New Domainer and Blog Reader Writes:

"Hi Frank,

I don't know you, but have read a few articles on you, including your blog, and recently saw a video of you speaking on conceptualist.com, where you touched on what you would do if you had $10,000 or so coming in the industry today. Well a year a go I did not even know what a domain name was. Since then I've done a lot of grinding and have sold about 10,000 domains claimed in the last year, but only at a profit of around $5.00 each. I've currently hit a wall but love the freedom this industry allows you and am looking to further my work with the $30,000 in savings I've gathered.

You used the example of rumcakes.com as a way to get started--I guess a lot of products would do if obtainable for a reasonable price, such as baseballbats.com, electricrazors.com etc. I'm going to try to invest in a name like that. My question would be, if I understood you're words right, do you have any advice you could give on how I could build a business around that domain? Such as, is this done through affiliate programs or getting the products yourself? Maybe a few marketing tricks you could reveal for when I get the name. I have no developing skills either so I'm assuming I would need to find one. Anything of this sort would be extremely appreciated.

Thanks for your time"

***FS***  Firstly congratulations. You are a shining example of what I'm talking about when I say the opportunities in the domain business are still there..  and you're by no means the only one. 10,000 names sold wholesale at $5 premium would have brought $50,000 in revenue..  your buyers may have been prepared to pay 10 per name..  that could have doubled your revenue..  My rumcakes.com example was merely to illustrate that there are vast opportunities in the niches. I have an interest in "rum cakes" so I used that example to illustrate my point.  Maybe you're interested in knitcaps.com or baseballbats.com or bowlingballs.com or some other product/service that keeps your attention.  My wife bought this cuckoo clock from cuckooclocks.com .. This clock cost $2,219.00 (we paid the old price :- /  ) ..  How many uniques a day do you need to close a clock sale?..  2, 5, 7 ?   How much could you make selling cuckoo clocks?.. 

If you own the domains and can run an Ebay store, it's not hard to make money on the Internet.  It sounds like you are on the right path flipping names (as a foundational element of your name-biz)  Perhaps you want to hold certain names out for a few hundred dollars more each and move up-market a bit..  Then combine with a side-biz like the one in my rumcakes/cuckooclocks examples.  Either way it sounds like you are on you are on the right track...  and you're right..  There is nothing quite like the freedom of working at home,  on your own time.

Comments

[Max Low]

That's quite an achievement, buying 10,000 domains ( if I could find 10,000 that were good enough to buy ) it would take me forever to get them all transferred and entered into a database. Selling 10,000 domains would be difficult unless it was to one buyer. So let me do the math... 10,000 domains x 7.00 = $70000 to buy them wholesale. Sell them at $5 markup each = $50000 profit... so... you should have $120000 in the bank. Not a bad piece of change to get you going :)

[Steve Morsa]

Frank,

If I can offer this hard-working domain newbie (and any other like-minded souls) some good advice...visit my site and scroll down to the end of my "sales letter," (but before the domain names) where I list some excellent sources for building successful web site based businesses.

Buy Yanik and Derek's courses.

Next; sign up for Derek's "SecretsToTheirSuccess" (.com, of course) service; where they dissect 2-3 successful online biz's each month (this is an unbelievable resource...for only about $30/month or so).

They show you EXACTLY how others are doing what you should be doing.

Finally; sign up for Dan's "Silver level" membership and read every word he has to say in his "No B.S." monthly newsletter.

Do what these guys say (and they all do what they're teaching), and you'll be on your way to at least one great online/offline biz...

...and no more settling for $5 profits on your domains. :-)

[Ed Keay-Smith]

Hi Frank,

Glad to hear your home move went well!

I have just made a post on my site at www.ozdomainer.com where I talk about a great new book that has just come out in Australia called 50 Great e-Businesses and the Minds Behind Them by Emily Ross & Angus Holland who are both from Melbourne, Australia.

I think this would be good read for the person who's email (assume its an email) you commented on in the above post and anyone else that is an e-entrepreneur.

It covers in detail the history behind some of the great e-businesses that are around today and also talks about some others that I have not heard of before but that are also very successful.

I read the book in a few hours and could not put it down except for the times that I kept on looking at the websites it referred to on my PC.

I agree that there are still many niche opportunities out there for domain names if you spend the time doing your market research and dedicate some time each week to look for the domains.

I invest about 1-2 hours each week night on the hunt for new domains and some nights I can end up with 3 or more that are great generic domains that may not get a large amount of type in traffic, but could easily be developed for affiliate sites or JV projects with a product or service supplied.

I have sold many domains over the past 3 months that I have purchased for US$10 or so and sold a month or two later for US$500 and upwards to the low four figure mark.

In my book that is a dam fine return on my investment.

The people that say its to late to get good domain names are also the ones that won't invest the time to find them and then say to me, you and other domainers that we are lucky.

As far as I am concerned LUCK has nothing to do with it, we each make our own LUCK.

What is the acronym of LUCK

Labour
Under
Correct
Knowledge

The more you you dig the more you will find.

Cheers

Ed Keay-Smith
OzDomainer

[Shuhaib Shariff]

10,000 names in one year... WOW!

If your registration costs are $7/name and your median sales price is $12 your margins are more than 70%

An impressive case study.

[owen frager]

a domain for everybody and everybody for a domain-
have a look down the list of this article what domains and pets can do together:
http://www.switched.com/2007/09/11/the-cell-phone-for-dogs/