Selling Domain Names.
The name of the game and the whole purpose of domain names is to help a business generate more traffic and get more business.
You have to access if the domain you are trying to sell is worth anything in terms of SEO. If a domain name serves little or no purpose for SEO what chances have you got selling your domain name? Also is the domain names associated with a product or service you are trying to brand, this is called equity. You also need to access if the domain you are trying to sell will help a business with global positioning such as for example www.cardiffsolicitors.co.uk there will only be one Cardiff Solicitors for the GEO location.
Selling Domain names is never easy and only web developers who offer SEO link wheels have the best chance of selling a developed website/blog to a client to help them generate more traffic.
So for people who just randomly buy up words and then list them on marketplaces to sell, I will give you one piece of advice – Unless you are a website developer with SEO expertise save your money. I have so many domain names that are sitting on my own marketplace platform from sellers with only a small percentage of enquiries.
People do not buy domain names unless there is equity attached to that domain.
I want to also add avoid buying Domain Hacks they are useless in terms of SEO.
Domain Hacks are keyword domain names and a keyword domain extensions, for example www.domains.xyz
Or they can be a misspelt keyword domain names and country code domain extension to complete an entire word for example www.simp.ly
The way that Google or any other search engine algorithm send traffic to a website is using the country code domain extension. When setting up Google for the first time you can specify where you want the traffic to come from but this is not fool proof as a domain name with the domain extension dot com without a doubt will have traffic coming from the USA and you cannot stop this.
On the other hand a domain hack such as www.simp.ly will have the main source of traffic coming from Libya which is no good if you are paying for PPC Advertising and you only want the traffic coming from the UK. What will happen people in Libya will be clicking on your advert and will be eating up your daily budget.
The same goes for domain hacks that do not have a country code domain extension but a word such as dot cat for example. What will happen is people from all over the world will be clicking on your website as you will not be able to stop the traffic because the domain extension is a broad word that anyone in the world can use to search for something and you cannot them control the traffic.
The main objective of a doamin name is for businesses to generate traffic and if they cannot do this or have unregulated traffic from countries that they do not want this will become very costly if they start doing PPC advertising.
As an example I have the domain name www.ukdomainbrokers.com the reason I did not want a dot co dot uk domain extension was because I wanted to be ranked quickly. Even though I initially stated I was located in the UK to Google and had set my traffic for the UK, what has happened is regardless of my settings, Google is sending traffic from the USA. I find that dot coms get ranked faster than any other domain extension hence my main objective was to get on the first page of Google quickly without having to pay for PPC advertising. I succeeded as my blog is on the first page of Google for the search terms “UK Domain Brokers” as that was an exact match searchable phrase. The domain name is merely pointing to a sub domain https://ukdomainbrokers.ukwebsitedesigners.co.uk of one of my websites that I use in my SEO link wheel to drive traffic to my default business yet https://ukdomainbrokers.ukwebsitedesigners.co.uk is not on the first page of Google, do you see my point now about dot coms being ranked faster?
If you look at the keywords “UK Domain Brokers” in your search results you will see www.startbrand.co.uk on the first page of Google followed by www.ukdomainbrokers.com both these domains are mine and are part of the SEO link wheel I mentioned about, the reason why www.startbrand.co.uk is above www.ukdomainbrokers.com is because I started the blog later after launching www.startbrand.co.uk regardless of which website a user clicks on, both websites have the same domain name marketplace.
Domains names only usually sell if:
1) They are short one word dot coms that a business is branding or re-branding and is desperate to have or if the domain can secure global positioning.
2) Domain investors are usually the only people that buy domain names to try and flip for a profit on marketplaces where domains are up for sale.
3) Startups look for domain names and usually hand register what is available directly from registrars.
4) Established businesses may buy domain names for re-branding or adding an extra spoke to their SEO link wheel.
As a website designer I usually hand register and include domain names in the website designing packages to clients that need more traffic and I build them blogs as blogs are also ranked quickly because the content is updated on a regular basis and this is what search engines like.
If say I have a domain name which I think especially in this present climate valuable such as www.cardiffsolicitorsonline.co.uk then I will lease it to the company with an option for them to buy it from me at the end of their contract term.
I encourange businesses to have their own SEO Link Wheel with webites/blogs pointing to their default site. Example of our own SEO Link Wheel Below:
So my final opinion is avoid domain name hacks and hyphen domain names as they serve no purpose in SEO and can damage brand credibility.
Stick to TLDs and if you wish to sell a domain name do not use sub domains from other marketplaces as all that happens is you are boosting traffic to their websites. Some marktplaces offer sub domains landing pages and your domain name is forwarded permanently to their sub domain. These marketplaces will not do SEO for your domain name, but they will do it for their Website so anyone visiting their site will either find your domain or if someone physically types you domain name into the search bar of their browser.
The same goes if you are about to start up a business for the first time and you want a domain name, do you use a brandable name which will cost you hundreds of thousands of ÂŁÂŁÂŁÂŁ$$$$ in advertising to become a household name or do you start off with an exact match searchable keyword/phrase where people will be actively searching for you?
If you use a brandable name you have to think how will people know you exist if you are not well known?
Also do not buy domains that do not form part of a sentence or phrase for example if you were thinking about Gambling Information as a searchable phrase do not buy a random names that means literally absoultely nothing and is not readable such as Hazard Bets or Bet Summary no one is going to buy them as no one is going to be searching for these phrases (Consider what sentences and phrases people type into their browsers) and even if they did the end user would have to spend so much money on advertising.
Alway and I mean always think will your domain be beneficial for search engine optimization and generating traffic?
If your domain is not going to help with SEO, it will not it be worth anything and would be a waste of your money.
Also do not put random pricing to a domain name. If you are not an expert in SEO then you have no ability to value your domain name and ask for ridiculous amounts of money unless you are selling equity of a product or service which you are aim to brand.
Only SEO experts know the true value of a domain name or people that are selling equity, meaning a product or service that is associated with a website and a “brand name”.
The best way to advertise your domain name is to set up your own independent landing page through a hosting provider and do your own SEO and add a For Sale Notice at the top of the page so that people visiting know your domain is for sale as in the example here: www.germawareness.co.uk
I hope you have a better understanding about “Domain Name Selling” and if you want to ask me any questions do not hesitate to reach out.
Stay Safe and Stay Positve.
