Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

How To Find Buyers For Great Unused Domain Names?

Posted by Anonymous on 3/13/2007 at 3:18 AM ET 1000 Points
I will choose the 2 or 3 best answers, so here's a chance to rack up a lot of points.

For clients of mine, and for my own ventures over the years, I've generated possible names and registered the dot com domains -- so I have a growing inventory of excellent domain names (short, trademark-able, clear, communicative of benefits, memorable, etc.). Some of these I or my clients will eventually use, but not all. They are the result of creative effort, branding expertise, and research, so they are worth more than a trivial amount.

I receive inquiries frequently with no marketing on my part, but I want to find a low-cost, relatively low-effort way to reach multiple prospects who understand the value of these names such as (perhaps) branding firms, naming consultancies, start-up entrepreneurs, et al. I want to generate sufficient interest to fuel an auction, with multiple buyers bidding the price up.

An example: I recently received an offer for one domain name -- innovisual.com -- so I have put it up for auction at GoDaddy's domain name aftermarket, to see if I can attract multiple bidders. But there are hundreds of thousands of domain name auctions on that site -- most are nonsensical, awful names -- so I am not expecting anyone to discover my auction. Rather, I will need to communicate the availability and value of what I'm offering, and drive traffic to the auction.

That's where you come in -- I'd like responses to the following questions:

1. What have you actually done in terms of low-cost marketing that resulted in the sale of one or more domain names for more than $1,000? I'm talking about proactive marketing and selling, not just passively receiving an inquiry and negotiating a sale.

2. Even if you've never done it, how would you suggest marketing and selling high-quality unused domain names? I'm looking for approaches that are promising, practical, innovative, and low-cost. And I want specifics, i.e. tell me the actual steps required to implement your idea.

3. If you have specific leads for me, you can post them here or contact me privately (via my profile).

Thanks for your help, and perhaps your responses will be useful to other marketingprofs members as well.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by rjohnni on 3/13/2007 at 7:45 AM Member
    Hi matt:

    Though proving that I am greedy for the points, by being here as the first one, I liked the challenge. You want to sell your bank of innovatie names to a drought hit namezone in the internet.

    1. Create a Portal: This is an idea for today and a viable biz model for tomorrow when your namebank empties. You can launch a portal that specifically talk about the innovative, creative and in need of names. The criteria will just be that, that they be intersting on certain parameters. Once you promote your website using the relevant tools, the traffic should satisfy your biz requirement. Once the model takes off, you can invite similiar names to get advertsied or displayed in your portal for sales. So you not only generate revenue with your exisitng names, you also pave way for a future biz.

    2. CONTACT: A DM /eDM exercise to the prospects: organisations that may need the names, branding consultants, naming consultants, leading hosting companies and leading ISPs. Also buy Adwords and see how you can hit the jackpot.

    3. FOCUS: make sure that your communication is 'your offers are not exactly cheap' etc. So that the prospect interaction from day one is going to be to a vendor who provides million dollar webnames at a decent pricepoint. So you can avoid the non quality enquiries. The premium positioning will help as no one else is occuppying that position also....so you can be the only player providing 'milliondollardomains'

    KUDOS
  • Posted on 3/13/2007 at 10:10 PM Member
    I HAVE A QUESTION IM INTRESTED IN BECOMING A VENDOR FOR A GROCERY STORE IM A COLLEGE STUDENT AND I DO NOT HAVE MY OWN BUSINESS BUT I HAVE THIS GREAT RECIPE THAT I WOULD LOVE TO GET OUT THERE, NOW DO I HAVE TO OWN MY OWN FOOD COMPANY TO BE A VENDOR THIS IS MY PLAN I PLAN TO SELL THE GROCERY STORE MY RECIPE AND THEY COULD PUT IT UNDER THERE NAME.
  • Posted by darcy.moen on 3/14/2007 at 3:39 AM Member
    You could try listing your domain names for sale with a company that specializes in selling domain names. Small companies may not buy domain names, but if the name is just right...you might get your asking price. Here is a link to one such company: https://www.sedo.com/?language=e&partnerid=28653 (oh yes, one can also search domain names offered for sale at the same link. Good names are for sale for less than what you might think, so go shopping). Sedo will also act as a broker if need be. They are very active in selling domain names.

    You might also want to have your domain name appraised to make sure it is as valuable as you think it is. It may help you sell a domain name is it is appraised. See here for appraisals: https://www.securepaynet.net/gdshop/dna/appraisal.asp?app%5Fhdr=&prog%5Fid=...

    Another option is to log into some of the webhosting forums available. Some of these forums have a special area where you can list your domain names for sale.

    You could try to develop the domain name yourself, build traffic to the site, but keep a little for sale sign on the site and see if you get any offers for it. In the meantime, you can build Page Rank and traffic, and perhaps earn banner ad or per click revenue on the domain.

    I've seen park pages and park page revenue share plans available too. When you park the domain name with a domain for sale page, you can share ad revenue and per click revenue from the park page. You can find out more here: https://www.customerloyaltydomains.com/

    Building a page with page rank adds more value to the domain name. Some companies will pay a premium for a domain name with traffic, so consider investing in developing the domain property with content and traffic.

    Hope this helps you.

    Darcy Moen
  • Posted on 3/14/2007 at 2:40 PM Accepted
    I'm really mixed on whether this is even a good business strategy to pursue.

    On the one hand, other than marketing costs to get this thing out there, your expenses are trivial (your purchase price). So if you get a few really big hits, the payoff will be great.

    On the other hand, the process for coming up with a name pretty much mimics what you said yourself in your post - to paraphrase, it is the result of research into brand and customer insights and drives home the point of a "big idea" (not to get all Donny Deutsch on ya ;-). I really doubt you'll be able to reverse the process, a la someone sees a domain name and then creates a big campaign around it. For example, in which order did the new Calvin Klein campaign for IN2 begin? (The site for the campaign is called whatareyouin2.) My guess - the product came first.

    The portal idea seems a little me-too. And you would have to really keep it up-to-date, so it might get more complex (expensive) than you think or want. And then you have to drive the right people there.

    Also, an auction would hack me off if i reached out to you first and then you said hmmmm someone's interested - let me start a bidding war.

    Still, I might give something a try - a PILOT, to see if it is promising. Here are the steps:
    - Organize your domains into categories, probably by company type. For example, if you have domain names like "innovationiscool" you might not choose grocery or CPG as targets.
    - Create a differentiated position. It is not "we parked these names ha ha pay us a fortune you losers" but something that shows you are trying to help "We reserved these names for YOU. Talk to us about how we can leverage these domain names to grow your business around big brand ideas" blah blah
    - Get direct mail lists for one (or more) of the following: Brand Managers, Heads of Internet Mktg, Agency creatives, and Agency Account Execs (if they exist)
    - Create/send a direct mail letter with the right category of domain names to each target (e.g., send the "innovationiscool" etc. to hi-tech company names on the list) using the "new" positioning
    - Call to action could be the portal if you decide to do that, or simply an 800# where you could negotiate over the phone, fax them other domain names, etc etc. At least at that point you have a real lead.

    My two cents anyway.
  • Posted by darcy.moen on 3/15/2007 at 9:44 PM Member
    This sounds like the dude who created a bunch of names that were unique, different, and did not mean anything in any language (this guy is a linguist). He registered or protected his intellectual property, and I believe he registered all as domain names. He now sells these names as brands or markeable names for new pharamcueticals (like Vi@gra and Ci@lis). I suppose he makes a mint.

    You might do alright registering and parking domains, but the trick is to sell them. Some companies, when seeking a new domain, may move on and keep thinking when they encounter a domain already registered. Other companies may consider someone registering and holding domains for sale for what may be considered a high price, may even consider such actions as cyber squatting or holding good domains for ransom.

    Selling the names is not so easy, and many many have tried. Companies like Sedo have sprung up to act as a broker to sell domains and act as a legitimate service to a niche market. Enom, and Sedo do a decent job, but domains selling for $1,000 or more are rather rare. You might have to work hard to find a better solution than the companies that already are doing it.

    I was thinking of your question earlier today, and mentioned it to my business partner. He said: 'if you come up with a better way to sell domain names, you better charge more than 1000 points for it, like maybe ask for REAL MONEY'. I just had to laugh, hope you do too.

    Darcy Moen
  • Posted on 3/16/2007 at 2:52 PM Member
    I did not look to see if this is already mentioned, my apologies if it has been.

    One idea is to let the name sell itself - specifically create a page for every name that you have with a way to contact you.

    On the page let them know it is for sale and available.

    Many people think of a name, then check to see if it is there and if so, they will at least go to the page to see the content.

    Good Luck
  • Posted by darcy.moen on 3/17/2007 at 5:08 AM Member
    Sedo is definately in the domain sales business. Read details how here:https://www.sedo.com/services/s_selldomain.php3?tracked=&partnerid=richardhertz&language=us

    My partner Kelly has a couple domains he's offering on his website: https://www.fatbrand.com/

    Note how subtle Kelly is offering (lower right corner)

    Darcy
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