Buying and Selling Domains

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 0 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #94,139 in Business, #653,886 overall

Buying and Selling Domains: How the Business of Names Can Help You Earn Profits

Who would have thought that money could be made from names? With the advent of the Internet, industry regulars slowly realized the gold mine sitting literally under their fingertips in the form of domain names. These days, buying and selling domains has become a real business, with some highly sought-after names selling for five-digit figures. The domain name ClearDay.com, for example, reportedly sold for $60,000 while Mercury.com made a lot more -- $700,000. Think there's a market out there for your domain name? Here's how you, too, can make money from a name:

Find domains that you can sell later on. 

Generally, people who buy or 'grab' domain names don't really have industry-specific monikers in mind. If you like jewelry, for example, you don't have to stick to buying domains such as PreciousGems4U.com or SparklingJewelries.net. You can pretty much pick any name that strikes your fancy and then buy it.

However, paying for names that won't sell later will considerably drill a hole in your pocket if you're not careful. You could buy dozens of names for a small fee but if you're not going to use them or can't sell them later, what's the point of grabbing them, right?

Do a search on domains that have a potential or those that have shown some sort of following in the past few months. Use the Alexa toolbar to find these domains or sites. Look for names that have registered a minimum of 1,500 to 2,000 hits 30 to 60 days prior to your search. If you're willing to pay more, look for domains that have registered five-figure hits because that's an assurance that these domains already have a strong following. You can either sell the domains back to their former owners or have interested parties bid on them. Either way, you'll profit from your efforts.

Automatically bid on domains. 

You can't always spend hours online searching for domains to buy. Try online grabbing systems that let you automatically bid on domains you're interested in. Sites such as Pool.com and Snapnames.com are just two of these sites. You'll pay them a fee if they successfully grab the name on your behalf.

Get your domain name listed. 

Before you can sell your domain, you have to be registered. That's how you can be 'legally' recognized. Getting the name registered also bestows upon you the right to claim it and if you so wish, sell it later.

Registering a domain name may be done for a limited period of time, usually as short as 12 months to as long as 10 years. Beyond the chosen period, the registration expires and you can choose to renew it and continue to claim ownership over it. Or, you can choose not to; at which point the domain name will be made available to another buyer. This is where you can sell the domain.

Register a potentially valuable domain. 

Many people scour popular shows and events to try to find out which personalities, events or gadgets are developing a following. If you've been watching shows such as American Idol, for example, and you check out sites that register domains, you'll find a few that are familiar. This is because some people will try to register a name of some rising star who will potentially become famous enough to want to build his own website someday. Since his name is already registered, he will want to buy it back and thus earn the investor a nice profit.

If you don't mind speculating, this may be a good route to take. Just remember, though that it can go either way in which the domain name gets sold or it gets ignored.

Build traffic to your domain. 

If you want to take this route and build your domain from scratch, prepare to work. If you have a domain name that you created by yourself or bought, you need to make it valuable to potential investors. Offer high quality content, build a reputation, link up with quality sites and allow your visitors to interact using your website. Once you start appearing on major search engines' radars and gain a good following, you raise the value of your website and your domain. When the time is ripe, you can then sell that domain for a nice, fat profit.

More Business Ideas 

featured lens Creating Directories

If your goal is to earn money from Google Adsense through content or article directories, you're better off setting your sights elsewhere. Directories are not high performers when it comes to Google Adsense ads and if you expect a good stream of inco...

featured lens Creating and Selling A Product

If you take a look at every product you've ever used or heard about, you're actually looking at the manifestation of an idea. Once upon a time, it was an idea that spawned its creation from mobile phones to video games to sneakers, even the food we e...

featured lens Building Adsense Websites

Google Adsense has changed over the years but it remains as one of the most reliable and efficient ways to earn cash online. It also offers a solid method of using advertisements to earn money. Since most of the technical work is done by the company,...

featured lens Affiliate Programs

Who would have thought that revenue sharing would be so lucrative? Two decades ago, the thought of sharing sales through commissions was only restricted to traditional trade. These days, however, this concept rules one of the largest industries to ev...

featured lens Powerful Business Models

Have you ever wondered if you could have your very own profitable Internet business? Maybe you have even read some of the hype online. There are thousands of marketers on the Internet who are all competing for your attention. Sadly, many are so desp...

 

featured lens Creating and Selling Graphics

Everyday, wherever you go you will notice that you are surrounded by thousands of graphic designs. They are virtually everywhere, in malls, churches, schools, museums, theaters, and any place that you can think of even in your house. That is why grap...

featured lens Selling Advertising

Selling advertising can be your first step into monetizing your website. It will require a lot of work and some strategy but once you have it going, you can literally sit back and enjoy incoming revenues. The trick is to ensure that you design your b...

featured lens Building a Membership Site

For years or even decades the Internet has been a source of unlimited resources for business opportunities. A lot of individuals saw the possibilities of what the Internet could bring and they have effectively harnessed that to build successful busin...

featured lens Creating 'How To' Info Products

There are a lot of ways to generate both money and traffic online. And if these are the two things you want for your online business, there is only one effective way to have it - and that's by creating 'how to' info products. 'How to' info products a...

featured lens Developing Web Pages for Local Businesses

Web development is a broad terminology for several activities connected to creating a Web site for the Internet or the World Wide Web. This can consist of web server configuration, client-side coding and server-side coding, web content development, w...

 

featured lens Creating and Selling Software

Do you want to know how to create and sell software that will definitely make your online business flourish? A lot of software programs are being distributed over the internet these days. Some of them are offered for free, others as shareware, and so...

featured lens Generating and Reselling Leads

There are numerous ways to earn from the World Wide Web. It's just a matter of finding the right one that suits your capabilities. For decades millions of businesses have sprouted over the Internet Superhighway, some very successful and some are not....

featured lens Sell Copywriting Services

Being adept at putting words together can actually jumpstart your career as an entrepreneur. Copywriting has had its ups and downs but it is still one of the strongest industries to ever come out of the Internet. Whether online or offline, you can se...

featured lens Establish an Online Consulting Business

Virtually anything that can be a source of profit can be done over the World Wide Web, and an online consulting business is no exception. An online consulting business is, by far, one of the best home based businesses that any person can venture into...

featured lens Selling Items on Auction Sites

A lot of people would like to earn off the internet. And there's no surer way to do so than to go to auction sites like Ebay and upload things to sell. You can start off with virtually nothing. With auction sites, you don't need big investments to fu...

Reader Feedback 

submit
Show All