If you want to get ahead financially, it’s important to save money where you can. Have you considered investing into domain name trading? Saving money will not get you further than what you were able to save. Using that money to work for you, you can earn extra money, for example with domain name investing, making you into a domain trader.
How to become a domain name trader
A domain name trader is someone who buys Internet domains with the intent of resale for a profit.
In order to acquire a domain name that holds value, you can:
- Register available domain names and after you acquire ownership offer them on domain marketplace or market them directly to end-user.
- Buy domain names from another domain trader, with intent to sell it later for a higher profit.
- Get expired domains that are valuable.
Once you own a domain name, be prepared to hold on to it for a period of time before you will be able to sell it. Holding period can be longer than a year and up to a few years. If you hold a substantial domain portfolio, letting go of a number of lower value domains may be necessary.
In order to make some profit, and use that profit to pay for your domain name portfolio renewal, you can “flip” a domain name fast, by listing it on a domain marketplace website such as Flippa or Sedo. These marketplaces usually are a good option for a small investment and small profit domain trading.
Many new domain traders would ask the question of how to determine if a domain name is valuable?
The domain name value is determined by the search volume. Use Google AdWords Keyword Tool as well as Google Trends to check a domain name search volume. Naturally, domain names with higher volume threshold hold a higher value. Popularity and traffic are vital factors in calculating the domain worth.
Keyword domains were highly sought after for SEO purpose, and while the domain name is not a priority one factor for SEO, from the perspective of human readability and recognizability keyword domain names still hold value. For example, an average internet user looking for a hotel will most likely search for “hotel.com” in a search engine.
Website owners need to think about domain name brandability. Simple and unique domains that are catchy and attention-grabbing will be noticed by buyers.
Other factors that influence the domain value the most are domain length and spelling (speaking it). Shorter domains are the ones that will have a higher price because they are easier to remember and type-in and share. The concise domain will not allow for typing or speaking errors. If your domain name is difficult to pronounce it will be much less appealing to buyers.
Take the time to do research the value of a specific domain name
A good estimate of what a domain name may be worth it to know what are people charging for similar domains. Value of a specific domain name can shift over time, so what we need is information for domain name sales that can be compared with our domains. Top domain sales can be monitored with DN Journal and Domain Name Wire with regular roundups for recent domain sales.
If you hold a number of smaller, short domain names, then the ShortNames will be especially useful. You will quickly note that domains which hold highest sale value are ones that fit the requirements, being short, catchy, keyword and brandable domains.
One of the websites that can be used for domain appraisal is EstiBot with an enormous number of domain appraisals per day. A report on a specific domain name will provide estimated value along with some basic information, and if you scroll down you can view relevant information that leads to such estimate value.
After confirming what factors are essential in determining a domain’s value and conducting a little research, you can quickly learn how badly other people might want to own that specific domain.
Claim that domain
Now, after you have ascertained the domain name value, it is time to make the purchase. While an ordinary internet user would go straight to a domain registrar website and purchase that one single domain, a domain trader may take a different route.
As a domain trader, I am sure you will be having your eye on a number of domains which look lucrative and the smart move would be to look for a bulk discount and/or discounted domain registration price.
In order to get that discount, for example, you can use Dooot Discount codes and coupons website where you will find fresh discount offers. Additionally, you may contact the domain registry directly with an email, asking for a bulk registration, and if you qualify with their terms you will get it.
Conclusion on domain name trading
Domain name trading can be a very profitable part-time job as long as you bear in mind that a portfolio with a small number of domain names which hold high value is better than a bunch of worthless domains.
Just like in any other business, you will have to be ready to cut losses, which means potentially dropping domain names. After dropping 10 domain names that you can’t sell you will actually save yourself $100 which you can use to invest into a domain name that you can sell.