Is domaining right for me?

[Vincent]

Development is not the same as domaining.

If you're Canadian, it already is luck

Maybe you should move to Canada, so you can be lucky lol. I wonder if Canada charges just to move there.

[yummayumma]

In all seriousness, if you have to ask after the months that you have been involved, it probably isn't. You either fall in love right away and begin losing money at the onset or you become a tentative, fractionally invested wannabe without the fortitude needed to succeed. Might as well bail at this point. Good luck.

Actually, I found Bodog.eu shorty after looking into new ventures. Now that I'm comfortable again w/poker and recouped my bankroll, I have time to learn about this again. lol at using the word wannabe, I didn't know this is what the cool kids did.

---------- Post added at 07:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:56 PM ----------

Development is not the same as domaining.

Domaining is more about buying/trading/reselling domain names at a profit, or monetizing them through more or less lazy schemes like parking.
Development & SEO is webmaster stuff. But you could develop a website with quality contents, have it rank well in search engines, monetize it with affiliate or adsense. Then you have a revenue-making domain & website (provided you continue to maintain it). A developed website with traffic and revenue can be sold. See specialized marketplaces like Flippa.

There are plenty of ways to make money with domain names, or more generally the Internet.

Ok, this is what I meant earlier about not being familiar with the 'lingo.' I should have read more, before posting my introduction. I don't really think I'll make money in flipping. I'm more interested in creating and developing a site. Sorry for the confusion. Thank you katherine for explaining the difference.

[dcristo]

I'm not sure if I wrote the wrong phrase, I'm getting used to the lingo. To start, I want to register a domain, develop a site and figure it out while I go along, learn from mistakes, etc. I'm guessing it would take years for a newbie to make good $. This field is so big, it's hard to know where to start + weeding out the good content from the outdated/bogus stuff on the web. Silentg's link is a good start. It already saved me from looking into buying ____42.com (like vacation42) I'd love to see more links or vids that are valuable for someone curious about the industry. (or a link to a thread about it, I'm sure there's one around here) Anyhow thanks for reading, I'm gonna get back to reading the forums here!

Don't waste your time with speculative brandable domains. If you are just starting out you can't go wrong with good keyword generics there will always be demand for them for various reasons. But you sound like you are on the right track, only register domains that you would consider developing. You don't necessarily need to have an extensive knowledge about the niche either, you can always outsource the development. Also you are right about it taking years to start making any significant money. If you've been grinding poker I am sure you know all about patience so doubt thats a problem.

[Dynamic1]

Change Luck to Work and you will have it. Work Work Work! and if you do not love the potential that domaining has your in the wrong thing.
It is not a get rich quick thing for most. Its a waiting and learning and persistance game.
Thing is could take 10 years to sell that name if it is just sitting, But the payoff could be large. The work in promoting it could knock you down to 3 years.
I am only speaking for me... But it was a long term 10+ year bunch of mistakes before I began to see any money @ all.

[Raider]

Are you in a financial position to risk the capital you have? Do you have another job? obligations?

[yummayumma]

Are you in a financial position to risk the capital you have? Do you have another job? obligations?

yes,yes,no. Right now, I'm looking into new ventures. So far, the amount of info is overwhelming, but holding my interest. I don't plan on investing a significant amount for quite awhile. I will only start investing if this continues to hold my interest and I realistically think I can do well. Only time will tell.

Thanks all, for the well wishes!

[Dale Hubbard]

As alluded to in various posts above:

1. You must have the TIME to nurture and develop your investment.

2. Choose something reasonably generic if you can - stuff people are actually searching for. Your investment in promotion will be inversely proportional to the quality of your domain, read: does it have useful search volume?

3. Forget Adsense.

4. Pick a subject that YOU know about, such that you can readily post or comment about it with a degree of credibility.

Good luck!

[Vincent]

yumma, even if you're not good at domaining, you still get lucky at times. It happened to me. I made sell the first three months into domaining. I think this was what got me hooked. Now, I learned luck is only one variable. There are other things I've been reading on, such as keyword cpc, traffic, industry trends, among other things. I hope to be a millionaire, one day, from domaining. Why? It's because all these veterans say "It's not too late."

Picture what you would do when you have a million dollars in your pocket. Would you be walking around with it? What would you do? Who would you give it to? This can be a tough one.

[gdep]

All good comments here. I'll add a comment, but in full disclosure I've never developed or outsourced the development of a site, nor have I sold any of the 200+/- domain names I've been carrying for the last four years. My plan is for all that to change of course

In addition to Dale's 4th comment, I recall reading something awhile back about development considerations that made sense. The concept that stuck in my mind is one of low level content vs high level content. To further clarify, I guess an example of each could be that "low level content" is something relatively easy to develop/maintain (ie: a simple website devoted to "Top 10" lists) vs content on a website that would take longer to develop and require more maintenance (ie: a website devoted to daily reporting on the financial markets). Since I don't think I'll ever have enough time to develop/maintain complex sites, any time I buy a domain name with the idea of potential development, it's geared towards content that would be seemingly easy to develop and maintain.

[RTM.net]

I must say I agree with pretty much all of URLURL's comments - perhaps since I'm Canadian

That said, again; patience, strategy and YES, I believe that development is an integral part of domaining; in my experience. If it cannot work for you dev'ing a microsite (which will, especially if you know your domain subject, result in better ROI than pennies from parking) then how will you sell it to a potential buyer?

Parking is a cop-out revenue opportunity that undermines the true value of most domains, IMHO.

Rob

[chipmeade]

lol at using the word wannabe, I didn't know this is what the cool kids did.

Wannabe-- 50K exact searches a month and over 500K broad searches

[dcristo]

Forget Adsense.

Can't agree with this. Why ignore extra income? With good placement, adding Adsense will not negatively impact other revenue sources. But if your point was don't make Adsense your primary monetization method, then I would agree.

[urlurl]

im glad how we just hijacked this thread and turned it into such a debate, lol - but it is all good

there is nothing wrong with parking for revenue, it covers renewal fee's and may make a little extra cash. but high quality names would do a lot better if they were developed in to and actual usualble site (not mini sites) unless your intention was only to sit a flip the name anyways.

that been said, i have seen some real crappy names (i wouldn't even have hand reg'd) turned into money making machines, with a little imagination, design and seo you can take some Lead and make it into Gold.

and it agree with RTM (always agree with people who agree with me!)