Starting Off Fresh With Domaining?
Posted on | April 8, 2008 | No Comments
I got a request from someone to write a post asking on what advice I would give to people starting off with domains with the current market. I’m going to try and make a post as best as I can, but a lot in succeeding isn’t in a tutorial… it is how you tackle new industries and try to accomplish a goal.
DISCLAIMER: My personal opinion is going to be expressed in the following post. DON’T think I’m promoting different tlds, typos of domains, investments, etc. I am NOT just starting out in the domaining industry… this is what I probably would do had I needed to start somewhere. I do own domains in each of the categories I’m going to be talking about.
Generics
My personal favorites and the most valuable in the domaining industry: Generic domains. Now, generic domains are extremely hard to find in the “worthy” TLDs (worthy to me is only .com/.net and even .org–NOT .ASIA/.MOBI/.WANNABE). What i would suggest is to try and find some GOOD combination of words… something like FunArcade, GamePalace, InternetCrimes, etc. Single word generics are long gone, so going for 2+ word combos is your best next bet. If you have money to spend, watch domain auctions and see if you can afford a generic. I’m not saying spend $20,000 on a domain right as you enter the market, but my personal favorite quote is “Quality…. not quantity“. Wish someone mentioned that 400 times before I started… I’d have a lot of extra pocket change right now.
To get some decent double + word domains, keep your eye open on news headlines, new products, be creative, etc. It is hard, but sometimes worth it; Especially if you want to use domain parking 
! For the most part, you can also check out expired domains and see if anything decent comes up along. Backorder services like Snapnames.com and Pool.com give you a boost at getting the name you want, but you might end up in a bidding war with others if they want the same domain. In this case set a limit. It is tempting to pay a higher price for a domain you want, but make sure the name is worth it. Do some research, damnit!
Resources to research keywords:
Google Trends
Overture
Wordtracker
LLLL – LetterLetterLetterLetter Domains
There has been a lot of “buzz” regarding LLLL domains. My opinion on these is if you didn’t buy a low quality domain for reg fee, don’t go off and pay $50-60 for it if it has no use to you. I still think crappy letter combinations aren’t worth much and (of course) the only reason awkward combinations with x-q-y-z are worth that much is due to the buy out. LLLL.net gets a lot of crap due to its tld. All we hear about is that .net is worth 10% of its .com counterpart… I say if you can scoop up some decent .net, GO FOR IT. The return on the domains will be worth more than buying crappy LLLL.com on the secondary market–especially if you can get something nice. BUT WAIT–remember not to buy crappy combinations… especially in .net.
Keep your eyes open for good deals. At times you can get some nice LLLL for cheap. I’d only stick to .com and .net. For .net fresh regs, invest wisely.
General consensus states that the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T are considered premium letters. Other lesser high quality letters include: J, K, U, V, W. Lower quality letters include: Q, X, Y, Z.
There are talks that the LLLL market is going to crumble. Talking about current situations ONLY… there is money to be made with LLLL domains (.com primarily) if you can score GREAT deals. Renewal is going to be coming up in a couple months for some people, and reg fee is going up… shop around? See what you can do. There are new comers who have fallen into the desire to have LLLL.com domains… these people buy. I’m not exactly suggesting you do, but this market is growing at an amazing speed. New people are coming into the “domaining industry” so fast and want to acquire these “desired” domains. I’m not saying to make suckers out of the new comers, but hopefully people have understood what I meant: THERE ARE NEW BUYERS ALL THE TIME! Invest wisely and you will be fine.
Development
OK. The previous two sections (Generic and LLLL) seem the best for reselling a domain. If you are starting out new and believe that you can come up with a new and creative idea for a website, development can go a long way. Instead of creating another MySpace Resource Site, try something new and see if you can pick up traffic. Hell, even starting a personal blog. I don’t suggest signing up for a free hosted blog, such as a blogger.com blog, so think of a decent domain name and start an actual website today. Sometimes your ONE site can make you tons of money. If you’re looking to NOT go through the hassle of development to make money online, you need to stick to quality domains.
“Exotic TLDs”
.asia/.biz/.info/… to me are exotic TLDs. Some people score great keywords in these tlds and good for them. Good keywords are good keywords assuming there is relevancy with the TLD (which I believe to be the foundation of a domain name). Getting Sex.asia, Games.asia, Poker.asia… hell yes. I would do it. As much as I’ve told people NOT to waste their time with .asia (as a personal preference), I would STILL pick these keywords up (right now only talking about .asia–when you get to ccTLDs (country-code tlds) that cost $1,000/year to renew, NO!). At times there are hypes and what not and people do end up buying your domains at a decent ROI to you (return on investment). When you own GOOD keywords, you could get lucky and make some money… but going reg’in crazy and buying craptastic keywords such as MyHouseBlogsInColor.asia… NO. Some keywords that suck are fine in .com IMO… but not .asia/.biz/.at/.gdfgd. Enough with that. If you want to go for these TLDs, enjoy… but please… INVEST WISELY. I went .WS/.TV/.BIZ mad a year ago. 90% of them were dropped. Wasn’t even worth it! Save up money and buy ONE decent .com/.net instead of 50 .ws.
Be Aware
Be aware of new domaining news (even old). I’ve mentioned this how many times already??? –> INVEST WISELY. Even though I say that, sometimes taking chances and venturing into new markets (in domains) will prove to be very rewarding. Open mind and smarts (with research) can get you far. Can’t get more into this subject… but just be aware.
And…
Some people have e-mailed me and been extremely serious about getting into the domain industry. Now, I don’t call myself a pro, but I’ve invested a lot of my time in the last ~2 years with figuring out things online. I’ve been through development, domain parking, etc. and always get the question asked: “Well, where is the majority of your money made?”
Domain Parking. Simple as that. I try new things with development and creating sites, but damnit… I don’t like to be bothered with development. So, I got that out of the way and now it’s on the blog: domain parking is my thing. I have domains at Sedo, Namedrive, Parking Panel, Parked, and the newest provider in the bunch, DomainParking.co.uk. More information regarding this will come in due time. Still a lot of business to get taken care of, so I mentioned once “Mid 2008.” Not so sure about that date anymore, but we’ll see.
Small Footer Note: This post took me about three days to just finalize. Please excuse any careless mistakes and if you need more information regarding something on my opinion, let me know using the contact form. I’m hopefully going to have a follow up on this subject and hoping to get some feedback from readers on what others want to read/hear about.
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