Selling domains is close to the heart of most domain investors. They hear about the big sales being made and look at their own portfolio and wonder why many of the domains don’t get any offers let alone an offer to get them excited about paying off the mortgage. Here’s a list of ten ways that can help you increase your sales.
1. List your domains on all the marketplaces.
I know this seems a little obvious but so many investors forget to keep their domain listings up to date. Think of it like fishing, you can have one line in the water or ten lines. Each line will increase the chance of catching a fish. Whatever you do, list your domains in the two major marketplaces, Sedo and Afternic.
By listing your domains in the marketplaces you’re hoping to catch the eye of people that may be browsing for a domain in the aftermarket. With any luck an offer will be made, and a sale will result.
2. Build Your Own Sales Page
A person that clicks on the typical “for sale” link will be directed into an existing marketplace for information about your domain. In the process, they may see someone else’s domain and end up putting an offer in on that one. Even though your domain delivered the traffic, you don’t get anything for the sale of the other domain.
The link at the top of a parked page that says “This domain may be for sale” should point to your own landing page. This page should say something about your domain plus links to related domains that are in your portfolio. This will encourage potential buyers to look at your domains rather than someone else’s.
3. Contact dn.biz
Dn.biz run a newsletter that goes out to thousands of buyers. They regularly look for good domains to feature, so you may as well reach out to them and see if any of yours can be listed.
4. Real Whois Information
Make sure you put real information in for your domain whois data. A lot of potential buyers do look up the whois for a domain and if it is privacy protected or has fake details then it will be impossible for them to contact you to make an offer. Think of the whois as just another line in the water.
5. Price All Your Domains
If you want to increase sales then make sure you know what the price is on each domain. I’ve written a whole series of articles on how to price domains (check out the domain sales category in the article archive)…..there’s lots of methods but whatever you do make sure that each domain has a number next to it.
6. Be Realistic About Your Prices
A number of years ago I wrote an article about how many investors believe their hamburger domains are actually five-star meals. You can check it out here. Don’t make the mistake of falling in love with your own domains, drinking the kool-aid and believe they are worth $XXX,XXX. Hamburger domains are typically priced at around $750 - $1500.
I hate to say it, but the vast majority of domains should be dropped as they are garbage and have no value. I recently went through my own portfolio and dropped a whole lot of domains that I once thought were awesome! Because I’d received no offers I became ruthless and let the duds go. There’s a lesson here……let the data do the talking and not the story about how you decided to first register/acquire the domain.
7. Upsell
If you have a person buying a domain about “cars” and you have twenty more “car” related domains then upsell the buyer by giving them a big discount if they buy more of your domains. You may find that you end up selling a number of domains at one time and increasing your overall yield.
8. Bundled Pricing
This is a little like being asked if you want to buy a “Big Mac meal” versus just a “Big Mac”. Most people like to have some fries and coke with their burger.
On your own “for sale” lander feature bundles of domains with the best highlighted in some fashion. You can then price the bundle AND the domains separately. You may get a big surprise when buyers begin forking out their cash to buy bundles of domains, so their competitors don’t get them.
9. Buyers List
Ask any potential buyer if they would like to be notified if you source domains that happen to be applicable to their market. Keep track of the buyers contact details, what market they are in and what domains they purchased and for what price.
Over time, this list will grow (hopefully) and will be an invaluable source for potential sales. It will also focus you on what you may want to acquire in the future.
10. Use Escrow.com
I can’t stress this point out enough…..never, ever, ever use paypal! Paypal does not protect you at all if the buyer is a scammer. Before you know it, you will lose your domain and the cash in your account.
Using Escrow.com sends a clear signal to the potential buyer that you are serious and not to be messed around with. It also tells the buyer that you are professional and work with professional firms.
On the flip side of the coin, I recently had a seller offer me a domain…..I was instantly suspicious about the prices for it so I immediately told them that I do ALL transactions through Escrow.com. Suddenly the scammer disappeared.
I can’t believe the number of domain investors that still believe that saving a few percent is worth not using Escrow.com. I personally think the branding value of being associated with Escrow.com is worth more than their fee!
The list of ideas is by no means extensive, but I hope that it fires your own creative juices to increase your domain sales. Fell free to leave comments on ideas you’ve found have worked for you in the past.