Spring cleaning domain style

Posted by Scott on February 25th, 2008 .

Spring CleaningSpring is on the horizon here in the UK and my spring cleaning is long overdue!

I think I have used the phrase “I am not a domainer” many times but my domain list is starting to bulge and I have to question more and more the reason for what I am holding. There are certainly some long term plays in my list like ledbulbs.co.uk but I also have a lot of domains that I bought at the start or gathered on the way that were just nice domains/words and I have no long term plans for.

So I have recently grabbed the bull by the horns and plan to sell some off, I will still struggle to keep my total numbers down as I have gathered another 13 domains this month so far, my problem being I like to drill down and own a topic as much as possible if I find something I like.

So for example I like Genomics.co.uk - but then I would read more do homework and secure HumanGenome.co.uk and afterwards I’d ponder on the commercial uses of genomes in the future and then secure MyGenome.co.uk and so it continues :)

So how do I plan to sell on some domains and do my spring cleaning?
I am underway already, last September I made a post on datamining your own stats for available domains and through this I picked up domains like HomeOfficeDesks.co.uk  for reg fee, managed to flip that on for £350 this month, I started by entering the keyword(s) into Google and targeting the Adword advertisers -it stands to reason they value the keyword already and do not need convincing as much as others, I think I sent about 30 emails and secured a deal on the same day I did it.

There is also more money being spent on the mid range UK domains from companies and outside investors, if you scan the forums you will see more posts like this one, from which I sold a domain and am in negotiations about another couple. Ultimately an end user gives the best price but in a marketplace that has more people coming to the table it’s possible to profit by quickly flipping to other investors.

I now open my lists of domains at least once every 2 days and go through the list and spend time thinking, looking and emailing possible end users to try and make deals on the domains I have no development plans for - it has meant for February I managed to take in enough to cover the domain purchases I have made, that’ll please the wife no end ;)

I’ll finish by listing a few for sale at the moment:
I have Camera Bag for sale for GBP £1000 if that interests anyone, currently ranks No.1 in Google.co.uk could be a great affiliate or small business opportunity for someone.

MiniSites.net £1200 :: Fastbox.co.uk £50 :: DigitalPictureFrame.co.uk £1500 :: Subs.co.uk £850 :: Outsider.co.uk £750 ::  Reversed.co.uk £100  : Scraping.co.uk £100

Note: UK domains are subject to paperwork and a Nominet fee of £11.75 when changing registrant details.

Update:
Fastbox.co.uk Sold

This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 and is filed under Domains . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

RSS feed | Trackback URI

25 Comments »

Comment by David Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-25 10:19:52

Hey Scott, interested in subs.co.uk, have emailed you.

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-25 10:45:56

Thanks David, I replied to your email.

 
 
Comment by Justin Cook from SEO Toronto Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-25 13:26:00

Scott,
I’m ready to get started with this. Do you have any advice on where to find trend data for popular or up and coming products that I could use?

Thanks,
Justin

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-25 13:46:26

I was typing a response Justin but, as I tend to do about a subject I enjoy, it turned into a long winded reply, I’ll post on Wednesday with what I have done lately with great success for future tech. reg fee domains.

Comment by Justin Cook from SEO Toronto Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-25 13:49:23

Thanks, I’ll tune in - same bat time, same bat channel

(Comments wont nest below this level)
Comment by Geek Mother from Geek Mother
2008-02-25 14:26:48

I, for one, am waiting with baited breath for Wednesday’s post. I just sold my first domain name for &500 so have a little money to dabble with.

 
Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-25 14:34:35

Congrats on the domain sale, the great thing about domains is that you can start with a budget and reinvest.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Faye
2008-02-25 14:53:03

Wednesday cannot get here soon enough. I’m thinking about selling some of my domain names, but none are developed. Would you suggest developing them first? (Scott, I’ve contacted a programmer to work on what will be my first project). I have learned so much from this site, thanks for everything Scott and Al.

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-25 15:14:28

I would say so Faye, camerabag.co.uk is not ‘developed’ but now ranks no.1 in Google.co.uk which brings in a bit of traffic & income and more importantly puts it in the spotlight so for your good domains they need a minisite or page with some unique content at the very least to get themselves aged & ranking while you prioritise them later for development or for resale.

 
 
Comment by Laurence Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-25 20:44:22

Scott
How did you manage to get http://www.camerabags.co.uk to #1 with a PR of 0 and 4.3 million other google hits on that term? That’s amazing!

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-25 21:30:50

It’s not too competitive Laurence so pretty easy, just takes a few months, around 5 months in this case.

Comment by Laurence Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-25 21:41:37

Can you elaborate? For my minisites, having 4.3m hits for a keyword I’m targeting would (to me, a noob) be disastrous. The inlinks aren’t huge on that site, did you just get some really high quality inlinks? That still doesn’t explain the PR of 0 though!

The more I learn about SEO the more confused I get!

(Comments wont nest below this level)
Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-26 08:07:27

Sent you an email Laurence.

 
Comment by James from Football Tracksuits Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-26 09:25:19

Scott, I would be interested in the email you sent to Laurence as well please. As the page you have is quite content light does that mean seo is all about the inbound links?

 
Comment by James
2008-02-27 18:44:15

Hi Scott, I was also wondering about this as well. Would really appreciate some help with this.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Ian from Disney World Tickets
2008-02-25 21:05:10

Could you email your stats for the camera bag domain?

 
Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-25 21:29:04

Email sent Ian

 
Comment by Rhys
2008-02-26 08:35:58

Hello im interested in the camera bag domain.

could you email me with some screenshots of any traffic it may get.

and revenue proof if any.

Also let me know what payment methods you accept

Thanks,

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-26 11:11:24

Sent you the stats Rhys.

 
 
Comment by Saffron Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-26 10:50:36

Is your camerabag domain one that you secured for just a reg fee or are they generally bought from someone else and then flipped on? If you are on a budget its hard to decide to go the reg and develop route or the buy a good solid name and resell for a better profit route.

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-26 11:11:01

No this was not reg fee, I paid £250 for the domain from a reseller, I then spent a bit of money + time ranking the domain.

 
 
Comment by Saffron Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-26 16:31:43

Is the home office desks domain therefore a straight flip - ie no development work whatsoever? Do you find it harder to sell these on, as there is really none of your hardwork to sell on?

Also following on from your previous posts, I and I’m sure others would be interested to learn about how to actually do the deal - is it just through escrow - is one service better than the other - have you ever had anything go wrong? That would be my worry buying a domain of a random from a forum :)

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-26 16:49:09

Yes straight flip, I do find ranking adds more value if I have time but flipped this one for a small profit. When I sell it’s usually end user, in which case you usually get paid by bank transfer or cheque. I rarley buy from a forum if I do it’s from established members that I can trust.

 
 
Comment by Brian Subscribed to comments via email
2008-02-27 23:43:00

Where do you find does domains?

I have looked high and low for a site with old UK domains like http://www.freshdrop.net for .com domains, but I still haven’t found one :(

 
Comment by Stefanie from Vat19 Unique Gifts
2008-03-03 17:15:40

I gave up the battle with my domain addiction. I don’t really do much with them, but it’s nice to have sites up and ready when I finally feel like developing them. Plus, I’ve sold a couple for nice profit without ever setting out to do it, so it’s all good.

 
Name (required)
E-mail (required - never shown publicly)
URI (Optional)
Twitter Name (optional)
Title (optional, will be used as link text for top commentators)
Your Comment (smaller size | larger size)
You may use <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> in your comment.