You Can Still Make Money with Domain Names — 5 Ways
Got in late? You can still make money.
I recently read a forum post written by someone disappointed regarding Yahoo’s decision to nix arbitrage. This person complained “How am I supposed to make money with domains now? I got in late and all the good domains are gone. It’s not fair!” (Seriously, it sounded like a 5 year old.)
Well, you can still make money with domains. But I’ve got to warn you, there’s work (or capital) involved.
1. Buy existing domains and increase their value (or just flip’em) – it takes money to make money, but you can start modest. The domain name aftermarket is extremely inefficient, meaning you can buy domains from one venue and sell them quickly on another. You can also buy underutilized domains, build them up, and watch the cash roll in.
2. Provide services to domain owners – When I got started in this business in the late 90s I registered a handful of domains. But they were $70 each, and I couldn’t get too far on my college budget. But I figured if people were making money with domain names, couldn’t I make money supporting them? I put my finance degree to work appraising domain names and existing web sites. Think of services you can provide to busy domainers to increase their revenue. Are you an expert at search engine optimization? Perhaps keyword optimization? Can you program software to help domainers get control of their operations?
3. Embrace the power of predictive domaining – One of the best fresh blogs regarding domains is Predictive Domaining. It discusses ways to determine tomorrow’s hot topics and keywords so you can register (or buy cheap) domains today. Here’s a case in point: the term “blog” wasn’t around during the original 1994 gold rush. There are lots of other terms that aren’t hot (or even known) today that will be tomorrow. I would consider myself a good predictive domainer, but the Predictive Domaining blog always teaches me something fresh.
4. Find “distressed” owners – I have a friend who buys real estate from distressed property owners, such as those going through divorce or financial problems. They need money now and are willing to sell below market value. You can do the same thing with domain names. Trust me, there are a lot of distressed domain owners right now.
5. Stay in it for the long haul – so domain parking revenues are down this year. Perhaps it’s just a speed bump. Will we look back ten years from now at domains that sold for millions when they are then selling for tens of millions? There are still great buy-and-hold strategies for those who are able to hold for the long term.
