Call From A New Domain Investor
Today I woke up to an email from someone who had used the contact form on DallasTexasMortgage.com to ask me to call them to discuss acquiring the "site".
I had meetings scheduled throughout most of the day but when I made it back to the office I received a call from the person (persistent, I like that) and he starting asking for traffic stats, etc. After discussing the stats, click values from Adsense and overall metrics that would add some value to the domain I asked a bit about him.
I thought this next bit was interesting, he just started in domaining (coming from the real estate world) and really did not have much background to understand all the details of why names would be valued at various prices (I price very fairly but still a bit out of his range) but after talking a bit further I figured out real quick that he had never even been to any of the domaining news sites and was not familiar with Domaining.com (which as much as that may seem like a strange way to determine knowledge most anyone that spends anytime researching should realize quick Domaining.com is the place to get info from).
I had him head to the site and learn a bit from other domaining blogs, etc. Admittedly there are other places I could of sent him but without spending a lot more time I thought it made sense to send him to the place where he could expect to find news and information from across the industry.
As long as I have been around this domain world and as of late been hearing of so many people getting out of it I still enjoy every story of a new person trying to make a go of it.
NOTE: It is possible that he was not really new but was trying to negotiate, but after the initial negotiation attempt there was no reason to act like he was.
What Is A Domainer?
On a post of mine the other day Adam asked an interesting question, basically what is a domainer?
I think there are many people that even buy and sell domains that would have a hard time defining it. And I think even outside of that many people start to confuse domaining with development because in many cases people like to do both, like myself.
My quick answer to the question was:
1 A domainer is someone who buys domain names with the intent to sell them at a profit.
2 A collector is a person who buys domain names with no plan on selling for a profit.
3 A developer is a person who buys domain names with an intent to build a business on them.
It is ok to mix and match #1 and #3 but never #2.
I think this is about as simple a definition as could be said and I actually think there are multiple levels to number 1 and number 2 which I will go a bit deeper into in a later post.
But I thought I would post Adams question here, leave a comment with your thoughts on what you think the definition of domainer is.
Domain Newbie Having A Taste Of Success
This past year I met a person who had been around domain investment enough to understand the value of it but had not really got to the level of understanding that makes it a profitable enterprise for someone. He is one of the people I referred to in an earlier post about people new to domain investment.
After registering some names and asking for advice a few times and then having me push back several times saying keep reading, keep researching, do not buy another name until you do X,Y, and Z he now is starting to have some success, maybe not on the selling front but at least on the monetization front.
One of the first things he did was he stopped randomly hand registering names. He now uses Bido.com to watch for keyword rich .COM, .NET, and .ORG names and focuses on names that have some level of search relative to the size of the industry and focuses on keywords that generate high PPC.
One of the other ways he has had much success in picking up several VERY nice registrations is by using the Geo.Godaddy.com tool I discussed in an earlier post about using the Geo Domaining Tool. Using that tool right can be a gold mine, I may have to slow him down now though since I might want those names for myself:)
What is really nice is to see he is setting goals for himself now that he is understanding more about the industry, that shows focus, that is how you get where you want to be. Find success, focus on what made that success happen and grow it.
His next step is understanding how to position properly when cold calling or emailing end users. His first contact did not go well, he focused too much on "domain name" and not on the value to the end user. Without explaining why something is valuable it is an uphill battle trying to sell it. He knows this now and is focused on creating his end user email template for moving forward.
Just thought I would relate a potential success story, maybe not on a large scale, but at least on a small scale, of someone that is just starting to focus on generic domains and making progress even in this market.
My Top 10 List of Top 5 Lists
Although I do not tend to read any books or blogs on how to create a successful blog (I know some people are saying obviously right now) I have read and heard a few different times that posts that have lists in them do well and people like to Digg and share them. Well I thought I would go one better and write a post that is a list of lists. If one list is good how great would 10 be!!!!
Well here goes, can I come up with a top 10 list of top 5 lists:
Top 5 Non-Domaining Sites I Visit
2) Adage.com
3) Wired.com
4) Mashable.com
Top 5 iPhone Apps I Use
1) Tweetie
2) Facebook
3) Around Me
4) The Weather Channel
5) Messages/Mail (built in apps but they count)
Top 5 Favorite Albums/Downloads/CDs
1) Radiohead - Hail to the Theif
2) Nine Inch Nails - Fixed
3) Radiohead - In Rainbows
4) Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams
5) Pearl Jam - Ten
Top 5 Domaining Tools I Visit Daily
3) Google Adwords Keyword Tool
4) Estibot.com (Paid tools)
5) Namejet.com/Snapnames.com (tied)
The above list could of been 10 to 20 deep but I only fudged it to 6....
Top 5 Domain Extensions
1) .COM
2) .NET
3) .ORG
4) .ME
5) .TV
Let the screaming begin:)
Top 5 Non-Domaining Books I Recommend
1) Blink - Malcom Gladwell
2) Brain Rules - John Medina
3) Free - Chris Anderson
4) The Long Tail - Chris Anderson
5) Made to Stick - Dan Heath and Chip Heath
Top 5 Favorite TV Shows
1) Fringe
2) House
3) Top Gear
4) Psych
5) Burn Notice
Top 5 Most Visited Sites Daily
2) Facebook.com
3) Twitter.com
Top 5 Favorite Non-Work Activities
1) Family
2) Cycling
3) Running
4) Traveling
5) Browsing anything tech online.
Top 5 Domain Investors I Speak To (VERBALLY) Most Frequently
1) Aron Meystedt
4) Gary Dell/Brian Diener
5) Myself:)
And there is the list, I was not sure I could come up with 10 lists. If having 1 is good this must be really good.
Sorry folks, I thought I would do more of a fun post tonight. Feel free to put your own lists in the comments or ask for future lists I can post, feel free to email me suggestions as well.
Domain Investment New To You – STOP AND READ THIS
In the past several months I have had many friends that have had interest in getting into domain investment. They had heard me talking about various things, whether it be a nice ROI on a domain flip or passive income from domain parking or Google Adsense. It was always interesting to watch peoples minds crank as they started grasping the "behind the scenes" work that happens to bring this little Internet thing to life. How SEO determines who they click on when doing a search. How you cannot just go buy any domain name and expect to have success.
I always enjoyed bringing new people into this industry but one thing I learned is that almost everyone makes the same mistakes. Here is a quick list of the most common mistakes I see from friends who have started dabbling:
1) Trademark Names - This is probably no surprise but it is usually the first thing that I end up explaining after already doing it once or twice.
2) Registering names because they sound cool - This is a pet peeve of mine that seems to continue even after some people know better. I cannot even start count how many emails I have received over the past few years from people sending a name to get my thoughts on it because it seems cool.
3) Registering hundreds of names in their first few months - Nuff said.
4) Leaving their names parked on their registrars default parking - Only person making money with this is the registrar you bought the name through, i.e. Godaddy in most cases.
5) Never listing their names with an aftermarket - I have recently had an experience with one person who had been a "domain investor" for 2 years but did not even know how to sign up for Sedo. Got that fixed but either way, 2 years and could not figure out why he had never had an offer for one.
6) Falling for the domain appraisal rip offs
7) NEVER SPENDING ANYTIME RESEARCHING THE INDUSTRY TO LEARN THE BASICS
This last one is probably my biggest concern. If you are spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to step into something new wouldn't you want to spend a month or so reading and learning about what it is you are stepping into. As much as domain investing is new to most people there are plenty of easy to find resources out there.
Two of the most recent people this came up with had been buying names and complaining they either a) were not getting offers or b) not getting any parking revenue. Now as far as offers, neither person had the names listed with any aftermarket site and as far as parking, if you have not put the time in to research what type of names bring revenue then it is likely that the names purchased will not bring revenue.
With both of these people, after a different but related question from each one I set a rule, I would not answer anymore domain related questions for a month or until they could prove to me they took the time to research and learn and they were not allowed to buy any more domains until they did research, I am sure they did not like me telling them how to spend their money or not to spend money but I was honestly trying to help. There is no quick answer or fast path to success in this domain game. There was a good post at Domainvestors.tv about this today as well.
Now, I did not want to send them off blindly so I gave them a few places to start with their learning, here they are in no particular order:
2) Namepros.com
3) DnForum.com
Now, the question is does it work. Does the tough love have an effect. Well without a doubt I can say in both cases it made all the difference in the world. Within a couple weeks of starting the research one of the people actually had hand registered a name that had dropped recently that is receiving on average a dollar a day in revenue from parking. In the other case the person has been able to register a few names of high quality that are prime for development and are minisites at this point. Both people now focus on domain investments that have keyword search potential and not on names that just "sound cool". Trademark names are no longer an issue and actually ROI on investment is.
I would say virtually all of us made mistakes when we first entered this little world, I want to make sure I help my friends sidestep those mistakes and have as much a fast path to success as possible.
Why Do You Buy Domain Names?
Why do you buy Domain Names? That is a question I have asked myself before. Now to be clear, I buy them for one reason, to make money online. There are very few domains I buy without a purpose, it should either have keyword potential for minisites or immediate resell potential which is why I probably have always been so adamant against brandables with no immediate keyword value or generic potential.
After I read the post on Domain Name Wire yesterday concerning making For Sale a larger option on parked pages it made me think a bit about why people domain and the various models they use to make money (or attempt too). I think in many cases domainers are a mix of the various models below. Which model do you fit?
High End Speculator - This domainer model buys a name based on pure speculation of moving the domain at a higher price, normally at a significantly high ROI. This person does not focus on hand registration of domain names but rather on picking up premium names and moving them. This is the pure Domainer model as I see it. This model needs bigger For Sale signs:)
Hand Registration Flipper - This model works well for getting started, picking up domains on the cheap and flipping them for 2, 5, or 10 times the registration cost within a few hours, days or weeks. This is a great way for people to get started and move upmarket on domains. Normally these are sold on the forums.
Minisite Domain Flipper - Domainers doing this buy domains, put minisites on them, and then flip the domain based on revenue/traffic multiples. This works well for people looking to buy revenue names and do not want to necassarily develop them.
Passive Income Domainer - This domainer type buys domains not to sell but to create an income stream from the parking (or affiliate) income generated. This domainer really does not care about for sale signs and is more concerned about creating a stream of income that requires little upkeep or effort per day. If they happen to get an offer great, but their point is streams of income.
Site Developer - These domainers buy quality domains to develop into fully blown out websites, each domain purchase is for a specific purpose and has a specific business model associated to it. Some would say that this person is not a domainer although more and more you see people talking on the forums about this site being sold or that sold being sold, but if you look deeper it was not a domain it was as developed site. A crappy name that gets developed into a successful site and gets sold at a high price is not a DOMAIN being sold it is a BUSINESS being sold.
Domain Collector - This person just likes to pick up domains to acquire items and have them, in many cases they may not realize this (sorry if you realize this is you after reading). They really do not focus so much on the revenue or domain selling aspects as much as acquiring large quantities of domains.
Expired Traffic Domain Flipper - This person buys expired domains that have traffic from sources such as backlinks, may have Google Pagerank, and normally has revenue associated to it. They make money moving these names based on revenue multiples and do flips after a few months. They can use this money to reinvest in more revenue names or invest in quality generics.
What model are you?
I am sure there are many other models that could be defined. As much as I think bigger for sale signs are great for many domainers in some cases the focus may not be on getting the name in front of the buyer but may be on finding ways to increase CTR or PPC values.
I just put up a new poll, vote for what type of domainer you are.
On a separate note, I have a buyer looking for Blog name, should be something focused on training bloggers , blog webinars, how to make money with blogs, something that matches those topics. Needs to be a .COM and price range is in the $100 range. Please use my contact me form if you have something.
