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!
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!
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!
How to Create 301 Redirects
Creating 301 redirects is easy. Learning how to create a 301 redirect is easy to pick up and by the end of this quick how to guide then you will know all that you need to know to make 301 redirects quickly and easily on the fly.
Once you have read through our quick and easy 301 redirect tutorial then be sure and find some great domain names using our domain name finding tools!
Requirements to be Able to do 301 Redirects
The only real requirements for setting up a 301 redirect is that you have a Linux server and that you have access to your .htaccess file and are able to edit it and upload it to your server (you may not even have to upload it to your server as many popular server management software programs like cPanel allow you to edit your .htaccess file directly from your website’s cPanel).
How .htaccess 301 Redirects are Used
A 301 redirect is used to permanently redirect one page to another page on either the same domain or a totally different domain. 301 redirects are used in a number of different very common scenarios:
- Changing File Names and/or Extensions: 301 redirects can be used if you are changing the file structure of your site or changing the file extensions of your site (i.e. moving from html to php). This is very important to do because if your 301 redirects are set up properly then people typing in yourdomain.com/oldfilename.html would be redirected to yourdomain.com/newfilename.php or whatever page you specify in your .htaccess.
- Moving to a New Domain: 301 redirects are key when moving your website files to a new domain name. This way if people visit an old page on your old domain name then they will be automatically redirected to the appropriate new page on your new domain name. This way if people type in or click on a link to yourolddomain.com/page1.html then they would be automatically redirected to yournewdomain.com/page1.html.
- SEO: 301 redirects are great for SEO reasons because they tell the search engine spiders that the page you are redirecting has moved permanently. 301 redirects also have the best chance of passing “link juice” or link value from existing back links pointing to old pages to the new pages that you set up the 301 for.
- Affiliate Links: 301 redirects are commonly used for cloaking affiliate links because they can enhance the user experience (if used properly) and keep your website from linking directly to an affiliate program. These type of links are typically set up by creating a page on your website with a user friendly looking file name and then setting up a 301 redirect so that every time someone clicks on that link then they are automatically forwarded to the affiliate offer on the merchant site. For example, instead of linking directly to merchantxyz.com/affiliate-offer.html you would create a folder in your site called “click” and a page on your site called “merchantxyz.html” and then set up a 301 redirect that would automatically send people clicking on yourdomain.com/click/merchantxyz.html to merchantxyz.com/affiliate-offer.html (typically you would add the rel=”nofollow” tag to the link on your site that points to yourdomain.com/click/merchantxyz.html).
- PHP: 301 redirects can be used in place of a PHP jump script redirect but if one has a lot of affiliate program links to redirect then often it can make sense to set up a simple PHP script that will redirect users from a link to the affiliate offer.
Writing 301 Redirects
Ok, let’s start writing some 301 redirects. Here are a few different examples:
EXAMPLE #1: You changed a file name for a file on your website. The old file name is /old-page.html and the new file name is /new-page.html. You would set up a 301 redirect by typing this into your .htaccess:
redirect 301 /old-page.html http://www.yourdomain.com/new-page.html
EXAMPLE #2: You changed a page on your site from being a .html page to a .php page. The old file name is /your-page.html and the new file name is /your-page.php. You would set up a 301 redirect by typing this into your .htaccess:
redirect 301 /your-page.html http://www.yourdomain.com/your-page.php
EXAMPLE #3: You would like to show an affiliate offer on your website. The link to the affiliate offer is merchantdomain.com&affid=348665209. You would rather have a more user friendly looking URL be used for the link because some people may not want to click on an affiliate offer or they may not understand what the extra numbers (your affiliate tracking ID so that you get credit) really represent. You would first create a new page called /merchant-offer.html on your site to place in a folder you name “click” (or whatever you like) that will be used in place of your affiliate link. You then set up your link on your site pointing to yourdomain.com/click/merchant-offer.html and be sure and use the rel=”nofollow” and enter this into your .htaccess:
redirect 301 /click/merchant-offer.html http://www.merchantdomain.com&affid=348665209
Now that you know how to set up 301 redirects be sure and try out our domain name finding tools to find some great domain names that can help to make you an online success.
To get started finding the best available domain names then sign up to become a Domain Superstar premium member now!
How to Buy and Sell Domain Names for Profit
If you want to learn how to buy and sell domain names for profit then you have come to the right place. Just like real estate investing and “house flipping” domain name investing and “domain flipping” has great income potential if done the right way.
Of course, just like almost anything in life, hard work is still required but if you have the necessary know how and are willing to put some time and some sweat equity into it then you very well might make quite a nice sum of money buying and selling domain names.
Use our tools for finding great domain names, do your homework to learn how to choose a domain name, and then see if you can buy and sell domains for a profit!
Finding Valuable Domain Names
A domain name is only worth what someone will pay for it. This sounds very obvious but before you haphazardly start buying domain names left and right hoping to strike it rich it is absolutely crucial that you first understand what makes a domain name valuable.
Once you have read our 25 rules for choosing a domain name in our how to choose a domain name guide then you will hopefully have at least a beginners grasp of what makes a domain name valuable. If you can find domain names that meet most or all of these 25 criteria for evaluating a domain name’s worth then you will likely have a better grasp on domain name valuation than many other webmasters and small business owners out there.
One of the most important things for establishing the value of a domain name is if the domain is an exact match to a generic keyword. You have no doubt read the reports online about super premium domain names like business.com, toys.com, and others being sold for millions of dollars. While you may not have the budget to buy a domain name of that caliber you can certainly still find other quality generic keyword domain names for much cheaper and sell them for a profit.
Tools like our type in traffic finder and our repository of keyword domain names are both extremely valuable tools that use real time keyword data from Google to help find available keyword domain names.
Selling Domain Names
Once you have found a domain name then the goal is of course to either monetize the domain name and let it produce income for you or to sell it for a profit. Here are 3 things that you can do to sell your domain names:
1. Auction – Use a domain name auction like GoDaddy or Sedo to list your domain names for sale. These auctions have a huge audience of people actively looking to buy and sell domain names and if you price your domain competitively then you will likely sell it very quickly. Both auctions have a number of different ways to list your domain for sale including buy now, no reserve auction, reserve auction, buy now with a reserve auction, etc.
2. End User – Marketing to an end user directly means that you actively seek out people/companies that you think will be interested in purchasing your domain name and try to get them to buy the domain. An example of this would be if you used our geo domain tool to find a gegraphic domain name such as ChicagoRealEstate.com and then tried to find real estate professionals in Chicago interesting in buying the domain name. One benefit to selling a domain name to an end user is that usually you will be able to obtain a much higher price than if you were to sell it to a domain investor.
3. Private Listing – It is quite common to see domainers and professional domain name investors have a website showcasing their domain name portfolio and the price to buy each of them.
Get Started!
Domain Superstar premium members receive full access to our domain name tools and our website development tutorial videos.
These tools and information can easily pay for itself many times over with even just the sale of one or two great domain names a month.
To get started finding the best available domain names then sign up to become a Domain Superstar premium member now!
Bulk Keyword Domain Finder
The Bulk Keyword Domain Finder is a tool that allows you to paste in a list of keywords (or upload a file) and then the tool will check to see if there are any domain names available that match exactly to the keywords.
How the Bulk Keyword Domain Finder Works
For example, if you paste in a list of keywords related to dogs like “Pit Bull”, “Labrador”, “Cocker Spaniel”, etc. etc. then the tool will check to see if the domain names PitBull.com, Labrador.com, CockerSpaniel.com, etc. etc. are available to register.
Additional Bulk Keyword Domain Finder Features Available to Premium Members
Free members can check up to 25 keywords at a time with the .com TLD only. Domain Superstar premium members can check up to 250 keywords at a time by pasting them in or up to 1,000 keywords at a time by uploading a text file. Premium members also have the availability to check multiple TLD’s. Sign up to become a premium member now!
HINT: This tool is especially valuable if you have a long list of keywords that you have downloaded from Google Adwords or Wordtracker (both free sources for keywords). It is even more valuable if you run Adwords PPC campaigns because now you can use the tool to check and see if there are any available domain names that match exactly to keywords in your Adwords campaign.
This is very valuable because you will likely be able to improve your Google Adwords quality score almost instantly simply by directing your PPC campaign clicks to landing pages on domain names that match exactly to the keywords that you are bidding on.
For example, if you are bidding on the keyword “Cheap Acai Suppplements” then if you can register the domain name CheapAcaiSupplements.com then you will likely easily lower your CPC spend by having a domain name that is super relevant to the keyword phrase that you are bidding on. You would likely be able to make back the $8 you spent to register the domain name in no time.
Geo Domain Finder
The Geo Domain Finder is a tool that allows you to enter in a location (city, state, zip code, etc.) and then it will check the availability of all domain names that are an exact match to cities in that location.
Premium members also have the option available to them to choose keywords to append or prepend to the city and also to choose which TLD they would like the tool to check (free members can only check a limited amount of cities and only the .com TLD is available to them).
The tool is a Google Maps mashup and incorporates a visually appealing map display with automated city lookup and automatic geographic domain name availability checking. Start using the geo domain name finder tool now!
How to Use the Geo Domain Name Tool
Here are a few different ways that you could use the tool to find some great geo domain names.
Option #1: Enter in a zip code. The tool will then return a number of different domain names that match exactly to cities that are nearby the zip code that you entered. For example, if you enter in the zip code 60601 ( a Chicago zip code) then the tool will search for and return the availability of many different domain names that match exactly to cities close to Chicago. For example, Peoria.com, Aurora.com, Rockford.com, etc. etc.
Option #2: Enter in a state plus a keyword to add to the end of the domain name. Let’s say that you want to find mortgage geo domain names for different cities in the state of Florida. For example, if you enter in “Florida” and “mortgage” then the tool will check TampaMortgage.com, OrlandoMortgage.com, MiamiMortgage.com, etc. etc. The possibilities are really endless with this option especially since you can add more than one keyword and you can choose to add the keyword to the beginning of the geographic location or to the end.
Option #3: Enter in a city plus a keyword to add to the beginning of the domain name. If you want to find a bunch of domain names that start with “Guideto” and ends in a city close to Las Vegas then enter in “Las Vegas” and “Guideto”. Doing this will give you geo domain names like GuidetoParadise.com, GuidetoSunriseManor.com, GuidetoSanBernandino.com, etc. etc.
Extra Geo Domain Name Features for Premium Members
Domain Superstar premium members have access to many extra features with the geo domain name tool. Premium members can search multiple TLD’s, prepend and append keywords, and check more available domain names at once than free members. Sign up for premium membership now!
