.

Hi, @Eric Lyon , thank you very much for everything. Best regards!

 

[freddy]

After some years I am back to namepros and see immediately a smart post.
Well, you are right John. Time changed, when I started I could register almost everything.
Many domains made only money in parking. And some of them had really nice Value.
Meanwhile I have almost no domain names any more, I buy here and there a ngtld, just to hold it. Or I register a .com
But not in bulk, not in ngtld´s and not in CNOBI. Mass registrations make no sense any more, you can spend your dollar only once, spend it carefully.

 

[Kass]

OR puts budget boundaries per name, but prohibits the option of offering within these limits. one of the signs not to get involved

but these are all minor things compared to the fact that basically no one was going to buy anything. even for $10. imho

 

[karmaco]

Great post and I agree with most of it @johnn. Lots of bad advice and misconceptions spread around here.

What domainers buy and value and what ultimately sells is often not the same thing. The ones obsessed with stats miss alot of gems which is fine by me.

Typical end users buy what they like and what resonates with their vision and don’t care about stats.

 

[Sjpals]

As a beginner still making lots of mistakes myself, not sure this is the "only" question, but it certainly is the essential one, in my opinion. Many of my names I chose because I thought of how I would use them, but I am not the end user, that's why my selection may go wasted.

Thank you for your post.

Same, I bought names on how I would use them.

 

[adsforce]

The world is small and it happen for my personal experiences.

I reg 1 dot com and keep it for 1 years + and sell it at 22k USD to direct buyer using cashier order through face to face transaction. Skip agent commission as we both situated Singapore.

Ensure the cashier order amount and the receiver detail is correct in my hand. Then I do the push of domain in front of the buyer and close the deal that all.

 

[stevegpan]

Neebie here too, trying to learn it right

 

[bmugford]

- Name that taking in 100 Extensions. Why? The more extension is taken the more chance you will have trade mark issues

Most of the points on your list I agree with, but not this one.

If the term is taken in a lot of domains it can be a strong indication of the demand.

Obviously that is not always the case, but really almost any good term is going to be taken in multiple extensions.

What is the alternative, buying crappy names that are taken in no extensions?

If it is a generic word, format, popular phrase, etc. that is much different than an obvious well known trademark.

Brad

 

[johnn]

More extensions more potential to trade mark issues. Especially for newbies

 

[bmugford]

More extensions more potential to trade mark issues. Especially for newbies

Again, what is the alternative? If you are going to avoid terms taken in many extensions, it just means you are going to avoid terms that are in demand.

Let's take recent .AI sales for example. I bet pretty much every one is taken in hundreds of extensions.

The key is knowing the difference between a generic term and an obvious famous trademark.

Am I going to avoid "Digital" (700 extensions) because it is taken in a lot of extensions? No.
Am I going to avoid "Microsoft" (645 extensions)? Yes.

Brad

 

[johnn]

I am referring to the request from wanted to buy with the ridiculous extensions like over 200.
How many names that you can find with over 200 extensions taken?
If you know how to check the trade marks then that would be no problems.