I'm just getting into the domaining business and am wondering about your success stories. What's yours?
Welcome aboard to the domaining business. I have managed to hand reg a few decent names that have good resale value if & when I do decide to resell those names, but I'm not really looking to resell in the near future. I've also managed to buy some domains in the aftermarket for decent prices as well, so I'm happy. If you're starting out as a domainer, then I'd recommend you to read all you can about what makes a domain valuable as a lot of newbies register crap domains that aren't worth even reg fee, like many of the names that pop up in the appraisals section. Don't rush into registering names at the beginning, take it slowly in the beginning, that's my advice.
Subscribe to news services and RSS feeds in areas you have interest or expertise in. When you see an emerging trend, a new product or something you think people will be searching for in the near future, start doing some research: - What searches are currently performed similar to this? - Who would be interested in a domain in this area? - How could I gain value for this trend/release? - How have people monetized sites/domains in this area before? Spot a worthwhile trend, identify your monetizing area and grab a domain name. It can be very hit and miss - some trends with pan out, others wont. But if you're clever about it and do your homework, the ones that pan out will be very lucrative. If you're really into this, and think you've spotted a trend on a domain that's already registered, try contacting the current owner. They might not be aware of the domain's new relevance and could sell it on to you for a nice low price. I recently bought a domain that a guy had registered for 7 years - it was named after a rock band he'd been in but it had new relevance for a product release that had just been broken on Google News. I purchased this for $200 and resold it 3 weeks later for $8,000. I'm in the process of purchasing another like this for $150 which I've already found a $5,000+ buyer for! Trend-spotting is just one way to go about it - to read about the various methods I'd suggest reading an excellent post "How to get started as a domainer" over at Aviva Directory - avivadirectory.com/domain/ Best of luck mate!
SPEND TIME READING before registering, PLEASE. A lot of people think buying 50 domains will make them money. NO!!! Figure out what part of the domaining industry you want to get into. If it's for development, go ahead and buy a creative domain. If it's the PARKING industry, you NEED to do your research before buying a domain to expect any ROI (returns on investment). For parking referral links, I have some on my blog @ fka200.com in the sidebar. I recommend Namedrive (right under the Parked.com image) for newcomers. With parking you can have websites with traffic making you money ASAP (check out ezzz.net for an example).