How To Make Great Money Part Time Buying And Selling Domain Names - Part One

This truly is the business to get into in 2005. It's a red hot opportunity that savvy investors can make a killing on when you know how. And this article will walk you step-by-step through the money-making process.

Don't be put off by the term "investors". I'm not talking big money down here. As long as you've got a spare ?5 a week then great money can be made for only half an hour of your time. Like the sound of that? Thought so.

There's a few ways you can make money buying domain names and selling them on for profit. And I mean PROFIT. You'll see why people will be scratching at your door to buy off you in just a moment.

Let's start with the basics.

All domain names are only registered for a limited amount of time.Registrars can choose to use the name for a period of between 1-10 years. After this the rights to these domain names expire and the user has to renew the name again. If they don't do this it will be placed on hold for a short time and then deleted. This means it is then availible for anyone who wants to buy it!

This Is Where You Can Cash In!

20,000 expired domain names are made availible each and every day. Some of them are very attractive and well-established names.

Example. Last year the owners of Race.com carelessly didn't renew their registration fee. It was grabbed (the term used to describe purchasing an expired name) by a savvy 'investor' for a few pounds and sold for thousands and thousands back to the old owner.

The owner was willing to pay huge sums for to the investor because he had built up qualified traffic over X amount of years and didn't want to lose all the previous custom.

Now I admit that making a sale for thousands is rare, but is certainly possible.

The likeliness is that you can buy a domain name and register it for ?5-?50 and then sell it on for anything from ?150 - ?1000. Do this with five domain names a week, and your looking at a big sum of money for only a couple of hours work.

It's not just businesses that have carelessly let their domain name that will buy off you. It's other businesses too that will buy the name to get the old owners' traffic. It's a legitamate way of increasing your customer base.

And if the old owner and a new potential owner get into a bidding war...well..the sky really is the limit.

So there's two main reasons why people will be willing to pay YOU a couple of hundred pounds for a domain name.

a) They carelessly let the domain name expire. That means that they will pay you to get the name back to ensure that they don't lose their existing traffic that they may have built up over years and years.

B) They are a business in the same field as the one that has let the name expire and therfore will pay you to secure the exisitng custom of a rival.

Here's step-by-step how you go about this fantastically profitable part time business.

There are several sources of expired domain name information and reserach tools, some free and some that require a payment of a fee.

www.wehavethem.com supplies lists of names due to be deleted. Www.DeletedDomains.com allows you to do some searching free and more extensive searching for a $99 annual fee.You can search for names that are due to be deleted and also allows you to bid on newly deleted names that have already been grabbed by other 'investors'.

What you are looking for is an expired domain name with traffic in the last month of anything over 1500. Ensure that the site is an actual consumer site. There's no point buying a domain name if the previous site wasn't selling any goods.

If you see a site that had tens of thousands of visitors in the last month GET IT. The likeliness is that the previous owners will be itching to get their name back off of you due to its obvious success.

Also if you see a name with a large qualified traffic thats due to expire and has a high traffic volume use an automated grabbing system such as www.snapnames.com and www.pool.com. These will ensure the second they become availible you will have registered them. The cost is about $60 but only if they get the names for you. Definately worth it in my eyes.

Remember you could easily sell the name for hundreds, maybe thousands.

In part 2 we'll take a look at how you go about selling the names once you have acquired them. But in the mean time here's a few domain names which were up for sale at the time of writing this article. Now obviously not all names sell for this much, but it's a very real possibility that you could stumble across a gem in your business.

my.com $750,000
lovelife.com $350,000
fights.net $16,000
diet.us $35,000
askdoctors.com $7,500
dietary.info $6,000
lovemaking.info $10,000
textmeassage.net $17,000
ejobmarket.com $1,800
smokers.tv $5,000
teens.org $22,000
raregifts,com $20,000

The profits in this business are like no other. Now it's your turn to get your hands on your share in the billion dollar industry of buying and selling domain names.

Until next time...

Jonathan Street

Jonathan Street is a master at making vast sums of money for very little investment. Direct mail, mail order, selling domain names, eBay...you name it - he's making money from it. He's also the author of "How To Make ?5,000 - ?10,000 A Month From Home". A book which he invites you to get for free from his ever popular web site.

For FREE info and to get a copy of Jonathans book go to: <a target="_new" href="http://www.millionaire-enterprises.com">http://www.millionaire-enterprises.com</a>

Domain Name: Why Do You Need One Anyway?

I come across sites all the time that are obviously hosted for free. Why obviously? Because they have no domain. Having no domain can cost you big time.

You have taken the time to put together a great website. You have collected pictures, designed or bought a nifty template, and filled it with great text. Your website is ready to go. Everything looks great ? until you decide to host your site on a free hosting account provided by your ISP. Big mistake.

Having no domain name is no big deal if all that you will ever do with the website is post family pictures. A domain name is mandatory though, if you plan to do business online. If you don't take your business seriously, why should anyone else?

Domain names build trust in your website visitors

One of the biggest barriers to doing business online is the lack of face to face communication. When people can't look into your eyes and size you up in person, they are slower to trust you. In the absence of being able to talk face to face, your website and everything about it, communicates trust, or the lack thereof.

Registering a domain name is an important first step to building the trust your visitor has in you and your company. Always keep in mind that trust is much easier to lose than it is to build in the first place. It takes a long time to build trust but it takes no time at all to destroy it.

Domain names are portable

When you go with a generic website address from your ISP, the few dollars you save per year are far less costly than the lack of mobility to you get with a free website address. You may have hopes that your part time web project will one day lead to a full time income. When you have a free website address, you are stuck to that ISP. In contrast, when you own a domain name, you can take your domain name to any web hosting company you choose.

As the traffic to your website builds and your website climbs in the search listings, changing its name later is impossible without taking a big traffic hit. When you have a domain name however, changing hosts will have very little effect on your traffic. This is even more important if your website is suddenly hit with a major increase in traffic. You may need to change web hosts but if you don't have a domain name, that traffic may disappear. On top of that, if you start using too much bandwidth on your free hosting account, your provider will most likely pull the plug.

Domain names make it easier for your prospects to email you

When you have a domain name, it looks more professional. Having an email like jack@yourdomain.com looks far better and is easier to remember than jack.lastname@yourisp.com. Easier for your prospect translates into more money earned for you.

Domain name registration is a no brainer and something you should do right away.

Joe Duchesne is president of <a href="http://www.yowling.com" target="_blank">Yowling</a>. <a href="http://www.yowling.com" target="_blank">Business web hosting</a> and domain registration are two of the services they offer. Reprint freely as long as you keep both clickable links found in this resource box.

Five Ways To Profit From Public Domain Information

Ever wondered why Walt Disney never got sued for intellectual property theft?

C'mon, the guy ripped off so many Hans Christian Anderson and Grimm Brothers' fairy tales! And he never paid the said authors any royalty fees! Granted that they're dead, but shouldn't their families be entitled to proceeds from their works? Such would be a small price to pay, considering the accumulated wealth of Walt Disney's billion dollar enterprise.

But alas, Mr. Walt Disney, you see, is a marketing genius. He knew how to exploit the allowable usage of public domain information, and he built for himself an empire in the process.

And if Walt Disney can do it, so can you! After all, we all have access to public domain information. We don't even need a touch of that famous Disney magic. We just have to weave our own creative spin on things.

But first, the basics?

Public domain information is defined as any body of creative works and other knowledge that is not protected by US copyright laws. Copyright protection needs further verification, but by force of statute, works done prior to 1923 are public domain information. The law also includes works done prior to 1978, for as long as the life of the author plus seventy years does not exceed the current year.

The term &quot;body of creative works and other knowledge&quot; includes literary works, music, movies, artworks, scientific ideas, and inventions, just to name a few. So, quite literally, public domain information is an ocean of many promises and splendid discoveries for anyone who would decide to dip their feet in its inviting waters.

And public domain information is free. Everything that you'll earn from it is net profit!

Walt Disney made good use of public domain information by making updating old classics into movies for the new, during his time at least, generation. That was the creative spin he used to market works that are quite archaic to make them seem new and fresh. He found his audience, and he made his fortunes. There's no reason why you can't do it.

Ah, budget constraints you say. But we are internet marketers, dear friend. That's the beauty of the web, you see. Seldom do we have to spend a substantial amount to invest on something. Many avenues are available for us to make good use of free public domain information!

Here are some ways to use public domain information. They would surely earn you significant gains!

1. Republish old literary works as e-books. The classics you see in bookstores are prime examples of earning from public domain information. The publishers did not have to buy the rights for the books they have decided to distribute. You could do the same with e-books. Search your local library for old works, and scan them. Convert the images to text with a text bridge program, edit errors, package them nice in .pdf format, and you're all set to market a royalties-free product!

2. Republish old articles as special reports. Granted that you're not likely to find an internet marketing articles circa 1923, but there are still some interesting pieces from that era. Just the other day, I saw a person make 43 sales for a special report he made out of a 1914 article on dog grooming.

3. Make downloadable albums of old songs. Here's your chance to make MP3 downloads that are actually legal. However, please bear in mind that only the songs are free game. The performances of certain versions (i.e. the London Philharmonic Orchestra's version of a Beethoven classic) are separate copyrights in themselves. It would be best to make your own version from the public domain compositions.

4. Offer downloadable movies. Just like Walt Disney, Ted Turner has made a killing with public domain information. One of his channels, Turner Classics, shows pre-1923 movies which he can rebroadcast without having to pay any royalties. You could do the same by offering old movies for download.

5. Make posters of timeless masterpieces. You could also search the web for high quality images of classic paintings and sketches. These digitized masterpieces can easily be reproduced as posters which you could sell to the millions of art aficionados worldwide.

Cedrick Reese is the webmaster of <a target="_new" href="http://www.eclectic-info.com">http://www.eclectic-info.com</a>, Start an easy Home-Based Business through Affiliate Marketing and Adsense. Other sites include <a target="_new" href="http://www.Your-RealEstateCourses.com">http://www.Your-RealEstateCourses.com</a> and <a target="_new" href="http://www.PremeirHosting.com">http://www.PremeirHosting.com</a>

Selling a .co.uk Domain Name via Sedo

Selling a .co.uk Domain Name via Sedo

This is a recent example of our experience selling a .co.uk domain name via Sedo. If you are new to domains or Sedo this will give you a guide on the process and the time scales involved.

Negotiations

This is the hardest part of selling a domain ? how much to ask? Ask too much and the buyer may lose interest. Ask too little and you may not get the best price possible for your domain.

You can use www.domainprices.co.uk to get an idea of recent .co.uk domain sales prices or ask to an appraisal on the www.acorndomains.co.uk appraisal forum.

Come up with a price that allows you some room to haggle but don't get so greedy you scare off the bidder. This can be an anxious time, waiting for the domain prospect to come back with an offer.

Transaction Fees

Do not forget to allow for Sedo transaction fees and Nominet transfer fees during the negotiation stage.

We asked for the buyer to pay Sedo's fees (10% of sale price) and the Nominet fees on top of the sale price, which they agreed to.

Agreement Reached

We started negotiations on our domain on the 21st June and reached agreement on the sale price and fees on the 1st July.

Sedo Transfer Process

Having agreed the sale price, Sedo sent the buyer an Invoice on the 1st July.

The invoice is in your name and is placed in the buyer's user account.

Once the buyer has made payment (into Sedo's Escrow account), Sedo ask the buyer to make a transfer request at thier registrar or if the buyer has an account at the domain's current registrar, they ask you to move it to his account.

NB: Make sure the administrative email address for your domain is active and that you can receive emails from it or you will have trouble with the transfer process.

Once the transfer has been completed and the WHOIS information shows the buyer's name, Sedo send you the money.

Tip: Add your bank details to your Sedo account if you want to avoid Paypal fees for receiving the money.

Nominet Transfer Forms

Sedo didn't ask us apply to Nominet for the domain transfer forms. Their emails are worded towards .COM domain name transfers.

We knew we would need these so as soon as we agreed a price we emailed Nominet to request them and they arrived 2 days later.

This will save you time.

Sedo receive Payment

We chase Sedo on the 5th July as we had heard nothing. This prompted them to chase the buyer for payment. Sedo advised that the buyer said they were making a bank transfer of the funds that day.

We chased again on the 7th July with a response from Sedo that it would take a few more days. So much for electronic funds transfers!

Sedo confirmed receipt of the money on the 11th July

Finalising the Transfer

Sedo sent us the Buyer's details for us contact them about sending the Nominet forms.

We already had the forms in hand so signed and sent them on the 12th July.

On the 18th July we chased Sedo for any news, they contacted the buyer to see if they had received the forms.

22nd July we noticed the Nominet WHOIS showing the buyers details.

(This is a little unsettling, your domain has been transferred but you have no funds).

Money Money Money

26th July we received an email from Sedo saying they had sent the money to our account. They also stated this can take up to 7 business days.

We received the money on the 29th July.

Start to finish, 38 days.

Helen Sherritt is owner and administrator of <a target="_new" href="http://www.acorndomains.co.uk">http://www.acorndomains.co.uk</a>, the UK's leading domain name forum and resource centre.

<a target="_new" href="http://www.DomainPrices.co.uk">http://www.DomainPrices.co.uk</a> shows recent .co.uk domain name sales prices.

Customer Excellence Returns to Web Site Hosting!

For those of you with Web sites, you probably know what a "host" is. It's a company that provides a location, or address, on the Internet where your Web site resides.

In other words, just like a physical business needs an address, so does a Web site. You can't have a Web site and just "stick it up" on the Web. Unless you want to set up your own server, you have to go through a hosting company who gives you that address, including server space and bandwidth, that enables the search engines and visitors to find your site.

Let's look at some common problems we often have with hosting companies:

<ul>

<li>You can never find an actual person to talk to! They may have a 24-hour customer service line open, but you can never get through to a real person.

<li>Hosting companies often think that the "lowest price" will always get the sale, but they fail to realize that what people really want is excellent customer service, servers that are up almost 100% of the time, and a variety of services that come with the hosting package.

<li>Many hosting companies don't provide any other functionality other than Web site hosting. They don't provide a "control panel" full of goodies such as PGP secure e-mail, shopping carts, log analysis, database creation, etc.

<li>Guess what? Technical support people often don't make the best "customer support" people. They may be technical gurus, but their main interest lies in their high tech servers and other functionality, rather than solving the simple problems of their customers.

</ul>

In other words, weak customer service is a major problem with the majority of hosting companies these days. Solution:

I recently had the pleasure of being introduced to Combustion Hosting Company, and to say I was impressed is a vast understatement.

Here are some things that struck me as unbelievable. When the phone rings, whoever answers the phone is required to stand up to answer it and talk. After all, the sheer act of standing up requires that they're alert and are listening to your problems and concerns. And, you actually speak to a "real" person!

With Combustion, if you have a problem, they don't just "tell" you how to solve it, they solve it for you! Also, their services certainly aren't limited to "hosting." They can set you up with an account to where you can access the Internet through local access numbers no matter where you travel.

Their prices are extremely reasonable -- much better than I had been paying previously. Plus, the "extras" I've received by going with Combustion are amazing.

But the one thing that makes Combustion shine over most Web hosting companies is their devotion to providing good customer service, and this is an area in which they truly excel.

So, if you're in the market for a new Web site, or if you aren't pleased with your current host, consider Combustion Hosting. It will be one of the smartest moves you could ever make for your Web site. <a href="http://www.combustionhosting.com/moreinfo" target="_new">http://www.combustionhosting.com/moreinfo</a>

If you want further proof as to the benefits of using Combustion, read: this article.

About The Author

Robin Nobles is the Co-Director of Training of Search Engine Workshops with John Alexander. They teach 2-day beginner, 3-day advanced, and 5-day all-inclusive "hands on" search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe. She also teaches online search engine marketing courses through <a href="http://www.onlinewebtraining.com" target="_new">http://www.onlinewebtraining.com</a>, and she's a member of Wordtracker's official question support team. With partner John Alexander, she's co-authored a series of e-books called, "The Totally Non-Technical Guides to Having a Successful Web Site." And, they opened a networking community for search engine marketers called The World Resource Center for Search Engine Marketers.

<a href="mailto:robin@searchengineworkshops.com">robin@searchengineworkshops.com</a>

How Can You Choose the Best Domain Name?

It's all in the Name

The domain you use for a particular site can have a huge impact in the way that humans and search engine spiders perceive it. Domain names were once so expensive that only those wanting to protect a brand or who could afford them owned them, now they are commonplace and if you know where to look, you can pick up a domain name for free.

Now that they are much easier to obtain, it is hard to take any site that does not have it's own domain name very seriously. Without a domain name, a company is likely to be passed off as amateurish or seen to want to cut corners to save money. If you have a company site and you still haven't got a domain name for your website, then you might want to think about getting one!

Make it Memorable

The best domain names are those that people can remember, because if your visitors can remember it, they are more likely to come back. If you do not already have a company or other name selected for your site, then it is often a good idea to make your domain name the brand for the site. Tying your site name to the domain is just one way you can help your visitors remember how to find you again.

Tips for choosing the most memorable domain name. keep it short and easy to spell.

make use of keywords or popular search terms whenever possible.

generic terms are like gold dust if you can get them.

the more unusual but familiar sounding a domain, the better.

add a twist, some domain names are remembered for being different to what you would expect to find there (e.g. monster.co.uk)

One of the major problems of trying to promote a specific domain name is that in general, people (or sometimes browsers) assume that they end in a .com. If your site uses a domain other than a .com, then you may want to make the domain your site identity, otherwise you could have your visitors remembering the domain name but not the extension and going to related site that isn't your own!

Domain Branding

If you purchase your domain with the intention that it will become the brand that you promote, then it is worth taking into account the specifics of the domain. Keywords can play an important part in your brand, particularly if it is specific to your industry, as they will help to make your domain name memorable while improving your search engine rankings. In the case of directories such as Yahoo and DMOZ sites are usually listed in alphabetical order, so anything starting with A, B or C has a much better chance of being higher on the list than those starting with X, Y or Z, and so is more likely to be noticed. Don't however be tempted to use a domain that has been "padded out" to get a high position in an alphabetically sorted list; not only will it look tacky and amateurish, but most directories use human editors who would pick up this obvious trick and either correct it or ignore the site altogether.

Top 5 Web Hosting Review - www.pickto.net

Online Business Partner(<a target="_new" href="http://pickto.net">http://pickto.net</a>) - our website provide web hosting guide, Web hosting review and business plan tips to user.

How to Profit with Domain Name Speculation

Domain Name speculation has become big business. According to recent study, the average domain name bought and sold by domain name speculators realized a 377% profit. In addition, the average domain name was sold in 12.5 months.

Domain name speculation involves finding domain names that appear valuable, and waiting with the domain in hopes that someone will want to purchase it in the future. With a great domain name like business.com, this can yield huge returns. Business.com was sold for over $7 million!

When domain name speculators buy a domain name, they generally put up a page indicating that the domain is for sale. This becomes a sort of free advertising, whereby someone interested in that domain name will naturally check out the site to see if it is a competitor, or if the domain can be purchased.

But selling the domain is not the only way domain name speculators make money. In addition to advertising that the page is for sale, most domain speculators park their domains with a domain parking service. These services store a simple website for free, and place content sensitive advertising on the parking pages. They share advertising revenue with the owner of the domain. In this way, domain name speculators get free website hosting for their domains, along with occasional advertising revenue.

There are important considerations that must be taken into account before embarking on a domain name speculation career. While it is always advisable to purchase any really high quality domain name available, actually making a stable income from domain name speculation can require significant resources. It will cost a considerable amount to purchase the domain names necessary to make a stable income, and it is certainly no get-rich-quick opportunity.

As a domain name speculator, you should carefully analyze the domain name registrars and communicate with them about bulk purchasing opportunities. A domain name speculator will be buying many ? perhaps even hundreds ? of domain names daily, and should therefore find the best discounts on domain names. Many registrars will allow for domain names to be purchased in bulk at substantial discounts. Taking advantage of these opportunities will likely be the difference between success and failure at this type of enterprise.

Deciding which domain names to purchase can be challenging. It is very difficult to find high quality .com names. But don't rule out country-specific extensions. As countries get their own extensions, a new world of high quality available domain names is opened up to speculators. New top level domains are being created all the time, and most recently a .jobs domain name was created. A name like computer.jobs could prove very valuable in the long term.

While a lot has been mentioned of purchasing names like Mcdonalads.com, this practice is not particularly productive. Trademark laws allow corporations with trademarked names to take domain names that violate their trademarks. So rather than getting a big paycheck for registering a company's trademarked name, you're likely to be served with a lawsuit demanding you forfeit the name to them.

Domain name speculation should be viewed for what it is: an investment opportunity. Like all investments, the returns will be predicated on the wisdom and decision making skills of the investor.

Rex Ryan maitains the website:

<a target="_new" href="http://www.domainnamesnews.info">http://www.domainnamesnews.info</a>