Got in late? You can still make money.
I recently read a forum post written by someone disappointed about Yahoo’s decision to nix arbitrage. This person complained “How am I supposed to make money with domains now? I got in late and all the good domains are gone. It’s not fair!” (Seriously, it sounded like a 5 year old.)
Well, you can still make money with domains. But I’ve got to warn you, there’s work (or capital) involved.
1. Buy existing domains and increase their value (or just flip’em) – it takes money to make money, but you can start small. The domain name aftermarket is extremely inefficient, meaning you can buy domains from one venue and sell them quickly on another. You can also buy underutilized domains, build them up, and watch the cash roll in.
2. Provide services to domain owners – When I got started in this business in the late 90s I registered a handful of domains. But they were $70 each, and I couldn’t get too far on my college budget. But I figured if people were making money with domain names, couldn’t I make money supporting them? I put my finance degree to work appraising domain names and existing web sites. Think of services you can provide to busy domainers to increase their revenue. Are you an expert at search engine optimization? Perhaps keyword optimization? Can you program software to help domainers get control of their operations?
3. Embrace the power of predictive domaining – One of the best new blogs about domains is Predictive Domaining. It discusses ways to determine tomorrow’s hot topics and keywords so you can register (or buy cheap) domains today. Here’s a case in point: the term “blog” wasn’t around during the original 1994 gold rush. There are lots of other terms that aren’t hot (or even known) today that will be tomorrow. I would consider myself a good predictive domainer, but the Predictive Domaining blog always teaches me something new.
4. Find “distressed” owners – I have a friend who buys real estate from distressed property owners, such as those going through divorce or financial problems. They need money now and are willing to sell below market value. You can do the same thing with domain names. Trust me, there are a lot of distressed domain owners right now.
5. Stay in it for the long haul – so domain parking revenues are down this year. Perhaps it’s just a speed bump. Will we look back ten years from now at domains that sold for millions when they are then selling for tens of millions? There are still great buy-and-hold strategies for those who are able to hold for the long term.
Damir says
Great post but you could also mention the most important part which is needed (determination – setting goals = long term and short term – willing to learn NEW aspects of the domain name business – Not be affraid to ask questions – and hang in there).
When the going get’s tough, the tough get going.
Diversity is the springboard of GREAT achivement.
To YOUR SUCCESS
webplow says
There is still time to develop domains for SEO value. The algorhythms aren’s too sofisticated yet.
Antoinette says
This is a side gig so I’m not an expert in any domain-support businesses. But I really appreciate your words of insight and encouragement especially with so much doom and gloom going around in the economy and on the Internet blogs.
Rob Sequin says
Well done. Great wrap up and there’s plenty of room for everyone.
Nice article.
Jeanny says
My suggestion is to start targeting end users. They have the money, and for the right domain, End users will pay.
Stephen Douglas says
“Predictive Domaining”. Just another term for a process that I called “future trend branding” back in 2004, which was buying domains that seemed to brand trends coming in the near future. However, I rarely announced this publicly because I didn’t want a mass rush towards every science news announcement being scoured for these potential premium domains. I guess the cat is out of the bag now.
Dang!
Good article, Andrew
Stephen Douglas
Antoinette says
That’s what I’m trying to do, Jeanny, since I can’t afford to go after generic domains. But it’s difficult to predict what end users will want while steering clear of trademarks. It’s risky but what are you going to do if you don’t have investors or a fat wallet?
I also wonder, after all of this strategizing about what some end user might want, whether it is kind of futile. I mean, most of the best known Internet presences have a made-up or unusual name that would have been hard to predict would be a success.
Eh, it’s all a gamble. But that’s part of the attraction, isn’t it?
DR. DOMAIN says
I am struggling financially right now…but I can tell you I will take 3 jobs and sleep on a park bench before I let my domains go.I did’nt get in the game until ’06.”Predictive Domaining” is the only kind I know.I call it “HITTING A BULLET WITH A BULLET”.Still I’ve had people approach me about purchasing some of mine.I recently purchased some site building software & am starting to develop some domains.It’s like any other real estate.Developed land is worth more than undeveloped land.