For domain investors to do in January — Three things

Start the fresh year off right by taking care of these three tasks.

The turn of the calendar can be a fresh start. I use it as a reminder to perform tasks that ought to be done periodically. Here are three things I did this month to maintain my business.

Refresh Sedo inventory

I don’t add domains to Sedo immediately following acquiring them. Instead, I batch the uploads using Sedo’s Bulk Uploader.

First, I delete all of my domains from my Sedo account.

Then, I take my list of domains and add them back to Sedo using the bulk upload tool.

A hint for using the bulk upload spreadsheet: only the domain is required, but I recommend counting a minimum price to avoid lowball offers. Also, if you leave the currency blank, it seems that all domains are added with euros as the default currency.

You don’t have to delete domains from your account ahead of doing a bulk upload. If you choose “Sync Domains”, any domains that are not on the sheet will be deleted from the account. Still, by deleting first, your listings will appear to be fresh, which tends to solicit offers.

Renew domains

The beginning of the year is a great time to look forward and renew your domains in batches. I tend to renew 6 months out, but this time around, I looked at domains that expire in the next few months only. Verisign can’t automatically increase prices on .com domains this year, so there’s less urgency to renew ahead of a price increase.

Send 1099s

Depending on your business, you might need to send 1099s. They are necessary for many contractors if you don’t pay them via credit card.

The simplest and cheapest solution I’ve found is Track1099.