In search of a plan

[wadsworth]

I want to get a portfolio of domains. While I'm sure some of you have made a fortune while I was ignoring this market, I think there are still fortunes to be made. Now all I need is a plan.

-Are there really still bargin domains not regged?

-Is it worth it spending the time searching the expiring domains?

-Can you make any money parking non-premium domains?

-Are most of you making money buying low and selling high or holding onto your domains and taking profits from the parking or simple PPC sites?

Thankfully I'm in a position where I don't have to make my living from domain trading. I'd be fine making an invesment and then feeding any profits into building my portfolio. Should I start with a few high quality domains and build slowly or try and buy someone else portfolio?

I'm not asking for super-secret tricks of the trade(though feel free to PM me any you are willing to share ), just trying to get an understanding of the basics of building a strong portfolio of domains.

[Dale Hubbard]

Welcome! Very good question to ask. It would very much depend on how much you plan to invest I think. Then, do you want investment income or capital gain? Or a combination of both? After that you have many choices of how to invest.

To answer your questions above in turn:

1. No
2. Can be if you have the time
3. Not really unless they have traffic from backlinks or natural type-in
4. People do it in many ways

All IMHO!

Best wishes.

[biggedon]

I want to get a portfolio of domains. While I'm sure some of you have made a fortune while I was ignoring this market, I think there are still fortunes to be made. Now all I need is a plan.

-Are there really still bargin domains not regged?

-Is it worth it spending the time searching the expiring domains?

-Can you make any money parking non-premium domains?

-Are most of you making money buying low and selling high or holding onto your domains and taking profits from the parking or simple PPC sites?

Thankfully I'm in a position where I don't have to make my living from domain trading. I'd be fine making an invesment and then feeding any profits into building my portfolio. Should I start with a few high quality domains and build slowly or try and buy someone else portfolio?

I'm not asking for super-secret tricks of the trade(though feel free to PM me any you are willing to share ), just trying to get an understanding of the basics of building a strong portfolio of domains.

1. yes
2. yes
3. if it makes money from parking, then it is premium!
4. yes, and some..



if just starting out, notice what buyers are looking for and the prices of domains being sold.

buy names with revenue

buy generic

buy 3 char .com

[David G]

To answer your questions above in turn:

1. No

I say YES since I find good unreg'd ones which sometimes also get some traffic most every week. Found one gem (which was never registered before) during the past yr which gets more than 100 typein's a day.

[GAMEFINEST]

i own alot of domains that i reg last year , that are getting really good type in traffic...

[Welkin]

I think it's really needed to clarify the meaning of some words first... what is "good" and so on.
For one having 50 type ins per day may be great, for another it could be nothing special.

[David G]

I think it's really needed to clarify the meaning of some words first... what is "good" and so on. For one having 50 type ins per day may be great, for another it could be nothing special.

A couple direct navigations (even just one) a day is good if keyword targeted in a desired category. I believe the majority of domains get no typeins at all, including a high percentage offered for sale in the forums and on ebay.

[wadsworth]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm not going to have a lot of time to spend on searching for hidden gems not registered or expiring domains as my developed sites take up most of my day already. So I guess I should focus on trying to buy low.

It sounds like my time would be best spend right now trying to develop a personal method of appraising value. Other than browsing these forums, where can see what domains have actually sold for?

[tedsudol]

When you are looking at some of the dropping domains how do you determine which have type in traffic that will be meaninful to you as a new owner. for instance if you go to PremiumDrops they will have charts showing lots of different statistics, Google, MSN, Alexia type in traffic as well as other measures. Rarely do the coincide one might show a high Google type in and low MSN. Which is important? If you look at the archive records some might have been sites for a defunct company, failed venture, etc. How is the traffic looking for a site that is gone valuable to you today. For instance if you picked up a site that was macrotext.com that was a company web site for Macrotext up to two years ago, then discontinued because the company was no longer in exisitance but according to the charts showing type-in traffic how would that be valuable? You aren't going to be starting a company by the same name, might develop it for another purpose.

I snagged a name that was just dropping that according to the charts had type in traffic in the millions. Put up a parking page that adds relevant content in addition to the ads. Made sure the keywords coincided with the last uses. But I didn't see any greater traffic than a site that was reported to have no traffic. Am I doing something wrong or should I be doing something else. I guess I had a picture in my mind that everyone was excited by traffic because you were grabbing a firehose with traffic coming out of it and redirecting it to your site. Once you make the new connections to your site the water would start flowing again. Thanks in advance for your help.
Ted Sudol

[Chuckles2]

To the first question I say the answer will always be YES, if you're good at speculation. One of my domains I just bought is a mispelling of a singer's name. I bought it the same day it became public knowledge that she signed a deal with Warner Brothers. The name wasn't reg'd, and I got five hits the first day. We'll see what happens when she puts out her first album.