where to start?

[maddudeonline]

i get £72.00 a month from my mum to spend on what i like on the net. I want to start building my way up to becoming a domain tycoon like you guys. I know £72.00 is nowt nowadays. But my plan is to save up over a few months for each domain i wish to buy. Anyway I'd like to know the best way to work my way up. What are your tips and tricks?

[sjaguar13]

I started buy registering (not buying from other people) domains I was going to develop. GoDaddy has that bulk rate thing for 50 domains or more, so I went for that. After I got 50 domains, before I could develop them all, I started getting offers of $500 and $300 for my $6.75 domains. After that, I was hooked. I started going for typos next, then sites with PR.

Basically, you need a generic, brandable, typo, or high-paying keyword domain. You could also go for short (3 letters) or dictionary words, but it would probably be pretty hard to find any thing good.

Now, I use a series of Perl scripts I wrote that checks dropping domains for various info, checks it against requirements I want, filters out un-wanted extensions, checks availablity, and takes them through the checkout out my register of choice. Everyday I get a few new domains that are relatively hot without actually have to do anything.

[cooljeba]

even I am new to this domain name buisness. I have some domains and trying to develop them. Once that is done i would jump in to buy high profile domains. Let's hope for the best ;)

..:: peace ::..
Jeba

[mystwoman]

the typo market can work if you get the drop on the ones you want. but i think the typo contest is heating up and they may not be so cheap anymore.
my advice is to figure out what you know and care about, then look for sites names in pursuit of that.
the industry jabber and everyone following the same keywords means in the land of the blind the one-urled man is king. then your strategy is unique and may have unique turnover and income. structure your risk dollars and your conservative buy dollars and follow same strategy for a twelvemonth,. then analyse portfolio by monetising current holdings and sales.
Compare which dollars paid off better and pursue that strategy.

[Ruben]

Are typo domains usually used to redirect to another site?

[mystwoman]

yes people type in gooogle instead of google and then the hits land on the gooogle.com page. those ads get the eyeballs. It's more common for longer names, hard to spell with vowels or dashes or other detractors.
Figure Americans would make a way to leverage their inability to spell!
:) there are a lot of them falling thru namewinner today fyi.

[-JJ-]

The domain business is very high now and investing BIG money in great domains is smart. As for you I would register domain names via Registrars and develop them. Get yourself a decent bankroll than move up. Most people start from the bottom and work there way up to the top.

-JJ-

[mystwoman]

jj-
don't misrepresent the market. namewinner is dropping three times the normal amount of domains a day, snapcheck and pool are falling in information quality and people are too eager to sell for too much because they need to make the long game pay off.

That means people are letting them fall to expire. good names are being assessed at reg fee value daily where years ago they would have been gold. if she has money to risk then fine. but some decent investment so diversify a portfolio with mixed risk and sound controvertible financial instruments. Some restraint would be sound if one is to play the market like stocks and speculate.

i have seen big portfolios drop in value dramatically.
now, whereas like a stock you can sell according to company values, a site name you can develop. but this person may not have development skills. also you must outrun the competitors who are funding big shiny development or a name that was worth $500 yesterday is worth $25 today because a name very similar just stole the show.

winning in the domain market today means more than running around chanting buzzwords and reciting the big money tombstones in the trades. if she wants to play, fine, but don't make pie in the sky promises.

[cooljeba]

even though you have big bucks luck also matters a lot. If you are the right place at the right time. You can get a real good deal ;)

..:: peace ::..
Jeba

[mystwoman]

cool j i hear ya but there are a lot of people who have turned their hair gray trying to find that monent who might have bene happy to realise interest and had the time back.

we'll see. i think there may be a bubble like the twenties crash. So many people are building up their hopes.

[Apsylum]

It sounds like an interesting business to get into... is it just luck on whether you get a domain someone wants? Where do you "sell" the domains once you have them? Or do you let people come to you?

[Gayble]

Well, for me simply registering domains is a waste of money and time, I mean if your domain has potential, take it to your advantage! Don't just sit around and wait for it to drop, that's stupid.

I'm an avid developer and I never like to register domains I wouldn't develop..

Anyways, you should be happy your parents even give you that much money to spend online each month, most people have to get their money the hard way.

[sjaguar13]

I started as a developer. I registered a bunch of domains to develop, but began getting offers. Most of it was luck. The people that contacted me wanted that domain, but went to register it the day after I did. Developing is good, but parking the domain may be better. If you can bring in $3-5 a day as soon as you register it, why go through all the work of developing it? I got a few domains that were just pure luck. They were bringing in good revenue by parking, then I got an offer of over 10 x what I paid for it. If it makes money by parking it, people will offer you more than they normally would for it, so you could cash in on the parking, then turn around and sell it off. I buy one hundred domains at a time and when I sell one, I break even.

[Gayble]

I've never really found myself earning a decent amount from parking domains, that's why I prefer developing them :) It's much better than letting the visitors view a boring page with links everywhere. :D

[-JJ-]

jj-
don't misrepresent the market. namewinner is dropping three times the normal amount of domains a day, snapcheck and pool are falling in information quality and people are too eager to sell for too much because they need to make the long game pay off.

That means people are letting them fall to expire. good names are being assessed at reg fee value daily where years ago they would have been gold. if she has money to risk then fine. but some decent investment so diversify a portfolio with mixed risk and sound controvertible financial instruments. Some restraint would be sound if one is to play the market like stocks and speculate.

i have seen big portfolios drop in value dramatically.
now, whereas like a stock you can sell according to company values, a site name you can develop. but this person may not have development skills. also you must outrun the competitors who are funding big shiny development or a name that was worth $500 yesterday is worth $25 today because a name very similar just stole the show.

winning in the domain market today means more than running around chanting buzzwords and reciting the big money tombstones in the trades. if she wants to play, fine, but don't make pie in the sky promises.

Myst -- I hate to disagree with you because you're a friendly person but having big bucks surely helps a lot. What about the people selling rare domains for XXX,XXX range? Put it this way. Any names that are dropping usually aren't that rare. Why would rare names go for such high amounts if they'd drop like this? It doesn't make any sense. You have to be VERY LUCKY if you catch a good name on a drop. Sure developing names on drops is a smart way to get into the domain business, but this would also require you to have some marketing and SEO skills. Remember it takes time and work to make money unless you are lucky.

-JJ-

[sjaguar13]

If you take your time and develop a strategy, you can almost always make as much parking the domain as developing it.

I have to agree with JJ. Although I like to catch dropping domains, they usually aren't that good. The were registered during a fad or by dumb people thinking they were worth millions. Plenty of .info domains are going to be dropping because they are expiring after the initial gold rush to registered them. If a domain has a lot of value, it can still fetch hundreds or even thousands while in the RGP.