More Speculation, More Risk – Why You Should Be Careful Of Investing In New Domain Extensions
This domain entry isn’t geared at established domain investors. I am writing this to detour a few of the new investors from making one of the biggest mistakes they could possibly make by increasing risk in what already is one of the most speculative investments available. It’s a fact that the majority of the new extensions will not catch on. The relaunch of the .pw ccTLD is a perfect example. There is little to no investment value in the (private web).
With that said it is important to be extremely picky about where you place your money. Why burn through cash, which could be saved to buy a great domain in an already established extension. An extension, which has a proven track record when it comes down to returning profits for those that have chosen to invest in it. Yes, I am talking about the .com extension. If you are wondering why you are not making the type of returns you would like or wondering how to get started in domain investing with a small budget, then the .com extension is for you.
Don’t let the glitz of a shiny new extension blind you from the real opportunities. The real opportunities to make money in this game are in the .com arena. If you aren’t ready to pay to play, then you might need to rethink your strategy. The best domains are going to take time to find and money to buy. The good thing is these opportunities are still out there. The “domaining industry” is similar to the stock market, because it tends to run in cycles. There will always be those that are liquidating domains to float themselves through tough times and those that are buying names when everyone else is doing the opposite.
The key is to make sure your money is invested in the right assets. Just like you wouldn’t invest in every name out there, you shouldn’t be investing in every extension out there. Not every extension is going to work for an end-user. In the end you should always be thinking about who your prospective buyer might be. If an end-user can’t identify with a particular domain extension, then why would you buy into that extension as a domain investor?
Doing such a thing will equip you for failure. As a new domain investor it is important to give yourself a chance. You are up against some of the fiercest competition out there. Everyone wants names which they can liquidate fast or hold onto for increased investment value. In the end it is all about making money. Don’t buy into the hype, buy into something which has proven itself time and time again. If I were just entering this space, the first thing I would do is hop onto some of the major aftermarket sites and study the type of names which are dropping and the names which investors are buying off of the drops.
It is all about patterns and trends. The trends which tend to repeat themselves are that of premium domain names. The one pattern that you will notice about premium domains are the mere fact that they increase in value over time. You can also count on the fact that more people identify with premium (.com) names then any other type of domain investment out there. To sum it up, if you speculate more, you are increasing your risk and if you are new to domain investing you would to decrease speculation and invest in a proven extension.
Cleaning Up A Few Ads Here On The Blog
I want to thank all of the advertisers I have had here on the blog over the years. Now that we are well into 2013 I feel it is important to clean up the blog a bit. I also want to announce that there are plenty of premium spots here to advertise if you are interested. The blog itself receives a steady amount of traffic and is a PR3. If you are interested in advertising feel free to contact me!
To those of you who would like to renew your advertising subscription with me, feel free to let me know. I will be removing any old ads off of the site after this post.
The Marketing For The .CO Extension Is Amazing!
I’ll be the first to admit that I only own a handful of .co domain names. I haven’t been a big investor in the .co extension, but I am starting to rethink whether or not I might of underrated them. The marketing efforts put into place by the .co registry have been so profound that I am now reconsidering my investment strategy.
.CO has become a great alternative to .com and it has everything to do with the way it has branded itself. End-users are now convinced that .CO can represent their company as being a solid alternative to .com. As a domain investor I would have to agree. I’ve been watching auctions on Flippa lately and there is one auction which really made me realize the true potential behind the .co extension. The auction is for Adrenaline.co.
The person selling the domain has sold around $13,800 worth of domain names on the site. Although Adrenaline.co hasn’t reached the reserve that benben has set for the auction it is at $303 and that is something to really think about. According to the auction the domain was initially registered on July 20, 2010 which isn’t considered to be aged by any means. So what does this tell us?
This tells us that people are bidding on the name purely for the branding potential. Although, Adrenaline.com would be the best name, I could see why someone would end up going after Adrenaline.co. In the end it just makes sense. The .CO which is being branded as the extension for startups and companies has done an amazing job. These days I try to focus on .com investing, but I have dabbled (fun fact I own dabbled.net) in .net, .org, .us, .me, .info and now I might see myself dabbling more with the .co extension.
As a fair warning if you are going to invest in extensions other than the .com extension then please realize it is an extremely speculative play. Just like with any investment there is risk involved and the yearly registration fees add to this risk. Make sure you do your due diligence and really study a niche you feel can be profitable for you. As always, think about what you can do if the name doesn’t sell.
Maybe one of these days DNPIMPING.COM will get its twin DNPIMPING.CO. 
Oh yah, Happy New Year!
Flippa Auction For DentureCream.net Ends In 6 Hours
Another auction for one of my Amazon Affiliate sites ends in about 6 hours. At this time there are no bids on this auction, but there are two people watching the listing. I am sure there will be some last minute bids which end up coming in. The minimum bid for the auction is set at $49. This is an absolute steal! The domain alone is worth more than $49, not to mention the domain is also a PR1 and the site has had sales in the past.
To learn more about this auction or to place a bid feel free to visit the following link: DentureCream.net Flippa Auction
Flippa Auction For DecafEspresso.com Ends In Around 2 Hours
An auction for one of my Amazon affiliate sites ends in about 2 hours. To be exact there are two hours and twelve minutes left in the auction. The auction has had 5 bids from two different people. There are a total of 4 users watching the auction. The domain DecafEspresso.com is a premium domain name which refers to a type of espresso which is decaffeinated. The domain is a PR1 and has been registered for 3 years.
I am selling this domain to free up a bit of time and capital. I want to focus my efforts on three projects as opposed to 20+. Some of these smaller sites require you to build backlinks and really hone in on SEO to make them the big sites that they can become. This is the perfect opportunity for someone who does have the time to work on such a site to purchase a premium domain + site for a great price.
As a forewarning, normally these auctions tend to pop towards the end. I’m not sure how high this auction will go but I am confident that you might be able to get the site for a great deal. Happy bidding!
Chloroplast.net Auction Is Coming To An End On Flippa
Excuse the shameless promotion but I am very happy about a dictionary domain / minisite I posted on Flippa about a month ago. As the auction I posted comes to an end the top bid for the domain and site is $125. The site itself is one that has made a few dollars here and there, but the powerful combination is what has these bidders competing for the name. I’ve had trouble monetizing the name past just Google Adsense but the traffic built up organically and now the site is indexed for several terms in Google.
All the traffic that the site currently receives has been organic. I’m writing this entry to let you guys know that sometimes if you feel you are having trouble monetizing a specific asset whether it be a domain name or a website. Then you should really think about parting ways. As I venture into the startup space I will be liquidating some of the minisites that I currently own. Flippa is a great outlet to do this because you have serious bidders which understand the potential of a strong keyword name and minisite. Some of these individuals have the time to focus in on what you might not of had time to focus on to create the resource you all envisioned on the property you are selling.
I’ve always envisioned Chloroplast.net being a helpful science resource for the visitors of the site. The content I had written for the site is helpful, but if I had installed a forum offering science assistance or homework help I probably could of taken the project much further than it is now. Unfortunately I’d rather place this site into the hands of someone who will give it the attention that it needs. My focus is on my startup and registering strong domain names, between the two of those segments I don’t really have time for much else.
For those of you who are interested Chloroplast.net is a PR3 site and it is on sale at Flippa with only a few hours to go. Feel free to bid on the auction and good luck to whoever the new winner for the site is.
How’s Your Forum Game?
I’ll admit, my forum game is pretty weak these days. That’s about to change starting today. I miss participating in forums like NamePros. I’ve had the opportunity of conducting business on the site and learned a great deal of information just by scanning the threads. The domaining industry is an interesting one and in some ways it is quite fragmented. Fortunately with several popular domain forums out there we are able to communicate to one another and talk about the topic we love the most!
The problems with domaining forums is it is easy to get lost. There are countless distractions which completely derail you from your ultimate plan, so in my opinion it is important to treat your time on forums as you would treat anything else in your domaining business. With that said make sure you have a plan before you start spending (wasting) your time on domain forums. This will help you not only achieve your goals, but it will also give you an opportunity to save a bit of time. Here is my plan these days for domaining forums:
- Interact with others within the domaining circle and add to my network of domaining associates.
- Sell a few domains that I really couldn’t see myself doing anything with for the sake of recovering a reg fee or two.
- Learning from the masses.
- Promoting a few of the websites that I run, including a few of the blogs I own.
- Generating a bit of revenue off of banner ads and link sales.
Well there you have it! These are the main reasons why I am revisiting NamePros and several of the other domaining forums out there. Hopefully my high level description can help you create your own plan if you don’t have one yourself. Now get off of the computer and have a little fun this weekend! I’m off to Hollywood to start the night off right and end it in good hands.
The Politics Of Making A Quick Buck Off Of A Domain Name Big Bird Fired .com
If you are like me you probably watched the debates which occurred a little earlier tonight. Regardless of what you thought about them there is one thing that stood out and that was the comment about Romney cutting PBS funding if he were to become President. While stating this he mentioned that he liked Big Bird but what do what he had to do to help reduce the country’s debt.
One it is ludicrous to even think about cutting PBS funding, but that’s not what I am writing this blog entry about. I am writing this blog entry about a person named Frank Montoya who felt it was a good idea to register BigBirdFired.com. As most of us know doing something like this is a great way to wake up with a UDRP being served to you. Frank is obviously trying to make a quick buck here and probably was mislead to believe that this was the way to do it.
Unfortunately this isn’t the way to do it. This makes the domain investment world look bad when people like Frank hop onto the bandwagon thinking they will be rich over night by registering a name which infringes on a trademark / copyright. At the moment Frank has put up a link which says contact us probably hoping to sell the domain name before he gets into any trouble with trademark infringement. It will be interesting to see what happens, but if the powers that be wanted to go after him for this domain registration they would be right to do so.
Frank just a word of advice, you should of registered the next best thing. FireTheYellowBird.com comes to mind. That way you wouldn’t get in trouble for infringing on a trademark. 
Either way, maybe you will make a few bucks but just understand if you do end up getting lucky you will simply be passing the hot potato onto an unsuspecting investor. Be very careful when doing this, because you can still be held liable for selling them something which sparks a UDRP or lawsuit.
Good luck with this domain registration…
Domainer Motivation – I Don’t Care What Level Of Domainer You Are. Don’t Give Up!
I have not blogged nearly enough here on DNPIMPING.COM but with a new sponsor I feel it is only right to start adding original content to the site again. I’ve been busy with my other blog and projects but my heart is still with DNPIMPING! This site helped me meet a great deal of people, some which are my close friends and will be for time to come. With that said I want to announce a new series here on my blog called Domainer Motivation.
I’ve always viewed myself as a bit of a life coach and noticed that a lot of domain investors are not necessarily happy with the way things are going lately. The truth is domain investing isn’t really what it used to be. I can be honest in saying this because it has effected me as well. Joining this industry at this time to solely make a living off of buying and selling domain names isn’t a good plan, nor is it realistic but that doesn’t mean you should give up.
That brings me to today’s topic: I don’t care what level of domainer you are. Don’t give up!
DO NOT GIVE UP! As with anything domain investing is not easy. Domainers are not automatically granted respect in the marketplace and I’ve seen way too many of you invest your savings into domain names to be left with an extremely bad taste in your mouth. The sooner you accept the truth about your domain names, the better off you will be. Your domains are probably now worth the amount of money you think they are. I can almost guarantee it.
With that in mind, you need to really take a step back and hash out a plan for yourself. Can you see yourself flipping any of the names within the next couple of weeks for 50% less that you originally had planned for? Are you willing to take a loss on some of those names and pool that money together to focus on one domain name or project? These are a few questions you need to ask yourself and if the answer is yes, then you are a true domain investor. You understand that things aren’t always going to go well and you aren’t going to act like you are sitting on the most precious assets the world has ever seen.
After you shed a few pounds on your portfolio, zone in on a few of those names and really determine which ones have enormous brand pontential. Choose two of those names and forget about the rest for a while. In this day and age domaining is more than just flipping a name to the highest bidder, it is unlocking the potential of a domain name by investing some blood, sweat and tears into it. These two domains need to become your babies and you need to raise them as if you gave birth to them.
Stay focused on these names and DO NOT GIVE UP! No one became rich over night, regardless of what you read in the past about this industry. For me I am now involved in two startups which are happily sitting on the .com extension. My team and I just won third place at Startup Weekend USC and are now pushing forward to turn the idea we created into a reality. So what does this have to do with domaining? It has a lot to do with domaining, because the sooner you realize that the industry has changed and adapt a business model to see past the limitations of domain investing the happier you will be.
Domainers are becoming more than investors, we are developing brands, starting companies and really changing the Internet marketplace. Owning a good domain may grant you the right to selling it for a few thousand dollars, but creating a viable business on a few of those domains will unlock a world of potential for you. Follow the lead of some of us who are starting businesses and lets create the Domaining 3.0 industry!
Just Found An Incredible Tool Called Traffic Travis
It’s a funny sounding name, but this piece of software is MAJOR! I spent a few hours looking for a SEO tool I could run directly from my trusty laptop. I’ve tried tools like SEOMOZ but the service itself is pricey and the product is a complete overkill to what I really need. That’s where Traffic Travis has come in. I just installed the free version of the software and it looks promissing. Please keep in mind this isn’t a formal review of any nature.
I am just excited that I found something that looks like it works. I was actually looking into buying Market Samaurai but I read up on a number of reviews and forum posts that the support for the product is poor and the software itself is extremely buggy. I can’t wait to really give TrafficTravis a spin. I’ll make sure to post a couple blog entries about the software, once I have had the chance to really test it.
Now go back to sleep, let me be the one that works at 2:08AM in the morning on a Saturday!
