Anyone make a living from domains?

[ian]

Ignoring those that purchased domains in the days where single word .com and .co.uk's were available and made a killing, do any of you do this for a living now, essentially beginning with no special domains, buying high and selling higher?

I've always had an interest in domains, and like many, kick myself for not buying that 'special' domain when it was available etc. I was just interested to see whether ppl still think there's money in it for those that want to start out?

I have a few domains now, but certainly nothing i'd class as valuable, other than a 4 letter .co.uk which i felt lucky to get.

What suggestions would ppl have for starting out? Presume having some high funds available is more a requirement now than ever, which is fine, but scares me to think you are placing so much money on effectively a name :yikes:

What are your thoughts?

(go back 10 years, buy property, land and domains, you'd not be working anymore )

 

[deconstruction]

with a small financial investment you can make very good money from domains. Even starting today.

there are still lots of good enough names free to reg (despite what some will say)

also buying good domains from sedo or domainers is still possible, i have bought a few very good generics this year for very good prices (not cheap, but very good).

before you spend a single penny you should spend weeks min reading this forum, domainers blogs, etc. as with all business and investments education is key

however domains are a very simple business once you get down to it.

good luck

 

[GreyWing]

Yep Deconstruction is spot on,

Domains are always something you look at and wished you had started to 2 years ago, and if you don't, you'll look back in 2 years time and see some of the domains that you could have reg'd now.

I think I have picked up 6-7 good domains this month that were completly free to reg, most have already made the reg fee back.

It's worth a punt buddy, and you will make mistakes and buy junk, everyone does.

Plus be careful, it isn't something you always set out to do, but you wake up one day and you have a shed load of names.

 

[julian]

so, what was that 4 letter .co.uk which you felt lucky to get...?

 

[ian]

I'd prefer to avoid self-promotion of of my business by giving the name away, but its related to digital tv

 

[golddiggerguy]

I haven't sold 1 domain yet, made money (mostly at xmas) on adsense £30 a month on average.

The odd £30 a month on affiliates nothing fantastic (prob spent more on domains and hosting than i've made)

The odd few quid a month at pagerank me uk (very surprised it hasn't done better)

So nope i'm not one of the few/many making money with domains or website ideas.

Maybe not tried hard enough :???:

 

[rjs_essex]

The thing with domains is that there is always an emmerging niche which if you get your timming right you can succeed in. One of these niches is the current gold rush for quad letter .com domains. They were available to reg in November last year for a few $'s each, now you cant pay less than $40 for any LLLL.com name.

Ive been following the market very closely and so far it is following the same market trend as LLL.com's did.

Time will tell if the market stabalises but many people estimate that LLLL.com's will have a minimum resale value of £50-£100 each within the next 6-8 months... this is just for the really really bad quality ones.

Anyway, my point is, although the true keyword dictionary generics have all been taken, three letter doamin have all been taken years ago etc etc if analysed correctly there are always emerging niches that can be taken advantage of!

Rich

 

[bensd]

(go back 10 years, buy property, land and domains, you'd not be working anymore )

You think that now, but people will be saying the same thing in 10 years time

 

[WaftyCrank]

Hi Ian,

I'm not really making a living from domaining, in fact I found this site by accident as they (i.e. the Acorn Regulars) had been discussing the purchase I made of a very good domain. A lot of the more experienced people on here I would imagine use domaining as their sole income.

I'm still very new to the world but see the massive potential it still holds.
I'll give you an example, I purchased a domain last week and sold it this week at a good profit (several hundred pounds). The domain I sold was still under its true value but to be honest since the buyer was willing to do the deal quickly I was more than happy it go ahead with it.

I didn't need to develop the domain as the name spoke for itself.

I have bought junk (in fact I would say a good portion of my current portfolio is junk in most people's eyes) and probably will still buy junk, but hopefully this will become less and less over time.

As others have said, their are still many good domains free to reg. You just need to research the industry and take a punt. The well informed users on here are very friendly and are willing to help out newbies provided that you are also willing to go out and find out infiormation for yourself too (i.e. how to transfer a domain etc).

Good luck with it. :mrgreen:

 

[denchomsky]

If you think about it as per domain name it's minimal outlay for potentially good returns.

Spotting the niche is the key, I think I have developed a little domain radar, whenever i am listening to the news or reading the newspaper keywords seem to pop out, ( I doubt this is unique to me ), only this morning there was an article on the news about jumpsuits coming back into fashion, I immediately checked whether jumpsuits or jumpsuit was available, it was unlikely but you never know.

I recently reg'd waterfrontdevelopment & (s) after reading in the newspaper that London has a bout 20 such major developments being built between now and 2012, I would be surprised if I don't make at least 10x reg fee for these names, though others may disagree.

D

 

[aquanuke]

Combined with affiliate marketing should be a doodle to make a very good living for anyone TBH. I dont catch myself much anymore but I do alot of free to reg.

 

[ScottJ]

Indeed, I think for the UK market just now the key is to develop to some extent, then you can make a living, I developed sites and make my full time income working from home but am not a domainer, I think having domains in various levels of development would give you a better chance at a more stable income to live off rather than buying/catching/flipping only.

 

[jwm]

I guess to a certain extent it depends on your definition of making a living.

For some £10,000 may be enough for others it may need to be £100,000, depending on outgoings and standard of living people expect.

Obviously one end of the scale is easier to reach than the other!

 

[smokin]

"Spotting the niche is the key, I think I have developed a little domain radar, whenever i am listening to the news or reading the newspaper keywords seem to pop out, ( I doubt this is unique to me )"

I also have developed this radar, in terms of name only its by far the best way to go...

Just sit with the TV on and within an hour i bet youve come up with 20 names worth checking from comments on the news etc... be careful though, it can ebe addictive!

As mentioned previously what else can you but for a fiver and potentially sell for 000's% more? antiques maybe hmm..


And will LLLL.co.uk be the next niche? Probably

 

[smokin]

Personally i dont have the skills to develop good enough website but currently learning...just finishing off my first forum!

in terms of making money i guess ive spent £3-4000 on domains and sold 6 for about £2000 total, and some ppc income maybe £10/week? i have over 400 names left and im positive in those theres enough to make a profit on my total investment..

Im only into domaining small scale really, we have a family business which takes most of my time and effort!

 

[curt_LFC]

I still cant stop thinking about the "what if" 10 years ago scenario but i spose as like mentioned in this thread in 10 years time people will hopefully be saying the same. I was at college in 95 studying computing and in the whole college of 300 computers there was only 1 connected to the internet! IN the second year of my course though the college had internet access throughout and so began the internet revolution. At that point i cant comprehend the names that were available reg! Websites back then were so basic too full of ugly frames and animated gifs galore . For some reason though it all passsed me by as i was too busy drinking and enjoying the ladies! Last year though i came across the selfmademinds website and reading through the site gave me great determination to get into the internet in a big way this year. My initial target was $50 a month to start with and so far I am well over this so im very pleased. The only way is up.......................

 

[cm1975]

Just sit with the TV on and within an hour i bet youve come up with 20 names worth checking from comments on the news etc... be careful though, it can ebe addictive!

Addictive is putting it mildly. I'm almost at 150 before I even realised it. I've had interest in some of the domains, but yet to sell one!!

 

[ian]

My concerns are that for all the £5 domains you purchase (admittadly most will be crap), will mean any you sell for x10 that amount will only bring you even, and really everyone would be hoping to make hundreds or thousands in order to make a decide return.

I'm quite happy to have a 4 letter co.uk and .com now, togeather they probably have value, but unfortunatly they are related to my business so won't ever be sold, or intended to be sold.

I saw some of those 4 letter .com's on sedo, totally daft ones which were still selling for a hundred or so, madness, but as they say, they are worth what someone is willing to pay.

I keep getting tempted to let some of my domains expire, ones that i doubt have value as they are specific business names to businesses that are so small they won't be interested in them. I presume you guys would say keep?

One other thing i wanted to ask, how do you get a domain in auction on sedo? I presume you can only put up for sale, then transfer to auction is enough action?

 

[accelerator]

Whether you can make a living domaining depends on your ability to spot market opportunities before anyone else does and register the relevant domains. New opportunities come along regularly, but it is knowing what's worth buying that is key, and that takes experience and knowledge. Reading these forums, the affiliate marketing forums, following the stock market and general economic trends will stand you in good stead.

Rgds

Accelerator

 

[philiporchard]

I set aside some cash and bought some names... sold and reinvested in more domains. This strategy works for me. Made the same in domaining as in my regular job over last 2 months, although this isn't the general trend!