How to Make Money Buying and Selling Domain Names

You probably know already that domain names are identifiable labels of websites, like google.com, yahoo.com, or time.com.

They ordinarily cost less than $10 for a full year package, but did you know that they can cost a lot more? As a matter of fact, the domain name SEO.com is rumored to have been sold in June 2007 for a whooping $5 million! And yes, you can make money out of buying and selling them.

Buying and selling domain names can be a profitable venture – if you learn how to do it strategically. This involves a lot of research, patience, and hands-on focus. There are certain steps you have to follow…

How Does it Work?

As the name suggests it mean registering domain names for its usual cost ($10) and selling them for a bigger price to different businesses, organizations, or people who want the exact same name. Since the name is already in your possession, people will have to buy it from you.

Domain Names: .Com, .Org, .Net

The key in this business is to anticipate what the profitable ones are. At the same time, you should also be quick so other people in the same business will not register the popular ones ahead of you!

To start off, here are a few simple but necessary steps:

Do a Market Research

Before anything else, you have to research about the potentially lucrative names. 

Extensive research is required also to avoid junk domain names. There’s no one single way of doing this. As a rule, you are researching for the following names:

• Specific to a niche market. Look for the ones that are popular for certain niches, like party favors and SEO. Businesses under these niches will want to register under these names.
• Rich in keywords. By using keyword tools like Google AdWords: External Tool, you can find out the highly searched keywords for a specific keyword phrase.
• Has a popular extension. .Com extensions are usually more popular than .org, .biz, and other extensions.
• Short words. Short tail names have a higher likelihood of getting registered than long domain names.

Market the Registered Domain Names

After registering them, the next step is to sell them for a higher price. Of course, you can always sit around and wait for them to get sold, but it will take some time – possibly even never. You have to get the return of your investment as fast as you can, and the best way to do this is to market them aggressively.

There are numerous ways to do this. One is by marketing them in auctions or featured listings. These are often visited by people looking for these names themselves, which means your domain label gets immediate exposure. You can also create SEO articles that are targeted for people searching for high-yield names like yours.

Appraise Your Domain Names

To determine their optimum selling price, you can invest in appraisal. An appraisal will give you an estimate of how much it can sell, among other details.

Although it will add costs to the registered name, it will prevent you from being shortchanged and will allow you to sell it for just the right price. A usual mistake of most sellers is selling the domain label for a marginal profit, just so they can get the entire process done and over with.

Develop a Website

If you’re not in such a hurry, you can develop the registered domain label to increase its value. This will take extra time, but it will ultimately pay off. You can do this by increasing its traffic.

First, you create a site over it and develop the site traffic. You can waive the name of the site once the traffic is more than enough, and sell it off for a higher price.

Buying and selling domain names is an industry that is not as convoluted as many other online ways to make money. That means there is much space for willing newcomers like you!

It takes skill and effort, but once you get the hang of it, you can even make as much as a million dollars for a mere $10 investment!