GotNom? - Making money with domain names

4 STEPS TO MAKING MONEY BUYING/SELLING DOMAIN NAMES! If you follow these simple steps, you're pretty much guaranteed to make a lot of money.

DomainTools.com: DomainTools.com is by far the best resource for finding quality dropping domains. Their "Best Upcoming Auction" List and screening criteria are invaluable. Look for domains that stand out for the following reasons:

NameJet.com: Go through the pre-release and pending delete list, looking for domains that stand out for the same reasons above. NameJet.com is part of Network Solutions who used to partner with SnapNames.com but now they have their own service to auction off dropping domains that they currently are the registrars of. I've found their service to be good.

Snapnames.com: Go through the featured domain list, , looking for domains that stand out for the same reasons above. SnapNames.com is really the first major website to auction off dropping domains. I've been using them for over 10 years to "snap up" dropping domains. Recently, I've found that the domains on the front page of SnapNames.com are not as good as the ones featured on NameJet.com. SnapNames.com sells the domains on behalf of the current domain owner and the domain owner sets the price. Many domain owners think their domains are worth more than they really are!

Google it!: A quick Google search of a domain name can reveal a whole lot more about its' potential worth. Look for the following things:

The number of results returned. A high number is obviously better (anything over a million is very good). And if you are searching about a domain with multiple words, make sure you use quotes around the search to get an accurate result. For example, if you were researching bestflash.com, Google "best flash" instead of best flash.
Companies or websites that may find the domain that is expiring useful. They may be using the .net or other extension domain for their business and might not know that the .com version is dropping. You could snap up the domain for $60 and turn around and sell it for hundreds or even thousands.
Avoid any domain that looks like it may be a trademark infringement. You may end up getting sued and domains that fall into this catagory are usually avoided by other people who buy domains.

Once again, DomainTools.com to the rescue. Look up the whois information on the domain. A couple of key things to look for:

Alexa website rank. Anything around a million or under (even better) is worth snapping up.
Any domain where the .net, .org or other extension is registered may be worth snapping up. Check to see who owns the other extensions - For example, if a company is operating their business under the .net version, they are probably willing to pay more than what you would pay to snap up the .com version. See the red circled areas below:

Alexa.com: How much traffic does a particular website get? Alexa will give you a general idea. You download a free toolbar (which millions of others have already downloaded). Alexa tracks where the toolbar users visit and uses the data to assign a ranking number to every website. The number (which appears on the toolbar) shows where the site you are visiting ranks among all sites on the web. More detailed traffic information is available by clicking on the ranking number. It is similar to how Nielsen uses an audience sample to determine TV ratings. Alexa is now owned by Amazon.

Archive.org: Find out what the domain name was previously being used for. Archive.org's wayback machine stores the guts of pretty much every website that was ever on the web. Knowing the domains website history can let you know if a domain name has had a glorified or troubled past!

Checkpagerank.com: Gives you the pagerank for the domain with and without the www, the link popularity for Google, Yahoo and AllTheWeb, whether the domain is listed in Dmoz, Google or Yahoo directories and the age of the domain.

DNScoop.com: Although you shouldn't put too much credibility in the valuation results on dnScoop.com, you will get the following valuable information from them (and be patient because their search script is incredibly slow!):

There are thousands of registrars out there that attempt to snap up domain names exactly when they expire... BUT... 99% of them work for one of the following three companies: Namejet.com (Network Solutions), Snapnames.com, or Pool.com. Create an account at all three and always back order a domain at ALL THREE. There is no harm in doing that and you'll just about always get into the auction for any domain. If the domain doesn't go to auction (which means it probably isn't that great of a domain), you will automatically acquire it.

NameJet.com: Price to backorder a domain with Namejet.com is either $29 for less valuable domains or $69 for good domain names. If the domain does not go to auction upon expiration, Namejet.com will acquire the domain for you for a total cost of $69. Any decent domain name of significant value will always go to auction (unless you get extremely lucky). When putting a domain on back order at Namejet.com, you will immediately know how many other users have also back ordered the domain (See the bidders column). Domains of great value will have a large number of bidders.

Snapnames.com: Price to backorder a domain with Snapnames.com is typically $59. If the domain does not go to auction upon expiration, Snapnames.com will acquire the domain for you for the back order fee. Once again, any decent domain name of significant value will always go to auction (unless you get extremely lucky). There are basically two types of back order at Snapnames.com: A back order of a domain that is just expiring and Snapnames.com has to compete with Namejet and Pool to get it... and a back order of a domain that has been specifically designated to go up on auction at Snapnames.com. This occurs when a domain owner contacts Snapnames.com to set up an auction to sell a specific domain or portfolio of domains. You'll know you're looking at a back order of a domain of the second type when you see any price greater than $59. In these cases, the price has been set by the current owner of the domain. When and if the domain does expire and go into auction (or go to the sole bidder), the current owner of the domain will get the majority of the sale amount and Snapnames.com will get a percentage of the sale. For these tpe of back orders you will also see the number of bidders prior to the domain expiration. Domains of great value will have a large number of bidders.

Pool.com: Price to backorder a domain with Pool.com is $60. If the domain does not go to auction upon expiration, Pool.com will acquire the domain for you for the back order fee. Once again, any decent domain name of significant value will always go to auction (unless you get extremely lucky). You won't know the number of other bidders prior to expiration with Pool.com.

I've been backordering domain names for over 10 years and I've very, very rarely not been included in an expiring domain auction that I wanted to be included in by simply back ordering the domain at ALL THREE of these companies. 90% of the time, the domain will go to one of the big two - Namejet.com or Snapnames.com

Finally, if you want to snap up a good expiring domain name - BE PREPARED TO PAY!!! There are tons of experienced domain buyers out there competing with you (trust me, I know a lot of them!). For example, I'm currently involved in an auction (5/24/08) for www.clash.com and it's up to $15,000 right now... and that's with 2 days left in the auction. The last hour of any auction is the most volatile and can result in a price jumping ten times as high. If you want to see recent domain sales, go to the DNJournal.

Step 4: Anyone serious about making $ with domain names needs to know about these sites.

DNForum.com: Simply the best forum on the internet for domain buyers/sellers to communicate with eachother. Get news, expert advice, appraisals and buy/sell domains. The One Stop Place to Talk, Buy and Sell Domains!. Get connected with experienced domain buyers/sellers and get to know what the value of specific types of domains is... Information is power and you certainly DO NOT want to overpay for a domain.

NamePros.com: NamePros.com is a domain name forum headed by website developer Ron James. In addition to the well-known domainers who frequent all of the major forums, NamePros attracts many new faces you might not see elsewhere.

DomainState.com: DomainState forum is a great place to find answers to all of your domain questions. The site also has an excellent suite of free tools. It is moderated by 3 veteran and highly respected domain industry professionals and has attracted more than 1,000 members.

The bottom line: As I tell my friends - if you have a spare $1,000, with this method, you can pick up 10 decent domains for $100 a piece and turn around and sell them for twice that. If you do that multiple times, you'll be making a lot of money in no time. And once in a while you get lucky and pick one up for the back order fee and sell it days later for thousands.