Chapter 1:
Domain Flipping
An Overview
Buying and selling domain names can be an exceptionally lucrative
venture to get into, however, if you are starting off with very little cash
flow, it's always best to purchase lower-cost domains and generate
small profits as you work your way up to larger flips.
I have sold hundreds of domain names that I secured from
marketplaces like eBay and resold on marketplaces like
NamePros.com or DNForum.com.
While the marketplaces where domain sales are most lucrative will
change from that of website flipping, the game remains the same
with your focus being on locating and purchasing low-cost domains
and flipping them for a higher price.
One of the great aspects of domain flipping is that the efforts
required are minimal. No longer must you locate or integrate
content, tweak website pages, outsource tasks, or transfer websites.
All you need to do is find memorable, appealing domain names in
niche markets and sell them to buyers, eager to create their own
website on this domain.
Furthermore, the risks are quite low as are the investment costs, and
once you have set up your system so that you are generating daily
profits, it will require no more than one hour a day to keep the cash
flow going.
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Many of my partners, students and friends are earning $500 -
$2,500 per week from flipping low cost domain names, while others
have gone to secure high value domain names that are generating
them revenue even before they are resold.
It's not a difficult business to get into, if you follow my simple guide
to buying and selling domain names.
To start, you will want to create accounts at the following places,
where you can both buy and sell domain names:
www.NamePros.com
www.DNForum.com
www.Ebay.com
www.SitePoint.com
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Chapter 2:
How to Choose Perfect and Relevant
Domain Name?
When it comes to finding the best domain names, the easiest route
to take is in exploring the expired domain listings.
With expired domain names, it simply means that they have
previously been registered and left to expire. These are far more
appealing to buyers due to the fact that they are considered 'aged',
despite the fact that they have expired and are no longer active
domains.
I use a few different resources when locating expired domain names
that I believe to be winners, one being the free service located at
www.WSMDomains.com and
http://www.RedHotDomainNames.com
Here, you are able to access and download lengthy listings of both
expired domain names as well as domains that are about to expire.
Download lists of expired domain names each day, and run them
through a filtering script, such as the one available at:
www.alouwebdesign.ca
Another filtering tool is available at:
www.DomainPunch.com/products/domainfilter and it’s entirely free.
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What this script will do is enable you to sort through the listings of
domains by extension, as well as weed through domains that have
numbers or hyphens.
It’s quite flexible in how you can set it up to filter through these lists
for you, hands free.
Best of all, it can handle very large text based lists.
Download and install the software and check it out. You will find it
will save you an incredible amount of time and make the job easier
and more enjoyable.
When it comes to purchasing domain names for resale, you want
to stick with the top level extension, the dot com, and avoid any
domains with numbers, or other characters.
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You will also want to focus on searching for expired domain names
that are as short as possible, and with utilities such as the one
available at alouwebdesign.ca, you are able to search through your
lists by setting a maximum and minimum length, meaning that you
can sort through the domains so that only ones that are shorter will
appear.
Personally, I set the maximum length to 20 characters and of
course, the minimum to zero, so that it includes the shortest
domain names on my expired lists.
You will also need to enter in specific keywords, these are words that
when contained within any of the expired domains, will be included in
the results page after you have entered in your list and filtered through
the results.
Creating a keyword swipe file is an ongoing job, and one that you
should concentrate a lot of effort on, as the more prime keywords
you enter into the software, the better your chances of finding true
gems.
This comes down to the niche markets you cater to, and you should
take a bit of time to start creating a list of keywords in a text file that
you can copy and paste into the software.
Apart from targeted keywords, you should also consider thinking
outside the box a bit, by drumming up a list of memorable
keywords that when added to a domain can be used for branding
purposes.
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I've sold countless domain names contrived of two keywords that
really made no sense together but because of the sound, the
appeal and the brand-ability factor, they were gobbled up quickly.
Think about some of the Internet's most popular websites like
Twitter.com, Facebook.com or FeedBurner.com whose domains are
off the beaten path but definitely memorable, which is one of the best
important elements of a domain names profitability.
Take some time to get familiar with both the expired domain
websites as well as the software available to help you manage the
lists and weed through potential gems.
Once you have sorted through your lists, it's time to run the
remaining domains through a bulk domain registration tool, to
determine what domains are still available, as others
downloading these lists may have scooped up a few already.
One great resource for checking large domain lists for availability is
available at www.Moniker.com where you can enter in hundreds of
domain names and allow the software to validate whether the
domains are available or have been registered.
With Moniker, you can check up to 500 domains at once, which will
free up a lot of your time so you can continue searching for solid and
available domain names.
You can visit Monikers bulk domain registration page at:
http://www.Moniker.com/domains/batch_reg.jsp
On this page you will see the following form:
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Once you have a solid listing of available domain names, it's time to
follow the advice of many who have garnered wealth in the domain
industry for many years through proper and careful selection.
Copy and paste a portion of your domains from your list into the text
box.
Remember, it can only check 500 at a time.
Once you have entered them in, click the Search tab to send your query
off. Wait a few minutes for the results. (This can sometimes take a few
minutes, so be patient).
When checking for domain names you can choose to have Moniker
search for only dot com extensions which is what you should focus on
primarily, when you are new to domain names.
Dot com (.com) is the most popular extension and are often easier to
flip.
For other extensions, you will be required to do more in depth keyword
and traffic research so let’s stick to .com’s for now.
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Once Moniker is done searching for the domain names you have
entered in, you will see a results window where you can choose to
register them with Moniker.
Note that you are not required to register them there, you can use
whatever domain registration provider you wish, we are simply using
Monikers bulk domain checker to sort through our lengthy list to
determine availability of each domain name.
For me, I typically register a handful of domain names a day; I
never go overboard unless I happen to stumble upon a great list
or a good deal.
When you are first starting out, you should set aside $50.00 and
try to register 5 domain names to start.
Once you have begun to generate a profit and have a feel for how
domain flipping works, you can begin to take a portion of your profits
and invest it back into registering domain names.
It will not take long before you have the business paying for itself
entirely, including higher priced domain names that you will
eventually register and flip.
You can also find tons of expired domain lists on domain forums and
blogs. I have included quite a few within the Resources section at the
end of this guide, so be sure to check those out.
Whenever you download an expired list of domains, you should begin
to weed through it taking notes of the ones that appeal to you either
because they are short, memorable or based on keywords that you
have found to be in demand.
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The only problem with expired domain listings are that if you don’t
move quickly, a lot of the better domain names will be snatched up as
these lists tend to get distributed all over the Internet rather quickly.
Another obstacle when browsing through expired domain lists is the
fact that often times domain registrars such as GoDaddy.com, will
snag any domains that have existing traffic.
This means that some of the domain names on the lists will not
become available after they have expired, but instead, held by the
domain registrars for a period of 5-7 days before potentially being
dropped and made available again.
The best way to address this is to go over each lists (and as many
different lists as you can), taking notes of any domain names that
are appealing.
Write them down in a text file and every day, take a few minutes to
check whether the domains have become available to the public.
Before you do this however, you should know that there are many
domain registrars online that will literally steal your domain
research.
What this means is that when you type the domain name into your
browser to see if it’s available, or if you visit a domain registrar’s
website and enter in a domain to see its status, these companies
analyze this data and may snap up a domain you are considering.
This has been happening for many years and has recently caused
quite a stir amongst the domain community when some well-known
registrars were caught doing this.
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To avoid domain snatching, I recommend using a trusted provider,
such as www.DomainTools.com managed by Jay Westerdal.
Jay has a strict policy against domain research stealing, so you can
rest assured that if you use his service to check for domains, you
will not be exposing your considerations to someone waiting to
snatch it up.
www.Verisign.com is also another trusted provider, and despite
allegations regarding NameCheap from time to time, I have used
them for many years without any problems in having my potential
domains gobbled up or squatted on by their team.
They are also my chosen registrar due to their lower prices and
included the WHO privacy protection guard that comes free with
every domain registration.
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Chapter 3:
Values of Aged Domains
Domains that have been registered and never dropped are called
“Aged Domains”.
These domains typically sell for more than a new one does because
it has been around for awhile, it’s usually out of the Google Sandbox
and for those who are looking for aged domains, it can help them
develop an existence online, a history, or credibility in their niche
markets simply because if the domain has been around for years, it
appears that they have as well.
Aged domains can also be found on forums like DNForum.com and
simply by typing in the keywords “Aged Domains” into the search
bar you can easily locate domain auctions that include these older
domain names.
I have purchased dozens of domain names for $40 or less that were
anywhere from 5 – 10 years old. Just based on the age alone I was
able to flip these domain names for over 5x what I paid.
For instance, one domain name I purchased was never used,
meaning it had never featured a website on it, it just sat parked in
the users account for over six years.
I purchased the domain for only $30.00 and because of its age, I
was able to flip it for $379.00.
That’s quite a boost in profit from a domain I paid so little for.
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While there is no exact science as to what type of domain names will
ultimately be worth the most, apart from the obvious short and
memorable domain names, there are a few things to keep in mind:
1) Development Potential
When you analyze the available domains in your list, consider
what each domain name could represent and be used for when
creating a website presence.
An example of which is whether the domain name is one that could
represent a product title, or better serve as a personal portfolio, a
social community, a directory or perhaps a forum.
While the purpose of the domain name will unlikely match your ideas
when it is sold, thinking of a clear purpose for each domain name
will not only help you make sound choices during the selection
process but can also be included in the domain auction, as a way of
passing on the ideas to prospective buyers who are considering a purchase.
2) Length
It can not be said enough, that the length of a domain name, apart
from the odd occurrence where you locate a lengthy domain name
that still carries with it, a memorable element, most of the domain
names you purchase should be relatively short, basically consisting of
two words.