Can You Make a Living With Domain Investing?

The short answer is yes. The long answer is how do you get there. First, let’s answer, what is domain investing. Then we will consider some strategies used by investors that allowed them to make a living from domain investing.

What is Domain Investing

Domain investing is the acquisition of domain names and then selling them for a higher price than what you invested initially. Some domain investors buy domains and hold on to them for a long time and sell to the best buyer possible. This is someone who is keenly interested in that specific domain with the goal of building a business on it. Others may acquire domains to flip them quickly for profit.

Making a Living from Domain Investing

To make a living from domain investing means that you need to make at the very least enough to cover all of your expenses, necessities, and save money for emergencies and retirement. That will require dedication, hard work, and probably longer hours that you would at a 9 to 5 job. But the rewards can be very satisfying.

There are a number of strategies to make that possible. You will need many small sales or few big sales or a combination of both. Before you start selling, you have to get into the right mindset. If you want to make a living from domain investing, then you have to think of domain investing as a real job, not a hobby, not easy money. Just like you would of any job that provides a living wage. Here are some possible strategies that could work for you.

Domain Investing Strategies to Make a Living Selling Domains

Selling domains is mostly a waiting game. The length of the wait will be determined by 3 factors: Price, quality, and promotion.

We’ll consider these 3 factors in the reverse. First, lets start with promotion. You will need a portfolio website that professionally represents your domain selling business and has a way for interested buyers to contact you. Preferably it will also have sales pages for each domain you are selling. Next, you will want to promote your domains on the major domain marketplaces such as Afternic (GoDaddy), Sedo, Dan, and others. If your domains are of the brandable category (invented pronounceable words), you can use marketplaces such as Brandpa, BrandBucket, and others. But these marketplaces do not replace your own portfolio site. They serve to increase awareness of your domains and may also facilitate the sales process, although you will pay them a percentage of the sale. You can also integrate a payment processor such as PayPal or similar to your portfolio site.

Quality of the domains you are selling is very important. The quality of your domains will determine interest. So learn what makes a good domain. Obviously one dictionary word domains are great. Two word domains are also good. More than two words is a risk. The extension is also very important. Dot com is still the king. If you register in one of the new gTLDs (generic top level domains), make sure the left and the right sides of the dot make sense together. Study published domain sales reports to see what domains are being sold. Learn what makes a good business domain.

Price is a big factor as to how quickly you can sell a domain. There are reports of sales in the X,XXX range soon after registration. But you can not be confident that will be in your case or even a regular return. It’s a once in a while case. Lower prices lead to quicker and more frequent sales. If you have high quality domains, premium domains, you will want to sell at premium pricing. Again, study lists of sold domain names to learn how to price your domains.

If you want to hang on to domains long-term and wait for the right buyer, another strategy is to create a blog or a business website that can subsidize your domain investing side. You can generate a regular income between larger priced domain sales.

In any event, making a living with domain investing is not unlike making a living with any business venture. It requires time and effort, plus there is a learning curve involved. Find a mentor, join domain forums, read established domain blogs and news sources. People already involved in domain investing are generally very willing to help out newcomers, publish their experiences on blogs and social media. So take advantage of these resources and the help offered. We have created a domain resource page to get you started.