2 UK domain purchases for over $20k

Posted by Scott on March 25th, 2008 .

2 domains that I bought recently are going through this week and will be reported by Sedo and you never know I may scrape onto the DNJournal chart for all the wrong reasons ;)

Home Mortgage - homemortgage.co.uk £6100 ($12145)

Genes - Genes.co.uk £5900 ($11746)
Genes was actually sold for $6000 in the middle of last year so a nice 100% profit for the previous owner on that one but it’s one I was after for a while.

My poor wife, when I said to her I was buying not one but 2 domains for around 6000 each her response was..tell me that’s in dollars..tell me that’s dollars :)

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25 Comments »

Comment by John C Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-25 10:41:50

Scott

Really like genes.co.uk !

I guess you’re not too concerned about the credit crunch then with homemortgage.co.uk ?

Are you going to develop these out … how will genes pay you back? Something like 23andme.com perhaps?

Cheers

John

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-25 10:58:45

I feel we will always need mortgages John so futureproof, just different types will hold more value than others so this domain doesn’t peg itself into any one type which is the important thing, just like TVs. Genes is a nice one that will really grow in value in the future, it will be developed out at some stage and sits well with humangenome.co.uk, mygenome.co.uk and genomics.co.uk which I also own.

 
 
Comment by Mike Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-25 11:23:51

Very nice domains Scott. On the genes score if you go for DNA testing, etc the affiliate payouts are pretty good, or alternatively if you go for the genealogy side of things, you may well be surprised at just how high volume the traffic is in that niche!

Solid investments, and excellent for developing. Nicely done…

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-25 12:18:31

Thanks Mike, DNA testing now has a role in genealogy so the 2 are very close.

 
 
Comment by Mike Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-25 13:03:52

Cool. Best of luck with it Scott.

 
Comment by mike from Razors
2008-03-25 17:08:18

Great domains to have in one’s portfolio! Putting up a mini site/affiliate mashup instead of domain parking is the better monetized route to go IMHO.

Best regards,
Mike

 
Comment by Nesa Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-25 21:47:20

As much I enjoy reading about your quest in building a highly profitable domain portfolio, I think it (this blog) has recently become too focussed in this area. We would like to hear more about your websites and earnings, etc. This is no criticsm, but greater variety will be nice.

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-26 10:38:28

Nesa this was an extra post yesterday - I had already posted about websites, however that aside I can only blog about what I am doing and if that is heavily domain related then that is why you see domain posts. In saying that Al is on holiday and he would normally balance it up more.

 
 
Comment by Justin Cook from SEO Toronto Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-26 02:39:46

Very nice investment. I hope to be doing this myself soon. But I think I prefer the leasing option to the buying outright.

 
Comment by att Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-26 16:51:37

Great post as always scott :)
I didn’t know the genes stuff was in demand. Tried some affiliate programs on that didn’t work out !
I am sure it was due to my feeble marketing effort.
All the best, and keep us updated :)

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-26 19:33:01

It’s my opinion that genes/dna & genomes will all be big bucks and big business in the coming years so I will work with it and try aff. programs but it’s more of a longer term investment that I would expect to appreciate a LOT all being well :)

 
 
Comment by Lukep
2008-03-28 03:03:16

Hi Scott/Al,

As you guys are so experienced with domains and stuff, i thought you might be able to help me with a website buying dilema:

I have a site which is in a very competitive niche. Site is about 2 years old and is currently on page 2 for most of the terms we have been targetting. One of our competitor sites has come up for sale and is currently ranking in the top 3 for the same terms we are targetting with our own site. The site for sale is about 6 years old and well established. I’ve checked their traffic and income stats over 3 months (using google analytics). The income is about $20k per month (no adsense, all private ads/affiliates) and the owner is looking for about $110k for the site. According to those stats would you say it is a good investment or should i spend that money trying to get our own site into the top 3?

Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated. Cheers.

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-28 09:59:48

That’s a lot of money for something which purely relies on it’s organic listing so you would have to convince yourself there is no reason in the future for sales dropping but you know your niche so could see anything like that coming I’d guess. Depending on what the profit is that sounds a very good deal, even if it’s 50% profit you should be paid back in a year so as long as there are no small decreases in any of the stats to show possible problems on the face of it - it sounds like great deal, I’d also have to saisfy myself as to why the owner was selling - would you sell it for that if it was yours?

 
 
Comment by Lukep
2008-03-28 16:06:15

Thanks for the feedback Scott. Do you think i should use that money instead to promote my own site and get it higher in the rankings? or should i definately be looking to grab this site while i’ve got a chance? cheers.

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-28 19:22:38

Hard to say blind - but if it all checks out it sounds like a good deal that will pay for itself quickly so if the cash flow/financing is good I’d be tempted to buy it and keep owkring on the existing site, better to have 2 sites in the top 10 than one and makes you more waterproof to changes and fluctuation in serps.

Comment by Lukep
2008-03-29 02:46:04

Thanks again Scott. The only thing that would worry me is if the rankings dropped. Is there a chance this could happen with a site which is over 6 years old? or can these sort of sites withstand most problems?

What things should i be looking for before finalising the deal? should i expect a list of all backlinks the seller has bought for his site? cheers.

(Comments wont nest below this level)
Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-30 08:51:59

Nothing is guaranteed, but if its 6 years old and for the most part always been there then it should be stable enough, if it just recently rose to the top then I’d be more wary. It would be wise to ask for a list of any paid links etc that would have to be maintained and make sure all links remain in place.

 
Comment by Lukep
2008-03-31 18:49:29

Appreciate the help Scott. When you buy domains/sites yourself, how do you stop the seller going to another buyer and starting a bidding war? I could make an offer but if the seller decides to get other buyers involved then it could go out of my reach.

 
Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-31 19:57:48

I’m not sure there is much you can do, I have found fantastic domains, tracked down owners and awoken them by showing interest - they have then got too excited and had valuations done that don’t meet my valuation and deals die, all you can do is make sure that when a price is agreed you do everything possible to make sure the deal goes through smoothly and quickly as regards transfer of domain, website and money.

 
 
 
 
Comment by att Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-30 10:19:50

“if it just recently rose to the top then I’d be more wary”
how would you figure this out ? Is there a site/ tool to check this ?

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-31 19:53:30

Not that I am aware of, you would needed to have monitored that niche and already know the stable sites in the top 10, however if it ranked well and you checked the traffic stats going way back it would show up if the site had recently risen to the top with recent increases in organic traffic.

 
 
Comment by att Subscribed to comments via email
2008-03-31 20:43:58

This might be a very silly question….
How do you actually
1.transfer the domain,
2.website, especially what do you do about hosting ? Do you have to move from existing hosting to yours ? If so, this sounds a bit messy
3.Is there like a check list of things to do ?

 
Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2008-04-01 08:38:29

1/ Depends on what it is, UK differs from com & net
2/ Yes you usually have to move and setup a hosting account
3/ this post outlines a good amount of general info

 
2008-04-01 12:13:18

[...] for the extra excellent posts he’s been doing the past fortnight and a congratulations on his 2 domain purchases, it will be interesting to see how they [...]

 
Comment by Engin Subscribed to comments via email
2008-04-03 21:29:01

Hi,

What do you think about new .asia domains?
I’m new in to these and just bought one, to sell at Sedo in the future.

Thanks.

 
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