My Best 50 Names….Actually 53

7 Replies to “My Best 50 Names….Actually 53”

1. Hi Shane,

   Thanks for posting your domains and you have a nice list. My favs are uncomfortable.com, blowtorch.com, seed house.com and the one i like the most is fazzy.com. I don’t know why, but I like the sound of it.

   Paul

2. Shane, thanks for sharing. Some good names there. I like TheBig Island.com. I’m surprised you own an XYZ.

   1. Thanks Paul

      Tom,
      I loved the way 543.xyz rolled off the tongue. It still comes down to branding and that would be easy IMO. I bought several more NNN.xyz. Should have sold them when I had four figure offers

3. .
   I noticed you CamelCased “Blowtorch” as 2 words .. and while I’ve seen it as both one and two words online .. to me this is a one word domain .. in fact .. aside from Botany, I’d say Blowtorch is my fave on this list. I also really like Ethical more as a potential brand in Finance or Insurance .. could be a significant return for you on that if you get a bite from those industries.
   .
   Also .. You need to take Uncomfortable off your list .. it’s not for sale .. lol .. you bought that as an end user and you need to start developing it! 😉
   .
   Finally .. I know in your own brain and for your personal accounting purposes you say you’ve never invested a cent into domains (which understandably makes sense from your perspective) .. but the reality isn’t quite that. From a purely domainer’s perspective, you’ve invested money from two large non-domain businesses:
   1- Your old blog (from my understanding sold mainly for the content as opposed to the domain)
   2- Revenue from this blog is still non-domain money.
   .
   I don’t mean that you shouldn’t do your accounting that way (because I’d almost definitely do it the same way). But for the rest of us domainers .. it’s not a usable/real comparison .. essentially you did have startup capital you put into your domain portfolio (I seem to recall you mentioning the amount on Sherpa or DNJ, but I won’t say the amount just in case). Then you’re also infusing blog revenue (that other domainers don’t have) into your portfolio (another significant sum I won’t mentioned that you have openly shared in the past).
   .
   As someone who goes through the expiration lists myself, I can attest that your blog most certainly does take considerable time, effort and work .. add in all the writing and commenting, and it’s a significant undertaking to have been doing it for a decade (+/-). As such it isn’t just something to be counted as nothing when talking about your domain acquisition costs. From the 99.9% of domainers (who don’t have blog revenue) perspective, adding blog revenue isn’t an accurate comparison.
   .
   All that said .. the evolution of your names/portfolio and your progressive upgrading in quality (and quantity of liquid) domains over time are a really good example of how to realistically grow and succeed as a domainer. Particularly as someone still doing it relatively part time while running at least 3 other businesses (Nursery, Snow Removal .. and your blog that I consider separate from your actual portfolio work .. especially since now you’re at the point where you’re not really going through the lists to buy anything that you wouldn’t otherwise have found in a quick 5 minutes of daily list scanning).
   .
   I think that more than anything else is what makes you the best and most realistic role model in the industry. Most new domainers don’t (and shouldn’t) start off domaining full time. Domaining is a really unstable business/industry with a lot of fluctuations and potential pitfalls .. most new domainers don’t make it past one expiration cycle .. and the vast majority not past the second year. Of all the words of wisdom and advice you’ve shared over the years I think the best is that people should start slow with what they can afford and that they should upgrade over time.
   .
   I actually think the biggest pitfall in domaining is trying to take after Drew (Media Options) or Frank Schilling (Uniregistry) and all the other big names. Those guys have the infrastructure, Rolodex and personal network in place to really amplify sales both in terms of prices and in quantity/volume. I most certainly don’t mean that in a way to discount their achievements .. they did not get to where they are by luck .. it was hard work .. but after being in the industry as a small potato for just over a year and half now, I think what hurt me the most as a new domainer was listening to old episodes of Domain Sherpa, and hearing Frank sharing sales of good domains at insanely high multiples .. but multiples that I now understand he only gets at workable/profitable volume because of his infrastructure. As such new domainers really shouldn’t look to the big boys as role models (or at least not in terms of the type of domain purchases people should be doing initially when starting in the domain industry) .. instead they should be looking to those successfully doing it part-time who don’t have dedicated assistants/staff or costly APIs/Bots. Guys like you guys at DSAD (well .. maybe not Josh unless you have an iron stomach .. lol) or others who regularly share their sales at NP. Add to that Travis’ really helpful recap of each day’s auction prices.
   .
   The only unfortunate problem with that .. is that most new domainers don’t find DSAD BEFORE they start putting money into domaining .. lol. There are very few domainers who are both as transparent as you and who also share as much as you do. It truly is an ideal source of information for the 99% of real world human domainers. So on behalf of all of us human domainers .. thanks to you, Travis, Josh/Ike and Aaron (he hasn’t been gone long enough not to be included here)! 🙂

4. Shane,
   I looked through your list three times and could not find runner.com? Now I am in Ireland and we have been pub hopping all day so I could have missed it but I don’t think so. I personally think you have a very good port but IMO runner.com is your best one.
   Cheers

5. Thank you for sharing Shane! This is helpful for newbies to see what the vets like yourself are seeing as valuable domains. Thank you again.

6. I think Ethical.com is by far the best. Could easily see it selling for six figures or more to an ethical investing or funds company, or even some ethical crypto or blockchain project. Thanks for sharing!