There are still a number of great ways to make money in domain investing. The easy money may be no longer be so easy but there is no lack of opportunity in our industry. Here are ten reasons why I think you’re still going to be able to make money domaining.
1. There is liquidity. If you have a solid domain there are enough markets to sell through. Whether it be Sedo, Afternic, Namejet, Godaddy, Newsletters, and even the forums, there are plenty of places to move your names. They may not get you the top dollar of an end user but they still provide an opportunity to flip for profit. If you have names that don’t move in these markets you may want to take a look at the type of names that you have.
2. Others are playing the skirt. By skirt I mean alternate tlds, the outskirts. While they are trying to make money on the new and cheaper tlds, you can continue to buy the dot coms. Let them talk about how much money they are making and how the future is bright. They could be right but I’ll just stick to the dot coms and take my chances there. I KNOW the future is bright with these
3. There is still no rhyme or reason to half the names that sell on the weekly top sales report: Today and for the forseable future, people need domains to sell or market their company. The domains that they buy for these uses are all over the board and if you have a short, catchy, brand able, dot com you always have a chance to sell it.
4. Everyone knows something about something and you can still monetize that information through domains. I don’t care who you are, there is something you know a lot about. It may be washing cats but there are people out there that are looking for info on how to wash a cat. There may be on one thousands of a perfect of people that care about your love but multiply that time a few billion and you still have an audience. I’m pretty sure you will rise quickly to the top of Google for a small niche. The CPC isn’t real high on washing cats but you’ll make something.
5. The economy is picking up and people are feeling more comfortable about their future and are spending a little more.
6. Negative people see the added buyers recently as competition to buy new names, I see them as new buyers to help me sell names
7. Marketing budgets of large companies are increasing and $5K is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of an overall campaign
8. Auction houses still take credit cards. As long as people can put names on credit newbies will continue to overspend
9. China is just starting to invest in domains. Its not just numerics. Just looking at the names with the top number of bids and you’ll see that the Asian community is participating heavily in the auction game.
10. Godaddy and Namejet are thriving. If they are thriving, the future looks good.
Shane, great observations. I agree wholeheartedly, especially with #9. I’ve seen an increasing amount of traffic from China in the past 12 months or so.
9. China is just starting to invest in domains?
good points Shane – also lots of ways to “climb that mountain”.
I like your point “There is liquidity. If you have names that don’t move in these markets you may want to take a look at the type of names that you have.”
Ouch! But so true, haha! Guess I’ll be dropping a few of my names.
Cheers,
Jim
Great points, Shane. Yes, I’ve had my eye on China for some time now and my oldest son Ryan is learning Chinese and heading to Bejiing in August for 6 months. I told him to figure out how to buy and sell domains in China!
Also the point about liquidity, my take domainers think their sites are worth 10 times more than they are, buyers think they are 10 times less.
Don