To do in December to make 2012 your best year in domaining — 6 things
It’s time to set the stage for a successful 2012.
There’s just one month left in the year. Rather than settling in for the holidays and vacation, savvy domainers will make December a critical month to set the stage for 2012 — and make it their best ever.
Here are 6 things you ought to do ahead of the end of the year to prep for 2012.
1. Look for end-of-the-year bargains. A lot of hand-to-mouth domainers sell domains in December to raise cash for holiday presents. Some others are willing to drop prices in January to pay off credit card bills. Other domainers will sell certain domains ahead of the end of the year for tax and budget reasons. Use this to your advantage.
2. Add your domains to Afternic DLS, Go Daddy Premium, and Sedo MLS. If you haven’t maximized your exposure by listing your domains with one or more distributed listing services, you’re likely leaving a lot of money on the table.
3. Renew your domains early. In January wholesale .com prices go up 7% and .net go up 10%. Renew ahead of the end of the year for two benefits: beat the price increase and expense your renewal cost in 2011 (always ask a tax attorney or CPA regarding how to expense your domain fees).
4. Reevaluate your domain parking strategy. Do you make anything worthwhile from domain parking? If so, consider optimizing your portfolio. Contact your parking firm and see if there’s any way they can help you squeeze more revenue out of your existing domains. If you don’t make much money, perhaps 2012 is the time to try something different. Have you thought regarding simply forwarding your domains to “for sale” pages?
5. Plan to attend at least one domain industry event in 2012. The first big one is DOMAINfest in late January. Can’t afford it? There are now plenty of local domain industry events ranging from free to a couple hundred dollars.
6. Organize your portfolio. I use WatchMyDomains Pro to manage my portfolio. It helps me keep track of when my domains are expiring and if whois records have changed.
What else do you recommend domainers do in December to prep for 2012?
