Testing Two Domain Sales Venues

Although I prefer to sell domain names in private, I list domain names for sale on my blog and in a couple of other locations when my domain names don’t quickly sell. I have tested one paid venue for my domain sales, and I am going to test a second venue soon.

I recently tested three sponsored headlines at Domaining.com, which cost $80 for the day (each). Although none of the listings yielded a sale, they did bring additional traffic to my blog. I sold WanChai.com, although it was to a private client rather than as a result of the listing. A few people contacted me after the domain name was already sold, but I don’t know if it was a result of the Sponsored Listing exposure. I like the fact that a Sponsored Listing gets prominent placement for a day in the Domaining.com newsletter.

I am going to test another sponsored listing in another venue beginning later today or tomorrow. I am going to buy a “sticky” thread in DNForums Fixed Price sales section, which costs $200 per month. This thread stays at the top of that particular forum for 30 days, and it should give added exposure to domain buyers. I plan to list a wide variety of domain names for people of every budget to test the ROI.

As with just about everything I do, I will keep you posted on how the sale goes.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

34 COMMENTS

  1. Done the dnf sticky a couple times. Did it work, not sure but the added exposure cannot hurt 🙂

    I have found at dnf that within 2-3 days most all the views and tire kickers have had their fill, if its riced right it will go within the week. The buyers after that are new registers, odd drop in’s or long time members who dont visit often. The sticky allows you to hit that audience. Once sold a LL.com to a guy on dnf who only had a few posts and never logged in again after.

  2. @ Josh

    Nice… similar thing happened to me at Namepros. One of my only sales there (maybe the only sale i’ve made there) came from a guy who signed up just to buy the name. It was his first post and last post. Probably Googled the name, saw it posted there and bought it.

    The name is still parked at Godaddy though… LOL.

  3. @Elliot

    In your opinion what is the best venue for reaching potential end-users. Where do big corporations go when they are looking for domain names related to their field. I wonder if big companies ever visit domain forums or blogs. I am considering selling some of my top domains, such as Mortgage.US , Depression.US, and Church.US and I was wondering if there are any places that you know of that can give domains like these some exposure towards big corporations short of contacting them directly.

  4. @ ojohn

    I don’t think end users shop on venues or forums. They probably use Whois lookups and Google searches to find the owner, and if they see a particular name they are trying to buy listed on a venue, they may use it. I also think end user companies use acquisition services like Sedo, Network Solutions, and Marksmen.

  5. @ ojohn

    I think Josh was kidding/being sarcastic because end user sales are generally not easy when you are the one trying to sell a name, rather than when they come to you. I just made a $360 end user sale and it took a fair amount of time and lots of emails. I bought the domain name last week for $8 and had 9 interested parties but ultimately didn’t get my $900 asking price and took a few days longer than I had hoped.

  6. “I was hoping to get some useful advice, not to be ridiculed.”

    You want advice, you want professional advice? Ok fine here it is, what I would do…

    Take mortgage.us for example, if end user is the goal compile a list of all potential end users. US banks, lenders, existing online mortgage sites etc. Then search out the very best contact person for each company, this takes time and patience, phone calls, using online sites like linked in, reading articles etc. Once you have the names and faces work on an approach, Elliot gave a great aexample of email(s) he uses, maybe he can post it again for you. Also polish your approach via phone. At that point and once you have a price in mind you will live with, get to it. Be careful not to be using the name in a bad faith way at the time you approach end users ( competitor ads etc ) play nice and hope for the best.

    If I told you anymore Id have to kill you lol GL

  7. @ Elliot

    Thanks Elliot, I know the usual methods and venues 🙂 , I was just wondering if there have been any industry specific forums or websites that you might have used to reach end-users within their own trade publications.

  8. Today was another miss. I called several places over the course of the last few weeks. I e-mailed places, and then followed-up again. I done everything possible to make a sale. I invested 1 hour today, in-person, to push my domain and writing skills.

    The place was more interested in my writing abilities than acquiring a domain. It seems that I’m striking out multiple times. I’m under performing like David Ortiz at the plate.

    At the end of April, I invested a few hours advertising 20 domains. I sold one domain the next morning, and then another a few days later. Since then I put in 100 times the work with no such luck, or even a lead to making a sale.

    I would be happy to at least negotiate a deal. When I hear of auctions and investors making a sale, then I question whether it’s real. There are a ton of domains on Go Daddy that have far less traffic than my domains. They unique traffic has tailed off since last year.

    I would like to see someone making a sale. I always hear someone bragging about making a sale, but these domains don’t change hands. E-mail an owner generates 0 leads. Who is actually buying domains? On my second sale, the owner of the .com version purchased my .info bearing the same name.

    I was rejected from applying for a featured listing at Sedo. They claim my girlroulette.net, adultroulette.org and chattingroulette.net violate third party trademarks. Girlroulette.com forwards to adultroulette.com. I don’t see how there’s any trademark violations there. Sedo wants to make money, but have all these restrictions.

    Bargain Domains is a bust. Several of my domains were accepted into their auction. This is the fourth time in the past three months I attempted to push domains on their website. I never received any offers for my domains. A few domains will expire in the next few days.

    I’m sharing the truth about the industry. I researched the domain industry, covering the buying, selling, and marketing approach. Many companies will reject a domain, make up excuses, and avoid replying to an e-mail.

    I counterattack every rejection with good reason as to how they’ll from the domain. I even offer to forward the domain, and to write some articles for them. I own 500 domains now. I only sold 3 domains in the past 110 days.

    I’m currently hosting 50-100 domains. On some, I wrote 60 articles involving my areas of expertise. In next month, 5 domains will dip under 1 million in Alexa. There are a dozen more following the lead.

    My question is whether I should wait until the traffic goes down to push my domains? One of my domains has a Google Page Rank #2, is ranked at 2 million – it is quickly moving to the 1 million market, contains 17 sites linking in, 2000+ yahoo back links, and many Google back links.

    These past two months are rather tough. Nothing seems to be working, even when I meet with a business in-person. Besides going on this blog, and reading articles on industry deals, I haven’t come across an individual who is interested in domains.

    Some people even laugh, noting that I’m wasting my money and time with domains. However, I have a few domains that I want to fully develop. I know what I’m look for, but don’t have the resources to accomplish these plans right now. After I earn my master’s next month, maybe I can find the right people to my vision a reality.

    I’m tired of constantly missing the mark. Hopefully, I can report some good news. I don’t see how domain investors sell their domains at both Sedo and Go Daddy’s auction. It puzzles me. Many of these domains were websites before, but now they’re expired, and pending a sale or deletion.

    Any advice would greatly help. Thanks.

    http://suisun.org

  9. Today was another miss. Over the course of the last few weeks, I called several places I e-mailed companies and private collectors, and then followed-up again. I done everything possible to make a sale. I invested an 1 hour today, in-person, to push my domain and writing skills.

    The business was more interested in my writing abilities than to acquire a domain. It seems that I’m striking out multiple times. I’m under performing like David Ortiz at the plate.

    At the end of April, I invested a few hours advertising 20-50 domains. I sold one domain the next morning, and then another a few days later. Since then I put in 100 times the work, with no such luck, or not even a lead to make a sale.

    I would be happy to at least negotiate a deal. When I hear of auctions and investors making a sale, then I question whether it’s real. There are a ton of domains on Go Daddy that have far less traffic than my domains, but people are always bidding on them. Their unique traffic has tailed off since last year, however, the domains generate major interest.

    I would like to see someone making a sale. I always hear someone bragging about making a sale, but these domains don’t change hands. E-mailing an owner generates 0 leads. Who is actually buying domains? On my second sale, the owner of the .com version purchased my .info, which featured the same name.

    I was rejected from applying for a featured listing at Sedo. They claim my girlroulette.net, adultroulette.org and chattingroulette.net violate third party trademarks. Girlroulette.com forwards to adultroulette.com. I don’t see how there’s any trademark violations there. Sedo wants to make money, but they have all these restrictions.

    Bargain Domains is a bust. Several of my domains were accepted into their auction. This is the fourth time in the past three months I attempted to push domains on their website. I never received any offers for my domains. A few domains will expire in the next few days.

    I’m sharing the truth about the industry. I researched the domain industry, covering the buying, selling, and marketing approach. Many companies will reject a domain, make up excuses, and avoid replying to an e-mail.

    I counterattack every rejection with good reason as to how they’ll from the domain. I even offer to forward the domain, and to write some articles for them. I own 500 domains now. I only sold 3 domains in the past 110 days.

    I’m currently hosting 50-100 domains. On some, I wrote between 10-60 articles involving my areas of expertise. In next month, 5 domains will dip under 1 million in Alexa. There are a dozen more following the lead.

    My question is whether I should wait until the traffic goes down to push my domains? One of my domains has a Google Page Rank #2, is ranked at 2 million – it is quickly moving to the 1 million market, contains 17 sites linking in, 2000+ yahoo back links, and many Google back links.

    These past two months have been rather tough. Nothing seems to be working, even when I meet with a business in-person. Besides going on this blog, and reading articles on industry deals, I haven’t come across an individual who is interested in domains.

    Some people even laugh, noting that I’m wasting my money and time with domains. However, I have a few domains that I want to fully develop. I have a vision, but lack the resources to accomplish these plans right now. After I earn my master’s next month, maybe I can find the right people to turn my vision into a reality.

    I’m tired of missing the mark. Hopefully, I can report some good news. I don’t see how domain investors sell their domains at both Sedo and Go Daddy’s auction. It puzzles me. Many of these domains were websites before, but now they’re expired, pending deletion and don’t receive nearly the same amount of traffic as before.

    Any advice would greatly help. Thanks.

    http://suisun.org

  10. @ Elliot,

    How do you order a listing in the Domaining.com newsletter? I forgot to ask about it before. What is the cost? Without being affiliated with any newsletter, it is extremely hard to find traffic.

    @ other domainers

    I researched the Internet for information on how other websites link in to a domain. Google pulled up nothing on the link in. How do you websites link in, and how can I link to another website? I only have 5 sites linking into my http://magicwriter.blogspot.com blog.

    I started a new word press blog called the Suisun Blog. I acquired http://SuisinBlog.com and http://SuisunBlog.info to drive traffic to http://Suisun.WordPress.com. I also acquired http://magicwriter.net and http://magicwriter.info to drive traffic to my blogspot.com account. Hopefully these strategies work for me.

    I’m interested on how sites link into another. As for the back links, they usually involve publishing content and receiving traffic, such as visitors who communicate on a board or purchase items on a website. For the most part, the sites who link into a domain build trust. How do website link to me, and how do I link to them?

    Thanks in advance.

    Jason
    Magicwriter.blogspot.com

  11. I am the perfect example of someone who doesn’t spend anything on advertising, but manages to use free advertising on various online venues to promote my domains. It has worked on a few deals, but overall my approach is limited.

    I have nearly 100 domains at Why Park. I made $4 this month in park revenue. I wrote 100+ articles, added pictures, links and much more. I’m using the free account with no RSS feeds. If you don’t spend money advertising, you may struggle to attract attention to your products and services. Should I spend the $10 per month to get the RSS feeds?

    thanks.

    Jason
    http://SuisunBlog.com

  12. Is there a market for .us domains? I’m not attracting any interest on animationprograms.us. I advertised Pier39.us for a month on Craig’s List.

    I also tried to push cakedecorations.us, businessleadership.us, trackrecord.us, animationjobs.us, eINS.us, Elistist.us, graduateloans.us, iQuotes.us, HOWI.us, loanlender.us, manbags.us, multidimensional.us, qwertykeyboard.us, sportingtickets.us, whitediamond.us, therapistjobs.us, productionjobs.us, dirtyjobs.us and others.

    I always view the .us sales at DN Journal, but it seems hard to attract attention any to my .us domains. While they retain some value, I think I’m going to focus more on acquiring only .com domains.

    Two months ago, I went overboard on New York City .com domains. Since I’m visiting NYC this upcoming Thursday, would it benefit me to push domains on business which could benefit from them. I have NYC domains targeting cakes, rings, jobs, shows, news, business, and much more. i have one .net – NYUfilm.net.

    Thanks for listening to my questions and concerns.

    Jason
    http://magicwriter.blogspot.com

  13. @ Jason

    You need to create an account at Domaining.com and the newsletter is an opt in option you can select.

    I personally stay try to stay away from “faddy” names like the roulette ones, although I do own VideoChatRoulette.com I think.

    RE: .US names… I own a few but they are really long term holds. I don’t think businesses in the US are really interested i them unless the market is VERY competitive and/or they have a specific need.

    It’s always harder to sell domain names if you are the one soliciting.

  14. @ Louise,

    I used that sale’s approach on a few companies, and struck out doing it. They had so many objections as to why they didn’t need the domains or the extra advertising. They claim that Google is already helping them to market their business. I even offered to help them get started.

    Maybe the approach has worked for many others. I tried many times, and it hasn’t worked. Is there a way to hire a person to help make a sale? They can browse a collection, and give you advice as to which ones I should place more emphasis on to make a future sale.

    Thanks,
    Jason
    magicwriter.blogspot.com

  15. @Louise, thank you.

    As for ones success. That comes down to the quality of the name, your ability t pitch and timing. No one said it was easy but everything worthy will sale, period. Price, time and how are another story.

  16. @Elliot,

    Thanks for the feedback. I think I have a Domaining.com account. Would I be able to contribute, as you do in the Domain newsletter? Or does Domaining pick and choose the articles to promote?

    As for the roulette fad, I only picked up a few because I assume I could move them. One owner managed to make a ROI on sexroulette.org at Sedo. It was a 28 day turnaround.

    I had one domain in which I had a 9 day turnover. It was a .info domain. I’m going to try and move Pier39.us. Would you recommend me to host it? I have it parked at Sedo.I can transfer it into my Why Park account.

    What’s your take on the .mobi domains? Roulette.mobi sold for $11K at Sedo a few weeks ago. Is there any demand for .mobi domains in the US? I have empirestatebuilding.mobi, cablecar.mobi, pier39.mobi, forces.mobi, yellowcabco.mobi, and fitnesstraining.mobi.

    Thanks in advance.

    Jason
    http://magicwriter.blogspot.com

  17. @ Jason

    Only the blogs/sites listed in domaining.com and advertisers are included in the newsletter.

    I dont think I own a .mobi and I wouldn’t pay for one, nor would I develop one either.

  18. Do you think the day will come when the saturation of people trying to sell domain names to “end-users” means that nobody listens to the attempts to sell them “great domain” names any more.

    ojohn – end users go to a trusted source if they don’t know squat about domains (which I’d say 80% don’t) . They’ll ask their webdesigner, their friend, their hosting provider, their ISP, NSI, etc . These people are “trust agents” that have already developed a relationship with the person or have developed their brand to be the go to source. It’s one reason people don’t sell domains with “direct contact to an end-user” . The end user target doesn’t know you from Adam. They don’t know domains and as far as they are concerned you are some cybersquatter, hacker or something. The reputation you might have going in to the “sales pitch” isn’t helped by the sea of other spams, scams and garage emails trying to sell domains or phish from these end users.

    Im actually closing a sale through Godaddy for 6 figures and I’d venture to guess that the trust that they have built with this user over the years is the reason he chose to work through the deal with them involved. This buyer even contacted me direct but still chose to go with whom he trusted.

  19. hey elliot can you delete the first post. I copied/pasted wrong

    ojohn – end users go to a trusted source if they don’t know squat about domains (which I’d say 80% don’t) . They’ll ask their webdesigner, their friend, their hosting provider, their ISP, NSI, etc . These people are “trust agents” that have already developed a relationship with the person or have developed their brand to be the go to source. It’s one reason people don’t sell domains with “direct contact to an end-user” . The end user target doesn’t know you from Adam. They don’t know domains and as far as they are concerned you are some cybersquatter, hacker or something. The reputation you might have going in to the “sales pitch” isn’t helped by the sea of other spams, scams and garbage emails trying to sell domains or phish from these end users.

    Im actually closing a sale through Godaddy for 6 figures and I’d venture to guess that the trust that they have built with this user over the years is the reason he chose to work through the deal with them involved. This buyer even contacted me direct but still chose to go with whom he trusted.

    @ elliot and josh
    Do you think the day will come when the saturation of people trying to sell domain names to “end-users” means that nobody listens to the attempts to sell them “great domain” names any more.

  20. @Elliot,

    Thanks again for the advice. What do you think is best strategy to making a sale?

    When I sold two domains 7 weeks ago, I assumed it would be easy. I’ve been trying to push autocollisionrepair.net on many auto collision repair shops, as well as auto insurance companies. I had no such luck moving the domain, even though it is a popular repair.

    Should I continue to contact more auto shops? Or would you recommend me to continue hosting the domain to build more traffic? It’s interesting how some domain owners can hand register a domain, and they eventually build instant traffic.

    I only have two domain that generate between 800-1000 unique visitors a month. Once is a past website, and the other is a ring oriented domain. The ring domain never produces any ad clicks, but receives nearly 30 unique visitors a day.

    After I moved the domain to Why Park, the traffic ceased. You think it’s possible the domain generates traffic only on Sedo’s Parking, and not on Why Park?

    The way it looks, I may only acquire .com domains. However, I do like my .org domains. You mentioned before that .org domains are not that appealing to you.

    Since I put work in hosting http://suisun.org, the .com has enjoyed the keyword popularity. Every time my domain comes close to passing the .com, the .com picks up steam again.It’s more like a traffic race between the .com and .org domains.

    Last month I acquired airforcebase.org and trafficfines.org. I feel confident I can supply content on these domains. I served in the Air Force during the 90’s. As for traffic fines, I have some information that will help out many people. I prepared a few how to articles on how to people reduce their traffic fines.

    While the domain weekendboxofficeresults.com has a rather long name, I plan to write more movie articles there.

    How accurate do you think Alexa is with providing traffic ranking? Suisun.org is currently ranked 1,669,013. Suisun.com is ranked 1,594,743.

    Lastly, what is the most cost efficient way to develop a domain? Should I continue to use Why Park, or consider developing the domain into a website? I don’t think I can afford to pay the rates elance.com website developers charge. I have a friend that is good with building websites, but he may have limits in what he can do.

    Thanks again for your help.

    Jason
    magicwriter.blogspot.com

  21. @Adam

    Congratulations on your deal. Thanks for the information. You’re definitely right on the mark. That’s exactly what the shop owner conveyed to me when I discussed ways I could help him improve his website, such as writing articles and adding his business on my blog.

    He mentioned he would set up a meeting with his web developer. Essentially, all three of us would have to be present. The money we’re talking to do these tasks is not that beneficial, to say the least.

    It was nearly impossible for me to push any domains. I attempted to move troubleshootingcar.com and troubleshootingengine.com. No such luck with either domain. My first deal resulted in an e-mail from Go Daddy. The other two were from advertising them, and then proceeding forward with the deal at Sedo.

    I happen to find that many others have ruined it for the people who actually have good stuff. Take for instance; the high priced domains on eBay makes it hard to move anything there. I’ve placed domains on Bargain Domains and on Go Daddy and Sedo.

    I’m sure it takes time to make a sale. I will continue to host the domains, and then maybe advertise them again. Once I gain access to extra funds, I may pay to feature some domains on Go Daddy or Sedo. Sedo seems to reject everything I submit, which I think is due to the domain age.

    I think I may try to add some .com domains to Bargain Domains. I really want to make a sale to feel better about the massive amount of time I spent researching, buying and advertising my domains the past 4 months.

    You know if there’s a market for .info domains? I find them to be popular at Go Daddy.

    Good luck. Thanks again.

    Jason
    http://suisun.org

  22. @Adam,

    You know how a website links to another? I noticed that many high traffic websites have many sites liking in to them. How would I link to a website? I’ve been searching for this information, but haven’t been able to find it.

    Thanks in advance.

    Jason
    http://suisun.org

  23. @Elliot,

    When you make a sale, do you deal directly with the end-user? Are these end-users people you know, or ones you’ve contacted regarding your domains? It seems that when you use domain companies to make a sale, the deal goes much smoother.

    However, contacting an end-user directly has been an utter disaster. I don’t think I will call any places. They disregard my calls, never return an e-mail, and ignore my letters. The only luck I had is with advertising the domains, but that approach is now ineffective.

    I’m back to square one again. Each day I hope to wake up and find that someone made me an offer on Bargain Domains, or that a domain was purchased at Sedo. April and May have been lousy for me. I would like to make a sale. I put in a ton of work to advertise my domains. I write many articles, as well as talk to many others about the domain.

    With a handful of degrees and writing experience, it has been an uphill climb to find success. Maybe I should have prepared the manuscripts to my book instead of investing endless hours in trying to make a sale.

    My book was completed months ago, but I can’t seem to do anything other than put work into the domains – blogging, visiting discussion boards, reading articles, buying domains, advertising them, and much more. Now that I find it grim to make a sale at this point in time, I will redirect my attention back to writing again.

    Is your 6 figure domain a one word, 2 or 3 character, or a two word targeted domain. I’m sensing it is somewhere in the preceding categories. What’s the age of the domain? Good luck on your success.

    Thanks in advance.

    Jason
    http://suisun.org

  24. @elliot,

    The last question was for Adam.

    Is your 6 figure domain a one word, 2 or 3 character, or a two word targeted domain. I’m sensing it is somewhere in the preceding categories. What’s the age of the domain? Good luck on your success.

  25. When I pursue an end-user, I usually refer them to purchase the domain at Sedo. I know they don’t trust to deal with me directly, even though I’ll be fair and honest. Too many people ruin business for everyone else.

    I provide a direct link to Sedo. Sedo closes the deal much faster. Go Daddy took a month to close a deal, and it was for a small amount.

    People view my domains at Sedo, but only two people purchased them there. I’ll be patient for now. Maybe it is not the right time to make a sale.

    Jason
    http://suisunblog.com

  26. For Jason and anyone else looking to sell.

    E-Mail your listings to Kevin@BigTicketDomains.com

    Domains for sale get promoted on

    BigTicketDomains.com & Rick’s Private Board

    Premium high end domains get front page listings.

    Regular domains get promoted here:

    http://www.BigTicketDomains.com/forum/index.php

    Domains for sale also reach a wide variety of buyers via our newsletter which goes out daily. I’ve got all types on there from small to million dollar buyers and end users subscribed now too.

    http://www.DomainsNewsletter.com/

    Domains also get marketed via Twitter & Facebook and in print ads in the Wall Street Journal & Investors Business Daily to end users.

    Kevin

  27. Elliot, you probably don’t know me but I’ve been around for quite sometime and have followed your (must say quite impressive) progress over these last 2-3 years; the best part of it is that as much as feasible you share with others what you’ve learned….thats a wholesome quality so much appreciated…keep it up.

    One question: After reading your post, I went ahead and bought myself a sticky thread at DNF for $200 but can’t figure out how to use it; i.e. make my sales thread a sticky. I tried to look at the forum but couldn’t seem to find the answer…can you help?

    Best,

    Riq

  28. Yes you have to ask admin. You also have to ask them to remove it as I do not believe there is a 30 day timer ssshhhh

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