TOP 10 mistakes new domain investors are still doing in 2020!
Domain investing is an art.
Each domain name is unique, and only very few people are able to continuously buy domain names which will sell at the aftermarket for significant ROI. Still, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide are trying to become domain investors, only to find out after a year or two that they just burned a large amount of money, and there is no profit from their activities.
Here are top 10 mistakes domain investors are doing in 2020. I really hope it will help you to save some money!
Mistake no.1 — you are registering BAD, WORTHLESS names! This mistake is far the most important one — everything else can be forgiven, but if you have bad names, you will NEVER make any profit.
Mistake no.2 — you are registering a lot of names, and will be forced to drop them prior to the first renewal season. This is because you ignore the fact that even in the best portfolios that are really well selected, only 1% of names are sold yearly for the price which can be considered significant. And many portfolios I see are not well selected, and there will be 0 sales in total, due to mistake no.1
Mistake no.3 — you spend too much time at domain investor forums, instead of LikedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or Twitter. Just to clarify, I love domain investor forums, and I love to hang around there. I also like to buy domains there for a few dollars. But most of our end-users are simply not there. You need to reach out on various platforms, as on domain forums you speak mostly with other domain investors, which is great for educational or recreational purposes, but not for your sales. Largest sales are made to end users, not to fellow domain speculators/investors.
Mistake no.4 — if you are investing in a new generation of domain names, (like .life, .world, or .online), you are trying to impress or get an approval from lifetime .com investors. I mean, come on — selected, high-quality new domain names are direct competition to valuable .com portfolios — there is only a limited amount of money spent on domains, and new domain names are redirecting part of that money flow towards them. It is therefore logical that it is an unwanted competition for many .com investors and we can not expect a lot of praise on them because of that. Saying that I can clearly see some .com investors are very nice and genuine, so this can not be generalized — still, it is a good idea to have this notion somewhere back in your mind, as seeking approval of your new domain names from someone who spent years to build his or her legacy extensions portfolio can be a doomed effort from the very start.
Mistake no.5 — you are trying to get an appraisal of your new domain names from .com investors. Again, even in 2020, you will get a lot of “reg fee” comments or “I would stick with .com” comments on domaining forums. In general, anytime someone gives you an appraisal or advice, try to check the domain portfolio of that person. For example, if you see a lot of bad domain names, it also can give you some information about the quality of such “appraisal”.
Mistake no.6: you do not have your own marketplace. It really takes only a few minutes and a few dollars to create a domain name marketplace. There is really no excuse for not having your marketplace nice and ready. Especially after GDPR legislation in place since May 2018, we really need to project some more credibility towards end-users, and having a nice marketplace is a good way to do so.
Mistake no.7: you have your marketplace created, selling a new generation of domain names (for example you specialize on .xyz or .live), but you operate from .com domain name… Really??? If you sell new domain names, you need to lead by your own example…so your marketplace should also operate on the new domain extension. How can you possibly persuade end-users to replace his long or ugly legacy name with a new domain name, if you yourself do not operate from a new domain name? Think about it for a minute.
Mistake no.8: you are registering domain names with renewals around $500 and higher. And you persuade yourself that you will develop it, if not sold within 1 year. Yes, you can have 1 or 2 such names, no problem, but if you buy 300 of them, there is no way you will be able to develop all of them within 1 year. So you will end up dropping maybe 298 of them.
Mistake no.9: you do not care what are companies behind particular extensions. You even can not tell the difference between registrar and registries.
Mistake no.10: you registered 1000 of very bad names, which will be only pure money loss. Then (because you got lucky), you finally get a really good new domain name, with low standard renewal. Finally something good! This is a name which you should keep and wait for good offers. But (because you have spent money on those 1000 bad domain names and everyone laughs at you ) you feel you need some cashflow now! And because you are lazy to create your own marketplace (and from the unknown reason you cannot also create your LinkedIn profile which is free of charge), and you do not like to send emails to end-users because it is too much work, and you do not like to make phone calls (from your country it is expensive anyway), so … oh well, you start $1 auction at some domainer forum…then, of course, the auction most likely goes like this:
1. you (no one bids): UP
2. you (trying to motive bidders): last 24 hours, SUPER PREMIUM name, a STEAL!!!
3. someone: bid $2 (you: relief, finally!)
4. you: shouting: LAST BID IS $2
5. you: again, shouting (desperately): SUPER PREMIUM, INSANE NAME!!! Can anyone give $3? Do I see $3 for it?
6. you: up up up, nothing happens, so you put BIN at $100.
7. me: ok, I will take it for BIN, $100, thanks a lot.
…..
And then you are again left with your bad 1000 names.
