What is your criteria for dropping a domain from your portfolio?

[hookbox]

Curious as to what your criteria is for dropping domains. I have a bunch I want to dump but as you know it's so hard to pull the trigger and just do it. Would love to hear how you come to the conclusion to drop or not.

 

[NameFit]

I would go by the history of name. I park my domains - and if I see I had zero queries on x number of yeas (normally 5 years is good to get an idea) then I drop them. Not to mention, I do 'usage check' in google by putting in double quotes for two worded names. But obviously, I do spend lot more time in registering the name.

 

[GravityEleven]

1. no inquiry at all since the last renewal
+
2. more than 2 keywords
+
3. no domain sale at all with same keyword at Namebio.com (unless it's a new trend/niche)

i am brutal to my portfolio nowadays.. first renewal round i still kept way too many money wasters..

 

[The New Guy]

I look at the name and say to myself "what was I thinking when I registered this?"

 

[Hypersot]

My portfolio consists of two groups:
a. those that earn money via parking
b. and those that don't

for (a)
if a domain brings me at least $10 / year *profit* (after renewal fees, etc.) then I keep it

for (b)
if I like a name a lot and/or I believe it has resale value at some point then I will *consider* keeping it, which in turn means that,
if the sum of (a) gives me profit and allows me to re-invest in domains even after I renew (b) then I keep all the domains in (b) , otherwise I just drop them starting from the least likeable until the above formula is satisfied

 

[Nattydomain]

I generally will keep domains at least 2 years. If I really like the name even if I did not get an inquiry i will renew (sometimes I had domains for 4 + years before sold) if I dont like the name then really 2 years max hold and 2 months or so before renewal I will auction it off here or on eBay

 

[Kate]

In addition to the lack of inquiries, I would look at the traffic (if any), and also whether the more 'obvious' alternatives are registered, or in other extensions.

 

[JB Lions]

I keep the ones that

I might make a site for
that get traffic
where the parking revenue is more than renewal
that get offers
that get inquiries

After this year, it looks like 70% of my portfolio will be comprised of those names, which is nice. Jump the good ones over to the next year, it just gets better every year.

For the ones that don't meet any of that, I check things like exact match, how many other extensions it's registered in, ones I might still have some hope for etc. Doing a brutal cut this year. Just because I was curious, at 97% .com.

I have a small group that expired in the last couple of weeks/shortly that I'm going back and forth on.

 

[domainerfella]

Where do you park bro?

My portfolio consists of two groups:
a. those that earn money via parking
b. and those that don't

for (a)
if a domain brings me at least $10 / year *profit* (after renewal fees, etc.) then I keep it

for (b)
if I like a name a lot and/or I believe it has resale value at some point then I will *consider* keeping it, which in turn means that,
if the sum of (a) gives me profit and allows me to re-invest in domains even after I renew (b) then I keep all the domains in (b) , otherwise I just drop them starting from the least likeable until the above formula is satisfied

 

[Arca]

In terms of traffic, how many visitors per month do you think is the minimum to make a domain renew-worthy?

 

[Hypersot]

Where do you park bro?

I use above.com's nameservers so I can easily re-direct a domain's traffic to whichever parking service I choose via above.com's interface.

For example,
if I like parking service's A lander page for a sale page then I redirect my domains for sale there.
if I see that B parking service brings me more revenue, I redirect my domains intended for parking there
...and so on

keep in mind that I use around seven different parking services depending upon the use I need of them.

 

[domainerfella]

I use above.com's nameservers so I can easily re-direct a domain's traffic to whichever parking service I choose via above.com's interface.

For example,
if I like parking service's A lander page for a sale page then I redirect my domains for sale there.
if I see that B parking service brings me more revenue, I redirect my domains intended for parking there
...and so on

keep in mind that I use around seven different parking services depending upon the use I need of them.

Thank you bro. Does this mean you need to have different accounts in all other parking services or just one with above.com? Is this free service?

 

[NameFit]

I use above.com's nameservers so I can easily re-direct a domain's traffic to whichever parking service I choose via above.com's interface.

Don't pretty much all parking providers require that your name servers are pointing to theirs? I know DomainSponsors/DomainNameSales do. rather than just redirecting.

 

[Hypersot]

Don't pretty much all parking providers require that your name servers are pointing to theirs? I know DomainSponsors/DomainNameSales do. rather than just redirecting.

Not necessarily.
Since it's a bit complicated to explain here, I'd suggest you visit above.com to get your answers. There is a FAQ somewhere that you can read.
Note that I use DS along with Rookmedia for about a year with above.com (there is also an option for DNS I think but I haven't used it) .

 

[The New Guy]

In terms of traffic, how many visitors per month do you think is the minimum to make a domain renew-worthy?

Zero.

I had a domain that had only a few hits over 8 months. I had put it in my let drop list, then the first hit in 3 months came from a person that made an offer I was able to turn into a nice sale.

You can't always rely on stats - sometimes it's instinct, other times it's pure luck that someone suddenly has a use for one of your domains.

 

[hookbox]

One thing that makes me pissed is when I drop a name and someone with a lot more knowledge then myself picks it up. I let some expire at Godaddy last week and Domain Holdings bought one of them. Schilling picked up a one letter gtld a few weeks ago that I let expire. I just couldn't justify the $165 renewal fee. It happens all the time and it makes me wonder if I am making the right choices. Just like everyone else I wish I could keep every name but the renewals are burning my profits.

On some names stats are non existent and that is when it's so hard to choose. I think the name is great but maybe it's not and then I let it go and see someone list in the sold section that they sold the name for $1,500. It makes me absolutely nuts.

 

[The New Guy]

One thing that makes me pissed is when I drop a name and someone with a lot more knowledge then myself picks it up. I let some expire at Godaddy last week and Domain Holdings bought one of them. Schilling picked up a one letter gtld a few weeks ago that I let expire. I just couldn't justify the $165 renewal fee. It happens all the time and it makes me wonder if I am making the right choices. Just like everyone else I wish I could keep every name but the renewals are burning my profits.

I wouldn't worry too much - they can afford to take more losses than the typical small time domainer.

I've checked domains that I let drop over the past 15 years. One of the big companies picked one up and has been trying to get low 5 figures for it ever since. The problem is the name only makes sense if the buyer was going to be doing the exact same project I had registered it for, so they've wasted $100 or so on renewals for a useless domain.

 

[Atomic Domains]

If I domain doesn't make enough money to pay for renewal then it must go. But, I rarely let domains drop. I try to get at least double of what I paid for it or break even, because renewal fees add up very quickly when you have 100s or 1000s of domains to renew.

 

[NameFit]

Just have a plan/strategy so that you do not come to that stage where have to drop. There should not be any 'short term' names in your portfolio. There is no thing as 'popular' name - look at the inherent value of the name rather than popularity. You can watch the trends but not something that will fizzle out in weeks and nobody talks about it in a month.

 

[hookbox]

I just need to stop checking on names that I let drop. Same goes for names I sell. I need to learn to make the decision and never follow up on the name because that is when it drives me crazy.