Yes, I actually made over a 26,000% return on investment on a single domain name.
Let me start with the caveat, domain investing like all investment is filled with risks and most people I know who own domain names of personal interest to them are unlikely to ever make a dime of profit selling mediocre domain names.
But where else is it possible to make hundreds or thousands of times your investment in a matter of months or years? In the case I mention, had registered a domain name and paid registration fees for several year, amounting to less than $100. Then I sold it for $26,600. In truth, I own many other domain names, so when that is factored-in the actual return is much lower. But if I were to liquidate all of my domain holdings I would still have made a significant return on investment. This ROI is better than I would have made in the stock market, bond market or even real estate.
What’s the domain name that earned this return? EasyPrinting.com
It’s a good domain name, but not the sort of domain name that seems impossible to get or likely to get such a return. When I purchased it, I would not have imagined making such a return. It’s not the only name I sold with a big return, but this was a great ROI and is one of the sales I’m able to discuss.
I never set-out to be a domain investor. In the beginning, I just grabbed domain names that I thought would make good business names. I have tons of ideas for businesses. Every time I had a business idea I’d go looking for domain names. I would come-up with dozens of good names… so sometimes rather than picking just one, I’d grab several domains, thinking I’d pick one later. But the reality was that I was always busy over the years working as a web strategist and producer. Many times I’d be so busy that I’d wind-up with lists of business ideas and no time to execute them. But the names were often so good I would not want to part with them. Over time it became clear to me that I was good at finding good names. At some point I would just get a whim and start search for good quality domains in a certain niche. Over time, I would grow a stockpile of good premium domain names.
So you say, great, you’ve been doing this since the mid 1990s, but that’s not possible now. Actually it is still possible to make money with domain names and I still buy domain names all the time. It’s harder now in some ways, but easier in other ways. Not all the good domain names are taken and many can be purchased by resellers like NameBrandable for very reasonable prices.
I’m almost certain that you’re not going to hand-register a name on GoDaddy that’s worth 5 or 6 figures. But you may find available domain names that are worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. You can also find domains on the resale market that you think are undervalued. You can hold them as investments. Or if you’re inclined, you can improve the value of the domain names and make some revenue by creating simple websites with some niche content.
If you believe in a particular name or niche business, you will easily find domains selling at a discount because of the economy. I regularly see domain names selling for a few hundred or a few thousand dollars that to the right buyer would be worth 5 or 10 times more. There are smart domain investors who are able to spend thousands dollars on good domains and flip them in weeks or months for a healthy profit.
Just don’t go into this glassy-eyed. Do some research, pick a niche area where you think there will be money in the future and look for deals. You could see significant returns with the right picks.
Now it is much easier to get into domain investing than it was in the early days. It’s less expensive to get started. It’s easier to search across multiple domain names. It’s easier to manage domain name portfolios not worry about them expiring by accident. It’s also much easier to find information on valuing, selling and getting revenue from domain names. There are many domain marketplaces and forums where you can list domains for sale and connect with other investors and potential end-users.
What extensions are worth investing in? .Com domains are generally the best investments, but .Net and .Org can also be very good. You may find certain niches that do very well for you in .TV, .Me, .Co, .US and even .Info & .Biz. Most of my portfolio is in .Com domain names, but I sometimes I find names in other extensions that are too hard to pass-up. Commercial keywords, dictionary words and very domain names of often good. I also believe in the value and power of certain brandable domain names.
Domain investing is fun, addictive and can be very profitable. But it’s not an “easy” business. But the truth is, there are no “easy” businesses out there, unless they’re inherited. If you’re already involved in web creation in some way as a designer, blogger, marketing person or developer, you may be in the perfect position find the hidden-gem domains that are selling at a discount.
In fact one place to find them will be here on NameBrandable. We will be placing dozens of premium domain names for sale at a discount in the coming weeks. We want to generate some cash to fund some other non-domain businesses. We are happy to pass along some of our gems to you at a discount.
If you are interested in being the first to learn of our discount-priced premium domain releases, please sign-up for our upcoming newsletter. It will also include some great advice on domain investing, branding and web marketing. Mailings will be sent no more than once per week.
