What do you think is best for newbie to start with when buying domain

[olabode sunday adeolu]

hello everybody, I am a newbie and I want to ask this very important question from an experienced domainers in the house. what do you think would be a best way of buying good domain name, is by doing by doing a thorough research of what is trending and come up with good domain names ? or by in a dropping ones?
if buying what is trending, how do we now the present trend? if buying dropping , how do we choose the best drop. thanks

 

[Name Trader]

As many people have said in the past. You need to READ, READ, and READ again to understand the answers to your questions. Buying most domains entails a great deal of risk. Buying into trends and dropping domains requires great amount of skills and there is much competition. A newbie should probably not do either of these until they thoroughly understand the markets they are in. If an auction goes over $5k, then it's possibly a good domain to buy, but not always. There is way to many other things to consider. One thing I would say is stick with .com tld only, only buy one or two word domains or acronyms (3 or 4 letter). You need to be a good seller. Of course, other people might say just the opposite. Don't spend more than you can afford to lose. Better to buy 1 domain at low $xk than 100 domains, because renewals will kill you.

 

[DU]

As many people have said in the past. You need to READ, READ, and READ again to understand the answers to your questions. .

Then spend hours separating anything remotely useful from the complete bull$hit, imho.
Lots of liars. Lots of cheats. Lots of pretenders (like me).

Honest useful material? Unfortunately, scarce.

So Reading is less than half of it.

 

[Name Trader]

Of course reading entails sorting out the wheat from the chaff. I don't know how you learn anything without reading. How do you learn how the auctions work without reading about them first?

 

[gatekeeper72]

I agree with you Stub..lol..Almost called you Fred again...
Anyhow, I stick with .com's only, niches, anything that I can see as targetable to sell, Short 1 or 2 word, or no more than 3 words (only if it has exact keyword matches,) and a good niche, or geo targeted, and only have 1 acronym in my portfolio right now. Trends are also good if you know who the target market is, and how to target the people, and it isn't a domain like "PinkCoffeeTableLove.com"...lol..(Don't ask me where that came from...HA!...Just an example of not what to buy)
However, Think about it from the potential buyers perspective, and why they would want that domain. Also, be sure to watch carefully what sells as opposed to what doesn't like in places like name jet, etc...Also do thorough research before you buy any domain, and make sure it's not blacklisted in google, look in the who is, and see when the creation date is, how old the domain is, expiration date, how many drops, etc... Also might be a good idea to find the history of the domain, as well as making sure it doesn't have a TM attached to it, or a history of a scammy site. But read, read, read every day, watch vids, read some more, and some more!
Also, in this business, don't be afraid to do the leg work if you have to. Expect to! Oh, also keyword research, and what the cpc is, will leverage your selling depending on the domain.
One problem I am encountering at the moment is having domains that I own in Godaddy showing they are for sale, when I don't have them listed, and neither did the previous owners, as one sent me screenshots...but godaddy is in the process of taking care of that, HOPEFULLY! As I don't want to sell for the prices they have listed on there, and will affect my sales if they don't take it down. So you may also want to make sure it isn't listed for sale on Godaddy before buying, if you're not buying on Godaddy itself.
That's all I can think of for tips off the top of my head..Am only about a month in this, but I spend a lot of time reading, watching vids on it, seeing what is selling, what's not, etc...and am very frugal when it comes to buying them, as I am still learning, and trying now to figure out if I should monetize them into sites to generate more revenue making the site more valuable, or just keep them parked.
Also give yourself a set budget, and stick to it, no matter how tempting!
One more thing...Don't expect to sell anything over night. Patience is key in this business, and so are negotiation tactics, and reaching out, if you want the big money!
Now to answer your questions...Sorry I got way off base...I am in no way experienced at this, so don't take what I say at face value, but from my personal stand point, I have read a lot, and I would go for the drop domains IF, and ONLY IF They are good names, targetable, and at a REALLY Good, and low price. Sometimes you can still find good, really cheap, quality domains, and that's what I aim for, as the competition for expired domains is really saturated, I've noticed, and can end up being a very costly mistake. If you are careful, and frugal, and do your due diligence, you can find some pretty great ones from people selling really low. If you're wanting to buy into the trend, that is up to you to figure out where your target audience is to reach out to. Lots of brainstorming on that! That's where the leg work comes in, and that's why I stick mostly with Niches. However, you could park it, and put make offer on it, or a fixed price...That's the only way I know other than auction, for trends, unless you're going to build out the site monetise it, and promote it, which means you would also have to get hosting....With niches and geo-targetable niches, I can reach out to way more people and have a much better chance of selling high, as I can just look up the potential buyers and reach out. Hope this makes sense...But again...Like stub said, READ, read, and read some more...Everyday!
Good Luck, and of course, Skill!

 

[DU]

Of course reading entails sorting out the wheat from the chaff. I don't know how you learn anything without reading. How do you learn how the auctions work without reading about them first?

You learn from experience or you learn to talk and speak with people that you can trust than don't spin a line or have an agenda.
There are obvious nuggets of truth and outright lies that are common and easy to spot.
BUT
I think 90% of what I read on Namepros is complete nonsense (and I'm being generous).

 

[gatekeeper72]

I somewhat agree with defaultuser...Read on blogs, read from the big time pros, watch their vids...and everything else I said above. Domain Sherpa, Domaining.com, Domain Investing.com, are just a few, but good places to read, and plenty of content just on those....but lead to other places, and other blogs to read on, and videos...
I lucked out a little bit when I first started out, and came across someone that gave me a lot of great advice that isn't new to this game by no means, and reading, and learning is key...As I said before, I am learning something new everyday in this business, and it keeps me on my toes. I think the challenge of it all is what makes me determined to make it successful. However, I am giving myself a year to learn all the ins and out of the business, as there is a LOT to it!
So yes, read a lot, in a lot of different places, and learn to differentiate when someone is genuine, or like defaultuser said...an outright lie. Lots of scammers out there, so be careful..When you spot a liar, remember them, try to remember their name, or even write it down...I actually have a blacklist already of people to stay away from in this business, and where they are, (site wise) so I know to take what they say with a grain of salt, and also don't buy anything from them.

 

[urlurl]

find out first what people are buying

 

[DU]

I actually have a blacklist already of people to stay away from in this business

I have a white-list. It's considerable shorter and easier to manage

 

[4better]

For newbies, stick to .com first.. Other extensions could come later if you've become more experienced.

 

[Name Trader]

I wouldn't put it that high as 90%+ But you get to learn who you can trust, from their posts. If I didn't suffer from old age memory loss, I could probably name about a dozen people who post here that I could trust Of course,not inherantly

 

[olabode sunday adeolu]

As many people have said in the past. You need to READ, READ, and READ again to understand the answers to your questions. Buying most domains entails a great deal of risk. Buying into trends and dropping domains requires great amount of skills and there is much competition. A newbie should probably not do either of these until they thoroughly understand the markets they are in. If an auction goes over $5k, then it's possibly a good domain to buy, but not always. There is way to many other things to consider. One thing I would say is stick with .com tld only, only buy one or two word domains or acronyms (3 or 4 letter). You need to be a good seller. Of course, other people might say just the opposite. Don't spend more than you can afford to lose. Better to buy 1 domain at low $xk than 100 domains, because renewals will kill you.

thanks for your advice

 

[olabode sunday adeolu]

gatekeeper I really love your contributions.Thanks,
still learning of how the domain industry works and am very sure with valuable contributions from stub, gatekeeper and experienced domainers here in the house can help newbies in their search for good domains to sell .

 

[gatekeeper72]

You're very welcome, but I'm still a newbie too...Just sharing what I have learned thus far

 

[Horizonconcepts]

Ok,save or have available $500 to $1000,don't spend it,keep it.For the next month or 2 start reading EVERYTHING,but only from people who have "made it" in the industry.You wouldn't ask your Grandmother for advise on something she knows nothing about right?Watch DNJournal,as I often say.Many people say many things,but only listen to the people that have made it.Check ALL auction platforms everyday for sales,bidding and how many bids on different domains.Now when you have started to see a pattern in sales weather it's tech,retail,etc start looking for 1 or 2 domains that might suit you(and the market) try for aged domains with reasonable traffic all .COM only! Don't hand register! You might get lucky,but the odds are you won't.Read all the tech news on upcoming technology if that is what you are into.I think that's enough for now,as I'm a two finger typist!

 

[Name Trader]

You're very welcome, but I'm still a newbie too...Just sharing what I have learned thus far

You're a quick learner

 

[gatekeeper72]

You're a quick learner

Thank you very much! I will take that as a compliment When I set my mind to something, I tend to put my whole self into it

 

[olabode sunday adeolu]

I just hand reg these two domains( ActingInNewYork.com and 5kRunners.com) before i got to know little facts about domaining from this forum and other domain blogs , just need your candid opinion about them ,do they worth anything?

 

[inforg]

I just hand reg these two domains( ActingInNewYork.com and 5kRunners.com) before i got to know little facts about domaining from this forum and other domain blogs , just need your candid opinion about them ,do they worth anything?

They are not bad at all for first picks. What domains are "worth" and what you can instantly sell them for are 2 completely different numbers. I might say these are worth mid to high XXX to the right buyer, but that doesn't mean the right buyer is ready to buy or will even find your names.

You have to decide what you want to do in this business. Do you want to buy and hold, waiting for retail buyers, or do you want to try and flip the domains to other domainers for a small gain and then buy more? Most newbies think they can do both and somehow instantly flip $2 domains for hundreds or thousands of dollars - it just doesn't work like that.

Hopefully you used coupons to buy your names and they only cost you 1-3 dollars each.

 

[gatekeeper72]

Just my 2 cents:
I like them both, especially "acting in new york", because it has 110 searches a month on EXACT KEYWORD Matches with a $3.49 cpc.. (cost per click) ratio...with high competition.
I am somewhat a newbie, but have been studying hard and long, everyday at this...But I think they are great names.
5k runners also have an exact keyword match on it, and is shorter, (which is good)...But no cpc listed... If you have a target audience to sell to for that, I think that's great! However, I don't know much about 5k running, and who I would reach out to for that would be extremely limited.
One thing you really want to consider besides the keywords, and the cpc on them is who is your target audience to sell to...And would those people have the budget to spend on what you want to get?
I think Acting in New York is very targetable, but I don't know who you would target for 5k runners, maybe the olympics?
The only thing I don't like about "acting in new york" is that it is long, and 4 words...I tend to only stick with 3 words at the very MAX, and try to keep it under 10 characters...But on the flip side it is a long tail keyword with a good cpc..The higher the cpc is on a name you have, the better, especially with exact matches....I think it's worth a bit more than mid-high xxx, if you find the right buyer, and your selling, and negotiating abilities, but that's just my opinion.
Anyhow, It's only worth what the buyer is willing to pay, and your selling abilities, and negotiating.
I wouldn't go by any appraisals at all, as like I said, it's only worth what the potential buyers think it is. Keep reading, watching videos, and learning, EVERY DAY, If you're serious about getting in this business, then stick to your gut instinct on them, and don't let anyone discourage you! However, be able to take Constructive criticism, but weed out the constructive, from the DEstructive, and eliminate all destructive!...As you don't need negativity sticking to you! You have to stay positive, and surround yourself with positive people in order to sell..(But,another story, for another time.)
When you see the value in something, and are planning to proactively sell to your targets, rather than other domainers, allow your potential buyers to see the value you see....I think, however, these names speak for themselves...Set your prices, and know what the lowest you're willing to take, and stick to it. People will try to lowball you, so be able to know what type of budget they have, what value this domain would have for them, how much business, and what value they would have from this domain, and set your prices accordingly. If it was something like "making crafts", I wouldn't expect to sell that high, because their isn't a lot of money in making crafts, (unless your my grandmother..but that's another story, and a rare find..)
Anyhow, if you still see value in it...Hold onto it for a year or 2, and if you only get 1 offer in that entire year, when you are being proactive in selling, then I would say, take the offer, and let it go, and perhaps look at things from a different perspective.
Another tip: Only invest on what you can afford to lose, like you're walking into a casino.
Be sure to also look at names that are selling, and figure out why they would sell for that, why would someone want to pay xxxxx for that particular name. ( I, personally know some things first hand about some business owners, that most people don't, as I worked with many, for many years and consulted, and sold to..But not willing to share..lol..)
Anyhow, Study the names over time, and I think you will do fine.
I do agree with "inforg" that if you're going to sell to other domainers, then yes, mid-high xxx, would probably be what it's worth..If that! With other domainers, I would expect a lot less...
However, I think your selling abilities come into play a lot, and if your target audience sees the same value in a name that you do, then you're onto something great!
This game is not only about doing research on each of your names, but picking really good ones, and all about being able to sell, negotiate, and reach out to your target audience. I think you're off to a good start!
Good Luck!