4 Super Stealth Moves To Secure Valuable Domain Names For Cheap
Buying and selling valuable domain names can be a great business if you know how to do it right. Just like buying and selling real estate, you have to know the tricks of the trade to get the right domains at the right price, and then be strategic about selling. You might think that the days of making a profit from securing domain names are long gone now that the internet has become such an integral part of daily life but if you do, you’re missing out on a profitable practice that could earn you some great returns. You just have to be willing to do the research and learn some of the moves the pros make.
Here are four super stealth moves to secure valuable domain names for cheaper than you think.
Back Ordering
Online hosting services will offer some form of domain back ordering you can utilize to try to win expired domain names. How do domains expire? Every single day there are people who have registered for a domain URL that either forget to renew or intentionally allow their domain registrations to expire. There are lots of reasons why domains expire, like a person’s business fails, they ignore billing requests to re-register the url or any other variety of reasons. When a person’s account registration lapses and their registration expires, the domain opens back up for registration.
How to do it: Most online hosting companies have a back ordering service as part of their platform. For example, if you’re using GoDaddy you can use their Domain Backorders service which allows you to create a list and bid limit for domains you’d like to be on the back order list for in case they expire. There are rules and restrictions to each hosting companies back ordering services, so make sure you read the terms of service and fine print before you start creating your own back ordering list with your hosting company.
Online Auctions
Sometimes a domain name will simply expire and because you’ve created a back order for it, you’ll be lucky enough to nab it. However, the more desirable a domain name is, the more likely there will be competition for it and in that case it usually goes on to a private of public auction. Most back order domain services will try to access your desired URLs through online auctions, or you can go directly to the source and try to get the domain names you want directly through the online auction sites.
How to do it: Most importantly you’ll want to do some research on how valuable a domain name really is. A few rules of thumb are the shorter the URL the more valuable because that usually means an easier search term for a business and a simpler and more in demand name. Once you have a good sense of whether or not the term has some value, and you’ve decided on a budget, there are numerous online auction houses to consider. Most will require some form of membership so you should factor in the cost of an annual membership to these sites into your budget considerations overall. A few to scope out for more information and cost of membership are Freshdrop.com, GreatDomains.com, Afternic.com, Bido.com, Domaintools.com, Sedo.com and Namejet.com. Those are a great place to start for any initial research and to step into the domain bidding marketplace. You’ll be able to list URLs you’re interest in purchasing and name your price in the bidding.
Reach Out Direct
One surprisingly overlooked but very viable option is to reach out to a domain registered owner directly and simple ask them if it’s for sale. Many people don’t do this because they think that if there’s no price listed on it, it must be too expensive to consider but that’s a mistake to assume. It doesn’t cost anything to ask and you never know what the owner might say or offer.
How to do it: If you know some domains you’d like to consider purchasing, start researching them one by one. All website domain registrations are required to keep a current registered owner on file that’s open to the public. Go to Register.com to look up a URL and their public registration information will be displayed. One hurdle in this process is that users are able to register their domain as private and only list their hosting company’s contact information. However there are still many people who have their registration to their personal information. Once you have that information, simple do the work to email or call them and explain who you are and ask if they’re interested in selling the URL. If they say yes, you’ll want to get a legal agreement drawn to outline and record the sale to protect your investment, but this is a guerilla way to get domains you want from people who may be willing to part with them.
Research Alternate Domain Extensions
It used to be that the only domain extensions available to us were .com, .net and .org, with the .edu and .gov extensions being another off limit but usable variation. However, with the fresh crop of domain extensions that are sprouting up, the field of options has opened up for domains.
How to do it: Do some research on all the valuable domain name extensions that exist. For example, .ly and .me are new options instead of ending in .com, so if you can find valuable domains that end in .me or .ly you’ve got a lot of options for success. Not all domain extensions will be available through your web hosting provider, so if you can’t get these or other new ones through your hosting company you’ll have to get them direct form the registration site. For example, .me extensions can be purchased through the Domain.me website.
