As a domainer I’m picking up domains every week. Unfortunately I buy more names than I sell but that’s a post for another day. As I’m awarded a name there are three things I try to immediately do. One, I pay for it. I like to make sure that once I’ve agreed to buy a domain I get the payment out right away in case the seller changes their mind. If I win it at auction (much more often) it’s automatically withdrawn so I don’t have to worry about this. Two, I put it in my log. Where is it registered, how much did I pay, and when does it expire. The last thing I do is get it on a parking program. Not so much to earn money but mainly to see the traffic.
This sound easy enough but guess what? I frickin’ never do it. I use the “I’ll do it tomorrow” excuse way too often and my domains get lost in the shuffle. I don’t log them, I don’t change the DNS and they just sit there. I spend a grand on a domain and it just sits there. A great businessman huh? My wife and I discuss whether we should spend $100 on an item and there I am with a thousand dollars just collecting dust. I know I’m not the only one. Hell I’m still making money on domains that I sold years ago because they’ve never changed the DNS. I’ll go to a site and land on a parking page for Sedo and see that the domain is owned by a parking competitor. I guarantee they are not parking the domain on Sedo, they are just being lazy……like me.
When you get a lot of domains it takes organization to keep them all in check. I concentrate on the expiration. I am more concerned that everything is paid up that whether it is actually paying. But as of today, no more abandoned domains. I’m filtering through 50 a night and in a few weeks I’ll have checked, logged, and changed all my domains to be directed where I want them to. I’ll finally be able to check traffic for all my domains and then start to decide which ones to develop or throw over to Rob at Epik. Traffic is king but if you don’t track it you’ll never know if you have any. Will I make more money? Probably not, but I guarantee you you’ll have a better chance if you actually park it in your account vs the parking page of person/company you bought it from.