Tips on Obtaining Profitable Domain Names.

[holdem8]

Deciding to get into the business of buying and selling domain names can be quite profitable, but also somewhat tricky. More than ever, popular domain names are in demand and knowing how to find them and what to do with them can either become a lucrative operation or simply a waste of time and money.

There are many Internet domain name sellers out there who have various tricks of the trade in order to get them the best available domain names and know how to sell domain names for the most profit. Turning around a cheap or free domain name into a sale of thousands of dollars is appealing to anyone, but will only work if you know what you are doing.

Knowing just a few basic tips on how to build a profitable domain name portfolio can make all the difference later on when you sell your domain names. Most of this knowledge is recognizing which domain names will make for the best sales.

1. Acquire domain names with a .com extension. A popular domain name with a .com extension will have a much greater value than extensions such as .org. These .com extensions can even be worth 5-10 times the money than any other extension. This is because .com is the most popular extension on the Internet and is easiest for people to remember, thus creating a great amount of traffic.

Note: Understand that there are a few exceptions to this point. Though .com is the most popular extension, there are buyers out there who wish to only buy country domains – such as .uk – and some sellers have made substantial profit from selling country-specific domain names.

2. Avoid the use of numbers in your domain names. Numbers can be easily forgotten by users and will only serve to lessen the value of the domain name.

Note: A few popular domain names that have numbers tend to be strictly 3-number names. 100.com or 666.com are two prime examples of domain names that would be hard sought after. The only problem? These are taken already and there are only a finite number of desired 3-number domain names, so if you decide to attempt acquiring one, choose wisely.

3. Avoid purchasing domain names that include hyphens. Like numbers, a hyphen in the domain name may only serve to lessen its value as it is easily forgotten. A missing hyphen will cause the domain name to lose traffic to its unhyphenated counterpart. An example of this would be domain-name.com, which would lose traffic to domainname.com.

4. Know the market. It is very important to understand which domain names are selling for greater amounts than others. Registering domain names for sale is exactly that; you wish to sell them. Do not register domain names that you happen to be fond of or because you are considering using it some time in the future. The point to registering domain names is to sell them for a large profit, so only consider those you are sure will attract buyers willing to pay at least $500 for an available domain name.

Following these steps can earn you a strong foothold in the world of domain name registering and selling. They will act as a backbone of your acquiring and selling methods, and as you grow more proficient, you will find your own tricks of the trade that will help you to earn even more money. As your skill and savvy grows, so will your domain name business. Eventually, you may become one of the many to make millions of dollars buying and selling domain names alone.

[Keyboard Cowboy]

Nothing new under the sun, but a nice little article all around

[nnh]

Personally I like numbers NNNN.com always sells...su4.com excellent future potential. Hyphenated domains that sell a product or service are winners with search engines, will always produce some revenue so have a re-sale value, diamond-rings.com etc...

[biggedon]

Deciding to get into the business of buying and selling domain names can be quite profitable, but also somewhat tricky. More than ever, popular domain names are in demand and knowing how to find them and what to do with them can either become a lucrative operation or simply a waste of time and money.

There are many Internet domain name sellers out there who have various tricks of the trade in order to get them the best available domain names and know how to sell domain names for the most profit. Turning around a cheap or free domain name into a sale of thousands of dollars is appealing to anyone, but will only work if you know what you are doing.

Knowing just a few basic tips on how to build a profitable domain name portfolio can make all the difference later on when you sell your domain names. Most of this knowledge is recognizing which domain names will make for the best sales.

1. Acquire domain names with a .com extension. A popular domain name with a .com extension will have a much greater value than extensions such as .org. These .com extensions can even be worth 5-10 times the money than any other extension. This is because .com is the most popular extension on the Internet and is easiest for people to remember, thus creating a great amount of traffic.

Note: Understand that there are a few exceptions to this point. Though .com is the most popular extension, there are buyers out there who wish to only buy country domains – such as .uk – and some sellers have made substantial profit from selling country-specific domain names.

2. Avoid the use of numbers in your domain names. Numbers can be easily forgotten by users and will only serve to lessen the value of the domain name.

Note: A few popular domain names that have numbers tend to be strictly 3-number names. 100.com or 666.com are two prime examples of domain names that would be hard sought after. The only problem? These are taken already and there are only a finite number of desired 3-number domain names, so if you decide to attempt acquiring one, choose wisely.

3. Avoid purchasing domain names that include hyphens. Like numbers, a hyphen in the domain name may only serve to lessen its value as it is easily forgotten. A missing hyphen will cause the domain name to lose traffic to its unhyphenated counterpart. An example of this would be domain-name.com, which would lose traffic to domainname.com.

4. Know the market. It is very important to understand which domain names are selling for greater amounts than others. Registering domain names for sale is exactly that; you wish to sell them. Do not register domain names that you happen to be fond of or because you are considering using it some time in the future. The point to registering domain names is to sell them for a large profit, so only consider those you are sure will attract buyers willing to pay at least $500 for an available domain name.

Following these steps can earn you a strong foothold in the world of domain name registering and selling. They will act as a backbone of your acquiring and selling methods, and as you grow more proficient, you will find your own tricks of the trade that will help you to earn even more money. As your skill and savvy grows, so will your domain name business. Eventually, you may become one of the many to make millions of dollars buying and selling domain names alone.

Hi

Thanks for your post.

In contrast, I'd like to add:

1. while you're only trying to find .com names, others are making tons of $ acquiring other tlds. These can include .it/.de/.co.uk/.nl and many others.
some of my top producers are non .com domains when it comes to type-in traffic and revenue.

2. numbers serve a purpose in domain names and the certain placement of them within the terms of a domain will make them desirable. such examples would include names that have "a1" or "360" as a prefix or suffix. in addition to terms than end with "4". recently sold a domain like "100word.com" for
$3k

3. i have several hyphenated domain names that have traffic and produce revenue on a daily basis, and all are/were not .com!
have even sold domains that had up to "3" hyphens in them. it all depends on the domain and it's relationship to how people read it and how it's printed in publications.

4. knowing the market is true. however, it takes experience and research to know what is selling and for how much.
it can payoff in the future to register some names now, while they are available.... that you think will be popular or could use in the future.
several domains that i hand-registered a couple of years ago, are now getting $,$$$ offers.

my point in acquiring domian names is not all for selling, as there are some names i plan to keep, especially when they bring consistent revenues.

i think that there is an illusion some have of getting rich and making millions of dollars. there are only a few domainers who could make those claims now, though many in this biz do make nice sums.
it takes work to find the right domains and or negotiate up the ladder to success, it will not happen overnight.

imo....

[hugegrowth]

Checking the weekly sales reports at dnjournal.com gives you a good idea of what sells and for how much, in all extensions, with numbers and dashes too. They archive the sales reports so you can go back many months.

There are so many niches in domains it's hard to give absolute guidance unless you want to write many pages. Focusing on .com and your country code is a good start, try to reg popular words or phrases that apply to your own country. If you can get some good words or terms in IDN for your language and country code, that's good too.

[hyped]

Thanks for the tips guys. Definitely some good information here.

[holdem8]

Hiya everyone!

Thanks for adding to the post! These are very basic domaining advice that I think many newbies do not follow..that is why I have posted it in the "newbie" section

I was hoping to get the ball rolling so that all the other seniors will add to it..and I am pleasantly surprise that many has contributed...cheers!

I did not go too much into detail with most of the points, if not, it will look like an ebook! Anyway, I will like to add further to the points..

Number domains : biggedon has a very good point and anyone can really cash in on this types of "number" domains. Tip: think of a good one-word generic .com and put a 360, 365, 101 or 247 as suffix or prefix. Then try to register them and I am sure there are lots of gems to be found, trust me, I have loads of them

EXample: biodiesel365.com, cash365.com, mobileads360.com, payperclick360.com.
These are highly brandable domains and can sell for lots of $$.

As for hyphenated domains, there is also exception, for the more experienced domainers. TIP: think of highly competitive industries and their much sought-after phrases, preferably not more than 3 words. Check if there are LOTS of advertisers if the phrase is searched with "quotes" in Google. If that exact phrase has tons of advertisers and the ad headlines are BOLD, that is a very good potential regg, if it is available. These domains will do wonders for search engine rankings for the phrase...

Example: "car insurance quotes", "cord blood bank", "3g phone"....becomes Car-Insurance-Quotes.com, Cord-Blood-Bank.com and 3g-Phone.com

These kinds of hyphenated domains must be developed more or less to get them ranked in the SEs for them to realize their true values.

Best of luck!

Al.