Domain drain

[doodlebug]

After spending 12 hours on tinternet I should now be fast asleep but instead I am awake because I can't sleep due to the fact that I added another 40 domains to my waiting list today but haven't got the money to reg them along with my other 225 I already have on my list, some have great UK exacts above 10k each month

I can't get domains out of my head, When I do venture outside I'm looking at shop signs and vans driving past checking their url.

I need to switch off from domains but can't (Arrrrggghhhh)

No doubt I will wake up later today and check for new post just to see this one having forgot all about it :lol:

Anyway I'm finished ranting for now :neutral:

 

[Lucky Luke]

Spend more time developing sites! Get some cash rolling in to cover all those renewal fees otherwise you'll have to let loads of those hard-to-find domains you've regged just drop back for someone else to pick up and put on their to-do list.

 

[Admin]

Good advice!

I'm sure we have all been there, I remember in the early days trying to think of great domains and checking for them manually. I sometimes rescan lists I made in 2004 just to see if anything interesting got missed, so always save any list you make!

I'm scaling back how many domains i own and trying to make the ones I keep pay for themselves or hopefully make something. Since Domain Parking is a waste of time these days, trying to develop hundreds (thousands) of sites and manage it all isn't easy either.

Think quality not quantity... so hold off regging everything that keeps you awake at 4am

Admin

 

[kendalcottages]

Sounds like sound advice to me. Develop sites that generate something over and above the reg fee and you're quids in to grab some more.

 

[Lucky Luke]

Hi Doodlebug,

Ask yourself these questions (and answer them here if you have the courage)

#1 How many .uk domains do you have?
#2 How many have you regged in the past two years?
#3 How many have you let drop in the past two years?
#4 How many have you sold in the past two years? (At what total profit?)
#5 How many have you developed in the past year/6 months/3months?
#6 How many make more than the reg fee?

It's a business, not a hobby. You sound as if you are a latent trainspotter/birdwatcher/tower-grabber(see below) and suffering from chronic domainitis.

I hope I have not been too blunt.

good luck in rehab, Luke

[ nb. "tower-grabber" = a church bell ringer that aims to ring at each of the ~6000 peals of bells in the UK & Ireland and the ~150 in Australia, NZ, USA, Canada, South Africa. ]

 

[accelerator]

I'm not sure how many domains you've sold on, but if it's not many, then just keep in mind that selling on a domain is a lot harder than regging domains in the first place.

If you have not sold many domains recently then I would suggest holding off new registrations and focusing for a while on selling. It can be a worthwhile exercise in that it will teach you a lot about which domains you can actually sell on.

I'm mainly a developer but I am now trying to find time to sell some of my domains too.

Rgds

 

[doodlebug]

Luke > your advice is bang on, since 2005 I have regged about 200 domians and have only kept 80 in which half don't even have good UK exacts.

I've been drifting into domaining and back out for years but this year I've decided this is it, make money from domain sales and aff programmes or get out all together.

In terms of money I would say I am evens at the moment which is a good new start for me.

I am contacting potential end users and of the few a sites I have at the moment I'm adding small amounts of fresh content once a week and resubmitting each site to Google, Yahoo, Ask and MSN, also trying for Dmoz and going to do some offlie marketing ie, leaflets.

I plan to make upto 100 generic mini sites and split them into 4 groups of 25 and each week update 25 then the next week another 25.

The plan is to make enough money for a generic with 100k UK exacts pm on a product selling for £xxx and then sell all my domains from my mini sites, hopefully already ranked on the first page of Google for their terms.

Admin > I never made much parking and for the negative effect it has on domains then I am not bothering

In all > the boat has already set sail but it's not to late take a run and jump onboard, just takes a lot of effort mentally, I either make domaining / aff marketing work or go back to agency work on the national minimum wage

Accelerator > Just noticed your post, I just don't like seeing names on my list get regged by others when I could have had them, I have to stay off GKT etc for a while.

Thanks for your replies

 

[Lucky Luke]

Doodlebug,

You have a plan!!! That is great news.

There is debate about minisites as you know. Is it better to focus on just 5 rather than 100 say? At least with 100, if some start to take off, you can put more effort into those.

Do what you feel comfortable with. But you have a plan and you sound determined. Agency work at national minimum wage should be a good incentive.

Good luck, Luke

PS I regged nationalminimumwage //co.uk the other week - Kettle Pot Black!!!

 

[doodlebug]

Doodlebug,
PS I regged nationalminimumwage //co.uk the other week - Kettle Pot Black!!!

Surprised that wasn't gone :shock:

 

[accelerator]

There is debate about minisites as you know. Is it better to focus on just 5 rather than 100 say? At least with 100, if some start to take off, you can put more effort into those.

My view is that focus is very important. If you rely on natural SEO you need to pick the right sectors then focus strongly on a max of 5 sites. These 5 sites can be your main revenue drivers. You can have another 95 sites if you like but these can just be zero maintenance mini sites.

The key is getting good SERPs position in Google, you can't do that for 100 minisites unless you are superhuman.

Rgds

 

[doodlebug]

Accelerator > From experience do you have any suggestion on how many minimum UK exacts and product price is worth bothering with ?

eg, 6k UK exacts on a product selling for an average of £40

Hope you don't mind answering and don't worry I'm not going to bombard you with lots more questions.

Thanks

 

[accelerator]

Accelerator > From experience do you have any suggestion on how many minimum UK exacts and product price is worth bothering with ?

eg, 6k UK exacts on a product selling for an average of £40

To find something worth building a site for is more involved than that, it doesn't just come down to monthly exacts. Things to look at:

- Commissions offered by network. Probably the single most important factor.
- Likelihood of online purchase. Whether product will be bought online.
- Whether you have the expertise/knowledge to build a good site in the sector, although this can be picked up.
- Whether you are enthusiastic about the product. This will help you build a great site that others want to link to.
- How good the merchants are in this sector.
- Look at AdWords CPC rates for indicators of potential.
- Monthly exacts does come into it, it's still useful to know how popular a term is.

Hope that helps.

Rgds

 

[stender]

Don't spread yourself too thin!
I'm sure many on here started of churning out minisites which ended up fading into obscurity only to then focus on quality and not quantity.
SEO alone is very time consuming!

 

[doodlebug]

Thanks a lot for taking your time to reply, yes I have noticed some commission rates at 3% on a £20 product and some at 40% on a £100 product.

I think a good one I have is 1caratdiamondring#co#uk
Not the best looking domain I know but with a minimum UK exacts of 4k per month plus the product selling for £1350 upto £5600 and I'm on 15% commission then I only need 1 sale per year to make it worth while.

I had this ranked first at number 53 and put some customer reviews on there and it's now at 39 so I'm going to keep working on it, I put it in my sig link on several forums but not too many.

Again Many thanks