I have a friend who happens to be an SEO expert. He has shown me a number of properties he has built and sold for both 6 figures and 7 figures. The basics are always the same. First he finds a highly searchable category that its users would either buy that categories product or generate sellable leads from individuals going to that site. Next he tries to buy the .com and only the dot com. The domain can be 1, 2 or 3 words as long as its .com. I have seen him buy names as low as the low 5 figure range. Next he builds a site that is search engine friendly. The site has to have lots of fresh content. A link building campaign is the last part.
It sounds as easy as making a cake but of course its tougher than that as many domainers are looking for the holy grail. But if you have or can hire someone with the right skills and follow that approach, you will be going in the right path to success.
Interesting post. Selling to end-users, or selling to investors based on a multiple of gross/net? (would also be interested in your/their definition of ‘highly searchable’)
Not astonished. I sold few years ago home-building-directory.com for $110K simply because it was #1 in Yahoo for the buyer main term.
Very true! We’ve been buying domains for the last two years with a focus on keyword-rich names. Fresh content is key and WordPress can be an incredible tool to make it easy to add content quickly and easily.
I write a lot about how we do this on my blog and it’s always great to hear other people share their success stories!
Yep – Francois is right. No surpise here, we have done the same thing many times over.
“First he finds a highly searchable category that its users would either buy that categories product or generate sellable leads from individuals going to that site”
This is the key to almost ALL seo success = lead generation.
Finance, Homes / Real Estate, Insurance, Education, Debt and a few other categories. I can name around 2 dozen sites which just launched in the last 12 months and are all making well over 25k a month.
These domains btw most domainers would sell for $500- $5,000.
Instead of going to TRAFFIC I would suggest anyone reading this spend money on an SEO conference.
Francois,
Congratulations on that sale. I sure there are many more out there that we have not heard about.
larry
Alan,
I agree with all except the last sentence. Traffic and other domains shows are just as important as seo tradeshows but for a different reason. Networking within your own community is extremely important. While there are more domain shows popping up, you should try to attend as many possible. I learned about that big portfolio that Startek was selling through a conversation I had at one of the tradeshows. This never would have happened elsewhere.
True – but I think a lot of new people attend “domain” shows looking for development answers assuming hey – this conference is about domains so they must have it all. For the most part TRAFFIC, DomainFest and other “Domain” events are great for networking as you said but the energy behind SEO tradeshows and Lead conferences like LeadsCon for example is a whole different kind of energy – one where people dream less and actually do build out.
The new breed of domainers share this energy and I find it ironic to this day that more lead providers and SEO companies are not incorporated in these domain shows. More parking companies sure but I think or at least hope more and more domainers are looking for more than just another parking option.
Oh well – Great article on that portfolio btw.
Good point Alan. I agree that the domain shows need to branch out in to other areas like SEO. I think Rick Latona will go in that direction. He has already reached out to find what domainers want at the new traffic shows so he can make the show better.
I think with domainers we need more information on who are the better SEO companies out there? I’ve been interested for years in finding the right SEO company but with so many out there you just don’t know who is good or not.
Maybe some of the domainers that have had good experience with SEO companies need to write about them or list them and some examples of there work.
I really agree with the post. itz really essential for the domainers to find better seo companies.
This is the key to almost ALL seo success = lead generation.
I’ve always found it fascinating how separated the SEO and domaining industries seem to be. If you read on popular domaining forums, most people know little about SEO and the same is true for SEO experts about domains. It boggles the mind, because both are so intimately connected. I know most domainers hate the idea of having to develop their domains, but if you would just throw up a simple WordPress install, get a nice SEO friendly theme and hire someone to write up a bunch of articles and push an affiliate program, you’d be making bank above parking and PPC. I’m glad to see someone has a hold on both of these and is profiting nicely from it.