In 1999 I had the idea that geotargeting would be helpful to my professional office. It worked and still does, but at the time I didn't expand on the idea. If I had broadened my horizons chances are . . . Well, you know the story about opportunity and hindsight. ;)
Fast forward from 1999 to 2005-6 and I discovered that the world still hasn't completely awakened to geotargeting of domains despite the fact that the online marketing world has been abuzz about the emergence of local online marketing for 2+ years. That's not to say that there are an abundance of prime geotargeted domains. There are prime domains but you have to work to uncover them and you need a strategy, such as the one I outlined earlier this year.
My story for 2006? I'm about 2,000+ new geotargeted domains deeper into . . the process? At the very least into debt.
I've witnessed a bit of activity by others in the local realm in 2006. Perhaps others had the same idea without reading what I've posted here. Perhaps some of you explored the idea and took a chance based on my analysis. If any of you have and had some success I'd love to read about it.
I was still playing in the aftermarket this year, though the level of competition is now considerable. Domains that I might have picked up for hundreds of dollars in 2004 now routinely launch into the thousands of dollars. Date.org sold at auction for $150,000+. Loan.org for $100,000+. The values aren't all bad since I'm someone who holds a few one word .Orgs in the same or perhaps better league.
So, my story for 2006 has been geotargeting local verticals - City+Service.tld - resulting in approximately 2,000+ new domains in the domain bins.
How did you spend 2006? Did you spend 2006 buying, selling or static?
How many domains have you added to your domain assets?
What worked for you in 2006?
Care to share any elements of your strategy? You know, the ones that worked in 2006 not the ones that will work in 2007. ;)
[edited by: Webwork at 6:37 pm (utc) on Dec. 21, 2006]
How many domains have you added to your domain assets?
About 20.
What worked for you in 2006?
Domains like keyword1keyword2.com or keyword1-keyword2.com. I've found it the best way to get to the top of the serps. I've found a niche where you can still find these type of domains.
How many domains have you added to your domain assets?
About 50. Some small; some large; some hyper-niche; some generalist umbrella domains. But all around a similar theme. Which I might not have bought if it hadn't have been for the prompting of Webwork...
What worked for you in 2006?
Outside the US has always been about local, however one defines that.
Developing (*cough* Webwork) past local purchases which are now the groundrock of current work and future plans. Using your USPs to build your property piece by piece in a way that few other people would be able to.
I'm afraid to say that 2007 holds the potential for me losing the right to refer to myself as a domainer: one actively engaged - end-to-end - in the full-time analysis, search, and accumulative processes of domaining. Why So? The process of domaining itself is the biggest impediment to development. I've actually purchased software licenses, in aid of building certain projects, which I have yet to deploy.
2006 was an encouraging year from the perspective of grasping the PPC traffic value of what I hold. Whilst I may not be generating millions of visits - as some pop culture or "play" style domains may - the process of "smart pricing for domains" (it actually exists) has confirmed my analysis and validated my approach. Generic yet highly commercial-business focused domains, the type that I have alway sought out, have value for future website addresses. PPC smart pricing for domains says so, so why not expand on the traffic by development with a consistently tight commercial-business focus? ;)
[edited by: Webwork at 3:46 pm (utc) on Dec. 22, 2006]
The process of domaining itself is the biggest impediment to development.
Absolutely! I think 2007 is going to be a hold/develop/sell time for me. The cost of any decent domain name is way to scary for me to be a buyer anymore, but encouraging as a seller :)
Well we have increased our portfolio almost 500% in size in last 2 years.
Had about 800 names in 2000 (started buying in end of 1998).
Let many expire in 2001 and left with about 400.
Suffered major losses in stocks in 2001 and stayed away from domaining for next 3 years and started buying again around the end of 2004 and bought lots of casino/poker ones.
Then saw the news about marchex deal and how Yun Ye targetted the local city+service. Started buying city+service ones but mainly stayed with service type of domains such as insurance, loans, mortgage, realestae, dating, etc etc. Mainly stayed away from gaming/music/ringtones kind of names because as Webwork said about PPC was huge for some niches and for me these were all the above categories and some more. Bought very few product related names.
Starting the later part of 2005 and all throught-out 2006 just went crazy and got few thousand more. I basically wrote my simple excel formula and just used keywords to make mega lists of domains which I then quickly searched using either free softwares or registrar sites.
It is amazing how much some clicks are earning on these niches...sometimes in tens of dollars per click. I think it is what Webwork has referred to as smart-pricing and I love it. I feel very good that I acquired tons of localized service domains in last 2 years and I see similar ones selling for more and more every month.I see some domains get few visitors a month but make a very decent profit or lets say they pay for many others.
Even registered some 4 letter ones i.e. LLLL.com names with a strategy in mind and they get good traffic and are really a surprise to me.
Then went after Strong combination Keyword domains in other TLDs such as .org and .us mainly. Got couple hundred each of .net and .info also.
Last names we got were some mobi ones and thats all.
We are now done acquiring domains [hopefully though I have been saying it for last 8 years:)]
Seriously I have decided to not buy anymore names and concentrate on developing some of the ones that we already have.
2006 will go down as the year I went crazy acquiring domains and then became sane by the end of the year. We now have more domains that we can ever really develop if we work alone:)
Time to develop.
PS: I will appreciate the development ideas such as which software to use and what strategy to follow. Don't really know where to start at this time.
Thanks.
Sold 5, bought 150 new domains (a little over 100 .coms, the rest .net, .org, .us and .co.uk).....so a positive gain of 145, which will be funded for centuries by the 5 domains sold this year :)
>What worked for you in 2006?
Same as worked for me in 2005, 04, 03....and back to 1999!
Investing in the right domains will always turn a profit, but, why not make a profit from them while you are holding them. I don't park anything, everything has to have live content, money making sites, links, and Ads.
By doing this, you add to the value of the domain, if and when someone wants to purchase it. You are no longer just selling the name, you are now selling a profitable business.
By doing this, you add to the value of the domain, if and when someone wants to purchase it. You are no longer just selling the name, you are now selling a profitable business.
------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree with you 100% and I wish I can do it from now onwards.
Now I am wondering how can I steal some of your development knowledge and experience :)
Thanks for sharing.
Regards.
There are just not enough hours in the day...
I've got my work, then my own sites which need care and attention and too often for my liking they get neglected... so to add yet more to my work load seems like an infeasable approach..
Unless you are throwing up a template and leaving it?
How would you go about that.. I can't see how I would have the time to develope create and maintain even 5 more domains.. how is that possible with 100+?
I just completed the sale of a nice product.com plus some related niche domains for low 7 figures. That was my first really big sale.
Also I had a strange week mid year when I got a nice low 5 figure offer for a domain that I had no plans for.
That same day a domain I had always wanted went up for sale. So a few days later that unexpected windfall turned into my coveted domain plus a nice sailboat.
2007 is the year that I hope to finally develop all the domains that I meant to in 2006,2005 etc.....
No, to manually create 100's of sites per year, many with millions of pages, it can't be manually done.
But, that is the beauty of computers!
Google has the world's leading search engine, and the algo is not "manually done"! So why not think the same....?
I can produce a totally unique, useful, and sort after site in about 10 minutes.......a PHP program creates it, a lot like a Google program searches it......!
We are now just playing computers against computers to see who has the smartest programming :)
As Dmoz once said...."Humans Do It Better".....sure they do, but they don't do it faster!
I have been surprised at the nice names that I've been able to pick up for very low cash... I predict that short, quality domains will be more in demand in 2007 than any previous year. I also think that more mass-purchased keyword-stuffed domains are going to expire and not be worth catching.
Can you suggest a couple of software programs that would be good to have a look at if one is interested in streamlining the process of building some content for doamin name stock
I look for industry trends, new buzzwords, etc. Being a part of WebmasterWorld has led me on a rash of domain buying sprees over the years. I've got just under 500 domains, some going back as far as 1998.
I've been with the same Registrar since I started my buying spree. They take good care of me in an automated kind of way. ;)
I first bought a domain in 97 and till 05 had 29-25 domains.
Ending 2006, I had 195 domains in the cap.
.Com, .Net, .Org, .Info, .Biz, .Name, .In, .Ws - All extentions.
Tried few single term .Names & .WS to check them for a year!
Bought the greatest domains (that is what i feel):
State & City names (Indian)
General / Keyword domains (English)
Cricket (Sports) domains
Branded domains with other extentions
Hyphen (Not more then 1) Domains
Tried domain parking with Sedo & Cash (Godaddy).
Tried Godaddy, Net4domains, Rediff, OnlineNIC registrars.
Till now, very optimistic of the domain ability and my ability to either build site on them or park them smartly..
Also, to end with, please let me know if i get a very good general / keyword based .IN domains, shall i go forward.
Cheers @ Dipen
