Has all the low hanging fruit gone from the Domain Business
Some days I curse Kevin Ham and Business 2.0 for the article, “The Man Who Owns the Internet.” As it was after reading this that I became involved in the domain business.
I started off with rose tinted glasses firmly in place and expected my millions were just around the corner (I probably wasn’t the only one with these unrealistic dreams.) Sadly that wasn’t the case. Yes I’m making good money and have had some very profitable trades. But the segments I was targeting have been raided and all the low hanging fruit has pretty much been picked. So I’m now trudging through new pastures, with my eyes on the lookout for bargains of which I feel there are plenty. The thing is that although I’m seeing bargains I’m not seeing anything that’s “cheap.”
If you read the forums you’ve probably noticed that some of the threads have an air of desperation about them and if you take what they say on board you would think the sky is falling in. But all of this doomsaying hasn’t yet led to the super discounts I’m looking for.
This industry has had such an incredible run over the last four years that most people have only known prices to go in one direction and this has had a delayed affect on the market returning to sensible values as people are still pricing their names for the boom times. (It’s similar in some respect to the
Now before my head gets bitten off – yes I know LLL.com’s and LLLL.coms have had very large price drops, but I think these overheated segments of the markets were due a significant fall anyway.
Still it will eventually happen that prices do drop even further and cheap bargains will start to appear. I know it’s pretty much impossible to call the bottom in any market, but being a bargain hunter I don’t like spending $1000 today on something I can get for $500 two months later.
So to answer the initial question raises, Yes there are still a large amount of opportunities at present, you just have to hunt a little bit harder to find them and after the correction I think we’ll be walking round with baskets scooping fruit off the floor.
These are just my thoughts. If anyone else has a different view I’d be very interested to see and discuss it with you.
James
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Hi James,
I think your right - LLL.com & LLLL.com domains were / are over priced.
Somepeople are being smart now and trading them at a fair price where someone else can take the risk and buy and pitch to an enduser.
There are lots of domains available out there but many arent top quality domains.
I was another person who read that great post on KH and thought I would make my millions online but Ive made $$,$$$ each year and still operate only on a part time business as I already have three companies and involved in another two.
I think next year shall be the year of bargains and some large portfolio holders shall get a nice roi on there investments as the average joe is going to look for new investments and I think domains is going to be an area they get into. (Well Thats What Im Hoping)
Warm Regards,
Robbie
Cheer up James, between the Online industry and the rest of the brick-and-mortar world who are imploding….. its a good position to be in for the next 10 years.
The dramatic power shift to online is real and will become even more emcompassing in the coming years.
There is still a lot of room to capitalize on this, just think laterally, think new business models for your names, predict the future…
Robbie - sounds like you’re a busy man. Like yourself this is only part time for me and i can’t see that changing in the near future. The only way i can see it becoming more is if some of my developments start working out.
Ha ha - Thanks Terence - you’re right i do sound miserable, but it’s only short term misery. Mid to long term i’m pretty bullish on our industry - I just wish there were more bargains around at this moment in time.
Great article. Yeah, it’s frustrating. We got started late, and of course fell in to the trap of registering garbage names. We’re finally trimming the fat, and only trying to focus on acquiring/developing low to medium premium names. We don’t kid ourselves that some of our holdings are truly shit (pardon the French). It still amazes us that so many domain blogs that are supposed to be credible, offer drop lists of names that truly suck. And then new domainers getting into the business, go out and purchase these names because they don’t know better. Plus, when domainers/sites offer overinflated prices for bad domains it just gives off a bad vibe. If I had a time machine, we’d go back and register all the good names… or maybe, buy a winning lottery ticket. Probably a bit easier, but not as fun as any domainer knows. Great site!
While the stock market generally tries to be 6-12 months ahead of the economy, the domain market mirrors the economy quite well. So, I see the economy getting worse (more unemployment, companies closing, mortgage defaults, etc…) over the next year. Thus, I believe that we have not seen the best bargains yet - they are still probably 9-12 months away, when people get really desperate for cash. Watch the big auctions for some super deals.
Best of luck!
LittleDevil - i like what you have done with some of the sites - great designs. I may be sending you a mail shortly.
Domain Bagger - I agree. I think bargains will show their heads around the middle of next year when the reality of the current economic situation has had time to sink in.
I think there’s still a big unbalance in domain sales, i see sometimes excellent names with good keywords, or even one single word domain being sold for peanuts. I once sent a pm to a guy that was selling one single word domain for $10, and told him not to do it, i told him that the domain was more worth than that, and with time it could even worth more, i don’t know if has sold or kept the domain, but bargain is one thing, giving good domains for free is another. When i see a situation like this i always tell people not to sell, but i think it doesn’t make much difference, they seem to be really anxious to sell. You can call me a fool for not taking real good deals, but i feel like i would be tricking someone.
On the other side i see overpriced domains that IMO don’t worth that much, i’ve done the same with some of my domains before, then i’ve learned that they weren’t that valuable. With all these what i mean to say is that there are still many extremes in domain sales, and i think that will keep happening for a long time.
Robbie is very busy by spamming every new thread on the blogs.
I’m truly getting tired of seeing his posting just to pump up his new site.
Plus, he is a regular lowballer on the domain forums.
(He offers 1/2 price in the fixed price sections.)
I think it is ironic that just today Robbie lowballed the author of this site. Especially when James sales thread was in the fixed price section on the domain forums.
Plus, his continous email inquiries under Ferguson-Group.com .
Then, he lowballs if you respond.
@Namecake - Thanks for the complement. Our traffic to several of our sites still sucks, but we have alot of fun and we do it as moonlighting. Unfortunately, we got in the game late and fell for all the domain scams. Now, we’re finally learning by reading blogs like yours. Shoot us an email anytime. We love to chat about domains and development.
Domaineering is the web-based marketing business of acquiring and monetizing Internet domain names for their use specifically as an advertising medium rather than primarily speculating on domains as intellectual property investments for resale as in domaining where generating advertising revenue is considered more of a bonus while awaiting a sale. In essence, the domain names function as virtual Internet billboards with generic domain names being highly valued for their revenue generating potential derived from attracting Internet traffic hits. Revenue is earned as potential customers view pay per click ( PPC ) ads or the Internet traffic attracted may be redirected to another website. Hence, the domain name itself is the revenue generating asset conveying information beyond just functioning as a typical web address. As the value here is intrinsically in the domain name and not in a website’s products or services, these domains are “parked” and not intended to be developed into conventional websites. As with traditional advertising, domaineering is part art and part science. Often to be the most effective as an advertising tool, the domain names and their corresponding landing pages must be engineered or optimized to produce maximum revenue which may require considerable skill and keen knowledge of search engine optimization ( SEO ) practices, marketing psychology and an understanding of the target market audience. Domaineering generally utilizes a firm offering domain parking services to provide the sponsored “feed” of a word or phrase searched for thus creating a mini-directory populated largely by advertisers paying to promote their products and services under a relevant generic keyword domain. Occasionally content is added to develop a functional mini-website. Domaineers and some of those who advertise online using keywords believe domaineering provides a useful, legal and legitimate Internet marketing service while opponents of domaineering decry the practice as increasing the ubiquitous commercialization of the world wide web. Domaineering aka “domain advertising” is practiced by both large organizations which may have registered hundreds or even thousands of domains to individual entrepreneurial minded domaineers who may only own one or a few. The earliest known verifiable identification and defining of domaineering as a distinct Internet advertising practice is attributed to Canadian Professor William Lorenz.