Mike Mann posts domain investing tips periodically via his Facebook page. Mann is very outspoken and even controversial on Facebook. Many of his posts discuss domaining, domain sales, web development and general entrepreneurship.
Domain investing tip: Proper domaining is a matter of filtering with many methods to get the .Com cream to rise to the top, the main one being “crowdsourcing” filtering, let the crowd tell you whats best and then you determine whats underpriced. For example someone in the crowd already registered it, the crowd bids it up, the crowd sends traffic to that term, the crowd bids on those words in Google, the crowd helps Google determine ranking, one from the crowd needs to buy this name later at a huge markup after a bunch of hits and other price requests from the crowd. Ie the crowd signifies demand, the supply is just one, and you need a great price and keyword .Com that will live for eternity.
Domain investing tip: Buy .Com expressions that are spelled perfectly, contain keywords, lots of business use the words, in growing industries, and someone already thought of because “all the best ones are gone”. The issue is that it’s a buyers market and you can get such names for around $350 that should be worth considerably more now and in the future, and you can use them and potentially collect and leverage some traffic while they rise in value if you are careful.
Domain investing tip: If you own great .Com domains GoDaddy, Sedo, and NameMedia/BuyDomains/Afternic have excellent systems for selling them online, and many other brokers can act as intermediaries too; but for web based selling systems, theirs are best established.
Domain investing tip: Do a lot of research on your target names on google and using special tools related to keywords, comps, seo and ppc, similar names and sites, etc. Bid real low for the best ones when you are done with your careful study.
Domain investing tip: If SmithInsurance.com cost you $15/yr and takes you 10 yrs. to sell thats a $150 investment. If there are more than 3 “Smith Insurance” companies in the world then most likely over 10 years you can sell it for at least $1000 and collect some traffic in the meantime assuming its not a trademark and you have done nothing illegal.
Domain investing tip: When you are buying the best .Com’s (only names worth risking) test the limits of your seller since its a buyers market currently. Bid way too low until they sweat, then you know you are near the right price when they are ready to walk.
I interviewed Mike last December if you want to read more about his domaining background and strategy. Which one is your favorite quote? Why?
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“If there are more than 3 “Smith Insurance” companies in the world then most likely over 10 years you can sell it for at least $1000”
I love that quote. Most domainers (myself included) struggle with the patience required for a 10-year timetable.
I agree with Mike’s .com only strategy.
.anythingelse is a waste of money, effort and energy. Also, there will be opportunity loss since the money could have gone towards a good .com.
I think the gtlds are a fool’s paradise and agree with Mike that the action will remain with the proven format with the weight of the Fortune 500 promoting it, namely .com.
Most of the time I have to say .com all the way. In rare circumstances can another tld really be justified. Startups tend to buy non dot com to save money and then rebrand later on with a dot com when they have funds on tap. The marketing efforts for rebranding end up costing more than if they got the dot com in the first place.