Because of the World Cup, GoDaddy.com is having a $0.99 promotion for .com, .net and .org. The coupon code below can only be used once for each GoDaddy account and you have to pay by credit card for verification purposes.
Soccer99
During the checkout process, copy and paste this coupon code before paying for your domain name.
Go to GoDaddy to take advantage of the World Cup domain name promo now!
Logen L.
The entry today serves to guide you on making your domain name more valuable. Thereby, increasing the chance that it will be sold. This is part 2 of Reduce Domain Name Investment Uncertainties.
Our objective today is to understand:
When we talk about value, there are 2 separate components that makes up a domain name’s value. They are the domain name’s:
Natural value refers to the value that the domain name gives itself. For example, the domain name, ChocolateCoffee.com, was recently sold for US$2500. Its keywords and market demand solely determined its value. In plainer terms, it means that without further development, the domain name’s natural value was $2500.
Development value, however, refers to the value of a domain name after some effort was put in to develop it. In other words, you try to affect the domain name’s value by gaining more relevant traffic. And traffic represents money-earning opportunities to serious buyers.
The chart above shows you how the development value and natural value add up. Basically, Natural Value is the base value that cannot be easily affected. While, Development Value is the added-value on top of a domain name’s natural value. Natural Value + Development Value = Total Value of Domain Name .
So, the question is how can you influence both the natural value and development value of your domain name? Read on.
We have covered this briefly on an entry about how to choose a domain name. Nonetheless, let’s recap. Here are the determinants that affect the natural value of a domain name.
How do we appreciate a domain name’s value through above determinants?
By using the determinants to choose the right domain name in the first place! Because after registering a domain name, next to nothing can be done to appreciate its natural value. (I will dedicate a/some post(s) on some techniques to find a good domain name.)
These are the determinants of development value.
Whatever I’m trying to say should be clear now. A domain name with a website will naturally be valued more. Because it fulfills the three factors above. With a website of quality content, you gain relevant traffic and with some form of marketing, even more traffic will be gained. And traffic means money!
Through the process there is a high possibility that your site will gain pagerank from google. And many buyers take pagerank as an indicator of your site quality.
The question is, are you willing to spend time to develop a site for your domain name? If not, what can you do. Watch this space.
Logen Lanka
I have been doing some maintenance behind the scenes of Logish Empire. This includes creating a logo, changing the site layout and installing better plugins for this blog. I wanted a semi-professional look for Logish Empire and have the backend work towards the aims of this blog as efficiently as possible.
Anyway, due to my upcoming exams, I’m placing this blog on hiatus. The hiatus will be effective on Friday midnight for 3 to 4 weeks. However, do check back. I will still post something because I definitely will get tired of studying and revising for my Accountancy modules.
Your anticipated part 2 of Reduce Domain Name Investment Uncertainties will be posted this week. This entry will give an overview of how to appreciate your domain name’s value. I have proofread and edited the entry several times during the past few days to ensure quality.
Logen Lanka
What makes an investment, an investment? An investment is an asset that you spend money/time on, which eventually earns you more money. This asset we are talking about is your domain name. And the goal is to earn a return from your domain name, without burning much of your time, resources and money.
In short, we want to reduce uncertainties like:
The overview of this series will reveal how to cut losses and increase your earnings when investing in domain names.
Let’s picture this. Logen just bought 10 domain names that he intends to resell. However, there is a risk that he will not be able to sell it at a profit. How does he reduce his uncertainty of not being able to cover the $10 cost price of each domain name.
To reduce this uncertainty, two things can be done. First, increase the demand of your domain names by appreciating their value. Second, ensure that you have a constant inflow of cash to support at least part of your cash outflow.
Appreciating The Value of Your Domain Names
The first point of appreciating the value of one’s domain name is straightforward. Part 2 of this series will deal with how to appreciate domain name value.
Receiving Cash Inflows to Support Cash Outflows
However, for the second point, it warrants a bit of explanation. What does having an inflow of cash to support outflow of cash mean?
For instance, Logen’s investment on 10 domain names will cost $100 per year for renewal. If he intends to hold it for several years, you can only imagine the costs incurred for every year. If he has a steady stream of cash inflow of $50, his cost of investment will be reduced to $50 per year.
Domain Name Renewal Cost – Inflow of Cash = Net Outflow
$100 – $50 = $50 of outflow per year
That’s all for the overview. The second part of the series will teach you how to appreciate the value of your domain name. And the third part will teach you more about cash inflow.
Logen Lanka
What is new on Logish Empire?
Logish Empire has a new store!
Other than domain names, the store seeks to sell affordable domain tools, ebooks and articles for my reader’s investment needs. Have faith that I’ll evaluate every product to ensure its quality. I too have had enough of monkeys out there selling substandard products.
What has Logen been doing?
Other than worrying about the exams?
I’ve been planning and will be writing blog articles that will be beneficial to fellow domainers. Remember the last post where I complained about my lack of organisation and focus? I’ll be dealing with that problem, which has implications on earnings and stress-levels.
Where domain name income comes into play, I’ll try to apply what I’ve learnt in Financial Management to manage the cash and investment plan for domain names.
Logen, are you sure that’s all? What about your own domain investments?
Hmm… I’ve been developing some of my domain names with content.
However, I have a huge problem with procrastination. To add on, I’m not really supposed to do these things at this period because my exams are round the corner.
Anyway, I’m liquidating certain domain names to fund renewals of other domains and web hosting account.
That’s all people.
Logen Lanka
I’ve been busy with school and domain investments lately and will be for the next month. My exams are nearing.
Yet, I refuse to let go of the work to be done on my domain names. Part of the reason is my lack of funds to sustain my web hosting account and some domain names. These things require renewal in a few months time.
Therefore, I’ve been trying to liquidate certain domain names and monetise the others, in order to maintain my cashflow. Now, learn from my mistakes…
When you invest in domain names, especially when starting out:
In short, have a written plan and never take on more than you can chew. It will help you to move forward in times of stress due to work or school. In those times, you are bound to forget your full investment plan. Thus, you have to be organised!
Take me for an example. I bought 30 domain names, of which I intended to develop half of them. I hadn’t factored in school projects, exams and social uncertainties in time management. Right now, I’m having difficulty in focusing and completing the crucial domain investments.
To make matters worse, my information and plans weren’t expressed on paper. You can imagine trying to remember detailed plans for over 10 domain names.
Following this entry, I will try to work out some solutions on being organised with your/my domain names. And how to get an influx of cash to sustain your/my expenses in investment. I’m also planning to create a format for you and me to use to plan cash inflows and outflows.
I’d be happy to hear some tips from some of you on this matter.
Logen L.
Every domain name is registered through registrars. You create them, during registration and they have to be renewed yearly for a standard fee.
However, it isn’t necessary to acquire domains through registrars!
There are two basic means of acquirng domain names:
Registrars
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
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
How To Choose A Domain Name
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:
*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:
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
In more technical terms, a domain name identifies IP address(es). IP addresses identify the computer that stores the website you want to view. But due to the numerical nature of IP addresses, it is difficult to remember what to type. Imagine having to type 216.239.51.99 just to visit Google.com.
Hence, the purpose of domain names. Domain names are used to identify webpages. LogishEmpire.com represents the blog you are reading now. In other words, a domain name is an address of a website. As to how domain names and IP addresses connect, this is a topic that is out of scope.
There are many suffixes for a domain name (a.k.a. Top Level Domain). For example, .com, .net, .info, .mobi, .sg. The more common ones are .com, .net and .org. As a domain name trader, I prefer trading in .com’s because this is the first choice of the market. And therefore, the probability of selling my acquired domain name is higher.
Check back for how and where to acquire domain names. Cost-saving tips included.
Logen Lanka
I must have been mad. And right now, I’m in a dilemma.
What am I to do with the adult domain name I recently acquired? Should I make a porn site!
To be fair, I bought it because it was a one-word, dictionary-word domain name. And this could mean high profits if I sell it off.
Originally, I was going to submit it for a premium adult auction on SnapNames. However, I found out for the particular auction, they only accepted international domain names (a.k.a. .com, .net, .info, .biz, .mobi etc). Oh well, generic domains are still worth a lot. And there are other premium auctions.
In the mean time, if I’m not selling the domain name yet, I have 2 options left: develop a site or put it for parking. I’m not sure how parking will do, but it will definitely yield a smaller income than site development. Yet, I’m not too keen on developing an adult / porn site for the domain name. Haha.
Logen Lanka