How to Successfully Invest in Domain Names

The domain industry is increasingly more competitive and more people are becoming aware of its financial potentials. Huge corporations and professional investors are stacking their claims on these online assets. They have turned the once basic name exchange into a highly profitable industry.

Due to the more challenging condition, domain investors need to take their activity one step further to give continued profitability and success. These are a few things you should consider to become a highly successful domain name investor.

Use Forums:

The role of domaining forums in the industry is essential for professionals and beginners alike. Whether you’re seeking for answer to your questions or looking for an honest opinion on appraisal, people in the forum may help you 24/7, because they come from different countries, cultures and time zones.

The constant stream of information can steadily shape newbies into seasoned professionals. If you’re investing in domain names and currently isn’t a member of any forum, you should consider joining one today.

Determine the Duration of Investment:

Are you buying domain names to grab quick profits or are you aiming for sizable long-term profit. Regardless of what investing style you choose, you should have a solid game plan to improve the effectiveness of your investments. It’s reasonably acceptable to invest on numerous domain names, but you should narrow down your objectives.

It takes time for your domain names to mature and increase their values; however with proper planning and plenty of patience, the payoffs are often huge. Some investors purchase domain names in bulk, this is an appropriate approach if you’re looking for quick sales. However you should evaluate your domain names list to see whether there are a few interesting domain names. If possible, assign them as parts of your long-term domain names, and sell the rest for quick sales.

Prioritize on Quality:

Some new domainers boast domain portfolios of more than 1000 names, however after they consult to professionals, to their surprise more than ninety percent of those domains worth slightly more than five dollar or so. Many newbies in this industry often assume that any domain name that contains high paying keywords such as debt, insurance, finance and gamble, automatically make the domain super valuable.

They don’t take into account, things that can significantly deflate the value of domain names such as excessive use of hyphens and typos. Buying a domain name is like buying a house; you should check the roof and plumbing carefully to ensure good investment value. If you buy in bulk, check it and make sure you won’t pay for a pile of trash, it is better to own 10 high quality domains than 100 terrible ones. Be proud of the quality of your portfolio, not the quantity.

Know Your Representative:

You’ll be amazed on how many people in this industry who don’t have a clue who their representatives are. Popular domain powerhouses in this industry are Go Daddy, Moniker and Sedo. Representatives from these companies can assist members to use available services and provide hands down the easiest and quickest method to get a problem resolved.

Those who have domains offered for sale or parked should know their representatives, by calling the technical support or sending an email. Maintaining a courteous and professional relationship with reps is essential for the success in the domain industry. It is easier to ask for help from people whom you know best than asking a complete stranger.

Watch for Trademark Infringements:

Time and time again, a domainer unexpectedly is forced to struggle with trademark infringements due to poor decisions. Staying clear of trademark infringements should be no-brainer.  Despite how good a domain may seem, if it infringes on others’ brands and trademark, it is not quality. To steer clear of legal woes, always contact a lawyer before choosing a domain.

Use Auto-Renew Feature:

After streamlining your portfolio by choosing only quality, legally acceptable domains, you shouldn’t lose any of them by allowing these domain to expire. Someone will be more than happy to buy your lovely internet real estate. You should do yourself a favor by using auto-renew features.

It would be terrible to see someone scoops up your prized domains because you couldn’t find the time or forgot to register domains that are about to get expired.

Limit the Hand Regs:

Hand registrations or hand eggs are domains that are bought from public sources that are expired or brand new. Go Daddy is the primary source for hand regs and it is very popular among investors in the domain name business. It can be exciting to stumble along unregistered domains, because they can potentially give wonderful values to investors. But unfortunately, most hand regs are poorly researched and based only on impulse purchasing that can fill your portfolio with low quality domains.

You should distinguish yourself as experienced investors in the domain business by limiting the number of hand regs in your portfolio. It is a good idea to wait for at least one day to evaluate your choice. Of course, you may lose a few domains every so often by waiting before buying, but eventually you save plenty on unnecessary registration fee by avoiding useless domain names.

Stay Informed with Latest Development:

Successful investors are always well informed to the latest developments in the domain industry. The pulse of this business is always evolving and it is essential for investors to be well aware of trend and potential opportunities created within the industry, investors should stay current with latest update on investment climate. You should regularly monitor domain sales offered in websites that are geared toward domain sales transactions.

Many of these websites offer information on most popular domain categories, news and articles. You should know what domain categories are selling, how much they’re bought for and why people are buying them. Investments also require time and by being patient you can reap huge rewards. Accurate prediction on future trends is priceless.

Blog Around:

Blogs on domain investing are sprouting up these days with investors in domain business are eager to share their tips, setbacks and lessons learned. You should take advantage of useful and information by visiting or subscribing to the RSS of domain investing websites.

Use Alternative TLD Extensions:

While some investors argue that only .com domains worth buying, it’s absolutely insane to dismiss other TLD’s and favor only dot coms.

Extensions like .mobi and .tv are getting more popular and they will play more important part in domain marketplace. Some domains with generic keywords and alternative TLD extensions are highly sought after. Take time to familiarize yourself with popular TLD’s and make sure your next purchases is evaluated based on global niche.

Consider Sharing Domain Ownership:

You may join forces with other investors you trust and share the ownership of a premium domain. The domain is owned by a group of people and it is a good way for newcomers to get a foretaste of the domain business. This will allow them to understand the inner working of domain investing without being subjected to a significant amount of risk.

Optimize Parked Pages:

After buying a domain name, it is up to you whether you’ll set up a fully functional website or whether you’ll only “park”it.  A working website allows you to use targeted content and set up ads to get some revenue. Eventually, you can sell the domain and the website as a single package at a higher price. However, if you don’t have the time to build one, you can simply set up a parked page and put some ads.

Sedo is a very popular service for domain parking and it allows users to get a steady stream of income with little effort. Each time a visitor clicks the ads, the revenue is shared between Sedo and you as the domain owner.

Update Whois Information Regularly:

Whois is a directory or database of information related to domain names, including purchase date, expiration date and owner’s contact information. Using this information, people can contact domain owners and make an inquiry about the possibility of purchasing the domain.

A whois database with inaccurate information will make it more difficult for potential buyers to reach you. If your contact information changes, you should call the registrar to make necessary adjustments. You can also ask brokers to sell your domains and let them deal with the marketing tasks and the actual transaction process; this will allow you to keep your contact information private.

Contact End Users:

If your domain name is considered gold in this business, then it is a good idea to contact end users directly, to maximize your profits. End users are those who use the domain for their websites and have no intention to resell it. If you want maximize your profit, you should avoid selling your domains to other domainers and try targeting end users more.