How to Manage Your Domain Portfolio
If you want to learn how to manage your domain portfolio then here is what you need to know. Read on for a list of solid domain management tips that you can start using today! Once you have read this tutorial then be sure and visit our dashboard to get started finding some valuable domain names today!
Quick Domain Management Tips
- Registrar – Choosing the right registrar is crucial to being able to manage a large domain name portfolio because not all registrars have easy to use domain bulk management features in their interface. Probably the top 2 registrars in terms of easy to use domain bulk management features is GoDaddy and Moniker. Read this guide on how to choose the best domain name registrar for more information.
- Monetization – Whether you decide to monetize your domain names via parking, development, leasing, or any other number of ways to make money with your domain names the key is to find solutions that will allow you to deploy this solution seamlessly across many different domains in your portfolio if need be. Read this article on how to monetize domain names for some additional information.
- Hosting – If you decide to go the route of developing your domain names then you will need to set up a hosting plan. A host like HostGator or HostMonster that offers cPanel/WHM is generally the preferred route when it comes to managing a large domain name portfolio. There are also software package addons like Mass Account Manager that coordinate nicely with cPanel/WHM servers (both dedicated and reseller) to allow you to manage many different packages and accounts at once, upload files via FTP to many different domains/websites all at one time, track statistics from all domains in one convenient location, and more. Read this article on how to choose the best web hosting plan for more detailed information.
Add Money Making Domain Names to Your Portfolio!
Now that you know a few quick tips for better managing a portfolio of domain names why not get started finding some domain names that can make you money? Our tools can help you find exact match keyword domain names, domains with type in traffic, and more! sign up to become a Domain Superstar premium member now!
The #1 Reason Why Your Domains Are Not Making You Money
Whether you park your domains, develop your domains, or really no matter what you do with your domains – I bet that I know why your domains are not making you much money (or at least not as much as they could be making you). I bet that I could tell you why your domains are performing so poorly before I even know what they are or what’s on them. You want the answer?
The answer is TRUST. Let’s face it most domainers do not have trustworthy looking e-commerce web properties. Here are some clues that you are losing a LOT of money because most users do not trust what they see:
1. Your domains are parked and they look the same as they did in 1997. Web users are becoming more and more sophisticated. The same person who visited your parked domain in 2003 and would happily click away on various “search results” to their hearts content and drive your PPC earnings through the roof will now arrive at your site and then hit the back button as soon as they see this girl’s smiling face.
2. Your developed domains look like they were developed by a domainer and not a web developer. Let me be the first to say that I have had some domains that I have personally developed back in the day before I knew what I was doing that look truly horrendous (and some of them are still floating around and in dire need of an overhaul). Let me also say that taking a risk and developing your domains all on your own is admirable because it is much better than just sitting back and doing nothing.
That being said, be honest with yourself and if your domains have flashing lights, weird little animated figurines, or any other number of things that scream “bush league” or even worse “scam” then it’s time to get real and start making website overhaul plans if you really want to maximize your earnings.
Before you get too cocky about how great your site looks just because your site doesn’t offend as bad as this one then check to make sure your site design looks current and you have other trust signals like an about us page, a privacy policy page, a contact us page, a site map, a testimonials page, etc.
3. Your domain name sends all the wrong signals. No, I don’t just mean that your domain name can be construed as meaning something other than its intended to. What I mean is that the very first thing that a potential customer, client, or user of your website sees is not your website design but it is your domain name. We can’t all have a domain name like cars.com but come on; do we really think that most people feel comfortable about wanting to submit their personal information on a site with a domain name like 123-fast-cheap-online-car-deals.info?
Trust is king. Use our domain name tools to consistently find money making, trust inspiring domain names. Sign up for a $3 premium membership trial today!
How to Make Money as a Domainer
If you want to learn how to make money as a domainer then get ready because this guide will show you how but also be forewarned it’s going to take a lot of hard work and a willingness to learn on your part.
Making money domaining can sound like its extremely easy and in fact at times it can even be easy but the fact of the matter is the more you are willing to learn and invest yourself then the more your hard work will really start to pay off with some nice fat checks.
Read through this domaining money making guide and then be sure and use all of our domain name tools to find yourself some valuable domain names to invest in!
What is a Domainer? What is Domaining?
Domaining is the business of domain name investing with the goal being either to buy and then sell a domain name for a profit or to buy a domain name and then monetize the domain name to bring in a nice stable cash flow to the domainer.
Finding Valuable Domain Names
The first step to making money as a domainer is of course finding some domain names to buy that are actually worth some money! Learning how to choose a domain name is absolutely critical for success as a domainer.
Domain names have value because each and every single domain name is unique. There is only one hotels.com and there is only one dfe-56lo-it.info. Now of course it is easy to pick out that hotels.com is much more valuable then the other nonsensical domain name. The trick lies in evaluating the value and potential value of all of the other domain name combinations in between.
Try out tools like our tool for finding type in traffic or our tool for finding keyword domain names or our tool for finding dropped domain names or any of our other domain name tools that make it easy for you to learn how to find great domain names!
Domaining Strategies
The 2 most general domaining strategies are the previously mentioned strategy of buying and then selling a domain name or the strategy of buying a domain name and then monetizing it. Some more specific niche domaining strategies include:
1. Buying geo domain names to target specific geographic niches.
2. Buying short domain names.
3. Buying alternate TLD’s (non .com TLD’s like .net, .org, .info, or specific country code TLD’s [CCTLD] like .de, .au, etc.)
4. Buying generic keyword domain names (especially domains with type in traffic).
5. Buying dictionary domain names (i.e. domain names that match exactly to a word in the dictionary).
Getting Started Making Money Online as a Domainer
Just like someone who works in real estate flipping houses it can also be quite profitable to flip domain names and just like someone receives rental income from a rental property in the real estate market a smart domainer can monetize a domain name to make money on the Internet.
The first step to get started making money domaining is to learn, learn, learn and then put what you have learned to good use. It’s easy to think about making a lot of money domaining but its much more difficult to actually buckle down and do it.
Read through our tons of domain name and domaining information, use our tools for finding money making domain names, and then sign up to become a Domain Superstar premium member now!
Getting Your Online Startup to $1,000,000 a Year
I recently watched one of the best business/entrepreneurship/technology videos that I have seen in a long, long time. The below video is a presentation by the creator of Ruby on Rails and partner of 37 Signals (creator of Basecamp), David Heinemeir Hansson. The presentation takes place at Startup School 08 (Startup school is an annual free conference for hackers interested in startups).
If your goal is to take one or more of your domain investments and turn it into a full fledged web startup then this is a must see video for you. Sure you can monetize your domain names by just parking them but why not take a creative risk and have some fun to boot? Hansson gives some practical and sometimes downright hilarious advice about startups and specifically startups in the technology niche.
The video is 31 minutes and 53 seconds long including the question and answer time at the end and even includes all of the slides he used at Startup School 08. Check it out:
What did you think?
How to Move a Website to a New Domain Name
Learning how to move a website to a new domain name is pretty straightforward. You can count on the entire process taking anywhere from 48 to 72 hours (or maybe much longer if you have a very large site) but if you have a smaller site then chances are you can get everything set up properly and read to go on the new domain name in just a couple of hours. Read on for a few tips to make moving a website to a new domain name a breeze and then be sure and try out our domain name finding tools on our dashboard to find yourself some some awesome domain names!
Step 1: Transferring Files
The first step in moving your website to your new domain name is to create an account on your server or shared hosting plan for the new domain and then transfer over all of the old website files to the new account you have created for the new domain. Be sure to just copy the files over and do not in any case delete the files from the old account for the old domain name yet.
Step 2: Change Nameservers
Be sure and change the nameservers of the new domain name to point to the newly created account that you have created on your server or shared hosting plan. Keep in mind that it will typically take between 48 and 72 hours for the DNS to propogate throughout the web.
Step 3: Change Files
The next step is to change all instances of the old domain to the new domain within the files that you have transferred over to the new account on your server. You will most likely be able to accomplish this very quickly if you just use the find and replace feature in your FTP client (i.e. Dreamweaver, FileZilla, etc.). Making all of your links absolute links rather than relative links is usually the best way to go for SEO purposes so if this is something that you had ever considered changing over then now would be a good time to go through and audit all of your website files to change relative links to absolute when appropriate.
Step 4: Create 301 Redirects
Setting up 301 redirects in your .htaccess (assuming you have a Linux server) under your old account is very important. A 301 redirect will work to automatically and permanently redirect visitors and search engine bots who visit www.olddomain.com/my-page to www.newdomain.com/my-page. This is very important from an SEO perspective because 301 redirects have the potential to pass through the “link juice” of any backlinks pointing to the old domain to the new domain along with any accompanying search engine rankings. This is also very important from a user perspective because anyone that tries to visit any page on your old domain will be automatically sent to the appropriate page on your new domain. Read this guide on how to set up 301 redirects to get all of the nitty gritty 301 redirect setup details.
Step 5: Test
Make sure that your nameservers have been set up on your new domain and that the DNS has finished propogating. Once you verify that the DNS is resolving correctly for the new domain then it is time to test out all of the old pages that you are redirecting from the old domain to the new domain and then also test by looking through each page of the new site and make sure that there are no errors (from find and replace errors when changing files or other issues).
If all of the pages of your old site have been indexed by Google then a quick way to test out that the 301 redirects have all been set up and working properly is to simply do an advanced Google search query that will return all of the pages from your old site indexed by Google. You can do this simply by typing “site:olddomain.com” into Google (without the “”). Now all you have to do is click on every page and if you have set up the 301 redirects properly then each time you click on the page link your server should automatically and instantly redirect you to the appropriate new page on your new domain.
Sign Up!
To get started finding awesome money making domain names then sign up to become a Domain Superstar premium member now!
How to Flip Domain Names
If you want to learn how to flip domain names then read on because this guide will teach you all of the basics of flipping domain names and hopefully making a nice profit to boot! Once you have read this free domain name flipping tutorial then be sure and find some great domain names using our domain name finding tools!
Flipping Domain Names vs. Flipping Websites
There are two main strategies for flipping domains. The first strategy involves buying a domain name and then reselling it without first building a website or otherwise developing the domain name. The second strategy involved buying a domain name and then building a website and potentially even marketing the website and monetizing the website before attempting to sell the website for a profit.
The profit potential from flipping a website can be quite significant because many domain name buyers like to see things like a domain that has an existing website with Google rankings, pages indexed by the search engines, backlinks, etc. However, the major con to flipping a website is that you of course have to A) Possess some web development/SEO/copywriting skills and you also have to B) Be willing to put in the time and effort into developing the website and monetizing the domain name.
There can also be significant profit potential from flipping domain names without websites. The real key to buying and selling domain names for profit is twofold: A) Consistently find domain names at a bargain (our domain name tools can help with this) and B) Consistently find domainers or even better end users that want to buy your domain names.
Practical Domain Flipping Tips
Here are some practical tips for flipping domain names:
1. Choose a niche that you know a lot about/are comfortable in. You will have more success if you are an expert in the subject matter of the domain name that you are investigating for a potential flip. Chances are you have some type of specialized knowledge that separates you from the average person and allows you to find good domain deals. Whether it is financial advice or crocheting; almost every one has some type of hobby or skill set that will give them a leg up on the competition.
2. Use tools to speed up your domain name research. The money you make from great domain names that you can find by using cutting edge domain name tools that find keyword domain names, domain names with type in traffic, auction domain names with page rank, dictionary domain names, and much more can easily pay for the cost of our premium membership.
3. Keep learning all that you can. Flipping domain names can have some huge payoffs if you are willing to work hard and constantly learn all that you can. Put the time in and do the necessary research. Read our domain name blog to keep abreast of new ways to make money with domain names.
Get Started Flipping Domain Names!
To get started finding the best available domain names to flip then sign up to become a Domain Superstar premium member now!
How do I Purchase a Domain Name?
The answer to “How do I Purchase a Domain Name?” is really pretty simple and straightforward. Technically, no one purchases a domain name unless they are buying it from a 3rd party in a domain name auction or from a private seller.
This article will deal with how to purchase domain names direct from a registrar which is really called registering a domain name. To read an article on purchasing domain names from a 3rd party then please read the article how to buy and sell domain names for profit or head on over to our domain name auction tool to start finding domain names to buy at auction. However, everyone has to pay what are called registration fees to register a domain name and have the rights to use the domain name.
Once you have learned everything you need to know about purchasing a domain name then be sure and find some awesome domain names to purchase using our domain name finding tools!
The domain name registration process is easy. Simply choose the domain name that you would like to purchase (if you aren’t sure where to begin then start out by reading these 25 rules for learning how to choose a domain name and then use our instant domain search tool to type in potential domain name that you may want to register and see if the domain name is available to register or is already taken by someone else).
Once you have decided on the domain then it is time to go ahead and purchase the domain name (really called registering the domain name) at a domain name registrar. Read this article on how to choose a domain name registrar for some good information on what you need to look for in a company that will handle your domain name registration. You can expect to pay around $10/yr to register most domain names.
To get started awesome domain names to purchase then sign up to become a Domain Superstar premium member now!
How to Find a Great Domain Name
Learning how to find a great domain name is easy! Here is a down and dirty simple guide for understanding how to find great domains over and over – as many times as you want. Once you have read through the guide then be sure to put your new found knowledge to good use and head on over to our dashboard to try out our domain finding tools. To get full access to all of our tools then sign up for premium membership today!
Finding Keyword Domain Names
It’s no secret that finding keyword domain names are a great way to find a steal of a domain name. First of all, let’s define what a keyword really is. A keyword is any word or phrase that is consistently searched in a search engine like Google. For example, “vitamins” is a keyword. “blahblahblah” is not.
There are 2 basic types of keyword domain names: Keyword Rich and Exact Match. Keyword rich domain names contain a keyword but they can also contain extra characters or words that are not keywords. An exact match domain name contains the keyword or keyword phrase only with no additional characters or non keywords. For example, for the keyword “cars” the domain name “superdupercars.com” is a keyword rich domain and the domain name “cars.com” is an exact match domain. Exact match keyword domain names are of course much more valuable and one big reason is because they have the possibility of receiving type in traffic.
Recommended Tools for Finding Keyword Domain Names: 1) Type-In Traffic Finder 2) Keyword Domain Repository 3) Bulk Keyword Domain Finder
Short Domain Names
Another category of domain name that holds a lot of value are short domain names. The easier a domain name is to remember, spell, and pronounce then the more valuable that domain is. Of course, sometimes a longer domain that ends in .com will be worth quite a bit more than a shorter domain name that ends in .net, .org, .info, .biz, or some other less desirable TLD.
Recommended Tools for Finding Short Domain Names: 1) Auction Domain Name Tool 2) Dropped Domain Name Tool 3) Domains Dropping Soon Tool 4) Domain Name Alerts 5) Dictionary Domain Name Tool
Brandable Domain Names
A brandable domain name is a domain name that may contain keywords but it will often have some type of unique word in the domain name. An example would be the domain name of this site “DomainSuperstar.com”. The keyword is “domain” and the name added to emphasize the uniqueness of our tools is “Superstar”. When you combine the two words to get the domain name DomainSuperstar.com then you hopefully have a domain name that is memorable to visitors and part of a strong brand.
Recommended Tools for Finding Brandable Domain Names: 1) Brandable Domain Name Finder 2) Domain Auction Tool 3) Geo Domain Name Tool
Find Great Domain Names Now!
Start finding some great money making domain names today! To get full access to all of our tools then sign up for premium membership today!
Domain Name Value
There is an absolute ton of different things to consider when finding a domain name’s value. I will probably go into more detail in a future post on each of these different domain valuation considerations but here is a list that I put together just off of the top of my head with some different domain value metrics to consider when attempting to evaluate the worth of a domain name:
1. Age – The older the better.
2. TLD – The superior domain extension will probably always remain the .com.
3. Keywords – Keyword domain names will always have value – especially if they are an exact match.
4. No Hyphens – Un-hyphenated domains will always trump hyphenated domains everything else being equal.
5. Short – The shorter the better.
6. Easy to Spell – The easier it is to spell the better.
7. One Possible Spelling – If there are alternative spellings then not so good.
8. Last Letter/First Letter Double Letters – This is when the last letter of one word is the same as the first letter of the next word (i.e. alaskAAutoinsurance.com). This is maybe a small thing and there are of course many valuable domains that have this characteristic but this adds some negative points in my personal criterion.
9. User Intent – Some domains contain keywords that show strong user intent to take a favorable action (i.e. “buy”, “rates”, etc.) while other domains contain words that are more informational in nature (i.e. “guide” “info” etc.). On a side note, sometimes you may find that a domain name that is more informational in nature is better. It all depends on the niche and goal of your website.
10. Branding – While studentloanconsolidationinterestrates.com may be an exact match keyword domain name – let’s face it. It’s not going to be on any TV commercials anytime soon.
How Do You Value Domain Names?
Ok, I purposefully only included the first 10 things that popped into my mind. Come on, fire away! What domain value metrics did I miss?
Additional Recommended Reading:
How to Choose a Domain Name (25 Rules)
Watch Me Hand Register Keyword Domain Names worth More than $100
What is a Premium Domain Name?
Once you have read the above and contributed some of your domain name value tips then it is time to take action and get started finding some great domain names! Take full advantage of all of our domain name tool’s premium features and find yourself some money making domain names by signing up to become a premium member today!
New Tool: Bulk Keyword Domain Finder
Today we’re pleased to announce the release of our new Bulk Keyword Domain Finder tool. This tool allows users to bulk-check the availability of keyword or keyword phrase domains (for instance, entering the phrase “domain superstar” would check the availability of “domainsuperstar.com”.
This tool is available to both free and premium members, but premium members get some significant features. Below is a table describing the two versions of the tool.
| Feature | Free | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Max number of phrases | 20 | 200 |
| File Uploading | No | Yes (up to 1000 phrases) |
| TLDs | .COM only | Multiple TLDs |
For premium members we currently offer .COM, .NET, .INFO, .BIZ, .US, .DE, .FR as our available TLDs but will add more upon the request of our premium members. Also, as mentioned above, premium members can upload files containing 1 keyword or phrase per line to conveniently check up to 1000 keywords at a time. We can also process larger numbers of domains on our servers, so if you’re interested please contact us.
Please try out this tool and let us know what you think!
