Simply put, domaining is the buying, selling, developing and marketing of internet domain names. The best way to get started is to read everything you can get you hands on regarding the domaining industry. There are about sixty interviews with top domaining experts on a website called DomainSherpa.com, where Michael Cyger, the website owner does a weekly interview with well known domainers like Mike Mann, Rick Schwartz, Adam Dicker, Morgan Linton, Toby Clements and others. These interviews discuss how these expert domainers got started, how they made their money in domaining, and what they are up to currently. It is an excellent place to start.
Another great site to find the basics about domaining is on the blog page of Domain Name Exchange that you can visit by clicking here. This site starts with three excellent basic articles about beginning domaining, including "Domaining", "Domaining Strategy" and "Domaining 101". An excellent word of advice is to write down every question you have, term you don't understand, or anything your study that you want to know more about. These questions will be answered by going to an online forum like DNForum(dot)com or others. A good idea would be to use a search engine to search for the term "domain forum" and sign up for a few of them. You can search the categories and look for subjects you are interested in, and check the beginners section to see what advice is offered there for "newbie" domainers. Find an appropriate section in the forum to post your questions. One of the most important things I have ever learned is DO NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS. Most experienced professionals don't mind mentoring a newcomer and many are extremely helpful.
If you are serious about making an income in domaining then you need to jump in with both feet. Get a twitter account dedicated to domaining, follow everyone with a domain name related twitter handle, find domainers on facebook and go to their fan pages and see what they are talking about. Linkedin.com has a bout 40 groups dedicated to domaining. Why not join all 40 and read about the current industry trends. Connect to, follow, befriend, and otherwise associate yourself with domainers and learn everything possible from them.
The basic idea of domaining is to acquire a domain name as cheaply as possible and either get as high a sale price as possible, or to sell it for the most money you can get. Essential to both of these strategies is developing and monetizing the site. "Monetizing" might be a new term for you regarding domaining. It is simply creating an income from a domain name. The best way to do this is by building out the site, adding good content (articles, blogs, RSS feeds, and quality links). The easiest way to build out your own site is to use WordPress. A simple search for WordPress will yield many informational sites that you can use to build out a website. I personally recommend ipage(dot)com. It is the on I use to list my domains for sale at domainnameexchange(dot)org.
Once you have a good quality domain name, and you have begun linking to and writing articles, establishing a reputation building quality traffic, you need to expose the name to the domain buying public, either by posting it in as many places as possible like those mentioned before: Twitter, Face Book, Linked in and many, many more.
Eventually you will want to sell your site. I list all my sites for sale on GoDaddy(dot)com, Afternic(dot)com, Sedo(dot)com and as many free list websites as possible. I also do targeted opt-in e-mail lists with names specific to an industry such as loans, finance, or real estate. I also use brokers to sell my sites. I have used Toby Clements (tobyClements(dot)com), David Clements (brannans(dot)com), Joe Uddeme (domainholdings(dot)com) and a few others. It is important to develop a relationship with the players in the domain industry so that you can have access to all resources and tools to best develop your websites and sell your domains.
Well, this article is a lot longer than I intended, but I hope it has been helpful. If you wish to e-mail me with any questions, I try my best to be as helpful as time permits, but I promise i will respond to you. Thank you for taking the time to read my article, and feel free to post comments below.
Author: Don Gillett
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