You have to spend money to make money in domaining.

In spite of being a domain investor now, I have never being a real business person. My offline profession has nothing to do with finances or business in the strict sense of the words.

But something I realized early in domaining is that you have to spend money to earn money. If you are getting into domaining, especially if you are new, you might think it is enough to buy domain names and try to sell them. Of course, that is the heart of the business, but soon after you might realize (or not) that you need to invest in other things in order increase your income.

Sometime ago, one of my relatives got into domaining and, although he had already been able to make a few $XXX sales, was extremely reluctant to spend a cent on anything other than buying domains. He was even hesitant to buy Microsoft Outlook for his computer, which facilitates email contact with clients.

If don't spend money, your chances of increasing your earnings are minimal. But, on what should you spend money? In my case, here are some of the little expenditures I have made that have helped me grow my domaining business. Some of these expenditures are more productive than others, on some I realized the expense was not as worth it as I thought, but that is a different matter.

Microsoft Outlook
Paid advertising
Lead generation service
Software to catch deleting names
Domain Shop portal
A variety of Fiverr services
Backorder services

These are only some of the expenses. Each has been either rewarding or a learning experience of what not to spend the money on in the future. In short, spending money is essential to make money in domaining as in every other business.

 

You forgot one important one and that is having a paid NP account

But yeah, this is like no other business and you need to spend money, the most money to spend on is buying good domains at steep discounts when they come up, that is my biggest expense.

 

You are right, that is one of the most important expenses. In my defense, I should say it is so important, that it should not even be mentioned... Just kidding. I forgot.

 

I'll add domain renewals.

 

I totally disagree with most of this list.

• A $5 per month plan for a custom email address with Google works better than Outlook.
• Paid Advertising? I'm not following this one.
• Drop catching software won't let you compete with the big boys.
• Domain Shops aren't needed but I'll give you that one.
• I've used Fiverr once and it had nothing to do with domains.
• Backordering is simply a mechanism to purchase a domain.

 

I agree with Shanr about the Gmail email. What do you advertise ? You domain portal? Do you make sales on the site?

Renewals are important as sometimes if not all times you need to hold names to get good money

 

Shane, let me use your disagreement to clarify. As I stated, some of the expenses might not be as productive as others.

I mention Outlook, you mention some other service, you are still paying for it. "Better" is always a matter of preference. I prefer Outlook.

Paid advertising in this context refers to money you spend to promote, for example, an important auction you may have, such as a sponsored ad in domaining.com or other venues.

 

Unable to understand - outlook, paid advetrtising, Software to catch deleting names.

seems to be living 10 years behind or have too much money to burn on unnecessary things.

 

Well, my business model requires all that and it has been all profit since I started. So, those investments have worked for me. If they don't work for you or you do not see the need, that is fine too.

 

Can you specify the services you got through fiverr ?

 

I am using custom google email without paying anything.

I have forwarded ea at recons dot com to my free gmail account, but set up the records to send email through my own server details.

 

So you can send from your gmail and choose the sender as the recons email?

 

Yes.

 

Great. That is what I am doing. Wanted to make sure I am doing it right

 

Gmail was allowing before using their smtp for forwarded emails, but it was adding funny header like "sender [email protected] via [email protected]". Now it is not allowing for that, but old ones would work. When using your details, it does not add any funny stuff.

 

I am interested to know about the lead generation service you used. How many leads converted to sales? Cost for service? TIA

 

Curios: your ea at recons', I would imagine that one is paid for?

 

No. Free with the described setup. Of course I pay for my own server for my own smtp, but you can get that with any cheap hosting I imagine.

 

@Recons.Com Got it. I was figuring there must be a cost somewhere. Thank you.

 

I don't really spend on services except:

Things I pay for:
- Namepros biz account
- I host my own websites (2 for my domains), so hosting
- DomainShane on occasion
- Renewals

Things I use free:
- Sedo (minus sales commissions)
- DomainNameSales (minus sales commissions)
- Flippa (minus sales commissions)
- Afternic (minus sales commissions)
- GoDaddy Auctions (minus sales commissions)
- Domaining.com and other domain name blogs
- Commission Junction
- Google Adsense
- Networking opportunities
- Mail.com (I like their choice of email extensions)
- Google phone number
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google +
- Namebio
- 111.co
- Estibot (okay, I admit it...I like to pump myself up! )

I am thinking of purchasing my own parking script and doing my own domain parking. I am also aware of other forums, but they are no where near as active as NamePros.

There are probably a few more resources, but those are the main ones.

 

Everyone mentions paid name pros membership, what does the paid membership offer above the free - apart from supporting the forum?

 

https://www.namepros.com/account/upgrades

 

Your own domain + Rackspace = WIN.

If $2/month is too expensive for you (well in fact $10 as they have 5 account min package, but you can use 5 different domains for the package), you can replace Rackspace with free Zoho.

 

If an extra $3 per month puts you over budget... It's time to look at another business.

I hear quilting is a solid choice.