How does a beginner make money with domains?
These are some things I look for in a domain name:
1. Must be a .com
2. Generates type-in traffic
3. Is an easy to remember (brand) 1 - 2 word domain
4. Contains keyword(s) - highly relative to my niche for SEO Purposes
5. Has plenty of backlinks
I’ve taken domains that were registered and sold them a month or two later for as much as $1700. That was back in the day. Now most of the good .com’s are taken and one needs to be creative.
Personally, it’s a lot easier to sell domains that have backlinks and pagerank. If you have some rankings in the serps, it adds to the value of type-in traffic as well. Having some rankings in the serps also helps dispel any notion the domain name is banned by the SE’s.
In the business model of flipping domains, consider developing mini-sites and developing some backlinks for them. This gives the buyer some added value to the domain in that it is semi-developed. Also, the domain will have some age on it and be closer to getting out of the sandbox for good search terms.
Develop a domain for sale.
As far as setting up a site to get traffic, you could simply get a free html template (freelayouts.com). Open it in a free wysiwyg editor (nvu.com) and add a re-written PLR (private-label rights) article, and upload it using a free FTP program (smart ftp). This is nothing fancy but atleast you have something for driving traffic.
Submit the article/site to onlywire.com and other social bookmarking sites to get some traffic to it. Be sure the host you choose provides traffic stats. Next, take a screen capture of your traffic stats for prospective buyers. If you really get going in this business you will want a host that provides unlimited domain hosting. I can recommend Go Daddy for less than $7/mo as one option.
More domain techniques.
To make a small site, many of the larger hosts offer tools to help you build your website with their standard hosting. I prefer Bluehost and it has all the tools you need to make a basic page, host unlimited domains, and use awstats on each of those domains. I believe the cost is $7 a month if paid 1 year in advance.
A small site with say 200-300 backlinks and rankings in the search engines for a few long tailed keywords is worth much more then a virgin domain to me. As a buyer, I already have backlinks using anchor text relative to the domain (ie. home loans, car loans, loans, etc.). And as a buyer if I can see the domain name listed in a Google search result page, it tells me the domain is not banned. The domain has some age to it, so it’s closer to getting out of the sandbox.
If you treat your domain business like wine, you will find domains are worth more if you let them age a bit and add some extra ingredients (backlinks). If your domains happen to get pagerank, that adds more value, as well. But I doubt you want to hold onto an inventory of domains for 3-4 months. However, I know some people that do and its worth the wait.
Be patient with your domains.
Let’s say you bought some domain names and nobody is interested in buying them. Now you can create a basic site (3-5 pages). Submit it to some directories and let it age. Throw Adsense on them to earn a few bucks while they are maturing. That same domain nobody was interested in can easily be sold once Google exports toolbar pagerank.
Remember this: People will buy any domain name if it has pagerank! And I mean that! Take dskfjdkjf.com. If it were a PR 3, you could sell it and make a profit!
You really can’t lose money with domains if you take that extra step. The worst case scenario is you have to sit on a few domains for a few months before making 20+ times your investment! And once you do these mini-sites a few times, you’ll be able to create them in under an hour or so.
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I hate people that buys all the domain names for no reason except making profit. It’s just fucking annoying.