Top Myths Associated With Domain Names and Selling Them

As people who normally use internet only to check emails, shop, tweet, upload pictures, update facebook status or conduct some business, a large majority of us remain oblivious to the domain name and domain flipping industry. So, when we do decide to venture into it for some reason, it is only natural for us to carry some commonly known myths associated with it. It can also be easier than building a website from a scratch. Although with easy to follow guides relating to how to create a blog – many are choosing to go down this route and add value to their domain names rather than selling undeveloped.

Many people think of domain buying and selling to be one of the easiest methods of making quick money. Perhaps, you may have heard of someone buying a domain name for under $3000 and then selling it for $25,000. A quick $22,000 profit! Such stories can be very motivating! And that sort of money does exchange hands (Go through 10 of the biggest domain name sales of all time!). But these deals don’t come as easy as they seem! Ask anyone who flips domains for a living and he/she’ll tell you the amount of hard work and skill that goes into it.

Actually, there are so many domain flipping related blogs, e-books, websites and self-proclaimed gurus out there that often a newbie can’t help but get easily lured in by unfounded fallacies.

My intent of writing this article is to bust all such myths associated with the domain names and domain flipping industry. I’ll inform you about many little known facts that none of those gurus or e-books tell. This information is based on all that I’ve learnt personally over the years. Let’s begin!

Myths related to domain names

There aren’t any affordable .COMs out there

Nowadays, the .COM domain names are usually marred by a stigma as several unreasonable sellers have heavily inflated the valuations of their not-so-extraordinary .COM domain name offerings. A quick check on the .COMs on sale at ebay.com will tell you what I’m talking about here!

If you’re patient enough, you can discover at least four to five very good .COM domain names at attractive prices. However, you’ll need to carry out some research and find out the right places where they may be available. I’ve seen that such .COM deals can also be bagged from popular domain marketplaces like Flippa.com, or from the private portfolio portals of sellers, provided you employ the right strategies. You can contact the domain owners directly too. There’s no harm in emailing them directly to negotiate the prices.

GoDaddy is the no. 1 company in the domain registration business

There’s no doubt that GoDaddy is one of the biggest and cheapest domain registrars in the online world. They run massive advertising campaigns and their product offerings are also pretty huge. Their popularity is such that many people actually use the term ‘domain registrar’ and ‘GoDaddy’ interchangeably!

However, there are several other domain registration websites that have equally good prices and comparable features. These registrars also offer high levels of security and customer service support. To name a few, name.com, domain.com, NameCheap etc. are really looked up to in the domain registration marketplace.

All good domain names are already taken

Going by the latest statistics, there are more than 90 million .COM domain names that have been registered so far. Hence, many people wonder if there are actually any good domain names left for them to purchase. Let me tell you, the picture that you get from such statistics is far from the truth.

You can still buy two word or three word domain names incorporating your target keywords. Moreover, there are millions of domain names out there which haven’t been used at all and are bound to expire soon. All such domains keep coming back to the domain marketplace. What more, there are useful tools available to research and filter through such expired domains.

Registering or squatting on multiple domain names is unethical

A good majority of web developers view the domain flipping industry with disdain as they face a hard time finding the right domain names for their own development projects. Domain flipping is also looked down upon by corporate and business entities who register multiple domains related to their trademarks or business names. Actually, it is these people who’re the real domain name squatters!

Nowadays, a large majority of domain flippers are well aware of the risks involved in owning trademarks related domain names. So they stay away from them as much as possible.

Domain names have been on sale ever since the Internet revolution began during the 90s. Just because some entrepreneurs had the foresight to buy profitable domains before the rest of the world caught up with the trend, doesn’t make them domain hoarders. Domain names are just like the real estate sold in the off-line world. Anyone is free to buy/sell as many properties as one likes if his/her means permit.

When it comes to search engines, .COMs always rank higher than .CO, .ORG, .NET and other domain extensions

This is another popular myth that can be seen floating around in the domain name circles. Although it is not entirely untrue, there is more to it than meets the eye. Going by what Matt Cutts has to say, the domain extension does play a role in the Google’s search engine rankings, but it is applicable only to a certain set of countries.

As .COM is the natural domain extension for the United States based websites, it does get some priority in the Google.com’s search engine results (based on Google’s US datacenters) when competing against other countries’ domain extensions like .CO.UK, .CO.ZA, .COM.AU etc. However, .COMs don’t get automatic priority over other similar extensions like .ORG, .NET etc. that are also commonly used in the United States. All these domain extensions compete with .COMs on a level playing field.

Learn the 3 best strategies of selecting the right domain name!

Social profiles are bound to replace the domain names inevitably

Some people in the advertising and marketing industry have expressed fear that considering the way social networking portals are taking over our lives, businesses will soon operate from these websites and stop building their own websites altogether. Although such fear is justified to a certain extent, if looked at thoughtfully, the benefits offered by an independently hosted and controlled website far outweigh the promise held by social profiles.

On the contrary, the boom in social networking portals has resulted in people investing more and more money in independent websites. The former are actually playing an important role in directing traffic to the businesses’ self-owned websites.

Myths related to domain flipping

One can be successful at domain flipping by hand registering domain names and then quickly selling them to the end-users at huge margins

While it’s possible to flip the hand registered domains for handsome profits, you should be aware that most people make no more than $ 300 profit doing so. Furthermore, it requires a lot of hard work to make it a meaningful strategy.

In addition, the learning curve involved in this process will make you invest into several domain names that may not have any potential initially. Hence, you may end up investing a good amount of time and money doing something that may not generate a reasonable amount of revenue for quite some time.

You can buy/sell domain names passively

Flipping domain names is an active trade that requires your complete time and attention. Anyone who thinks that he/she can just buy a few domains, list them at the popular domain buying/selling portals and watch the money flow in, is highly mistaken.

The term flipping implies a sale that is done in a flip, or in a quick and sudden manner. You cannot be considered a domain flipper if all you do is just list your domain names and wait for years for them to sell. At its core, domain flipping is about spotting the right opportunities at the right time, involving strategic buying and selling of websites for profit.

Furthermore, selling domain names involves networking, people skills, marketing, research, negotiation skills and much more. Unless you strengthen all these areas, you may not make a lot of money from domain flipping.

One can master the domain flipping business in as less as a few months’ time

Many people fall for the marketing gimmick that domain flipping can be learnt and mastered in your spare time. Several self-proclaimed gurus promise aspiring domain flippers mind-boggling returns in as less as few months’ time.

The truth is that you require at least one year’s time to get around only the basics of the domain flipping business, leave alone making huge money from it. During this time, you’ll make several mistakes, buy useless domain names, lose out prospective deals and much more. Domain flipping is far from any get rich quick method. If overnight results are what you’re after, domain investing may not be your piece of cake. This business involves a real and steep learning curve which many people find difficult to climb.

Go through some of the challenges commonly faced by people entering the domain flipping business.

Someone just spent $ 50,000 on a certain domain name, you can sell him/her a similar name for a good profit

Just because someone spent five or six figure amount on a domain name doesn’t automatically imply that he/she’ll spend the same or at least a few thousand dollars on a similar name too. Basing your domain flipping strategy entirely on what others have just bought may not be as useful as you may think. Every domain name has a story behind it and its purchase/sale is usually as unique as that story.

Just one huge sale per month is good enough to get you going in the domain flipping business

Please keep in mind that domain flipping isn’t child’s play. As much as you may want, it isn’t easy to buy and sell domain names for huge profits without putting in a good amount of time and effort. Although there’s nothing wrong in aspiring for at least one big deal per month, be aware that sometimes it takes months and months to sell just a single domain name.

Many domain flippers start out in this industry making no more than a few hundred dollars per month by putting in at least 50 hours of work. This translates into working for as less as $ 3 – $ 4 per hour initially. Are you prepared for that?!

I hope this article helped you gain better clarity on several popular domain name and domain flipping myths. You should also learn the top 7 domain flipping tactics that no professional domain flipper can afford to overlook!