Morning Folks!!
I know there are many domainers that are only around on weekends. Each week they do what they can to unleash themselves from their day jobs. That is not easy to accomplish and can take years. But it can be done and is being done.
I get emails almost every day from folks looking for direction. They are confused and not sure which way to head. Most have domains but they only buy to sell and that does not always work. The one piece of advice I always give and is the most scoffed at is getting domains with some type in traffic. So if you start wrong, where do you think you will end?
Type ins are the validation of value regardless of opinion. Opinion comes and the value when we discuss what the target is. No target? May not have value.
Does a domain have to get type ins? No!!
But you are looking to quit your day job and this way is tried and true and few fail when they get on the train.
As the baby king was born last week we also saw a hand registered domain get 7500 type ins a day. Will it last? No! But that is why you MAKE HAY WHEN THE SUN SHINES!!!! If you can't get your head around that, stop reading and find a new line of work.
So with 7500 a day parked, that domain can be making between $75 and $750 a day once optimized. The value comes from the advertisers looking to capture people looking for whatever the domain represents. And the baby domain is a poor example because it is social as opposed to commercial. Not that bad, but different. Depends on the habits of people searching for something specific and how much value a SALE could have to an advertiser. If there was NO SALE, there would be NO VALUE! Got that??? (read all my posts about sales)
Point is TYPE IN DOMAINS ARE BORN EACH AND EVERY DAY!!!!
In this case they will die off substantially. But there will be some residue.
Let me repeat......
TYPE IN DOMAINS ARE BORN EACH AND EVERY DAY!!!!
Now I have been saying this for 15 years and folks just argue with me. DUH!
So now there is CLEAR and CONVINCING evidence of TYPE IN DOMAINS ARE BORN EACH AND EVERY DAY!!!!
So if you want success with domains, you can jump on every fad and spin your wheels or you can be very aware and attentive and deliberate and SNAG something of great value. Like a lion going after prey. But you have to be patient because as I have also stated repeatedly, your FIRST domain buy is your most important. Get that one RIGHT. If you have none that are good, start over!! Get the first one RIGHT and you will never look back.
I have the luxury of gambling because my "Engine" pays forward all of that. You don't have that luxury yet. Just get the first one right and repeat it until you quit your day job and then keep repeating with bigger and better domains. THAT is the path for those that actually want to succeed.
How?
TYPE IN DOMAINS ARE BORN EACH AND EVERY DAY!!!!
And if you don't want to do it that way, then just buy one that already gets some traffic. How much traffic? At least 2-3 visitors or more a day. Not a huge hill to climb. Most domains of value will exceed that. Pigeon shit always gets zero and when it does get traffic it is a bot or something that does not count or inflated by the seller.
Again, this is a tried and true path that works to this very day. Whether you are flipping or investing type ins are STILL and ALWAYS have been the key to GUARANTEED value. Many won't agree. Mostly because they have agendas. Not a bad thing, but if you don't understand that a registrar could give a rats ass about a domains value then you are in the wrong business and listening to the wrong people. Their job is to sell domains. Any domains. Any extension. They make the same amount of money if we are talking a $10 million name or a $10 name. So choose well who you listen to and what their motives are.
I even have a motive. If you do well you may come to TRAFFIC. That's paying it forward. I believe that just like there are TYPE IN DOMAINS ARE BORN EACH AND EVERY DAY, I believe there are folks out there that are just like you. Weekend domain warriors that want to be weekday warriors as well.
And if a domain has no type in traffic, then it should be specific, commercial, and preferably only 2 easy to spell words.
You should also know which domains have face value. Any NNN.com has value. (3 numbers. like 123.com) There is a market. You can invest safer in a market of domains IF you know value. So if somebody had 921.com for sale for $5000. GRAB IT!! It has a much higher value. But you must KNOW these things and so to do that you must learn. How? Well it won't happen until you read a few hundred blog posts from 6 different bloggers that know their stuff.
Don't have the time?
Just remember one thing:
When you leave New York and set sail for London and you end up on the shores of Africa…..your problem did not occur when you landed in Africa, it happened before you even set sail for New York.
Point is……99.9% of ALL failures are due to a bad or quick decision in the beginning or the planning stage. So the likelihood of any success can easily be determined before you even begin. Usually a SIMPLE change can also change your entire future fortunes.
If you walk east looking for the sunset you will likely become disappointed, angry and frustrated. Their frustration boils over and folks lash out at the world. Especially anyone telling them they are wrong. Just a 180 degree shift on one thing can change your destiny. But before you do that you MUST STOP. Stop in your tracks. If you don’t start at a STOP, you lose before you begin.
GOOD LUCK!!
Rick Schwartz
Jeff
By far one of the best posts Rick!
Today marks the one year mark for me. The day I was leaving the
parking lot from work and kinda confused and what to do next. A set
back, no weekly check rolling in, was between 2nd and third base when
I was out a job. Wasnt fully ready to make the leap yet but a door
closes, another door opens.
Frustrated and worrying some and I said to myself ok, lets call Rick
since I had a dinner with him and his wife couple years back.
I still remember that phone call and now marks the one year mark and
journey in the domain space. I cant say its been an easy one year
mark, but a foundation of names were built and commercial meaning in
the .com space. That pure type in traffic domain name. Largest sale
was 15k past year and guess what I was telling the webmaster right off
the bat he will get 60 type in and prospects a month. Not a lot but
the business they are in, the margins the purchase was a big win for
them. The meaning as well. Buyer got a steal IMO and I was asking
for 25k, settle for 19k to 21k I was kinda thinking. But sometimes
difficult calls needed to be made and that was one of them. Plus I
wanted to pay off a big purchase agreement in full and get the domains
under my name.
While I was at work, I followed this advice and needed too follow this
exact method. Buy that one domain name that has that pure type in
traffic. Back in the day, Frank said the same thing as well. The
RumCakes.com speeck out in Seattle and try to find that one name.
Build from there. . Buy more domain names and seller the weaker stuff
off. Do some deals I put together for others and that helped me in a
big way as well. Need to improve still in the auctions and want to do
keep upgrading the inventory with pure type in traffic.
I paid a car off in full, 7k from a domain sale. No more monthly
payments going out and saved 220 a month roughly. Kept on buying and
selling domains. Built up up traffic slowly in acquiring some amazing
names in my eyes. April was my second best month ever!
Have I been discouraged and frustrated! You bet! Have I felt broke
due to buying and in dry spell. You bet! Should have a couple things
differently probably and have more cash reserves but between January
and April things were rolling along and I bought some great domains!
I have a mentor who I have never met and I honestly can say he a true
friend of mine. An old school domainer and guess what he thinks
exactly like Rick. That pure type in traffic and throw in a mixture
of sales. As I get to know more people, who they are and ABL (Always
be Learning) I am amazed by how many domainers do not truly understand
the the value of type of type in traffic. What it means. I know a
lot of people who are pretty powerful sellers and they do very well.
They blow me away in total sales, how they get top dollar on things
and couple brandable type domainers. An area I need to improve on to
improve the margins. Compared to previous years its headed up. I
bootstrapped things, buy a domain name for 10 bucks, flip it for 40
bucks. Lots of them. Now trying do more $500 dollar sales and then
1k sales.
I am just telling my story and thank you Rick! Thank you mentor and a
true friend to have if hes reading this. A few other people I know
and friends who have encouraged me as well.
People who go into work and hate there job, who have the desire and
passion about domains, truly needs to read this post. Build a
foundation of names and first try to purchase a domain name making 10
dollars a month. Do a sale for 500 bucks, couple more 300, 800 and
try to bootstrap that into another domain name for 1600 for some
cashflow and value in name. Its a long process. Drop the domains and
carrying expenses as well. I would rather own a basket of 100 domains
running on all angels then carrying 800 domains that dont pay for
themselves. Do I make a lot off my type in traffic? No but a
foundation has been built and want to do 1k a month. Wont happen this
year. But slowly getting there.
I been considering in not reading domaining.com and take a year off
actually. Only read 4 blogs or so. No one will be able fuck with the
benz. Heck some of Ricks friends, the big guys kinda seem confused.
I am just telling my story and thank you Rick! Thank you mentor and a
true friend to have if hes reading this. A few other people I know
and friends who have encouraged me as well.
—
Regards,
Jeff
Joao
Fighting against time here!
Donny
Just bought my first 5k name. A generic one word that can be used in multiple areas. Will pay for itself in under 1 year through natural type-ins.
Now every morning I wake up a $20 bill is under my pillow:)
Josh
The toughest part about being new to domains is distinguishing between domain with real value and the crap that’s circle jerked around between amateurs on the domain forums. Even there you can find a jewel but being able to distinguish is the key. Every domain I’ve ever owned that had legitimate type-in traffic had some value to someone, so that is a good method of validation.
Patrick Hipskind
I’m not sure I would purchase a domain name based on type in traffic alone. I recently sold a .co domain name that I hand registered, and I sold it for $3,000. It cost me $40 some dollars in registration fees at Godaddy. I hand registered it and had it for a little over a year and a half. I used that money to pay all my renewal fees, and to buy up some of the best .la domain names.
All I have to do is sell one domain name at a lower price per year to pay for my renewals (i’m not going to pay my renewals with parking), and hold out for the price I want for domains I believe are of greater value. I frequently drop domains I think will take a long time to sell or may never sell.
While type in traffic may be a good metric to consider, I still believe that the domain name’s value is a result of its worth as a keyword in the search engines, the extent to which it defines a product or service category, and the Net Present Value of the domain name as an investment to the buyer.
Rick Schwartz
When folks talk about seo and krywords i dont pay much attention unless they use THE keyword.
That keyword is RELEVANCE and it TRUMPS all.
NEIL10005@YAHOO.COM
ThankYouRick.com
Neil
Rick Schwartz
“I’m not sure I would purchase a domain name based on type in traffic alone.”
Where did I say that? Ever??
But it is the #1 KEY to validating value regardless.
Much of this is silly. Just ask a simple question.
“Is a business better off with 1, 5 10, 100, 1000 EXTRA and NEW customers a day or isn’t it?”
There is only one answer.
Jagan
Thank you Rick,
Your article clearly States what to do and not to. I have a domain that receives 15+ unique visitors in type in traffic. I have currently parked it at DS. Can you please advice on how to optimize it for higher revenue. I have earned $3.67 for 1000 visitors till date. I want to learn what i need to do optimize to increase the per click income to .01 to .10. Please advice. Thank you in advance.
Patrick Hipskind
High search engine rankings build type in traffic. I doubt iReport.com and PartnerCash.com had much type in traffic when you added them to your portfolio, yet they are great domain names. I don’t dismiss type in traffic as a valuable measure, but I believe that the valuation of a domain name should be based on the highest Net Present Value the domain name can be used to obtain. As a domain name investor, I have to decide where my margins are best. Is my money best spent buying a domain name with a lot of type in traffic (at a premium cost), or is it best spent hand registering and acquiring domains with less type in traffic but that define a product or service category and can obtain first page search engine rankings (at a lower cost and usually higher profit margin).
Rick Schwartz
Patrick,
Remember, I had to predict what would get type ins. What would be relevant. How things would unfold.
There are many factors. But the common thread is to icrease sales and increse marketshare and to be easily identified in a field that gets more crowded by the second.
And there were no tools and few ways to monetize.
So things were very different. But many principles remain constant no matter the medium or the industry.
That’s what I banked on. My base was type ins. That allowed me the financial means to support me dabbling in hundreds of different directions.
Jeroen
Nice post Rick; thanks!
@Jeff, thanks…like your story.
Hidden Review
Rick Schwartz, would you be my mentor ? ;) thumb
Jackie
I want to learn to do this as a full time at home job. Can you help me?
Jeff
Today marks my 2 year mark as a full time operator in domains.
Past year been tough but my desire and dedication passion was found again
Thanks rick and my friends ! I truly am thankful and my journey in domains