However, it isn’t necessary to acquire domains through registrars!

There are two basic means of acquirng domain names:

• Directly from your good old domain registrar
• From domain traders and investors

Registrars

• Moniker.com
• Namecheap
• GoDaddy.com (recommended)

These are some reliable domain name registrars, which I have had some form of dealings with. Their prices are reasonably cheap.

The advantages with acquiring your domain with a registrar is with the initial cost. It is a standard low price. Lower than that of a domain trader’s price.

For example, GoDaddy.com charges $10.69 (before discount coupon) for a dot com registration. So that is the price you pay for the first year, and the years after.

Yet, if you buy from a domain trader, it will cost significantly more, depending on the domain name.

Domain Trading Avenues

• Ebay
• Namepros

The above two are markets where domain names can be bought. The pricing are known to be reasonable for the average domain name trader. Experienced domain traders will tell you that there are more than the two places I’ve listed to buy domains.

But as a starting point, I’d advise you to try trading in these places. You should begin above to get a feel of how the basic market works. Learn how to negotiate and network. And have a feel of how domain names are valued.

Domain names sold by domain traders and investors are likely to have relevant traffic. The domain may even have been used for a website before. This would mean very valuable traffic for you. However, the bad news is, for the traffic, the domain name is worth much more.

If you are confident in selling your acquired domain name at a higher price than you paid for, go for it. You may even be lucky to acquire a domain trader’s unwanted domain name at below registrar’s price.

Warnings on Domain Name Safety

I have mentioned that domain registrars are involved no matter how you acquire your domain name. Be sure to dig up news on your registrar. Thor, a recent commenter, reminded me on this. And I thank him for that.

There have been news of registrars who hijack their customer’s domain name. There are also accounts of registrars shutting down sites and imposing fines for uninvestigated abuse of policy.

Always research on your registrars. While some news on domain registrars are reliable, take the information with a pinch of salt. Here’s your homework; dig up news on the registrars I have listed above. Reason if the news you have found is reliable or biased. Remember, no registrar is perfect and are bound to have dirt on them.

Let me just tell you to stay away from NetworkSolution. Do not even search for domain names on their site. There are accounts of them registering searched domains, to prevent the person searching from registering the domain elsewhere.

Also, when dealing with domain traders, maintain reasonable skepticism over their reputation unless they have proven themselves otherwise. Check their trader’s reputation, Ebay reputation, Paypal reputation or anything that verifies that they are true to their word when they transact.

Logen Lanka

The primary purpose with your domain name should be to make it easy for visitors to find your website. You should therefore choose a domain name that is memorable and/or convenient to type.

For a domain to be memorable, it should reflect the nature or brand of your website. Choose a dot com above all. Most people by habbit type “.com”. Whereas convenient to type, talks about the length of your domain name and the proximity of the keys on the keyboard while typing it. The domain name should preferably be below 13 letters/characters. And avoid awkward names like 1-halqf-207d.com. Not only is it forgetable, but it requires the visitor to move his fingers on different end of the keyboard. Think about the disabled.

How To Buy and Sell Domain Names

You may have noticed I haven’t discussed on the domain trader’s and investor’s point of view. Well, it is prudent for beginning traders and investors to understand how the demand of domain names work. Do not start out like me by putting my money on one speculation.

Hereon,  we shall build on the foundation, which is what a regular person looks for when buying a domain name. On the whole, people prefer short and memorable domain names. After all, we have established that a domain name should be convenient for visitors and beneficial to the website’s brand name.

This is straightforward. Invest in domain names that are:

• Brandable
• One-word dictionary words (e.g. ardor.mobi, love.com)
• Short (below 5 letters preferably)
• Commercially valuable (can be effectively used to target a product/service market)*

      *must be combined with the other factors; it exists separtely

Here’s the not so straightforward part…

While each of the above point can survive on its own, brandabiliy is the weakest. You cannot sell a domain for much if you base it on brandability alone. Why not invest in the other stated points instead?

Well, many one-word dictionary word domain names have been taken. All short domain names that have less than 5 letters are taken.

That leaves us with one factor to bank on -brandability. What then can we do? On top of being brandable, make sure the domain name you choose has commercial value. Keep the domain name short (below 13 characters/letters). And perhaps, have a real word within the domain name.

The result are domains like:

• iAgnostic.com
• MrsBids.com (I sold this already)
• DarkEmo.com (I sold this already)

Be creative, but consider your target market when you plan to buy a domain name for resale. What does the customer demand? Supply the customer with what he/she wants!

Logen Lanka