Your biggest mistake?

[notlikeyou]

What was your biggest mistake when you started domaining?


I think it would be valuable for others to see what works & what does not.


For me I would say it's not buying more LLLL.coms when they were available, & not selling them while they were at the peak.

 

[yilduz]

There are two that I can think of:

-Diving in too quickly. I think it's good to get your feet wet immediately, but I started buying domains left and right before I knew what was good and what wasn't.

-Godaddy and .info. I registered a lot of .info domains through godaddy because of how cheap there were, but for the most part, they've been a complete waste of money. At the time I wasn't registering domains as an investment, though, I was registering them because I liked the names and wanted them. :P

 

[dnb8]

My biggest mistake was not buying ccc.coms when they were available.

 

[JamesDavid]

First off being born in 1985, that hurt my chances of ever regging a LLL.com becuase I would of had to known about domaisn at 13 to do that.... lol

If I had it to do all over again I would do this... instead of regging names I THOUGHT were good, I would have went out and bought 3 REALLY REALLY NICE domains off the aftermarket, sure maybe it would have cost me $15,000 BUT i would now be sitting here with three nice domains which would generate me income whether through PPC or development and only $24/year in renewal fees. I mean sure I love domaining and I am having a hard time sifting through my +/- 300 domains to try to let some go, but right now I have a renewal almost everyday, thats alot of money especially when most of the names aren't even earning back reg through parking, etc so that was my biggest mistake/regret. Fortunately though I am in the black with domaining and I could sell all my names for a $1 and not have lost a cent, just time...

 

[DotWeekly]

~ Quality over Quantity
~ .com domain names sell for the most for a reason
~ Use only a couple Major domain registrars
~ Purchase and use tools to help. (DRT, Freshdrop etc)

 

[gazzip]

1) Buying a load of cheap 99c .infos (and some .web.com sub-domains )

2) Not sticking to .coms
Not sticking to .coms (so good they named it twice)

3) Buying too many domains in a short period of time - BIG MISTAKE, spread those renewal fees :tu:

4) Buying too many domains.



.

 

[Len]

Thinking that any domain ending in .com would sell!

 

[Seabass]

Not considering the market capitalization of a market behind a domain. A domain like dentalfloss,com will not generally make you much money (at least in parking) even though it is a category killer generic. Whereas, a domain like FastLoans,com would make you a ton of cash because of the size and profit of the product. That was a rookie mistake I made years ago......I made/make money on those domains, I just did not hit home runs. Your selection of verticals makes all the difference.

Chasing mediocre domains on occasion.....not trash or other extensions, but just ho-hum generic .coms. The bad economy shows which ones of are duds. Something that is marginally profitable in good times is most often not going to be profitable in bad times......unless you are speaking "down economy" domains like alchohol, gold, sex, foreclosure, guns, etc........ It's feels good to shuck some of those now the economy points out weaknesses in my portfolio. Lesson learned. My portfolio is feeling tighter now.

Have at least $5,000 ready for a UDRP at all times....EVEN if your portfolio is full of painfully generic domains. I have the money, but I was surprised to be UDRP'd for a domain that I have owned for over a decade and is very generic. I did not think it would happen to me, seeing as how I only register generic domains. The domain in question by my estimation is worth at least $200,000 to $400,000 in value. A UDRP will cost, if the complainant actually uses a trademark attorney, anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 range and $1000+ depending on panel choices.....the same will be true for you if you are brought up on a UDRP and you don't wish to represent yourself. A roughly $5,000 bill for the complainant to STEAL your domain worth ten times or more than the complaint is a no-brainer for a thief. So, my point is I made a mistake assuming I would not be UDRPd. If you don't have the money ready for a UDRP, especially for your best generics, then you are making a mistake also. Just like in the ol' ranch days of a rancher's cowboys hustling land owners to leave their land by any means....the modern land hustlers have arrived for your .coms. Wrong or right does not play into this....it's a mere $5,000 roll of the dice for them to steal your gems.

 

[Domainate.com]

If I recall correctly, I had paid $5,600 for TotalHD.com, a technology that was doomed to flop. Ironically, the individual I was bidding against in the Sedo auction I got it in ultimately bought it from me for $8,000, but had it not been for that, I'd have been using it as a paperweight right now. Not that it's a worthless name with the tech flopping, but maybe mid-high $xxx...ouch!

As far as helpful tidbits I wish I knew when starting out:

- Don't get good names - get the BEST names you can get. Scrutinize every potential registered name, expect to have to go through tens of thousands of names per every 1 name you register...that way you don't end up like I originally did, $1,000 into it making maybe 30 cents a day and no sales in first 9 months.

- Abuse the appraisal forum when starting out...you'll always assume you know what's valuable, but you only know what's valuable to YOU and not what's valuable to your market.

- Eventually try to move up the ladder, buy low/sell high on secondary market, which kind of goes to Yofie's quality over quantity. Much less renewal fees and much more marketing per name when you own a few really premium names vs. a thousand moderately good names.

- Don't get bullied around by buyers - stand firm on your pricing...make them understand the value of the name by your actions, your strength and position of power. Sure, it's okay to allow SOME room for negotiation and I generally do because very few of my sales have NOT involved some level of negotiation (think sports...how often does a team and a player's agent agree on what to pay the player to have him on the team? they're all unique commodities, just like domains). However once you're at the lowest you're willing to take, make it clear and don't back down. It's your awesome name, it's your price, tough luck if they aren't willing to pay out - it's their loss. Don't act like you NEED the sale, be in the position of power. Money's money, but domain names are unique - they wouldn't have contacted you if they didn't want what you've got.

- No TM infringing names whatsoever...no offense to Berryhill who's a cool guy, but I think it's safe to say most of us would like to spend as little time with lawyers as possible.

 

[NameCharger]

Regging before reading!

 

[Vito]

1) Spending $$$ on backorders
2) Spending $$$ on appraisals
3) Registering waaaay too many domains w/out a plan.
4) Jumping onto the .99 cent GoDaddy .info sale
5) Not being organized, domains registered everywhere.
6) Registering and spending thousands, instead of buying 1 or 2 killer domains.
7) Buying waaay too many on each subject I was interested in.
8) Not developing.
9) Buying .fm's wtf???
10) Registering TM problem domains..lol
11) and the worst of all... I am hopelessly addicted!
12) OMG, Do I have to go on??? LOL

I may just have to erase my post...
This is very embarrassing...LOL

 

[owntype]

My biggest mistake was sold 100+ LLL.mobi in bulk ($120/each) long time ago.
It looks like this is no longer a mistake now. Peace of mind

Another big mistake was I tried to acquire a .com domain from a company. The asking price was in around $500k which I can't afford obviously. After a few months, the domain was sold for 1.1m via SEDO auction.

 

[claire333]

When I first started, I got carried away and registered a whole bunch of completely worthless domains. Obviously, nobody wanted to buy them for more than a couple dollars, and I was unwilling to sell them for lower than the registration fee. I ended up keeping most of those junk domains until expiration with no revenue whatsoever from them, so I just wasted a whole bunch of registration fees in the beginning.

 

[Coopey]

Biggest mistakes when starting- not registering a few LLL.coms to sell mid-2007 and over-valuing .net domains.

Biggest mistake recently (2007-2008-ish), overpaying by $100 in the NP live auction by mis-entering on the pre-bidding form. "Not too bad" I hear you say- it was an LLL.mobi :lol:

 

[dax44]

wasting money - low value names are effectively rented, not bought - quality over quantity

not having confidence to buy more lll.com in 1996/7 - should have got more ..

spending too much time messing about with .info/.me/drops/estibot/sedo/parking/etc instead of simply developing my .coms/co.uk

getting drawn into domaining in the first place, after being a web developer for 12 years, and which (for me) was far more profitable

eg. cheap names(.)com - simple affiliate site - earns me $x,xxx per month. bit of work initially with search engine submissions etc. but now less than 2 hours per month. with serious work could be $xx,xxx or more.

however, having built up a big folio of great names over the years while we were developing (starting 1995) - to this day i can honestly say we have never created a (really) successful site where the name came first. sites only succeed when they are great ideas - the name is mostly just that - a name. google could be called anything it would still be great.

sorry got carried away!

i need a banana.

 

[thunderforce]

mistakes cost $$$

I bought too many obscure dictionary word/terms which were basically worthless. After 4 months of registering domains, I've literally wasted low to possibly mid $xxx out of upper $xxx in total spending. Now I'm getting better, making sure the domains I register are at least worth their registration fees. :tu:

 

[Traveler]

My biggest mistake was not reading and participating in these forums more before investing.

 

[metrisoft]

wasting money - low value names are effectively rented, not bought - quality over quantity

not having confidence to buy more lll.com in 1996/7 - should have got more ..

spending too much time messing about with .info/.me/drops/estibot/sedo/parking/etc instead of simply developing my .coms/co.uk

getting drawn into domaining in the first place, after being a web developer for 12 years, and which (for me) was far more profitable

eg. cheap names(.)com - simple affiliate site - earns me $x,xxx per month. bit of work initially with search engine submissions etc. but now less than 2 hours per month. with serious work could be $xx,xxx or more.

however, having built up a big folio of great names over the years while we were developing (starting 1995) - to this day i can honestly say we have never created a (really) successful site where the name came first. sites only succeed when they are great ideas - the name is mostly just that - a name. google could be called anything it would still be great.

sorry got carried away!

i need a banana.

This is one of the most informative and candid posts I have seen yet. Thanks.

Now for my 2 cents:

1. Not appreciating the value of an extension. I purchased 6 generic keyword .md domains at $150 each and I can't sell them, even to the medical profession.

2. Investing in "Brandables."

3. Thinking that "development" is the savior of all bad domain registrations.

4. Not reading/understanding enough about domaining nor deciding on a real strategy before registering/purchasing my first 100 domains.

5. Thinking that most people who buy/sell domains and sites are trustworthy.

6. Not looking at keyword search results (i.e. WordTracker, AdWords Tools, etc) before purchasing a domain.

7. Spending way too much time on non-profitable activities (for example, drop catching).

8. Thinking that end-users will pay $XX,XXX for a domain when in fact most of them are only willing to pay $XXX or low $X,XXX, even for a great one. In fact, I think most of the high priced sales are actually domainer-to-domainer.

 

[netra]

well the biggest mistake I have done when I buyed my first domain name was I was just thinking about the domain leaving about the possible ways for doing the seo. At, last I have recognised and buyed another domain name.

 

[soggyindo]

in a word - Wordtracker!