An introduction
I’m a domaining newbie.
Want to find end users for your domain names? Follow me as I try to learn how.
I’m someone new to domaining, the speculative buying of Internet domain names.
I only started in March, 2008 and since then I’ve been scrabbling around trying to follow recommendations by finding my niche.
A domaining niche is the area of domaining most suited to a domainer, whether selling or developing, and governs the kind of domains she or he most often buys.
I have bought a fair number of domain names in different categories, but only sold four so far, all on Sedo, where most of my names are parked. Well, make that three actually, as my very first buyer defaulted and was promptly banned by Sedo.
As well as buying (that is, registering) domain names, I’ve been reading up as much as I can about the whole business.
I’ve only come across one book I could buy off the shelf (The Domain Game: How People Get Rich From Internet Domain Names, by David Kesmodel), although there are ebooks floating around the net, some of them free.
There is, however, plenty of general information on the web. Much of it comes entangled with sales pitches, though, so you’re left not quite sure how genuine it is.
I’ve discovered that the very best, no-strings-attached information is to be found on domain forums, of which my favourite is DNForum.com.
This is a very lively community which does, it has to be said, cost a small fee to join, but it’s well worth it.
I – a real non-techie - have actually had this blog set up for me by a very kind member of the forum, who seems to espouse what many regard as the true approach to knowledge – that it is there to be shared.
This blog, as the name suggests, is going to be about finding end users willing to buy my domain names
. An end user is to be distinguished from a reseller (someone who sells domain names on again to domainers).
The end user will be someone who is probably already running a business that is ideally suited to the domain name I am offering.
Prices to resellers are a lot lower than those to end users, but that is not the main reason I want to aim at selling to end users.
Resellers are often looking for a different kind of name – one with keywords that can earn them money through parking or development.
In fact, I must confess that I haven’t really grasped yet just what kind of names resellers look for.
Some of those I see being sold on are not ones I would rate at all, but this is probably the voice of inexperience speaking.
As I said above, end users probably already have their businesses up and running.
They may be about to diversify, or may have been unable to think up a good enough name for their websites in the beginning.
They may just have continued using an inferior name out of habit. It is up to me to alert them to the fact that the name I’m offering is eminently more suitable, or more brandable, or will cast them in a more favourable light to their customers.
At least that’s how I see it.
Hopefully, anyone who disagrees with this idea will let me know if there is more to it than that.
Because I am completely new to domaining, the story of my attempt to find an end user (yes, just one to start with) is going to be told from the point of view of someone who starts by knowing nothing about how to find someone interested in a particular name.
I will be describing to you my adventures in learning how to find this end user and, hopefully, we can learn together as we go along.
Unless you are already skilled at this, in which case I hope you will add your very useful comments to mine that are less so.
So how should I go about this project?
I will make my ideas about this the subject of my next entry.
