message for new domainers

[March2005]

I have been involved with domain names for a little over a year now, and I have not been financially successful yet. If I had any employees, I would need to fire them now.

Good night, and good luck.

:couch2:

 

[sundaybluez]

Well dude, in this field patience is the name of the game.

Wait for some time and stick to your plans, i have also been around for about a year now with no real success. And still there hoping to make some $ although already having some good catchy domains(with dictionary words) and failing to do so.

It will take some good planning and patience and definately the hell out of you

Wait for your chance is all what i can say.

Try and Try but just not to die

Dont loose hope dude

 

[DNjet]

Depends on how you measure success, can be measured in a lot of ways. Some domains have to be played just like the stock market , are they a long term hold? or are they quick turnaround? Were they aquired soley for PPC? Were they aquired for development? What are your personal goals for ROI? Are you mainly playing the reseller market, or the end user market?

Each variable has its own approach , you have to be able to recognize the potential of each domain and move forward with it accordingly. Recognizing opportunity is key , don't be affraid to jump when it arises.

If you don't make some mistakes then you aren't doing enough business.

 

[nraged]

Well put sundaybluez and DNjet. I completly agree with them. Have More patience.

 

[Ridge]

I'm fairly new to the game as well, and I’ve had some success. Here are a couple things that have helped me.

#1. This late in the game you need to be a forward thinker. Read lots about what’s coming 3, 4, 5, 6, etc years down the road. Think long term investment.

#2. There will be the odd occurrence if you are on top of things to register names for new technologies, trends, etc. eg) the wii rush.

#3. What sounds good to me at the time, more than likely sucks once I sleep on it.

#4, im too late in the game and my budget is not big enough to get rich overnight or rich at all, it’s a hobby that has a small financial return.

 

[klstrphnky]

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Good night, and good luck.

Great movie!

PM sent.

 

[katherine]

I have been involved with domain names for a little over a year now, and I have not been financially successful yet. If I had any employees, I would need to fire them now.

Good night, and good luck.

:couch2:

I think it's an industry where you have to be patient sometimes. Where you must not be afraid to keep your names and renew them year after year, until you get an opportunity.

I would roughly divide domains in 3 categories:
- traffic domains that bring some good PPC revenue every month
- brandable domains with little traffic but strong opportunities for a good end user sale (sooner or later)
- useless domain names

IMO you need to have domains in categories #1 & #2, and get out of #3.
Any decent domain should eventually find a use or a buyer. Saying that, it's possible that your names are no good at all.
I think we all have made mistakes in the beginning and registered crap names. It's no use holding on to the less desirable names if nobody wants them and you don't know what to do with them.
My advice: drop the bad names - develop the best - always park your unused names so you have an idea of the traffic they get, and you get some PPC revenue in the meantime.
Concentrate on quality. Quality is best than quantity. Also don't be in a hurry to sell. Don't depend on the money from domain sales. I believe only a minority of people make a living just with their domains.
The value of domains tends to rise year after year so time is on your side even if you don't sell, as long as your domains have some instrinsic value.

 

[Ian]

i agree with all that is being said here. it can be quite frustrating if you don`t see your ROI immediately but you should not give up but rather take that as a lesson learnt. look both in the short and long terms what your goals are. optimism and pessimism can work at best when there is a bit of each one of them. good luck.

 

[fatter]

i dont no if telling a guy to be patient is the right advise, 80 percent of domains registered by domainers are worthless, without seeing his portfolio we have no way of knowing,some guys are good at building great websites, they can take a mediocre name and make it good, problem is many people try and make crappy names into good ones(dont no if this is the case) while yes many names take time to sell, there should be enough names with traffic in your portfolio to be in the black.
I have seen some inventories of 2 or 3 hundred names where only a few are worth reg fee, the advice of regging names with traffic is best, after you perfect this then you wil have money to reg future technology names
just my 2 cents

 

[dilpreet]

QUALITY IS BETTER THAN QUANTITY.

Thats what I try to always keep in mind, but i still make some mistakes.

Practice makes a man perfect.(and experience). But i still dont wanna make enough mistakes to get in the red.

 

[dotNetKing]

I think it was roughly 3 or 4 years before I broke even (whatever that means).

In year one I had no idea how things would pan out.

In year two there promising signs (like selling a few domains for between $80 and $300)

In year 3 it looked like I could potentially earn a decent income from domains.

In year 4 I was pretty sure that I could earn a good income, but remained with a little doubt.

In year 5 I was earning enough and able to continue to build up my stock at good rate be reinvesting.

I'm now half way through year 6 and things are good (by my standards).

A lot of patience, hard work, learning, sharing, risking etc.

I do have the advantage of having been able to learn and pick up reasonable names while they were easier to get and cheaper and while competition was a lot less.

 

[biznews]

Every possible advise has been posted up there, however, including those, the domains to value most are usuage of those terms in commerce and society at large. Before you even register the name, check for it's usuage, whether in spoken form with the masses or if it is a new trend, check it's usage in it's written form within discussions, news articles and the media at large.

There is a reason, why someone is talking or writing about that keyword. I have found my success that way and traffic eventually comes and sometimes in droves.

Another point to ponder is not to go overboard. Do not spend more than what you can bear to afford with renewals. If you do not have a gut feeling for the value of the domain name before you register, do not register domains based on emotion. Do your due deligence. You have Google for you. Do your research. Take advantage of it.

Domains worth registration price today can be worth $50k 2 years down the road, when the trend comes into play. But,you can't afford to miss the trend by way of speculation. This is where hours worth of research makes all the difference.

Finally, there is no one single expert. Educate yourself the most you can and become an expert yourself. Let no one tell you, how much value your domains are worth. Arm yoruself with the same knowledge the so called expert relies upon. This is the best way to get the most out of your investment.

 

[Poker]

Great points all, we need more threads like this @ dnforum.

 

[why123]

i am really new to this game too. and i really agree with all of your messages mentioned above!

 

[Rockefeller]

I have been involved with domain names for a little over a year now, and I have not been financially successful yet. If I had any employees, I would need to fire them now.

Good night, and good luck.

:couch2:

A domainer sets his own pace. I see that you show a picture of a smily on a couch in your post. Not saying that you haven't tried, but if you haven't been successful, you haven't tried hard enough. There are more ways out there than just posting in a forum.

You need to be aggressive. When I first started selling domain names I was using ebay..probably making about $15 profit per domain name, if that. I look back on that now and laugh. Then I started opening up my horizons. It's all about the contacts that you have.

Right now I have a database of around 500 regular clients...these are people that buy from me one a daily basis..then I will post in a forum..and then I will contact end users...

There is a really easy way to find end users..I have probably sold around 200 domain names to end users, and these are companies with cash.

I do see one common trend. Most people that do not sell on a regular basis have crappy domain names..for instance, a buddy of mine kept bothering me to teach him to sell..he had 400 names and couldnt sell ONE of them..so I took a look and realized that the names he had were to the likes of "BuyDougaBeer.com" and domains of this nature.

This is exactly why "Doug" wasn't selling a single name..because they sucked.

Do some research, get good domains, open your horizons, and the cash will start flowing..

Now I can sit back, sip Piña Coladas on the beach, and make money without even trying.

ANY NEWBIE IS FREE TO PM ME FOR HELP...NOT ADVERTISEMENTS!

 

[sevent]

One big question: What is your strategy? For anybody investing in domains in order to make money this should be the first question. Don't spend another dollar until you have answered it. By a strategy I mean basically your own business plan for domaining:

- What kind of domains are you investing in and why?
- What makes your approach different/better than the other struggling domainers (do you have a niche)?
- Why do you think your kind of domains will make you money? Is there a proven market? Do you have knowledge that one will be there in a year? In three years?
- Who is earning the best ROI right now (traffic people? Expired names investors? IDN's? Numerics? Generics? Websites?)
- What is your budget and are you managing it as well as you can?
- Do you have special knowledge you should be applying?

Once you have answered all these questions you may find success is easier to achieve.

 

[JMJ]

Patience isn't one of my virtues and gladly enough. I'm going against the grain here and suggesting to keep the ones you don't think are great and sell the ones you do. Why do I say this? Well my private stock (the ones I think are my best) roughly 100 or so names receive mabey 1 offer a year (1 out of all) and it's usually an offer I wouldn't even think twice about selling it for. The ones I and others think are worthless make me a living. This also sortof throws the whole idea of quality over quantity out the window. The reason being is more of those worthless making a living offers come in.

Mabey substitute the words quality over quantity with loads of generics. The quality names are going to command a current quality asking price. If the name is in such high demand then why hasn't it sold already for the premium price? Are you going to be able to sell that quality name you paid a premium price for at 10x/100x/500x your money anytime soon? Or are you going to buy the name for $1500 and sell it for $2000 sometime down the road making 25%.

Also make sure the name makes sense. ex. MonthlyResidual.com (paid regfee btw) which brings us to keeping your aquisition costs low. In fact stay away from the drop auctions. I can count the number of names I've backordered on two hands in four years. Of those I sold a regfee name for more than my highest sell of a backordered name and either broke even, not sold or lost money on the others. Take advantage of registration sales. Turning $.60 into $60 or even $300-$400++ is alot more gratifying than $7 into $70 or $70 into $700. Worse comes to worse you can sell that $.60 name for $7, register another and sell that one for $70.

Backordering is for those that don't have the time, money to burn or have to have the name. What happens in this game is you're either bidding against the end-user. Then by over bidding them you exhaust their budget and therefore will not be able to sell the name to them for a profit. Or you are bidding against someone with money to burn. Or you just spent $60+ more for the name than you could have had it for shortly thereafter.

Another thing to keep in mind is don't get too attached to a name. Your first offerer is typically going to be your best buyer. More times than not I've regretted turning down end-user offers only to never get one again. Atleast while I owned it. Another reason is you can always find a comparable substitute. Just last week I sold a name for $700 100x my money and two days later picked up a very similar name for regfee.

It's not easy. I spend 3-4 hours a day datamining and might not even register a name on most days. And as others have said the forums aren't your bread and butter. You have to list them everywhere. Many forums, all broker sites, large for sale sign on the parking page, no whois privacy, ebay, end-users, regular buyers, etc, etc.. As far as forums are concerned go to the forum that fits to sell. IE. paintball name/paintball forum, adult name/adult forum, casino name/casino forum..

 

[kiviniar]

For me domaining is a side thing.....it is more of interest not the money that keep me going....

Some days have been really frustrating...but not ready to give up...for a long long time ;-)

Life as a domaineer is fun

 

[WhoDatDog]

I have been involved in domains for just over a year myself and I have made enough money to choke a horse. It's real simple....you need to acquire names that others want to buy.

Most people try to re-invent the english language with their names. If you can't pronounce it or spell it easily then don't register it. Check the sales of the best domains...if your names do not resemble those names at all then you need to figure out a way to get those names.

For the most part there are a group of names that are valuable. Find a way to get some of them instead of creating words in extentions that no one has heard of.

You should easily be able to spend $1,000 on some names at Snap Names or from another Expired Domains list and make multiples of your money. Also, there are thousands of good deals on this board.

Patience is NOT the name of the game....that's just an excuse for having bad names. You should be able to buy a name today and know that you have just made money.

Change your approach. Study the good sales at DN Journal and Afternic and then buy names that are similar to those being sold. You can do it.

Don't spend time asking for appraisals for useless names, and don't form hand-holding groups with others who have useless names. Take a month off and do nothing but study every documented sales price you can find....then start over with your new knowledge.

 

[Rockefeller]

For me domaining is a side thing.....it is more of interest not the money that keep me going....

Some days have been really frustrating...but not ready to give up...for a long long time ;-)

Life as a domaineer is fun

Agreed.

:fencing: