Morning Folks!!
Let me take a paragraph or two to PROVE the leasing model works, works well and has worked on the net for over 15 years and off the net for maybe 1500 years. It comes down to simple math so let me give you a simple real world example.
A domain was sent to me for consideration. The party wanted to know if their domain had a leasing potential. Problem he thought was that it only had 20 visitors a day. First of all, 20 visitors a day has value. Whether it has GREAT value depends on the research I do. I found out that this exact match domain name had multiple people advertising and one guy was upfront and was asking for $2000 for the service.
So let's say this guy charges $2000 for his service and let's say since it is a service he puts in $500 worth of time. Leaving him $1500 profit. Now ask yourself a question. From those 20 daily type ins how many would he have to close and make customers for the domain to pay for itself? Let's say that domain leases for $2500/month. Then back to the question and why many don't see the forest thru the trees. So the answer of course is 2. Let's say he gets one new customer each week from the leased domain. He just put $8k in his pocket with a gross profit of $5500.
What if he grows the traffic to 200 a day? What if he closes twice as many? And don't forget to add the money he just saved sending to Google. That was a chunk of change. Plus these are now clients that can come back for repeat business. What's to reject here? It's math! All the while the lessee is making more money and eventually may be able to afford to buy the domain name. Plus as you do business together over time you come to know each other and a dea becomes easier not harder. It's math!
This is just one example and if the owner gives me permission, I will list the domain. I will transform that domain from making pennies on PPC to thousands with my method. Because I see domains differently than most. I see it with the lens of 'Sales' and nothing more. Since few see sales like I do, I can only attract those that understand what I see and say and have demonstrated over the years.
A reader (thanks Jon!) sent me this list he complied yesterday with the key elements I am looking for and therefore he is looking for and it says it all. It is what the 'Yellow Pages' test means to me. It is the essence of domaining for ME. It is why I can assign a value on a domain that everyone would laugh at but that value comes from the list below and how strong the domain does in each category.
1. Must be a dot com.
2. Must clearly state & define the product or service being sold.
3. Must be easy to pronounce & therefore pass the radio test.
4. Must not be longer than necessary, the shorter the better.
5. Must be about a product or service that is in demand & being searched for.
6. Must be easy to remember, in fact it must be a no brainer to remember.
7. Must be a domain a business could be built on.
I will be leasing domains for the rest of my life. That is what I do. That is what I have done. That is why I have sold only 18 domains and of those 5 of them came with equity, royalties, stock and even ownership. There are only a few hundred domain investors that see things the way I do. THEY are my target audience and they know me and I know them. It's about starting at the top of the pyramid. It's about taking the best names and transforming them into the best earners by hooking up with ONE party.
In each deal I have done it was the other party that made the deal because they had what it took to follow through. They came to the table with a certain expertise. They knew I had a missing piece of the puzzle and I knew they had a missing piece. Alone the value is stunted. Together the value is unlimited.
So I think when December 1 rolls around I will be able to demonstrate the quality of domains we are looking for and have folks take notice of them. I have the ability to take a domain earning $15/month and have it make $1500/month IF the elements needed are there. Traffic increases the chances. Domains without traffic may still qualify if they meet the requirements. But the more traffic the better chance. It really is about the traffic. Consistent traffic. Type in traffic. Then I have an equation and it either works or not. Pretty simple.
And the best part is you don't have to change anything you are currently doing with the domain. Just give me the listing and give me some time. It is not an overnight process. So if you have an immediate need, I am not your guy. Maybe for the TRAFFIC auction but not for leasing.
So as I begin to announce domains I think it will become clearer of what we are looking for and why.
Our first 3 listings are Rings.com, Roofs.com and Slogans.com and I will announce our complete first group when we open. It isn't what we will do next week or even next month. But when we reconvene here in 1 year, 2 years, 3 years.....that will be our measure of success.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
PS: Thanks for all the submissions and I am very sorry when I have to say 'No'. Really! But this only works for domains that meet the requirements and I don't want to waste your time when I know there is little chance of a success.
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Vishal
Hi,
Where can I send the domain for your consideration?
Dan Prather
I believe Rick’s email address is: mr800king at aol.com
Good Luck
David Carter
Rick, good explanation of how a domain *should* work.
Though I don’t lease my names, I develop them for myself and on a daily basis, prove what you’re saying here.
The value comes from having something that’s easy to remember, from which you can sell services (in my case) or goods from.
And remember, the value of any sale is in the back end and one sale will often result in multiple sales to the same client.
That is why I acquired buildingsurveys.com last year and why I use asbestossurveys.com. Both of these names describe what I do and both bring in regular business.
Roger
Would be nice to see some appraisal samples – what can be expected (range) to get monthly for some domain names. Let’s say 50k type-in traffic per month with 2 letter .com, or 20k type-in traffic per month for one word (let’s say 5 letters) .com, etc. I know it is case-by-case, by some price range should help…
Steve O'Brien
Roofs.com is a great lead generator domain name. I checked one construction lead generating company that we have worked with and the average cost per lead to a local roofing contractor in Central Florida is about $30. That is just one person who requested more information and maybe a quote. They generally send out 3 – 5 leads or more for each inquiry. That works out to be as much as $150 in revenue for one lead on the keyword as”roofs”. In some cities this keyword lead generates over $100 per lead. Does not take long to be a $5K to $10K a month domain name, in just direct lead revenue.
Aaron
This will not work for the reason you’ve specified elsewhere: do not own a .co, because you’re giving free traffic to the .com version. Renting a domain is a stupid idea, because – what if you become successful and your”landlord” suddenly demands a bigger piece of the pie? You’re screwed. You need to move out. It works out fine in the retail space, just move off to a different street, to a different physical building and notify your customers. How does that work out on the Internet? Rick, you’ve been advocating the power of domain names. The guy cannot simply move off to a different domain, because his landlord has fucked up, can he? He’s better off owning the domain outright, 100%.
Joao
I understand that people could be scared about a digital rental some years back. What i dont understand is why they continue to be scared now with the existance of services like zenscrow.com.
To buy a domain, an escrow service is cool and rocks, but to rent it is not an option? Why?
Rick Schwartz
I have talked about negotiating an exit strategy as well many times.
I do understand that this has the power to disrupt things for some and I do expect a fair amount of”pushback”.
And as far as a”stupid idea” goes, let me tell you that domain leasing already brings me in well over 6 figures this year. My first lease got me $1.5M a year for 5 years. So this stupid idea has a track record. Each domain I lease from here on out will never see a parked page again so my success may not be their success.
TabletHybrid
Each domain I lease from here on out will never see a parked page again.May I ask, Even if the lease ends? If the lease ends, do you keep the content?
Pretty nifty agreement!
Bill Campbell
There is no harm in trying out new ideas. It comes down to”nothing ventured, nothing gained.” I think it will be exciting to see how this process works.
UFO
That maybe so, but how much traffic is about replacement roofs and of that how much is physically servicable.
You can sell products and services (mainly information based) online but replacing a roof requires physical locality.
Either a large roofing manufacturer (For advertising purposes) or a sales lead aggregator would be most likely interested.
Rings.com meets the required tests a lot more easily.
Max
New idea?!? ;)
domain sales : domain leasing = wives : whores
Can you imagine a world populated only by wives or only by whores?
The value of women’s market would collapse… :)
Max
I’m sorry, I was kidding, I know there are very smart women reading this blog and never ever would someone be offended … [smart women like Mervengin, seee here:
http://www.ricksblog.com/my_weblog/2012/11/times-square-rentals-vs-domain-rentals.html#comments
this is the road…(to be quite on the road… ;)
Sorry again Mervengin, I am only kidding: I don’t know you but you and all guys of your site are sure very very smart, seriously! )
What remains, however, is that in such a case the female market would be much more stuck and some men will lose motivations :)
Entrepreneurs have in fact lost motivations with internet (in fact, the”whores” have always been prohibited to them; more, they have never had them, online).
In fact they are gaining more and more perverse strange reasonings and behaviors…. :)
Kassey
I like the idea of creating passive income from domain investment. It’s very similar to other form of investments. Look at Warren Buffett. His whole life is about buying income-producing investments at bargain prices. I wish you great success, Rick.
Torres
A caveat that is not mentioned in your post…
You spend the x years in your lease building content and increasing traffic for the domain and it becomes profitable, you make lots of $$$ at a fraction of the cost of buying the domain. However you don’t mention that the years that you have leased the property, you have been building it’s equity. The property is worth more now that someone has leased it. You CANNOT take that brand equity when you vacate the domain. In fact, you just worked x years for the owner of the domain in building THEIR property. How is this is a good idea???
In”real life” you lease a physical property, start your business, and move when the lease is up. The property owners do not own the equity in the business you’ve built using the property. You can leave and take the brand equity with you.
With a domain lease, you are pretty much working your a$$ off for the domain owner who not only takes your lease money, but also takes the brand equity that YOU built during your lease. How is this a good business relationship again?? Sure math is math, I’m sure you will make some money off of it.. but why risk all your hard work for something you don’t even own or know will sustain? If you get kicked out of the domain.. tough luck. That’s not a business model for the long haul.
Rick Schwartz
Torres,
Everything you bring up is addressed in the EXIT STRATEGY. Those things are ALL considered before the lease. But look at the leverage Joe Average can have by leveraging a multi million dollar domain name for a few thousand a month.
We all know 80% of all new businesses fail. Much cheaper to fail for thousands than millions. Plus like I keep REPEATING……..EXIT STRATEGY addresses all concerns BEFORE the lease is ever done. You can’t do that in the real world because there are space limitations. With a domain name, there is no space limitation whatsoever and I think companies like Apple.com prove it.
btw, in the real world, you may keep your name but you don’t keep your address.
Joao
Could you please make a post about creating an exit strategy? There are people that still dont get 2 things (not judging anyone):
– There are tools in the market to protect both parties;
– You need to negotiate starting from the end.
Anyway, i made my first profit share agreement yesterday. And its a .pt domain, but a yellow pages .pt.
How it will run, i will see, but it is new for me and it shows that its possible.
Evan
Why only .com ? I have a .org that gets good traffic.