My Success Story

[Aqua84]

Hi Guys,

I have been thinking about posting this for a few months now and have finally decided to do it. I believe it is always important to celebrate and share success. I have been a member on DNForum for about 2 years now and started registering domains in Late 2009. WOW did I miss the boat !

I have been frequenting DnForum, reading learning and gaining valuable knowledge from all expert domainers on this forum. When I started registering names, I was going for all extensions: .com | .net | .org | .co.uk | .co etc etc... I thought they were all awesome domains which I would sell. However they were "Pidgeon Sh*T" as I learned after about a year. They never got traffic, never got offers after listing on DNForum, Sedo etc etc

I then started to let them drop of which a couple were picked up on the drop. Ok, so maybe someone else saw value in them. I have kept about 100 names which over time got a bit of traffic and might be of value at some point.

So after a year of registering these "Great Domains", I thought: Why don't I focus on my own country extension. There were only 600,000 names registered in the co.za domain space as opposed to the 95million .com's registered. So, my registering journey began. Everyday I would register 10-20 names and continued on my registering spree for a while. Listing them on Sedo and parking them, things started to pay off.

I am getting frequent offers on my co.za names as well as confirmed sales with the lowest to date being a minimum $1200.00. Parking revenue is a constant minimum $2000.00 per month and growing. Wow, What a change in mindset and pursuing the domaining industry. I have now built up a portfolio of over 2500 domains and have become an accredited registrar of the uniforum domain space. What a great achievement in the past 18 months.

I have now been focusing on my home turf "Africa" and starting registering .com.ng (Nigeria) domains as there are only 40,000 domains registered and plenty of premium keywords. These get constant traffic and offers which is very positive and I am positive the com.ng domain space will continue to grow and in 5-8 years time be as prominent as the co.za domain space.

I know and understand everyone here sais: "Stick to .com ONLY" however it unfortunately did not pay off for me and I will now continue to stick to what I know and whats closest to me: My home turf. This also goes to say: "I did not miss the boat" There is always opportunity ! One just has to be proactive and look for it.

Cheers

Aqua84

 

[rngrdanny22]

Congrats on your successes! My largest sale to date was with a .NET name, so it really goes to show you that .COM is king, but there is money to be made elsewhere.

 

[hugegrowth]

A lot of people say to focus on .com and your own country code, because you have an advantage in your own country of what words work. I've seen some nice .co.za sales now and then, but haven't read much about the extension.

That's a great story, the surprising thing though is your parking income - is it mostly coming from generic .co.za that people are typing in? Where do you park your names?

Is .com.ng an open extension?

 

[GeoOwners]

Great story!!! Congrats.

 

[rngrdanny22]

A lot of people say to focus on .com and your own country code, because you have an advantage in your own country of what words work.

I've heard this as well, but unfortunately here in the United States, .COM is practically the country code. I've stocked up on a few .US domains over the years, but with minimal luck.

 

[silentg]

Congrats on the success.

 

[hugegrowth]

I've heard this as well, but unfortunately here in the United States, .COM is practically the country code. I've stocked up on a few .US domains over the years, but with minimal luck.

Yes, .us might be the exception for now, but that could change with more promotion and visibility in media.

 

[Biggie]

it's always nice when someone is willing to share some secrets of their success


but....


you also create more competition when you tell


now let's all go and squat on some .co.za's

 

[rngrdanny22]

Yes, .us might be the exception for now, but that could change with more promotion and visibility in media.

I sure hope so.

 

[Aqua84]

Thanks Guys. I think you are right about .com being the extension for US and that is why it is referred to as the "King" of extensions. However, there definately have been some good .us sales published.

The advantages of co.za as a ccTLD is that South Africans Trust websites with their local extension as opposed to any other.

@biggedon - you are 100% correct, but sometimes competition is good to create a market.

There have been some very good sales this year ranging $150k - $500K for generic co.za names, unfortunately not all are made public.

Another important note I did not mention: I have made some very good friends and colleagues from all over the world whom invest in the co.za extension.

@hugegrowth - com.ng is open and costs about $15 per domain per year. I use web4africa to register them. I managed to pick up music.com.ng the other day. I am sure it will have decent value within 5-8 years time. All names were parked with Sedo, but made hardly any revenue. Then changed to Parkingcrew and it was a complete turn around

 

[barrysanders]

Thanks Guys. I think you are right about .com being the extension for US and that is why it is referred to as the "King" of extensions. However, there definately have been some good .us sales published.

The advantages of co.za as a ccTLD is that South Africans Trust websites with their local extension as opposed to any other.

@biggedon - you are 100% correct, but sometimes competition is good to create a market.

There have been some very good sales this year ranging $150k - $500K for generic co.za names, unfortunately not all are made public.

Another important note I did not mention: I have made some very good friends and colleagues from all over the world whom invest in the co.za extension.

@hugegrowth - com.ng is open and costs about $15 per domain per year. I use web4africa to register them. I managed to pick up music.com.ng the other day. I am sure it will have decent value within 5-8 years time. All names were parked with Sedo, but made hardly any revenue. Then changed to Parkingcrew and it was a complete turn around

I think you are underestimating the amount of time it will take Nigeria to become a somewhat developed nation. More like 20-25 years.

 

[katherine]

I thought there was more competition in the .co.za namespace

 

[Aqua84]

Hey Barry,

You may be right. But atleast I am starting now and not wishing I started back then in 20-25 years time.

I can wait 20-25 years

 

[Theo]

What are some of those .co.za domains?

 

[Theo]

I think you are underestimating the amount of time it will take Nigeria to become a somewhat developed nation. More like 20-25 years.

Some stats: http://www.punchng.com/business/nigeria-joins-top-20-internet-nations/

 

[rngrdanny22]

Some stats: http://www.punchng.com/business/nigeria-joins-top-20-internet-nations/

Wow... I would have never guessed they would be ahead of Mexico, or in 11th place for that matter.

 

[CamMK27]

Congrats.. Great to hear a success story.

 

[Tia Wood]

Congratulations, Aqua. I love hearing Domainer success stories especially from ones who have started out later than usual and take the chance to seize opportunities.

 

[bwhhisc]

Wow... I would have never guessed they would be ahead of Mexico, or in 11th place for that matter.

The Nigerians have proven to have quite a talent for global internet marketing.

 

[Theo]

Still waiting on some of those South African 'diamonds'. Also, what is the registration fee for .co.za ?