Domain investing is a highly fruitful opportunity for you to spend your money. Domain names are virtual real estate that you can invest in to make a nice profit.
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View domain name investing through the eyes of a web developer, meaning what can an end user do with your domain name.
Comparatively, this approach can help you prioritize your buying and selling strategy if selling the name is your end goal.
If you are a brick and mortar business and you expect to increase your profits and want more customers, then hopefully you know that a domain name and a website is what you need to stay relevant and competitive in this ever-changing business world.
By the same token, if you are trying to build a portfolio of domains, then you should build your portfolio over a slow period.
If you are buying a bunch of domains over a short period, then you probably should stop and reassess your buying strategy.
Your objective is to own quality domains. Quality over quantity will always win out in the domaining business.
In this post, I will briefly discuss developing a website, parking domains, valuing domains, and going to valuable domain name conferences like NamesCon Global.
My goal is to help fellow newbie domainers with helpful tips and advice.
Domain Investing Is Similar to Real Estate Investing
The similarities between property investing and the domain name industry run parallel to each other in the sense of buy low/sell high.
In like manner, you can liken the domaining industry to a piece of land that is ready for development or lay undeveloped.
To put it another way, you can either monetize the domain name by sending the name to a parked page or develop your domain name to a full online business.
It is true that just about anyone can develop their name into a website. Therefore, some domain owners may decide to use their domain and create a website.
Although this may be true, a good chunk of domain owners do not have the essential skills for developing websites.
Most of the time, a hardcore domainer will develop a site with only the best universal niches in mind due to the cost involved.
A domain investor measures the performance of their investment by gains and losses for the domain name.
So the level of development for the website is dependent on the objective of the domainer.
For instance, how long will the domain investor decide to hold the domain? Will they hold the name for a long or short period?
If they decide to keep the domain for a substantial amount of time, then they will probably develop the website to its maximum potential.
If for the short term, then they will probably not put as much money and effort into the development of the site and use it as a lead generation page to generate interest so that they can sell the name after it gains some monetary value.
If you would like to park your domain, then you will have to forward the Domains DNS to a parking company like SEDO or any parking company for that matter.
After this, you can choose a user-friendly design that utilizes the topic of the domain name.
Generally speaking, domains that are parked receive type-in traffic where a user types in the domain name and lands on the parked page in hopes that the user will click on one of the many advertiser's links on the parked page.
Of course, the domain may have been a website that is now a parked page and may have had previous link popularity, which may get traffic from users following those links.
Although helpful, domain appraisal tools are useful for estimating your domains worth.
You should not use the tools as an exact technique for setting the price on your domains.
A domains worth is nothing more than what the domain market will bear. In the end, comparable sales of other domains will help determine the value of your domains.
Have you ever tried to re-sell a domain name after you hand registered it? If so, then you know the process of trying to make a profitable, lucrative sale.
Domain names are only valued at what a buyer is willing to pay for the name. With this in mind, the domaining industry is difficult and challenging at times.
A point often overlooked is that the value of the domain name will frequently depend upon the popularity of the name. Also, the tld of the domain name, and the length of the domain name.
However, if you have any of the criteria mentioned above in your domain name, then you will most likely reap an excellent financial return when you sell your name.
If you want to sell domain names and get a sizable return on your investment, then you must understand what increases the value of your domain property.
You have to see your domain like a piece of virtual real estate. The internet has spread rapidly over the past few years.
A lot of new internet users are coming online each year, which helps generate more traffic and more profits via the internet, virtual outlet.
Source: Top Ten Website Hosting
If you are a patient person and you can remain calm when enticing online transactions, then, hopefully, you will make a lot of money.
NamesCon Global is an easy going, laid back, casual, friendly conference.
The business and social insight of all the domainers that I met were exceedingly significant when I went for the first time in 2018.
Although, I was interested in picking up a few souvenirs like T-Shirts, and my Godaddy socks, the people working the tables made sure to offer their expertise as a resource to help me learn more about the industry.
NamesCon was very valuable in the aspect of talking with fellow domainers and asking them some domaining questions, tips, suggestions, and how to make money off of domain name investing.
All the people that I met at NamesCon were very absorbed in learning how to take their investments to the next level. The stars of the domaining industry seemed so normal and approachable.
Also with NamesCon being my first domain conference, I met so many friendly industry leaders who took the time to listen to general questions from other attendees and myself.
Michael Cyger from DNAcademy was extremely friendly, and he took the time to listen to me and answer a few questions.
Anytime there's an opportunity to meet other investors live, in-person, I highly recommend it.
Whether it be NamesCon, The Domain Conference, local meetups, or the event I produce every spring in Seattle – called DNSeattle.com –
I think investors can only benefit from expanding their network.”
Bill Sweetman from Name Ninja was another friendly person who took the time to listen to my questions and gave some helpful advice.
As a result, his advice helped shed some light about the domaining industry.
All things considered, it was enjoyable to witness the level of admiration given by the attendees to the top domain industry leaders at the conference.
Are domain names a good investment? Well, domain investing is an exciting, fun online endeavor that is somewhat exempt from the ever-changing search engine algorithms.
The best thing that you can do for your domain investments is to continue to read and research from diverse sources online about domain investing.
More importantly, before you purchase any domains, you need to understand the full aspect of the domain investment game. The situations that you want to avoid is wasting your time and money on names that are not good names.
When you have a decent grip on domaining and the value of domain names, then you can ease into the domaining game. You will benefit from domaining by coming up with an adequate strategy for your domaining venture.
In other words, do you want to flip your domains quickly or are you deciding to do this as a long-term investment?
If you don’t know what you are doing in the beginning, then please don’t buy a whole bunch of domains.
By this, I mean that there are yearly renewal fees that you will encounter if you have a broad portfolio and you have no clue what to do with those names.
Finding domain names with a fair amount of popularity connected with it will help you sell the domain and make a decent profit, whether the name is technological, trendy, or a famous saying.
There is a belief that all of the good domain names are gone, maybe, maybe not, but this is where the popularity factor comes into play with buying domain names as an investment.
If you want to know more domaining tips and tricks, I wrote a post “147 Domaining Tips” that is worth reading to gain more knowledge and insight into the domain investing game.