Domain Name AMA

[Y.B.]

Let me start by saying that I am not a full time domainer but it has been a hobby of mine for many years. I have made a nice profit buying/selling domain names as a hobby over the years (e.g. I flipped the domain lawyer.info from 2,500 to 10,000 within 2 months). However, my bigger hobby and passion is developing domain names.

I also approach domain names from various angles (market, seo, etc..).

If you have any questions about domain names, the value, the impact it can have on SEO or other marketing channels, ask away.

 

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[Vigilante]

Let me start by saying that I am not a full time domainer but it has been a hobby of mine for many years. I have made a nice profit buying/selling domain names as a hobby over the years (e.g. I flipped the domain lawyer.info from 2,500 to 10,000 within 2 months). However, my bigger hobby and passion is developing domain names.

I also approach domain names from various angles (market, seo, etc..).

If you have any questions about domain names, the value, the impact it can have on SEO or other marketing channels, ask away.

How much should I spend to buy Google.com?

 

[bgalakazam]

Is it true, from your experience, that if you register a new domain (GoDaddy, ...,etc. for $x) based on keyword search (which is, if you do not develop it, the main measurable value of the domain as I understand - not talking about perceived value which could be much higher), with 100-200 potential buyers (doctors, lawyers, etc) it could be sold in days for $xxx? If you register 10 such domains how many do you expect to sell in the next 3 moths (I understand there is not an absolute answer, just asking for your opinion)?
?

Let me just say I work for a domain name registrar in my slowlane job. It doesn't take 100s of searches. While I work for an ethical registrar, companies like GoDaddy and others will register domain names even after just 1 search in the availability field. It costs them peanuts and they can bloat the price as they like.

One other thing to watch out for -- whois "privacy". By law, there is no such thing for most popular extensions (.com .net .info .org). The only way for the information to be fully hidden if you are not the legal owner. And once you are not, you can be charge atrocious fees to restore a domain, when in fact you have 30 days late renewal and another 30 for restore (for .com .net .info .org examples).

 

[Y.B.]

Question: .com vs .co What are your thoughts on that? I've of course read / heard about this before, but I'm curious about your thoughts. For example, if the .com of a domain I want is already taken and has been registered for a long time, should I re-think the domain name or would getting the .co be worth it? Thank you!

There have been some nice .co sales but overall it's not worth much. You can go to dnjournal.com and look at previous sales. Maybe if you have a great domain hack or amazing one word .co, then you can get a few grand for it. If you're looking to invest in domains, stick to .com

 

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[Y.B.]

You can PM me the name and I can give you my opinion.
One thing to remember is no domain name guru or expert can predict what your name is worth. I've seen amazing names sell for cheap and awful names sell for 6 figures. At the end of the day, the value of a domain name is truly what someone is willing to pay for it.

 

[Y.B.]

How do you go about choosing what domains you purchase? Do you just guess whether or not people would be willing to pay a premium price for the domain?

I assume you are talking about buying domain names to flip (resell) them as opposed to using them for your own purposes through development?

If so, you're basically right. I usually go to domain name forums and look for domains that are selling for what I believe to be a good price where I am able to buy it and resell it. I generally don't buy them through marketplaces because there they are already priced for end users. The secret is to get the domain name for a domainer price, not end user price. There are other methods of getting domain names. One is searching for domain names that you think are valuable or can resell, and contacting the owners to see if they want to sell them. Hopefully they don't know the value of it or don't already have it listed with a broker. Other ways include obtaining domain names when they drop/delete (this happens when someone forgets to renew a domain name). You can go to websites like namejet.com for example and search for names that are dropping which you can then buy or bid on.

If you really know nothing about domains, you can try using a tool like estibot.com to help you figure out the value although it's never really accurate with an automated tool.

Try to stick with exact match .com domain names as those are the most valuable. You can check search volume using google keyword planner. You can also use other tools to check how many companies are paying for that keyword in adsense, the average cpc, etc.. and that will also help you determine the value of the domain.

 

[Y.B.]

Hey Yury,
thanks for offering your help!
What do you think about the new toplevel domains? Do you think they will be anything worth in the future?
Regards

There has been a lot of discussion on these these gtld's and domain names in general. If you think about it, Apps don't require a domain name and have been slowly replacing desktop computers. Theoretically speaking, it's possible for domain names to disappear in the future and be replaced by other technologies, although I think this is a long time away. The value of .com's will only increase with the release of gtld's. I do think there is money to be made on gtld's with great domain hacks (e.g. florida.travel) but it may take a while to see a return on investment. Most consumers still don't know about these new extensions and are confused by them. Anyone who buys one of these extensions now is either a domainer looking to resell them or a startup company that couldn't get the domain in the .com. The startups will pay some $ to get these new gtld's so long as it is still cheaper than the .com.

I personally have not bought any of these new gtld's and will not unless I find a great one at a great price

 

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[Y.B.]

I have been browsing here for months but had to sign up once I saw this topic. Here are the 3 questions I thought of immediately.
1. When you say "developing domain names", what do you mean specifically? Do you buy one with "good" authority, make it "great" and then sell? If so, what are some tips for going about this? I know quality, original content is going to get natural traffic and backlinks, but what is the payoff for the work you are putting in (or money if you outsource the content)?
2. I realize PR is not as important as it used to be, but I am still curious what links from other sites are worth. For example, if I have a PR 0 site and I get a backlink from a PR7 site (on PR page), how much is that really worth in terms of PR or PA?
3. I was recently looking at a few expiring domain names with PR6-8, but when I checked the backlink profile they had very few links (for example, one actually had only 4 links from PR 2-6 sites). Of course PR can be faked but I checked these and it was real - no redirects or anything. Does this seem correct?
Thanks a lot for offering your knowledge.

1. I buy domain names that I like, regardless of authority, and I develop it (I turn it into a website). However, I don't do this to resell the website. I just develop the websites for myself to turn them into businesses. What you are referring to is something else and can also be done. You can either buy domains (with or without value), turn them into websites, and sell them. You can sell them as turnkey sites (which means you never advertised them and they get no traffic/revenue). Or you can market them so they are making money and sell them as "established websites" (I am using flippa terminology here to make it easier). You can also just buy websites, fix them up or advertise them a little and flip them for a profit. As far as the investment/work you put in and what you get out of it...that just depends on a whole lot of different factors. I'd be happy to discuss this more with you if you're interested.

2. To be honest i'm not even sure if Google still updates their PR. I know they stopped updating the PR a few months ago, not sure if they started up again. I would focus more on domain authority and other metrics from moz.com. Also to answer your specific question, there is no real way to know. The higher authority the site that links back to you, the better. There is no way to know the value of it.

3. How do you know it wasn't fake. It could still have been faked which is what likely happened here. Also it's possible it could have had a lot of quality high PR back links in the past that have now been removed.

It's set to expire early 2015. After a domain name expires, what exactly happens? How can I then purchase the domain I want for myself?

Every registrar has a different process it goes through but generally:
http://www.pixelmade.com/blog/domain-names/domain-name-expiration-process

Also you are assuming he won't renew the domain or it isn't set to automatically renew

 

[ari_ari]

Could you please help me out with this scenario? Because I've only bought domain names straight from registrars so far...

So I reached out to the owner of a domain name that I'm interested in purchasing with an offer, and he has accepted it.

What would be the best next steps in transferring ownership?

Depends on the value of the domain, our standard process goes like this:

1. Get a digitally signed (use DocuSign, HelloSign, whatever) bill of sale/purchase agreement.
2. Set up a transaction on Escrow.com
3. Once transaction is set up, wire money to Escrow.
4. Escrow confirms.
5. Start domain transfer process - other party provides you with auth code and unlocks the domain.
6. Go to registrar of choice and begin the transfer process.
7. Once domain is in your account, let Escrow.com know.

Some notes:
1. Occasionally people want to push between accounts within a Registrar (e.g. GoDaddy). I try and avoid this whenever possible because the seller can come back and claim seller's remorse more easily if it's in the same registrar from before.
2. Many people feel fine with just paypaling or not using Escrow. This is a risk thing and is entirely your choice, dependent on amount, etc.

This process has served me and many others I know well for lots of transactions with many many high values.

Good luck!

 

[Lathan]

At the end of the day, the value of a domain name is truly what someone is willing to pay for it.

How do you go about choosing what domains you purchase? Do you just guess whether or not people would be willing to pay a premium price for the domain?

 

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[Bandy]

Hey Yury,
thanks for offering your help!
What do you think about the new toplevel domains? Do you think they will be anything worth in the future?

Regards

 

[TBreezy]

Do you always use flippa when putting your domain on the market?

Can you tell us about the process of transferring ownership of a domain? Example : A owner that's interested in your offer to buy his domain contacts you and a price is agreed on. How do you go about safely transferring funds and how does he safely transfer his domain?

 

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[blaksol]

I have been browsing here for months but had to sign up once I saw this topic. Here are the 3 questions I thought of immediately.

1. When you say "developing domain names", what do you mean specifically? Do you buy one with "good" authority, make it "great" and then sell? If so, what are some tips for going about this? I know quality, original content is going to get natural traffic and backlinks, but what is the payoff for the work you are putting in (or money if you outsource the content)?

2. I realize PR is not as important as it used to be, but I am still curious what links from other sites are worth. For example, if I have a PR 0 site and I get a backlink from a PR7 site (on PR page), how much is that really worth in terms of PR or PA?

3. I was recently looking at a few expiring domain names with PR6-8, but when I checked the backlink profile they had very few links (for example, one actually had only 4 links from PR 2-6 sites). Of course PR can be faked but I checked these and it was real - no redirects or anything. Does this seem correct?

Thanks a lot for offering your knowledge.

 

[blaksol]

Daniel - after a domain expires there is a period .. maybe a month where the owner can still re up. Which he may, even if he doesn't have many posts. The longer one person owns a domain the more it is worth. He could develop it one day or just sell it himself. If he does let it expire it might go up for auction at godaddy. If it doesn't sell there they might just let it go for good which means you can register it anywhere

 

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[Y.B.]

Do you always use flippa when putting your domain on the market?

There are many different ways of selling domain names, flippa is just one way. Other ones include posting them for sale on forums like dnforum.com and namepros.com. There are also aftermarkets like aftermarket.com, sedo.com, buydomains.com, etc.. Also, you can contact end users directly and try to sell it to them that way.

Can you tell us about the process of transferring ownership of a domain? Example : A owner that's interested in your offer to buy his domain contacts you and a price is agreed on. How do you go about safely transferring funds and how does he safely transfer his domain?

The safest way is always to use an escrow service like escrow.com, ecop.com or one of the other ones. Basically the way it works is the buyer sends payment to the escrow company. Once they secure the payment, the seller transfers the domain name to the buyer. Once escrow confirms the buyer received the domain, the release payment to the seller. I don't use escrow for smaller deals but there are always risks with that.

 

[Y.B.]

I am very interested in hearing more. Even an example of just one site you developed and why it worked. I have developed so many sites and made very little money. My "creative" ideas dont' make money so at one point I even went after a high-paying adwords site (or so I thought) about lasik surgery, the history, the process before and after, the costs. I am good with on-page SEO. It ranked on the first page of google for a few terms including "what is lasik," which at the time showed several hundred thousand searches a month globally. But I only made under $5 a month from the site.
I have been taught PR is faked mostly redirecting the site to a page with high PR. I mean at the time of the auction, the most trusted "PR checkers" were still showing the PR as high, as well as the "FAKE PR checkers" saying it was real.

Well the first thing I will tell you is to ignore PR. No one who knows anything cares about it. It's basically a useless metric these days.

As far as your own site...how were you monetizing the website? The best way to sell a website for a good amount of $ is for it to already generate traffic and revenue. I've done a lot of research on the sold listings on flippa and most of them have the same things in common, they are already profitable. For e.g., I sold legalhelp.org for $25,000 on flippa after I built it up so it was generating traffic and revenue.

Think about things in term of value. If you just build a site using one of your "creative" ideas, but it doesn't really appeal to consumers, or doesn't generate traffic/revenue, how much value are you trying to sell to someone? Probably not a lot which is why it doesn't sell for a lot.

 

[Y.B.]

My traffic was all organic as I specialize in SEO. I didn't do direct sales, I just had a lead gen form. If I did direct sales I could have made a lot more. How much traffic were you receiving?

 

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[Y.B.]

How much should I spend to buy Google.com?

Your entire life save savings...we all know Google is going to take over the world

 

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[Y.B.]

I have goog1e.net if you're interested

Unfortunately being a lawyer I try to stay away from trademarked domain names...i've also had a UDRP filed against me in the past ...but I won

 

[Y.B.]

I've got a name for a business I want to use. Im located in Australia, however, a large portion of my customers are in the US.
The .COM of this domain name is used by a Chinese website and currently parked. I emailed them 4 times over 3 months ago. No response.
Should I scrap my domain name and secure a .COM or would a .COM.AU still be viable for international sales?

If most of your customers are in the US, and you are working on US SEO, I would recommend finding and using a .com domain

 

[Daniel A]

Did you notice that GoDaddy started limiting the amount of $0.99 domains a customer can get to ONE?

I used to be able to buy a domain name for a little over $1 for the first year. They raised the barrier of entry guys! Haha.

Seriously, it does kind of suck...

Question: .com vs .co What are your thoughts on that? I've of course read / heard about this before, but I'm curious about your thoughts. For example, if the .com of a domain I want is already taken and has been registered for a long time, should I re-think the domain name or would getting the .co be worth it? Thank you!

How much should I spend to buy Google.com?

$12... http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/13/man-...or-1-minute-gets-reward-gives-to-charity.html

 

[Y.B.]

What would you say is better between these two options from a branding perspective?

ExampleExampleWoman.com

or

ExampleExampleWomen.com
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
Of course, the difference between the bolded words is one is singular and another is plural. Note: "ExampleExample" are just filler words. The focus is on the difference between the bolded words. Thank you!

Sorry it really depends on the exact domain. Can't answer that without knowing the actual domain.

 

[Maxjohan]

Good luck with your investing! We all (those involved with domaining) wish we were savvy and/or a little bit older(as I was a teen, in the late 1990s), when most of the best domains could be regged for reg-fee.

 

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[Andrew Ward]

If you are unsure then buy both if they are available. You can point more than one domain to a website And swap the default one used later if you need to this way.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[V8Bill]

What would be the best next steps in transferring ownership?

It depends where it's registered. If it's registered with namecheap then all they have to do is open an account with namecheap and you can do the transfer through them. I imagine it's similar with godaddy (shudder) but I haven't used them for over 10 years (and never will again). I did a very quick google search and all the registrars have their transfer policies on the first page results. It's very simple.

 

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[Kak]

I have one I'd like to try to sell for some good money. I was offered 10k for it at one time. Can you help with this?

 

[Bandy]

Thanks a lot for your time and your insights!
Your statements seem very reasonable to me and since I´m absolutely new to this it´s great to get some information from someone who knows the business.

I registered stockfree.photography a week ago and also found some other ones that might be interesting in the future, but I haven´t registered those.
I´m still not sure whether I should proceed on a bigger scale or not.

 

[Y.B.]

Instead of buying lower quality gtld's, save up your money and buy a high quality .com. It is more liquid and will be easier to sell

 

[Daniel A]

There is a domain name that I have wanted for several months now. I don't need to rush it, but once it's available...it's going to be mine! Hahaha

The person who owns it used it on a blog with only 4 posts and it's been inactive for a long time. He clearly does not care about it.

I already did the GoDaddy Who Is for the domain and found that he had another website listed within the information provided. Even that website is pretty much non-existent.

It's set to expire early 2015. After a domain name expires, what exactly happens? How can I then purchase the domain I want for myself?

Thank you

 

[blaksol]

1. I'd be happy to discuss this more with you if you're interested.


3. How do you know it wasn't fake. It could still have been faked which is what likely happened here. Also it's possible it could have had a lot of quality high PR back links in the past that have now been removed.

I am very interested in hearing more. Even an example of just one site you developed and why it worked. I have developed so many sites and made very little money. My "creative" ideas dont' make money so at one point I even went after a high-paying adwords site (or so I thought) about lasik surgery, the history, the process before and after, the costs. I am good with on-page SEO. It ranked on the first page of google for a few terms including "what is lasik," which at the time showed several hundred thousand searches a month globally. But I only made under $5 a month from the site.

I have been taught PR is faked mostly redirecting the site to a page with high PR. I mean at the time of the auction, the most trusted "PR checkers" were still showing the PR as high, as well as the "FAKE PR checkers" saying it was real.

 

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