I decided to write a small little article on beginning of domain ownership and posted it on my blog. I thought I had remember reading on this site that you don't allow links, so I wont link to my blog.
I will post what I had typed though as I feel its fairly well written and could help anyone interested in getting into domain ownership.
I'm looking for input and advice to make it better so fire away :boxing_smiley:
So you have decided you want to start buying up the best in internet real estate. But you are left with many questions such as: Where do I buy the domains from? What makes a good domain name? What is domain parking? How will I make money from this? These are all very valid questions and I will answer all of them for you. I have devised a quick and easy guided intro into the world of domain buying. Here is a list of the top sites and information you need to know, including great web resources and tools.
Lets start with the very beginning of any domain buying process, the research. Now I know this is what most people would like to stay away from but there is a reason not everyone makes it big in the domain market. So you may ask how do I research domains?
Well first I’ll admit your not going to just happen across a million dollar domain name because you thought of a cool name.
The most valuable domain names today are one words such as fire.com, pizza.com, car.com etc… these are long gone and most likely registered for the rest of eternity so don’t expect to be getting one. The other valuable domain names in the market place that you shouldn’t expect to register are LLL.com or 111.com. The L’s stand for any combination of 3 letters and the 1’s stand for any combination of 3 numbers. These domains are 2nd on the list of most popular and are at this point all registered.
Look at that just by reading that little bit of information above you have already done some research. You now know what domains are worth the most and also the hardest to get. So what does that leave you with? It may seem grim but there are still A LOT of good domain names out there for sale. The key is through the research you conduct. Try buying a domain or two that you think has a catchy name such as valuesexpress.com or qualitybulk.com. Remember, its not how cool you think the name is such as scottsawesomeamazingpage.com, its what the domain market place or business buyer will think of the name, so register accordingly.
Here are some tools that will you help you decide on whether to get a domain name or not.
a,) www.Estibot.com – This site allows you to enter your domain name and then it values the name according to many factors such as its search results. It will also tell you if a name is registered or not including the .net .org and a whois (shows the name of the registrar and date of register).
b.) www.SwiftAppraisal.com – Another quick domain name value site. The only problem I have with this site compared to estibot is that you are asked personal opinions regarding the domain name and is appraised accordingly, so it's not as accurate. I have had a lot of domains appraised for way more then they should because when choosing the options I chose the “best” and not exactly the most honest to my domain.
c.) www.NameBio.com – This is a good tool if your trying to find out what other domains with similar words are worth. The site will show you what other domains have sold for bearing the keywords you suggest. Again, this is all for your own research ideas and doesn’t guarantee you any for sure price.
d.) www.NameBoy.com – This is another appraisal site that uses different factors and degrees to calculate your domains worth. The only downside to this site is that for the appraisal process they require your email address to mail you the results. I have used this service many times and never had problems, but its still a little bit of a hassle.
e.) www.NamePros.com - This is one of my favorite domain community sites. Here they allow you to post domain names for free human appraisals. As well as read posts by others of things they have either noticed or researched themselves. I highly recommend this site so bookmark it!
So those are a few of the sites that you can use to research domain names and their value. But what about finding out available names that already have a slight value. Most people who buy and sell domains don’t just sit on there register site thinking of things and typing them in. There are many sites on the web that release a list of domains which have expired or will expire soon. Some sites make you pay and others offer the list for free, but again it all comes down to the fact that most top quality domains are being re-bought behind the scenes of normal domain processes.
I will give you the two sites I used the most for finding recently expired domains, again I am sure there are better and bigger lists online but I don’t want to wade through garbage domains to find a few gems I let others do that for me.
a.) www.FreshDrop.net – This site is very easy to use and lists domains who have currently been dropped from the registered list in the last few days as well as listing upcoming drops. I use this site occasionally, but its still not my preferred method.
b.) www.AvailableDomainNames.com – Aside from my own research this site is amazing. The NameClerk lists mid level domain names for his everyday readers to go and pick up. I have registered myself a few of the names he has released and been very happy with them. I recommend using this site above most others, due to the fact that its clean, quick, and updated fairly frequently. The only downside is that it is first come first server, so good luck.
www.godaddy.com
www.1and1.com
www.register.com
So lets say you have picked your register what’s next? Well you type in the domain name that you would like to purchase, then tells you if it is available to register or not. You then continue with the process and after your payment...congratulations you are now a proud owner of a new domain name for the next year! A key note here is that you don’t need to buy hosting even to park your domains. If you don’t plan on creating a website don’t buy the hosting as it will just cost you $$$$ you do not need to spend.
So now that you own a new domain you are ready to make it work for you. This is where domain parking comes into the picture.
If your thrown off by the name its ok, I was too when I first heard about it. Aside from selling domains you buy, domain parking is the other way to make some $$ from the domain that you have purchased. Domain parking is a way of adding a basic template to your domain including Ads. You get to choose what type of Ads you want running on your domain based on keywords. I’ll explain this in a little more detail after I give you a list of domain parking sites.
a.) www.sedo.com – Sedo is currently the site I use to park most of my domains. Sedo like most parking sites will also list your domains for sale while being parked. I have had to deal with Sedo’s customer support a few times and have been treated great each time, that is defiantly a plus for Sedo. On the flipside I have made more per click on other parking sites besides Sedo.
b.) www.NameDrive.com – Namedrive was a parking service I tried after going through Sedo. Namedrive in my experience was a better site for parking based on the amount I got per click and also the choice of templates and keyword relations, but I would still take Sedo over Namedrive to list your domain for sale. I have had more people visit my Sedo for sale listings than I have had through Namedrive, but again do you want to make more money from parking domains or from a domain sale? In my opinion either site will do just find when it comes down to personal experience.
There are a lot of other parking sites, but those two seemed to work the best and be the easiest to navigate. Since this guide is for beginners I'll keep it at that and let you expand to other sites if you feel the need after you get a feel for things.
After reading this quick domain 101 article you should now be ready to enter the world of domain buying, parking, and selling. Again, I know I did not include the entire domain spectrum such as the dropping of domains and grabbing onto one of those Top domains but, I feel that is better left researched by you guys. This guide will get you started and ready to start making money from your domain purchases.
I will post what I had typed though as I feel its fairly well written and could help anyone interested in getting into domain ownership.
I'm looking for input and advice to make it better so fire away :boxing_smiley:
So you have decided you want to start buying up the best in internet real estate. But you are left with many questions such as: Where do I buy the domains from? What makes a good domain name? What is domain parking? How will I make money from this? These are all very valid questions and I will answer all of them for you. I have devised a quick and easy guided intro into the world of domain buying. Here is a list of the top sites and information you need to know, including great web resources and tools.
What makes a good domain name?
Lets start with the very beginning of any domain buying process, the research. Now I know this is what most people would like to stay away from but there is a reason not everyone makes it big in the domain market. So you may ask how do I research domains?
Well first I’ll admit your not going to just happen across a million dollar domain name because you thought of a cool name.
The most valuable domain names today are one words such as fire.com, pizza.com, car.com etc… these are long gone and most likely registered for the rest of eternity so don’t expect to be getting one. The other valuable domain names in the market place that you shouldn’t expect to register are LLL.com or 111.com. The L’s stand for any combination of 3 letters and the 1’s stand for any combination of 3 numbers. These domains are 2nd on the list of most popular and are at this point all registered.
Look at that just by reading that little bit of information above you have already done some research. You now know what domains are worth the most and also the hardest to get. So what does that leave you with? It may seem grim but there are still A LOT of good domain names out there for sale. The key is through the research you conduct. Try buying a domain or two that you think has a catchy name such as valuesexpress.com or qualitybulk.com. Remember, its not how cool you think the name is such as scottsawesomeamazingpage.com, its what the domain market place or business buyer will think of the name, so register accordingly.
Here are some tools that will you help you decide on whether to get a domain name or not.
a,) www.Estibot.com – This site allows you to enter your domain name and then it values the name according to many factors such as its search results. It will also tell you if a name is registered or not including the .net .org and a whois (shows the name of the registrar and date of register).
b.) www.SwiftAppraisal.com – Another quick domain name value site. The only problem I have with this site compared to estibot is that you are asked personal opinions regarding the domain name and is appraised accordingly, so it's not as accurate. I have had a lot of domains appraised for way more then they should because when choosing the options I chose the “best” and not exactly the most honest to my domain.
c.) www.NameBio.com – This is a good tool if your trying to find out what other domains with similar words are worth. The site will show you what other domains have sold for bearing the keywords you suggest. Again, this is all for your own research ideas and doesn’t guarantee you any for sure price.
d.) www.NameBoy.com – This is another appraisal site that uses different factors and degrees to calculate your domains worth. The only downside to this site is that for the appraisal process they require your email address to mail you the results. I have used this service many times and never had problems, but its still a little bit of a hassle.
e.) www.NamePros.com - This is one of my favorite domain community sites. Here they allow you to post domain names for free human appraisals. As well as read posts by others of things they have either noticed or researched themselves. I highly recommend this site so bookmark it!
So those are a few of the sites that you can use to research domain names and their value. But what about finding out available names that already have a slight value. Most people who buy and sell domains don’t just sit on there register site thinking of things and typing them in. There are many sites on the web that release a list of domains which have expired or will expire soon. Some sites make you pay and others offer the list for free, but again it all comes down to the fact that most top quality domains are being re-bought behind the scenes of normal domain processes.
I will give you the two sites I used the most for finding recently expired domains, again I am sure there are better and bigger lists online but I don’t want to wade through garbage domains to find a few gems I let others do that for me.
a.) www.FreshDrop.net – This site is very easy to use and lists domains who have currently been dropped from the registered list in the last few days as well as listing upcoming drops. I use this site occasionally, but its still not my preferred method.
b.) www.AvailableDomainNames.com – Aside from my own research this site is amazing. The NameClerk lists mid level domain names for his everyday readers to go and pick up. I have registered myself a few of the names he has released and been very happy with them. I recommend using this site above most others, due to the fact that its clean, quick, and updated fairly frequently. The only downside is that it is first come first server, so good luck.
Where do I buy the domains from?
Now that I have covered the beginnings to domain research you are now ready to register your own domain. First, let me explain briefly how you can go about doing that. On the internet there are many sites called registers. Examples are godaddy, 1and1, register and many more. Which register you choose is up to you, I personally use 1and1 and always have. I know a lot of normal domain users go with godaddy which is fine, but I have never found that site very helpful or easy to navigate.www.godaddy.com
www.1and1.com
www.register.com
So lets say you have picked your register what’s next? Well you type in the domain name that you would like to purchase, then tells you if it is available to register or not. You then continue with the process and after your payment...congratulations you are now a proud owner of a new domain name for the next year! A key note here is that you don’t need to buy hosting even to park your domains. If you don’t plan on creating a website don’t buy the hosting as it will just cost you $$$$ you do not need to spend.
What is domain parking?
So now that you own a new domain you are ready to make it work for you. This is where domain parking comes into the picture.
If your thrown off by the name its ok, I was too when I first heard about it. Aside from selling domains you buy, domain parking is the other way to make some $$ from the domain that you have purchased. Domain parking is a way of adding a basic template to your domain including Ads. You get to choose what type of Ads you want running on your domain based on keywords. I’ll explain this in a little more detail after I give you a list of domain parking sites.
a.) www.sedo.com – Sedo is currently the site I use to park most of my domains. Sedo like most parking sites will also list your domains for sale while being parked. I have had to deal with Sedo’s customer support a few times and have been treated great each time, that is defiantly a plus for Sedo. On the flipside I have made more per click on other parking sites besides Sedo.
b.) www.NameDrive.com – Namedrive was a parking service I tried after going through Sedo. Namedrive in my experience was a better site for parking based on the amount I got per click and also the choice of templates and keyword relations, but I would still take Sedo over Namedrive to list your domain for sale. I have had more people visit my Sedo for sale listings than I have had through Namedrive, but again do you want to make more money from parking domains or from a domain sale? In my opinion either site will do just find when it comes down to personal experience.
There are a lot of other parking sites, but those two seemed to work the best and be the easiest to navigate. Since this guide is for beginners I'll keep it at that and let you expand to other sites if you feel the need after you get a feel for things.
How will I make money from this?
After reading this quick domain 101 article you should now be ready to enter the world of domain buying, parking, and selling. Again, I know I did not include the entire domain spectrum such as the dropping of domains and grabbing onto one of those Top domains but, I feel that is better left researched by you guys. This guide will get you started and ready to start making money from your domain purchases.
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...Just bookmarked it to my list of reference sites!
