Where to start? Confused Newbie!

[pokeey]

Good evening all.

I come to you as a completely dry sponge waiting to absorb your knowledge!

In all seriousness I am asking you for your recommendations on the best way to start in this "name game."

I joined a few days ago and I have been reading as many posts as I can to find out more. But in doing this I have encountered sensory and information overload. I think I am more confused than before I started. :huh:


First off I have my domains at GD. Good or no? Better places to go/be?

Next. I see that having a reseller acct would be a great asset. Where can I get one of those $6.95 ones I have read about? Or should I hold off?

Finally. Is going for a "brandable" 2 word phrase name a good idea? I notice that the good small concise names are close to being all but eaten up.

OH. . .Marketing your names? Any advice? Rules?

Many Many Thanks in advance!

And sorry for so many questions but I am lost!!!

Chris

 

[openforsale.com]

Best to get domains that target a specific market. Probably would be easier (for you or your buyer) to develop and draw traffic.

Brandable names can be valuable but to locate a buyer you would need to find someone who can 'see' what you see in the name, if you know what I mean. You need to have a 'superior' name otherwise it would be just as easy for someone else to go out and register a similiar brandable name for himself and pay just $7.

It would also be a good idea to park your domains where you have the opportunity to earn some money like at Sedo, Afternic or Fabulous. This works best if your domain gets some traffic.

Hope this helps.

 

[Jack Gordon]

Best to get domains that target a specific market. Probably would be easier (for you or your buyer) to develop and draw traffic.

This is my philosophy as well (click my link to see my portfolio) - I focus on my niche, and rarely stray from it. Sure, I pass up some otherwise nice names to do it, but in the long run my marketing efforts will be significantly easier, since I can focus them on one industry.

If you are serious about this, I would forget about marketing for a while, and focus on building an inventory. The success in this biz is in buying right. Once you've got that down, the selling should be easy in comparison. But that doesn't mean any of it is easy.

My best advice is to spend LOTS of time in the appraisal forum archives. Get a really good idea of what has market value. I guarantee you everyone who starts playing this game starts out with crap (I sure did) and slowly drops the bad ones and replaces them with better ones. Eventually, you will start getting some really good ones. THEN, and only then, you are ready to figure out how to sell them. Before then, you are wasting your time, as nobody wants to buy crap (except newbies)

Good luck!

 

[Biggie]

Hi pokeey

welcome to the forum!

for starters, check out DNForum's new partners >

Sedo > offers domain parking revenue
Wildwest > offers domain registrations and reseller accounts

You can find more information here > http://www.dnforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=125

 

[Sharpy]

Hi, and welcome.

I am currently writing a book, tentatively titled:
The Doh!main Game.

Anyway here's some tips that I wish someone would have shared with me a few years ago: (this is just my opinion and I could be totally wrong on some or all points %+| )

Figure out what type of domainer you are.

There are three types of domainers.

1. Straight resellers/speculators:

They buy names with the sole purpose of selling them at a later time at a profit. They also may buy names with no intention of selling, but to make money on natural or previously developed traffic. But one thing is for sure. They will not develop a website to go with the names they acquire. The only site their names will ever see is a PPC or auction board. Similar to stock market investors, the hope is that their investment will rise in value with little involvement in the mechanics of their possessions.


2. Website developers:

These individuals can spin straw into gold. The names they acquire, are certainly an investment, but tremendous effort and skill is required to realize profit. This is not to say that they do not try to purchase names that meet all of the criteria of the speculator, but they can afford to buy names with little to no immediate resale value and build something profitable. That profit can be realized by traffic revenue or selling the name/site after it has been developed.


3. Speculator/developers.

These domainers do a mix of both 1 & 2. The advantage they have is to be able to develop a name if the speculation value never appreciates, or takes longer to appreciate than expected.

In my opinion there are two types of domain names. Ones with inherent value developed or not, and ones with $0 to little value undeveloped.

So where do you fit? If you have money, a great understanding of how domain name system works, good web development skills and search engine optimization knowledge, you can be any or all of the above.

Conversely, if you have little money, and are limited in the other skills, you really should look at another hobby/career. Or, stop buying names until you develop those skills or acquire lots of money from other sources.

A few tips.

1. Creative, made-up names will net you $0 for resale undeveloped. Don't register if you can't develop.

2. If a name is unregistered, it has $0 value resale undeveloped. Don't register if you can't develop.

3. If you do not have development/promotional skills never get involved with 1 or 2.

4. Don't register a dictionary word just because it's a dictionary word. Especially if it has nothing to do with the extension you are registering it with. Understand what the intention of the extension was when it was first conceived.

There certainly exceptions to the above but I think if you use them as a guide you'll spend wiser and lose less.

Cheers,

Sharpy

 

[A D]

Sharpy,

Excellent Info!

Seems you have much more knowledge than just hitting parlays

-=DCG=-

 

[pokeey]

Holy Cow!

Everyone! Thank You and Thank You Very Much.

Sharpy, Many thanks for the break out of types. I don't exactly have a boat load of cash but I can develope/market (I am a part-time freelancer). Just actually doing the actual developement is the hard part (that whole mechanics car being the worst). However I can get the names with a concept in mind.

What get's me is the inherent value. :huh: Seems a little subjective on some part. I may see a value in a name but will someone else? I guess that should lead me striaght to #2, huh?

I imagine tho that real inherent value will fall in the realm of good OV ratings and "Big G" stats. This, more often than not leads to two word names.

For instance I have an online store in the beauty field. Today I registered a couple names for redirects but came up with "noacne.net." Seems to me it has inherent value based on " acne" but the .net throws it off. :-/

This is where my thinking runs a little fuzzy but I will keep reading this forum!

Also looked a Wildwest before and didn't know if it was a good deal. Now I know.

Thanks again and you don't have to stop with replies because I answered!! :-D :-D

Chris

 

[jdk]

You will sign your book if we purchase it right? BTW nice info

 

[openforsale.com]

I am currently writing a book, tentatively titled:
The Doh!main Game. Anyway here's some tips that I wish someone would have shared with me a few years ago: (this is just my opinion and I could be totally wrong on some or all points)

Good luck with your book, Sharpy. I'm a writer too. In fact, I cover some of these things in my ebook, "How I Sell My Domain Names: A Weekend Crash Course". (Currently, a #3 top seller at Clickbank's domain category. Shameless plug :cheeky: )

Sharpy touches on several important points. I like to think there are 2 kinds of domainers - domain speculators, and what I call 'domain entrepreneurs'.

We're familiar with a speculator. Most domainers are speculators.

A domain entreprenuer, on the other hand, does a bit more than sell a simple domain name. He's selling an idea...the idea of future profit.

The mind-set to have is thinking in terms of "What can I use this domain name for?" You'll find that you save yourself the trouble of registering worthless names. You also put yourself in a better position to profit from your domain names either by developing them or by finding buyers for them.


Edwin

 

[mole]

In all seriousness I am asking you for your recommendations on the best way to start in this "name game."

I think you need to ask yourself some serious questions first

1. What, exactly, do you hope to achieve in this game? Is it for the "easy" money, or do you have a business vision you hope to achieve beyond just domains, or something in between?

2. Who do you think will be your likely competitors for the domains you want, and do you have the financial resources to take them on?

3. Coming in so late, where do you see your opportunities in acquiring names? Are you going to just rush in and buy everyone out at a heavy cost?

This may help you decide on which niche you may want to focus on. The rest is all bloody hard work. You need to stay on top of things very often, and be prepared for many disappointments as desired dropped names are snatched away by others, or sellers demand exhorbitant prices for names you thought were only worth $XXX

On way to go is to forget old namespace and focus on the new rounds of sTLDs that ICANN may be introducing to find a niche there, or maybe the new .EU domain coming out in 6 months time.

The worse thing you could do for yourself is just to blindly accumulate anything that looks cheap and hope you struck a gold pin in a pan.

Stick around, and you will find the games people play here a lot more understandable. You don't learn domaining, you experience it and hopefully get wiser over time, whatever that is.