– Ready to make some money off some domain names? – Yes. All the money. – We’re gonna show you how. Here on The Journey.
– Buying and selling domain names, for a lot of people, is this really exciting adventure that’s like finding some hidden pirate treasure or winning the Powerball. – Yeah, there are so many stories of people that have purchased a domain name for like eight bucks years ago and now selling ’em for millions of dollars. So for those of you that are a little bit more adventurous you’re probably asking, well how could I get started? – Yeah, and here’s five tried and true tips to help you sell domain names for a profit.
– The first step to selling domain names for profit is to narrow your focus.
Now what that means is, there are already millions of domain names out there. Purchased already with endless combinations of extensions like .app, .club, .wtf.
– We’ve actually done a video on domain names and you can check that out right up here. And be sure whenever you’re starting your search, start with an industry or a field that you’re really familiar with. Because if you know that that domain name is gonna be valuable to them, then it’s a lot more likely to sell. – Right and you can even lookup keywords using things like Keyword Planner or Google Trends to see what might actually be popular and what isn’t. – But here’s what you shouldn’t do.
You shouldn’t start, you know, targeting prospective buyers based on their perceived economic status right? You think that they make a lot of money so, hey, of course, they’re gonna buy this domain name. – They’re gonna buy all the things. – Yeah. – We’ll say a lawyer for example.
Lawyers make big bucks right? So we’re like, cool, let’s buy a bunch of domains and try to sell to lawyers.
– But in reality, you don’t know anything about lawyers. – Yeah, you don’t even know if they can actually use those domain names so you might’ve spent tons of money buying all sorts of different endings and extensions only to find out they don’t even care about it ’cause they can’t use it. – So make sure you understand your audience and eventually the sales will follow.
You can even keep a domain name for 10 years and still sell it at a considerable profit. – Yeah, and I know what a lot of people do is they’ll create either, like, mini web pages or use services like say CashParking. They basically put ads on their web sites so they generate a little bit of income while they’re holding on to that domain name for those prospective buyers. – Yeah, and you can even add in some SEO so that way it really justifies that cost to the buyer.
– Yep, they can see the traffic’s already coming in so that’s just less work that they have to do and it’s easy for you to sell it.
– The second step is to find domain names that actually offer some real value to those potential customers. So, you’ve already figured out the industry that you’re really familiar with. Now put yourself in their shoes, if you were actually looking for a domain name, and you worked in that industry, what domain name would you want and which one would be valuable to you? – Yeah. So let’s say we’re in real estate.
I have a pretty good example of someone who bought the domain name tempeapartments.com for $200. That is dirt cheap when you really understand the industry and Tempe. There is a pretty prominent college, Arizona State University, go Sun Devils, but there’s a high turnover with all the college students so people are constantly going to tempeapartments.com.
– So ask yourself a couple of questions, kind of help you navigate that. So the first question could be how much of a profit are these prospective customers gonna be making right? For Tempe Apartments how much does rent cost right? What kind of money are they gonna be bringing in? And the second question to ask yourself is really, would you buy this if you were working in that industry?
And then again, you know, look at some other domain names that people are currently using in that industry. So, you know, other apartment locators or tenants, What are they using? – Yeah. What do those domain names look like? Are they just awful and terribly long because you could potentially leverage that.
A couple of other things to ask yourself is what are they spending on advertising with that industry? Now, real estate is pretty competitive so advertising’s gonna be just as competitive so those budgets are pretty high. Then lastly, does this domain name sound authoritative in this field. So Tempe Apartments is a pretty great domain name, it sounds authoritative, it sounds like it’s a trusted source. So with the domain names you’re looking for, is it a trusted source and would you do business with it?
So the third question to ask yourself when buying and selling domains for a profit is, is it available right? You don’t want to go through all the trouble of doing some research, looking at keywords, just to figure out that these domain names aren’t even available. – Yeah, and if the domain name that you want is already taken, which a lot of them will be, head over to the after market so that way you can buy it from people who either, already own the name or, maybe, if it’s expired, and they don’t plan on using it anymore.
– Yeah. There are a couple of great aftermarket locations like GoDaddy Auctions is one of the largest.
There’s also afternic.com and then sedo.com that you can use to see if these domains are listed elsewhere, and potentially buy it at a premium cost, but if there’s that return on investment, it’s worth it. – The next step is to evaluate the price. So you already have your domain name that you want in mind, how do you know that it’s a fair price though?
– Right. So domain name buying and selling are pretty relative. What might be worth something to me is worth, maybe, nothing or everything to you. But there are a couple of free tools that you can use to help you just evaluate the price.
Starting with GoDaddy’s domain value appraisal.
Now, this is a free tool to give you, basically, a rough estimate of what this domain name is worth. And then, on that page, it’s gonna give you a couple of other free things too. It’ll show you a couple of dominions that have already sold, related to the domain that you searched, and what they sold for. It’ll give you other extensions that are available, and then other possible domain names that you can purchase, based on whatever you searched for. And that’s a free tool and we’ll have the link in the description below.
– Now, keep in mind, if a domain name is in the after market, they’re probably looking to make money off it, just like you are, so keep that in mind.
Do your research, and make sure that it’s really gonna be worth that investment for you. – Yeah. And these people are just like you too. So there are services like domain brokers out there that you can use, that’ll contact whoever is selling that domain name, and try to make a deal.
Maybe that’s been sitting out there for a few years, and they might sell it cheaper just to get it off their plate. And they’re still making that profit, and you can market it for a little bit less money. – Finally, our last tip is to get your domain name front and center.
So there are a lot of different ways that you can get your domain name out in front of the buying public. So here are some things you’ll wanna consider though.
– Yeah. Starting off with is that venue, or basically, the place you’re buying and selling that domain name, trusted? So buying and selling domains can be scary right? You send money out and you wait for the domain to transfer, sometimes that process isn’t immediate. So you really want to go with a trusted source that you know that’s gonna hold that money until that domain hits.
Because as a buyer or a seller, you wanna make sure the transaction goes through.
– Yeah. So for example, afternic would be a really great, trusted source for that. And the second thing you should consider is, is the distribution network strong? – Yeah.
Going with the afternic example, it basically lists you if front of millions of potential customers every day right? So whatever you go with, whether it’s Afternic or Sedo, or any of the other domain auctions out there, make sure that your domain will actually be seen. The good thing about afternic is, not only does it, basically put your domain name on afternic.com, but it also lists you on a hundred other websites. Basically, it’s just an easier chance for your domain name to be seen by that perfect customer.
– Now it’s important to remember that there’s always gonna be a learning curve when it comes to, you know, buying and selling domain names for a profit. So don’t be afraid to ask some questions, do some research. – Yeah. There’s all sorts of forums out there, such as namepros, so you can go and ask some questions. There’s the GoDaddy auctions team or after-market team that you could call and ask questions.
Just use your resources, keep up with those industry trends, and make sure that you’re investing your money in something that will actually make sense in the long term. All right. That’s how you buy and sell dominions for a profit. Make sure you like this video and hey, share it with a friend that might wanna buy and sell domains too. – Yeah.
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This is The Journey. Thanks for joining us..
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