Welcome to finding domain
Domain names trading (called ‘domaining’ nowadays) is a 2 billion dollars industry!
With the fast growing success of the internet, this new kind of investment has become very profitable.Buying a domain name does not cost more than 10 bucks / year and it is very common to sell it for at least four or five times the original amount!
I have started this practice last year and obviously made many mistakes since I had no idea how to proceed. I created this website so you won’t make the same mistakes that I made and you will rapidly become a pro in finding domain!!
What is a domain name?
To make it simple, a domain name is the name given to a website.
Originally, a website is attached to what we call and IP address which is composed of a series of figures. In order for a user to access a website in a more convivial way than by typing figures in the address bar, the domain name was invented.
Who can buy domain names?
Everyone! The only rule is “first come, first served”. After finding domain, you can buy it very easily and for a very reasonable price through different platforms.
Why to invest in a domain name?
You can think of domain names as real estate. Owning a domain is like having a piece of land on the internet!
Today, there are about 180 millions websites and many new ones are opening everyday (difficult to give a precise number but it’s huge). The growing success of the internet leads to an increase of the needs in domain names.
Nowadays, owning one or several high potential domain names is like owning an house in a city where real estate price grows everyday!
Furthermore, the risk is very limited since buying a name does not cost more than 12 dollars a year!
With 180 millions websites online, are there still good names left to buy?
Of course! There are still many names available since you can create one around any topics you can think of. For instance, the day before I wrote this text, I bought 4 new ones as below:
www.kilosaway.com -> Bought 10$ and valued at 400$
www.appsipadfree.com -> Bought 10$ and valued at 350$
www.verylowairfare.com -> Bought 10$ and valued at 60$
www.iqrange.com -> Bought 10$ and valued at 310$
It didn’t take long for me to find these names and I’m pretty sure that I will make good profit out of them! Evaluating a website is something very important before purchasing and you will learn all about it in the “choosing name” section.
Now that you have understood the general idea, you can go through the different section of this website which will tell you everything you need to know on domain names trading:
1) How to choose a domain name using google keyword tool
2) How to appraise a domain name using Estibot
3) How to check availability of a domain name using godaddy
4) How to buy a domain name using godaddy
5) How to sell a domain name using different platforms such as Sedo or Godaddy,
How to choose a domain name
Choosing your domain name is very important since its attractiveness will be the core of your investment. There are two main possibilities:
1/ you choose a name with a signification (eg: www.kilosaway.com)
2/ you create an identity by choosing a new name (eg: www.google.com)
The second possibility is more risky since it’s really something personal and the name will be unknown to the search engines hence less attractive to potential buyers.
Be careful not to pick a domain name referring to a copyrighted brand since you might have legal problems in future.
The best to explain you the process is to start with the first possibility by following below steps:
STEP A: Find a topic
Try to focus on a subject which is popular on the web such as “losing weight”, “make money online” or “test your iq”.
STEP B: Shorten your selection with google keyword tool
Once you have chosen your topic, go on google adwords
The Keyword tool from google will help you finding the terms that are searched a lot by google users.
You just need to:
1/ type a word or an expression, for instance, “losing weight”,
2/ choose your geographical zone as well as the language (best is to mention “all”) and then you will see something as below (you can click on the image to make it bigger):
You can see that “losing weight” has many monthly searches, which shows that this topic is popular. Obviously, you will not get losingweight.com (or with any other extensions for that matter) since it is already owned by others! However, the interesting part is to check the proposals made by google below on the adword page (you can click on the image to make it bigger):
Google proposes hundred of keyword ideas in relation with your topic as well as the number of searches on the web. From there, you can try finding domain name. For instance, google proposes “Help me lose weight” which has more than 11 millions monthly searches. From there, you can try helpmeloseweight.com…
This example might not give you the results that you are looking for since “losing weight” is one of the most popular topic on the web and many names are already blocked. However the general idea is interesting and you can personalize it and shorten your selection on any other subjects where you might have more success (or that you think might get more and more popular in future!)
STEP C – Create an account on Godaddy to check the availability of your domain name(s).
Godaddy is one of the most famous domain names registration website and will allow you to buy and sell your domains effectively!
After creating your account, you can type your domain name idea in the search bar below and you will find out whether it is available or not:
–> Available with any extensions.
–> Already taken on .com and .net
If available, before buying, one other step is very important:
STEP D – Appraise the value of your potential domain name with Estibot
With Estibot, you will be able to appraise 5 domain names per day and then more if you decide to pay a monthly fee (when you’ll become a pro!)
Estibot is the best domain name appraisal website and if it tells you that your domain is worth bucks, then you can believe it! It uses many different criteria of evaluation (number of monthly searches, how many websites already existing on the same topic….)
If after finding domain, you see that is available and it is worth money, then you can buy it for ten dollars on Godaddy and you have made your investment!!
This is the technique that I use the most and obviously there are many others, but this is a good start.
If you are full of imagination, you can skip step C and just try whatever comes through your head on Godaddy before estimating these names on Estibot!
Last but not least, I haven’t mentionned about the possibilities of domain extensions (.com, .co, .us …)
Basically, even if it is more difficult to get availabilities, I buy only .com domains since they are the most spread and valuable…
How to buy a domain name
When you have finalized your selection of domain name(s), you can proceed further and purchase them in order to officially own your piece of land on the web! In order to do that you can follow the below steps :
STEP A: If not already done, create an account on Godaddy.
It is fast, easy and free. Just follow the instructions on the registration page.
STEP B: Add your domain name(s) in your cart.
Once you created your account, you just need to go on the Domain part of the website and type the name you have chosen in the search bar along with the correct extension (.com, .net, .co….), or you can just do it from the below bar!
Then, Godaddy will tell you that the website is available and you need to click on the Add button and it will be automatically placed in your cart. You can repeat this operation several times if you want to buy more than one domain.
STEP C: Continue to registration
Once you have placed all the domain names you wish to buy into your cart, you can click on the green button ‘Continue to registration’ on the right side of the screen.
A popup will appear proposing you a bulk price if you buy more domains. You can just click on no thanks and tick the ‘don’t show this again’ if you don’t want this popup to appear in future.
Next page will ask you the registration length. You can block your site for 1 to 10 years. I suggest you to select 1 since the idea here is not to develop a new Facebook but to buy and sell names!! Anyway, if you still have your domain name when it comes to expiration, you will receive a mail to register it for one or more years. You will also find a “certified domain” box on the right. You can leave it to uncertified. Certifying a domain name is not relevant here and will engage extra cost. Click Next.
Next page is the “Privacy and domain protection”. It basically proposes you some privacy plans so your name will not appear in databases on the web under your domain name. I usually keep the “standard registration” since I’m mostly buying and selling domain names hence I’m not trying to keep my identity hidden! Don’t worry, only your name is associated to the websites and obviously, nobody will have access to your personal details! Click next.
Next page will propose you to associate different services to your website. Again, since we are only talking about buying and selling names here, you don’t need all these things which are useful only if you want to build something around your domain. Click next.
We are nearly there! Next and last page before proceeding with the payment is to review all the options from the previous pages to make sure there are no mistakes. Once checked, click on the green button “continue to checkout”.
Here we are. Last page will ask you to fill in your personal information (that you might have already done while registering on the website). You can pay via Credit Card or Paypal.
Then, when you have ticked the box “I have read the terms and blablabla” and clicked on Place order now, well…CONGRATULATION, you are a website owner!!!
How to sell a domain name
Selling your domain name(s) is the most tricky part. I have to admit that it took me quite some time before I closed my first sale. I have tested many different platforms that I have listed below. I’ll give you my opinion on each of them, based on my own experience, and then the choice is up to you!
One important point before starting is that you should not be in a rush and think directly about quick profits. Owning domain names can also be a long-term investment and keeping the best of them in your wallet might be a good idea.
For instance, I have bought 10 of them recently and I’m intending to sell (or at least, try to sell) 6 or 7 of them and keep the others for later…
What I would suggest before starting selling domains is to buy at least 4 or 5 of them. The more you own, the easiest it will be to sell one. When you think about it, one domain name cost an average of 10 bucks. It’s more difficult to determine the sales price because it really depends on the name you found. However, with a bit of research you can easily find domains that you’ll be able to sell for 50 bucks… So if you buy 5 of them, you just need to sell one at this price to break even…and then of course you still own 4 of them that can only gain more and more value!
Well, this calculation is not entirely correct because selling domain names involves paying a fee to the sales platform in order to gain access to the marketplaces (not always though… Some platforms propose free access and just take commissions on the sales). These fees are not very high and they are usually yearly, meaning that you pay once and you can sell as many domains as you want… As seen in the “choose name” section, there is also a fee to pay for using Estibot (not mandatory but highly recommended to appraise your domain names). See that as a part of a profitable investment!
Two more important things before moving on to the platforms review
1/ Do not overprice your domains. That’s exactly what I did initially and that’s why it took long time to close my first sale… If your domain is appraised at 100 bucks, set up a starting price at 50 or 60… Estibot does not determine your sale price but gives you an idea of what your website might be worth.
2/ Sell all the domain names you want to sell on one platform only. If you start splitting your sales among different websites, you will have less presence on each of them hence it will be more difficult to close sales…
Enough blabla, let’s get to the reviews!
GODADDY AUCTION PLATFORM
As you might have understood by now, I kind of like Godaddy!
The real advantage of Godaddy‘s auction platform is its traffic! There are tens of thousands of visitors everyday, meaning that there are tens of thousands potential buyers!
The other advantage is that it does not cost much. For a yearly fee of 4,99$, you have access to the marketplace and you can sell as many domains as you want. Then, just like many auctions websites, there will be additional costs if you want your ad to be placed on the first page or in more than one category.
To set up a Godaddy auction account, just click on the above banner and follow the instructions. It is fast and easy.
SEDO DOMAINS MANAGEMENT
Sedo is my second best option for selling websites. There are around 1.000.000 accounts on this platform and the domain transaction volume per month is around 6.000.000 USD. It does not mean that you will be able to sell your domains in the blink of an eye, but this is still a place of great opportunities!
And good news: the subscription on Sedo is free. You don’t need to pay a dime to list your domains there!
They will obviously take a % on your sales (from 10 to 15%) but risk is very limited because they won’t charge you a dime before you sell something…
I’m still trying 2 others (cax.com and afternic.com). It is too early to give my objective opinion since I just started.