Is Buying Domain Names A Good Investment

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Godaddy Is Not The Only Kingpin When It Comes To Domain Registration

The Basics of Domain Name Investing!

Indeed, GoDaddy is perhaps the cheapest and biggest domain registrar in the world of domain flipping so much so that people use the term GoDaddy with domain registrar interchangeably. This is because they run massive marketing and advertising campaigns that pique the interest of buyers.

However, GoDaddy is not the only kingpin when it comes to the domain registration business. There are many other great places for buying domains with excellent customer service and security support like Namecheap, Domain.com, Name.com, etc.

Make Sure Theyre Compatible With Ssl Certificates

Some registrars dazzle you with rock-bottom prices for domain names that turn out to be incompatible with SSL certificates. In the moment, you might be so caught up in the great deal youre supposedly getting that you ignore the fact that youll never be able to install an SSL certificate on your website.

This would be a very bad idea.

Why?

SSL certificates encrypt data that passes between your websites server and your visitors browsers. This includes sensitive data like credit card information.

SSL certificates also give your website a boost in other ways:

  • They make your visitors feel more secure
  • Your website look more legitimate
  • They increase your search engine ranking
  • They keep your visitors anti-virus software from telling them how suspicious your website looks

So, avoid cheap domain names that you cant protect with an SSL certificate.

Factors Affecting The Profitability:

Well, acquiring domains that are driven by keywords aids a lot in shooting up the SEO factor, with minimal investment in digital marketing. These days, companies are also after buying expired domains.

What most organizations usually plan is to buy a domain, use it for some time and sell it out after getting its value increased. Initially, this might be very profitable. But the same formula doesnt always work well.

So, lets check out the factors that affect the profitability of buying domain names.

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Premium Domain Names Help Build Status And Trust

Domain investors with solid portfolios consisting of premium domain names build an improved status. These domain assets of premium quality can be demoed to potential buyers, as a solid indication of success in the field. Buyers often become repeat customers by perusing the domain portfolios past that initial acquisition. In this way, the domain investors gain the trust of their peers and customers, repeating these domain investment feats to further elevate their status.

Complete The Domain Registration

Build Credibility by Choosing a Good Domain Name

As soon as you have completed the payment, youll be redirected to the control panel. Inside, there will be a setup box that youll need to fill out to complete the domain name registration.

Youll need to fill in all the fields with the correct details, such as your name, address, andcontact information. This data will be stored on WHOIS, the official domain ownership database.

After submitting your details, the domain registration will be processed.

Its possible to modify the domain ownership details using the domain management section within the control panel. Once the changes are made, you will have to confirm them via email.

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Consider Turning Your Domain Into A Profitable Website

Sometimes you might come across a domain that is a great option to build a profitable website on and instead of flipping it, you can choose to build a business out of it.

Whether your goal is to start a blog, build an e-commerce business, or grow various other types of websites, its important to remember that its okay to NOT flip a domain just because it may be profitable. You may have the possibility of making significantly more money by keeping the domain and growing a business with it. Once your business and website have grown, then you could consider selling it to cash in on your efforts.

The Beginners Guide To Domain Name Investing

A domain name is worth whatever amount someone is willing to pay. While most domains sell between $2,000 to $20,000, premium domains, category killers, and short domains can easily command $100,000+.

Here are the top 10 domain name sales of all time.

1. Sex.com $13,000,0009. Toys.com $5,100,00010. Clothes.com $4,900,000

*Other expensive domain names not listed by DNJournal :

Insurance.com $35,600,000Business.com $7,000,000Beer.com $7,000,000

20 years ago nameslike these were bought for only a few $100 in the aftermarket, and the cost for registering them directly $60! For example, in 1996 Domain Name King Rick Schwartz picked up eBet.com for $100, held on, and sold it in 2013 for a whopping $1,350,000.

The good news is, you dont need millions of dollars to purchase a valuable domain name. Like any inefficient market, there are a lot of great deals out there where people dont see the value, need money, and sell.

At this point, I bet one or two of you are going to stop reading, jump on eBay, and try to begin amassing your millions.

Before you do

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An Investment For The Long Term

Like a library full of hardcover books, your premium domain has a lasting value that stands up on its on. When investing in a premium domain name, even though it may have a higher price, the resale value will be higher than a domain that no other business will be interested in.

As your business builds search equity and traffic for the premium domain name, its value increases with it. If you later decide to sell your business or pivot into a different market and no longer need your premium domain name, it becomes a saleable asset that can help you come out with capital for your next business idea.

How To Invest In Domain Names

What Is Domain Investing? Why You Should Invest in Domains

Learning how to make money as a domainer is not something that can be covered comprehensively in a paragraph or two let alone an article or two but a few quick things to keep in mind is that you should stick with niches that you know and that you should really do your homework before making any big purchases.

If you have specialized knowledge about football or knitting or IRAs then you like have an advantage over others without your specialized knowledge when it comes to spotting valuable domain names in that niche.

Sure, it only costs $7 $10 to hand register a domain name but before you ever decide to make any kind of sizable monetary investment into a domain name then you should do your homework by first reading things like the 25 rules for choosing a good domain name so that you can understand some of the criteria for evaluating what makes a domain name valuable and even more importantly learn some of the mistakes to avoid .

Domain name investing is not for everyone but if I can tell you from personal experience that investing in domain names is a potentially very profitable and rewarding experience and if you have somewhat of a nerdy streak like me then it can also be quite a bit of fun!

What questions do you have about domain name investing?

BONUS #1: 10 of the Most Expensive Domain Names Ever Sold

  • Sex.com $14,000,000
  • Thanks! Joel

    Passive Income X Factor Starting A Website That Makes Money

    Filed Under: Investments

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    What Makes A Domain Name ‘good’ And Valuable

    Domains that are shorter in length and contain complete words are likely to be sold for much higher amount.

    A domain name like myclothesshop.com would sell better than myclothes-shop.com.

    TLDs are the extensions at the end of the domain name. Most popular ones include:

    • .Com
    • .Net
    • .Org

    .com TLDs have higher value as compared to other TLDs, but it doesnt mean that you should ignore others completely.

    The King Of Buy And Hold Rick Schwartz

    No discussion of Buy and Hold would be complete without some mention of the sales generated by Rick Schwartz over the years.

    Here are a few to get your juices flowing:

    • 989.com sold for $818k, registered for $100 in 1997
    • 899.com sold for $801k, registered for $100 in 1997
    • Men.com sold for $1.32 mill, acquired for $15k in 1997
    • eBet.com sold for $1.35 mill, registered for $100 in 1997
    • 9595.com sold for $180k, registered for $100 in 1998
    • Property.com/Properties.com sold for $4mill + equity, acquired for $750k in 2005
    • Candy.com $3 mill + Royalties + 10% Ownership, acquired for about $100k in 2005

    When executed successfully the buy and hold strategy can result in a cascade of life-changing income and profits.

    However, the buy-and-hold strategy isnt for everyone. It requires an immense level of patience and the unique ability to turn down lucrative offers even after years of waiting.

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    Listing Domain For Sale

    List Domain for sale on GoDaddyfor free

    After you click on Manage as in the above image, you can proceed to list your domain for sale. In the below image, see the highlighted box where you can click on list for sale.

    After clicking on List for Sale, you will see the screen as shown below. This is to set your price. The website will suggest you an estimated price. But you are free to set a much higher price. In the below example, I am setting my sale price at $7500 When I checked last, listing price has to be in Dollars and not INR. But this may change in the future.

    In the next screen, you can select Enable for sale landing page.. option and click on Publish Listing. Its that simple!!

    Note : There are few extensions like .in for example which cannot be listed for sale immediately after you buy. You may have to wait for 2-3 months before listing as per existing policies.

    List domain for sale on Afternicfor free

    Afternic has a tie up with most of the top registrars and it is owned by GoDaddy. Together with GoDaddy, they represent the largest network for reselling domains which can only boost your chances of sales. After listing the domains for sale on GoDaddy, you will be given an option to link your GoDaddy account with Afternic for free along with your bank account . That way the sale proceeds can be transferred to your bank account without delays.

    If you see the image above, I am pointing out the 3 types of prices you can set on Afternic. Lets see what they are

    You Might Get Someone’s Dirty Laundry

    How to Negotiate When Buying or Selling Domain Names

    It’s ranking high today! What could be the problem? NO. JUST STOP. Unless you know the entire history of a domain, you may be setting yourself up for failure before you begin. SEOs use a variety of tactics to get a site ranking high in search results. For some of these methods, we’ll just call them “questionable”. These methods could include everything from buying links, overuse of directory submissions , duplicate listings, poor quality backlinks, and guest blog comments.

    With a domain of this type, it could be very easy to get it to rank quickly, before the powers that be see the domain for what it is, and put it on the blacklist. While that study is being done, you could end up with a domain that has a lot of problems coming down the pipeline that you are completely unaware of.

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    Reasons To Invest In Domains

    In 2009, an investor sold insure.com for $16 million a transaction that put the power of domain name investment solidly on the map.

    Since then, the value of domain names has increased, with the worlds most expensive publically reported name weighing in at a value of $49.7 million. And although domains like insure or car insurance are at the extreme end of the scale, a wealth of domains sell for hundreds of dollars every single day.

    Still pondering whether you should invest in domains? Lets look at seven essential reasons to invest in domain names.

  • Free from tax and insurance.
  • Cost-effectiveness.
  • The benefits of investing in domains are quantifiable. Lets dive in!

    Domain Flipping Takes Time To Learn

    Just like any other field of business, you need relevant experience to become a successful domain flipper. Buying domain names and then selling them at a higher rate is not a piece of cake. You need to stay under the radar for at least a year and learn everything related to domain flipping before you can start selling domains for a profit.

    In the beginning, you will make several major blunders like losing money over useless domain names, missing prospective deals and much more but slowly, you will get the hang of it. The road to flipping domains for sums is not easy you need to climb a steep learning curve before you can become a pro.

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    How Profitable Is Buying And Selling Domain Names

    If you are already into domain flipping or you want to jump into this business, this question may have come to your mind a lot of times.

    Rather, I would suggest you to ask this question if you dont.

    Because it would help you understand how to really make $100,000 flipping domains and help you make a clear idea about how much money you can actually expect to earn if you jump into this domain flipping business.

    This article would help you get an idea.

    Buying and selling domain names is certainly a powerful and profitable business model. But the question is how profitable it really is.

    To find a satisfactory answer to this question, I am going to make a list of some of the most expensive domain name sales ever. The amount of profit the owners of these wonderful domains made was truly unimaginable.

    Why? Because they could probably never have thought about selling the domains at such an expensive rate when they bought the domains.

    Below are Some of Those Expensive Domains

    This is a list of some of the highest prices paid for domain names as noted in the news and media. However, this list is limited to only domains that were sold for more than $3 million. But the list doesnt end here.

    The reason of showing you some of these expensive domain sales is only to make you realize how profitable it can be if you get the ownership of some good quality domains. The rest depends on how you promote the domains.

    But you dont really need to think about that.

    The idea is simple.

    Things To Consider When You Buy Cheap Domain Names

    Investing in Domain Names: How Much Can You Make?

    There are some things you should never buy cheap: jet fuel, legal advice, and drastic haircuts, for example. But what about domain names? Registering your domain name is the first step towards having a website, and some domains sell for a shocking amount of money. So, does that mean cheap domain names arent any good?

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    Use Different Sales Strategies

    You can apply many strategies when it comes to flipping domains successfully. The three most common strategies are set price, auction, and make an offer.

    • You can set a particular price for domain names you have to offer when you are not in a rush to sell them. Those who have a huge portfolio usually adopt this strategy.
    • GoDaddy and Namecheap follow the auction strategy and you can too. Sell your domain to the buyer with the highest bid.
    • When you have a niche domain, you can make offers to various prospective buyers who may be interested in buying.

    Another point of concern is to flip websites and not domains only. This is because many times a domain is worth far more with an established website than on its own. Building a website has great potential because it has SEO value, potential and much more to offer to its prospective buyer.

    Is The Gold Rush Over

    In the late 90s and early 2000s, the domain name gold rush was in full swing. Names like loans.com sold for millions of dollars. This heated atmosphere of deals made some believe that investing in domain names was an easy way to make money.

    In some ways, the party never ended. Top quality domains will be valuable as long as the Internet is used. Z.com sold for nearly $7 million in 2014, and a few adult oriented domains recently sold for $9 million or more. Other focused domains continue to sell for six figures and will continue to do so.

    Yet there are also headwinds. The rise of apps means that people often do not type in domain names to access the services they love. Detached from web browsers, mobile users increasingly find information through links on social networks, making a catchy domain less important than a great app. Moreover, the proliferation of many domain name extensions means that it is easier than ever before to choose an acceptable name. At first, there were only 7 top-level domain extensions, the most popular among them being .com, .org, and .net. Today, these guys are not the only game in town. Today, there are 1,096 top level domains, including .book, .sports, .download, .xyz, and more.

    What this will mean for the market long term is still unclear. On the one hand, there is now a vast new pool of investable assets. On the other, it is now much easier for a company or user to find an alternative domain, instead of just buying yours.

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    Does Your Domain Name Sound Like Something Else

    Perhaps one of the more amusing problems you may have when choosing a domain name is its likeness to another word or domain.

    Ensuring your domain name is as unique as possible contributes to brand recognition. Remember our plumber example?

    What if Mr. Marriati were to go into business with Mr. Marshall. Would M& M Plumbing have strong brand recognition?

    Not only should you double check your brand recognition, but you should also check for similar spellings that arent for sale.

    Take this for example. We had a very sweet client come in for a quote on a website design. Their domain name was one letter off from an adult entertainment website.

    Out loud, there was no noticeable difference between their name and the other website. A user would only know to add the extra letter if they saw the URL written down.

    Finally, try saying the name aloud a few times. Write it down and ask others to read it aloud too. You might catch some slip of the tongue that you never heard before.

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