To all you "veterans" out there

[domaino]

A few questions for the more experienced amongst us.

1. What were your best mistakes? By that I mean the mistakes that gave you the most insight into the workings of the industry.

2. If you could start all over again, what would you do differently?

3. How do you believe the industry will change in the future? What direction do you think it's heading in?

4. What advice would you give to an aspiring domainer/entrepreneur/developer etc? Do you encourage the taking of risks?

5. If you were in your late-teens/early twenties*, facing the industry as it is now, would you still get involved? What would your first move be?

* this is not to say that you cannot achieve prosperity in your early twenties.

Hopefully this will encourage some interesting discussion between newbies and veterans alike

 

[-REECE-]

1. Investing based on emotion rather than logic, basing decisions on market hype, rather than empirical evidence.

2. Not invest in extensions other than CNO + cctlds. Yes, there is money to be made, however I just haven't seen near the same ROI, nor am I aware of many people who have.

3. The best .coms are going to be driven even higher in value, as will short .coms of 5 or less letters. Uncertainty over the future of parking will further drive down revenue multiples and make many domainers look for a new place to invest. Typosquatters are going to find themselves increasingly sued and imprisoned, just like we're now seeing happen to spammers. vTLDs will succeed at cornering a niche in the low end market and take most of the market share CNO + cctlds don't have. Domain hacks will become ever more popular, their value however becoming largely eroded by the significant number of options now available.

4. Go big or go home. Unless you're coming into the game with a sizable bankroll, the truth is that you will need to take risks -- try and make them as calculated as possible but come into the game with an understanding that domaining, just like any other investment, comes with both risks and rewards.

5. According to the Namepros Media Kit, a whopping 69.6% of Namepros members are under 30 years of age. I think (on average) this younger generation is more aware of the opportunities the Internet provides and are more willing to accept risk in order to achieve their goals. Not many fields offer a teenager the opportunities domaining does -- domaining doesn't discriminate, doesn't ask that you have a college education -- provided you conduct yourself in a professional manner, most of us couldn't care less if you were 15 or 51. So to answer your question, a resounding YES. The longer you wait to become part of this industry, the more opportunities you're missing out on. There will always be more but there really is no reason to miss out, regardless of age.

 

[scandiman]

A few questions for the more experienced amongst us.

1. What were your best mistakes? By that I mean the mistakes that gave you the most insight into the workings of the industry.

2. If you could start all over again, what would you do differently?

1 and 2 are connected for me regarding .mobi, I would have played the .mobi landrush differently, increasing my chances of getting more top domains. As for .com, I would have focused more on generic terms in the 90's and less on my own business industry. (but I didn't have much money anyway then at $100/domain :hehe

3. How do you believe the industry will change in the future? What direction do you think it's heading in?

I think the pending flood of new tld's will change a lot of things. A new essential question is on the mind of major businesses, why buy a multi million dollar domain when the same funds could buy you your own tld?

4. What advice would you give to an aspiring domainer/entrepreneur/developer etc? Do you encourage the taking of risks?

Focus on quality over quantity. Risk is a given IMO, there are no guarantees.

5. If you were in your late-teens/early twenties*, facing the industry as it is now, would you still get involved? What would your first move be?

The 90's are gone, it's easy to get caught up dreaming of turning reg fee into a million bucks but it is the exception instead of the rule. Try to focus on making your domains earn cash flow for you instead of just focusing on resale.

 

[Albert]

1. my mistake of not buying a 3letter .net 3 years ago. it now showed me that short letters increase by the highest percentage.

2. I will only choose most searched keywords than brand able domain name. eg: uploadvideos.com than videozone.com

3. More new domainers are coming in and the lesser the good domain left for .com so .com is king. I believe the industry will continue to grow strong and domain development is there to replace parking.

4. Take the risk. the higher the risk the greater the return but please knowledgeable yourself first.

5. Yes, I would. Buy at aftermarket only and no more hand registration.

 

[Trickac14]

Nice questions, hopefully we can see some more great answers to help us out. Thanks in advance.

 

[deleted984054565403]

1. What were your best mistakes? By that I mean the mistakes that gave you the most insight into the workings of the industry.
I made one early sale, which made me believe that whichever garbage name I'd register, I could sell it for mid $xxx or higher. I quickly learned, through registering lots of silly domains, that the industry doesn't work that way.

2. If you could start all over again, what would you do differently?
Develop and develop some more. I'd build a constant stream of revenue from a few sites, and use the money earned to buy better domains or money-making domains. I'd also register fewer made-up words in hopes that some startup somewhere would pay $xxxx for something I registered.

3. How do you believe the industry will change in the future? What direction do you think it's heading in?
More and more companies are realizing the potential of call-to-action domains. When the average person watches a TV commercial -- a US Navy commercial, for example -- a URL is normally displayed on the screen. For years, it was normally just the organization name + dot com; for example, usnavy.com. Recently, however, marketers have realized that they're more likely to bring in views with a "different" URL listed on their commercials. The US Navy responded with listing a new URL in their commercials and print material - DoSomethingAmazing.com. It inspires the reader and makes them more willing to visit the site. If you look around carefully, this is happening everywhere.

I also believe "short domains" are on their way out. Don't listen to buyout hypes. The recent three-letter .com price bubble is a good indicator of how domainers artificially inflate the price of a certain type of domain. Don't buy LLLL .nets or LLLL .info. It's beyond me why anyone thinks these are good investments. LLLL .com is barely keeping its head above $20 apiece for the lowest quality names, and LLLL .net usually fetches 1/10th of the price of a .com or less. LLLL .info is 1/10th of .net, and nobody uses a four-letter made-up word on a .info. Be realistic and rational.

Domain parking is on its way out, as is PPC revenue. Development will be key in coming years. Keep in mind that video advertising is more successful than text advertising.

4. What advice would you give to an aspiring domainer/entrepreneur/developer etc? Do you encourage the taking of risks?
Take risks registering in small amounts; avoid risks in buying from sellers and the aftermarket, as you'll almost always pay too much. Don't expect to make a fortune overnight or with one name. You'll be better without that three-word .biz. Don't listen to your gut; find evidence that a domain you're buying or registering is worth picking up to either develop or resell. Be realistic. .COM is king; .ORG is very good in many cases. .NET usually tells your visitors "I registered the .net version of this name because the .com was taken".

Don't cut into your personal savings. I made this mistake, and I still regret it. Set money aside for domaining, and be strict about spending. Don't get carried away.

5. If you were in your late-teens/early twenties*, facing the industry as it is now, would you still get involved? What would your first move be?
Absolutely. Start with just one site. Do it with something you're passionate about. Learn about search engine optimization and get the word out about your site. Throw some ads on the page, and rake in a few dollars a week. Find ways your site can earn money without the help of outside advertisers, as PPC is on its way out. Be innovative, and try to create valuable informative sites or unique, useful sites. Image hosts and "mini-sites" aren't worth your or your visitors' time. Build up some cash, read about what will likely gain popularity in the future, and be a savvy buyer.

At the end of the day, constant, expected revenue from a developed site is more reliable and worthwhile than trying to buy and sell undeveloped names.

 

[bmugford]

I agree with this in general. It is much easier to scan through lists of other people's domain ideas and find gems, than to find a gem that is unregistered.

5. Yes, I would. Buy at aftermarket only and no more hand registration.

 

[abercrombie]

been webmastering since 1995 and using ads since 1999. stopped in 2003 after advertisers started to to get lame in the .COM bust. just started again this year since adsense seems to be working. lots of the same concerns as back in early turn of the century as discussed now but lots of rules and the game has changed according to google.

(1) biggest mistake is quitting in 2003. lost some good aged domain names. if i worked at it, i'd be high up there for many niches i quit. i'm still page 1 & 2 for domains i hung onto.
(2) related to the above, if i could start over i'd keep my focus and treat it like a slow investment.
(3) industry is geared toward google and i don't see any change in the near future. lots of rules and TOS so play accordingly and keep up to date.
(4) don't think short term, just keep building slowly.
(5) education comes first. first move as a teen or early 20's would be to get an education in a related IT field with a BS. do this web thing in your spare time.

 

[Spade]

A few questions for the more experienced amongst us.

1. What were your best mistakes? By that I mean the mistakes that gave you the most insight into the workings of the industry.

2. If you could start all over again, what would you do differently?

3. How do you believe the industry will change in the future? What direction do you think it's heading in?

4. What advice would you give to an aspiring domainer/entrepreneur/developer etc? Do you encourage the taking of risks?

5. If you were in your late-teens/early twenties*, facing the industry as it is now, would you still get involved? What would your first move be?

1. Purchased names that had very little chance at finding an end-user. Obscure and "Brandable" names. This changed my focus into keyword based domains.

2. Cut out a lot of the fat, be better about pricing more appropriately, use the strategies I have today, vs the strategies I used back then.

3. Parking as it currently exists is dead/dying. I expect and see parking to change drastically in the future. Expect new parking companies to look outside the box when it comes to "feed" providers.

4. Work smart, not hard. The people who do the best are people who beat to their own drum. If you follow in someone elses path you wont get far.

5. Frankly, its possible. But you'll need a reasonable investment to get far. I am in my mid-twenties and Its not easy, but it is possible.

Justin

 

[lzy]

Wow! Very nice thread. I'm no veteran but if I knew what I knew today back then, less hand regs more aftermarket buys.

 

[Michael]

1. What were your best mistakes? By that I mean the mistakes that gave you the most insight into the workings of the industry.
Investing in domains other than .com. I've never made a decent ROI investing in .net, .org, etc.

2. If you could start all over again, what would you do differently?
I would have bought more LLL.coms back when they were $xxx.

3. How do you believe the industry will change in the future? What direction do you think it's heading in?
I think people will move away from parking and put up mini sites up on more of their holdings. Cutting out the middle man will be the name of the game.

4. What advice would you give to an aspiring domainer/entrepreneur/developer etc? Do you encourage the taking of risks?
Learn to appraise a domain very well, then you'll be able to spot bargains. I take very little risk in my investments, but I still get good returns because I know a deal when I see one.

5. If you were in your late-teens/early twenties*, facing the industry as it is now, would you still get involved? What would your first move be?
I'm in my early twenties and I started in the industry about a year ago, so my answer is obviously yes. My first move would be to read everything I can get my hands on, especially sales reports, before investing even a single reg fee.

 

[JulioMedina]

good stuff here

 

[Traveler]

A few questions for the more experienced amongst us.

1. What were your best mistakes? By that I mean the mistakes that gave you the most insight into the workings of the industry.

A very costly but valuable mistake was buying too many names to early. I sold a few of the hundreds of names that I registered but still lost about $1,000 in reg fees.

From the sales that I did have, I learned that I sold a couple names too cheap because I did not do the research on who the buyer was.

2. If you could start all over again, what would you do differently?

If I could do it all over again I would have invested in a few high qaulity domain names and worked on development rather than purchasing hundreds of names without any real clear plans for development.

3. How do you believe the industry will change in the future? What direction do you think it's heading in?

The industry is going to be "rocked" by the flood of new extensions. What that means for the ".com" ... anyone's guess is as good as mine. As it stands today .com is king and google is it's master. I don't think that is gauranteed to be the same 10 years from now.

4. What advice would you give to an aspiring domainer/entrepreneur/developer etc? Do you encourage the taking of risks?

I think taking risks can be profitable. The first .com guys took a "risk" and did something that everyone else thought was silly. However, I don't think anyone should risk more than they have to lose. Also, there is a lot of information here in these forums if you look for it. So before you take a risk it is a good idea to get educated and learn as much as you can about the investment you are thinking about making.

5. If you were in your late-teens/early twenties*, facing the industry as it is now, would you still get involved? What would your first move be?

This "industry" does not seem to be going away anytime soon, so if you are young, motivated, and intelligent there is no reason you can't find your place here.

My first move would be not to spend one red cent until I learned as much as possible. I would look at the prices of recent domain name sales and see if they make sense to me. If you can't make sense out of what is selling and for how much then you need to go back and learn more. Once you can start to look at past sales and say that was a good buy or that was overpriced then and only then should you get into the market.

 

[qgl000]

Find ways your site can earn money without the help of outside advertisers, as PPC is on its way out. Be innovative, and try to create valuable informative sites or unique, useful sites. Image hosts and "mini-sites" aren't worth your or your visitors' time. Build up some cash, read about what will likely gain popularity in the future, and be a savvy buyer.

At the end of the day, constant, expected revenue from a developed site is more reliable and worthwhile than trying to buy and sell undeveloped names.

What is the industry heading toward as far as non-PPC revenue? Do you think targetted online ad agency type advertisements? No ads at all?

If PPC goes away, something has to take its place, but I can't see what that might be.

 

[Ben42]

1. What were your best mistakes? By that I mean the mistakes that gave you the most insight into the workings of the industry.

Selling 3 Character .com's for xx a year ago. It goes to show you never know what will become popular. Also being too timid when it comes to a gut feeling. I was buying 4l.com not long ago for $3 a name, why didn't i just buy them all?

2. If you could start all over again, what would you do differently?
Like others have said, I'd put all I had into LLL.com's

3. How do you believe the industry will change in the future? What direction do you think it's heading in?
I'm hoping the new TLD flood doesn't happen, or effects the current market very little. I'm currently investing in .pro, I think it's the corporate wave of the future. LOL butt what do I know?

4. What advice would you give to an aspiring domainer/entrepreneur/developer etc? Do you encourage the taking of risks?
This whole business is taking risks. To start go with stuff you like and stick to that while you learn things. If you just want to collect LLL.info and only can afford 1, then just buy one! I think this business is more about collecting than diversifying. Collect what you think will go up in value and hold it.

5. If you were in your late-teens/early twenties*, facing the industry as it is now, would you still get involved? What would your first move be?
Hey this is fun for all ages, and I believe it should be that first. Fun! Lets keep it that way, just like gambling do not spend more than you can afford. On many names you have better odds placing a bet on 1 number at the roulette table than raking in a huge profit.