- Joined
- Jan 19, 2007
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So another year is almost by and I thought it would be interesting if we all could share our thoughts for the year gone by and for how next year will be for us domainers!
For 2011 I will try to work harder than ever, always on the look-out for bargains and always looking for opportunities to make a sale. I will also spend time developing some of the most suitable names in my portfolio (I know I say this every year, but this year I mean it) and I don't mean just throwing up a made-for-Adsense page, but proper development, whether it's a gaming magazine, an online store or a tourism website.
When you've had a lot of great sales in a short period of time it's easy to start thinking that domaining is easy and then start relaxing more, working less.. This is the most dangerous thing you can do in my opinion, as domaining requires you to spend hours each day in front of the computer in order to stay updated and follow the market. Reseller prices go up and down like a roller coaster these days and if you don't watch them closely, you will eventually be unable to separate a bargain from overpaying. I know I've bought names which I thought were cheap, eventually having to sell them with a loss because no one wants to pay as much as I did for them.
I'm entering my fifth year of full-time domaining and it's fun to look back at the previous years. What domains I started with, what names I got lucky with and what names I lost money on. 2008 was perhaps the most fun year, as every morning I woke up, there was at least 1 offer via e-mail, Sedo, Afternic or one of the forums. It was a great year for sales, so I started thinking it was easy making a living of domaining. I actually thought I could get really rich in a short period of time and that's when you start relaxing. Taking things for granted..
Then 2009 came and the financial crisis started affecting the domain market. This year was the year when I really started noticing that domain prices had reached a top and started declining rapidly. This continued into 2010 and I'm sure many who made their living from flipping domain names started getting worried. It wasn't so easy after all and I understood why many people threw in the towel, looking for other ways to make money.
What's interesting is that when the global economic crisis kicked in, the domain market weren't affected right away. I actually had many of my best sales ever during the first part of the economic crisis. It's like the domain market "lagged", compared to the stock market and not until late 2009/early 2010 we started really seeing that the value of domain names dropped. Domain investors ran out of money, had to liquidate domains for funds and tons of LLL.coms splashed into the market, resulting in reseller prices slashed in half. An LLL.com you could easily sell for $8k in 2008, suddenly went for $3,500 in a public Sedo auction. Shocking! .. and worrying.
Now, the crisis is recovering and the stock markets are back where they were before the Lehman collapse and most people state that the economy is slowly getting back on it's feet. Therefore it should be natural to see that domain prices in general will rise again throughout 2011 and keep rising to reach new tops in the future.
There's been a lot of great sales in 2010 and even the "minimum" reseller prices have gained throughout the last few months. I think we're on our way up again and that we will see new investors entering the domain market, resulting in higher than ever demand for domain names. Work hard, keep developing your business and don't take anything for granted.
I wish you all a Happy New Year and a prosperous 2011 with plenty of business opportunities and portfolio growth!
For 2011 I will try to work harder than ever, always on the look-out for bargains and always looking for opportunities to make a sale. I will also spend time developing some of the most suitable names in my portfolio (I know I say this every year, but this year I mean it) and I don't mean just throwing up a made-for-Adsense page, but proper development, whether it's a gaming magazine, an online store or a tourism website.
When you've had a lot of great sales in a short period of time it's easy to start thinking that domaining is easy and then start relaxing more, working less.. This is the most dangerous thing you can do in my opinion, as domaining requires you to spend hours each day in front of the computer in order to stay updated and follow the market. Reseller prices go up and down like a roller coaster these days and if you don't watch them closely, you will eventually be unable to separate a bargain from overpaying. I know I've bought names which I thought were cheap, eventually having to sell them with a loss because no one wants to pay as much as I did for them.
I'm entering my fifth year of full-time domaining and it's fun to look back at the previous years. What domains I started with, what names I got lucky with and what names I lost money on. 2008 was perhaps the most fun year, as every morning I woke up, there was at least 1 offer via e-mail, Sedo, Afternic or one of the forums. It was a great year for sales, so I started thinking it was easy making a living of domaining. I actually thought I could get really rich in a short period of time and that's when you start relaxing. Taking things for granted..
Then 2009 came and the financial crisis started affecting the domain market. This year was the year when I really started noticing that domain prices had reached a top and started declining rapidly. This continued into 2010 and I'm sure many who made their living from flipping domain names started getting worried. It wasn't so easy after all and I understood why many people threw in the towel, looking for other ways to make money.
What's interesting is that when the global economic crisis kicked in, the domain market weren't affected right away. I actually had many of my best sales ever during the first part of the economic crisis. It's like the domain market "lagged", compared to the stock market and not until late 2009/early 2010 we started really seeing that the value of domain names dropped. Domain investors ran out of money, had to liquidate domains for funds and tons of LLL.coms splashed into the market, resulting in reseller prices slashed in half. An LLL.com you could easily sell for $8k in 2008, suddenly went for $3,500 in a public Sedo auction. Shocking! .. and worrying.
Now, the crisis is recovering and the stock markets are back where they were before the Lehman collapse and most people state that the economy is slowly getting back on it's feet. Therefore it should be natural to see that domain prices in general will rise again throughout 2011 and keep rising to reach new tops in the future.
There's been a lot of great sales in 2010 and even the "minimum" reseller prices have gained throughout the last few months. I think we're on our way up again and that we will see new investors entering the domain market, resulting in higher than ever demand for domain names. Work hard, keep developing your business and don't take anything for granted.
I wish you all a Happy New Year and a prosperous 2011 with plenty of business opportunities and portfolio growth!