Tip number 4 of my 5 Tips For Selling Domain Names article was to reach out to alternative extension owners.  Meaning, if I own a domain name, I reach out to the owners of the same name with the different extensions.

This morning I did just that. I called a domain owner who was using .us because the .com version was not available when he registered his name five years ago.

Normally the call goes, “I’d love to own the .com, how much?” Instead it went, “I’m fine without the .com.” I’ll admit, I was thrown back for a second. If anything I’m used to someone arguing about the value or price, not the extension.

I used the usual and told him the .com version is getting some of your traffic. His response was basically that if his potential clients are ignorant enough to type in the wrong extension then he doesn’t want their business.

I then gave the analogy of toll free numbers. For years people have used 800 for toll free dialing. With the introduction of 877 and 866 these same people are still dialing 800 because of habit. I got the same response.

Oh and I also mentioned it’s better he owns the domain name instead of his competition. That didn’t go anywhere. The conversation was lead somewhere else.

I didn’t pressure the potential buyer, because that’s not my style. Plus, he admitted they need a website redesign which I believe I will be hired for.

So, I’ll leave you with a statement and a question.

Don’t pressure potential buyers and don’t burn your bridges. I did not sell a domain name but may have earned his business for website redesign, marketing and possibly social media consulting.

My question is…

What would you have done in this scenario? Do you have a better comeback without forcing the issue?

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Selling domain names is not easy, and unfortunately, receiving unsolicited quality offers does not happen every day. Below is a list of 5 tips to help make selling your domain names a little easier.

1. Post a link on your website or parking page letting everyone know the domain name is for sale. Most parking companies have this option available. I would also make sure to keep your whois information accurate. If buyers can’t find you, they can’t make offers.
2. List your domain name with multiple auction companies like Sedo.com, AfternicDLS.com and BuyDomains.com.
3. Search the terms used to describe what your domain name would be best used for. An example would be UsedCarParts.com, I would search for “Used Car Parts”. Then send an email to the first few pages of results asking them if they would be interested in purchasing my domain name. Either your domain name is better than theirs or they may want to reduce any possible competition.
4. Contact alternate extension owners. With the example used above, UsedCarParts.com, I would reach out to the owners of UsedCarParts.net, .de, .co.uk, and so forth.
5. List your domains for sale on domainer forums like NamePros.com, DomainState.com and DNForum.com. Selling to end users will, in most cases bring in the highest offers, but selling to domain investors may mean quicker, easier sales allowing you to sell higher quantities of domain names. Plus, some domain investors are end buyers!

One last piece of advice, from the outside in we are looked at as domain squatters. So when receiving and sending offers always play the roll of a developer. Act as if you had plans to develop and either those plans have changed or you can be persuaded to change them.

Now go out and sell some domain names, be proactive!

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Own the perfect domain name? Protect it!

Step One:
Secure misspellings, plural/singular versions and alternate domain extensions of your domain name. If you own CarTopper.com make sure to purchase CarToppers.com, CarToper.com, CarTopers.com and so forth. For the alternate domain extensions, this is not as important as long as you own the .com. If the major extensions (.net, .org, .tv, .me) are available then grab them.

Step Two:
Secure the toll free number. TollFreeNumbers.com allows you to search for the available numbers by typing in letters. This will be difficult as a lot of toll free numbers are taken, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.

Step Three:
Secure social media outlets. The three major outlets you should secure are Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. I call this the social media triangle. It makes up well over 95% of the social media market.

Steps one and two will require an investment, so I don’t suggest this for every domain name you own, just the ones you strongly believe in.

By completing these three, somewhat simple steps, you are protecting the brand for your future domain buyer and increasing the value of your domain name.

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Saturday’s guest post about keyword alternative domain names seems to have hit a nerve. I wanted to follow up and give my view on the topic.

The best way to express how I feel is by sharing my previous successes. I owned two real estate companies, one used a keyword domain name and the other did not. I sold both of these companies in the early part of 2008.

PropertyMitigation.com – Keyword rich domain name that says exactly what it is, a short sale company. Ranks #1 in Google for the term “property mitigation”. I spent nothing in advertising this company. All business was based off of referrals from my primary company Mr. 3 Days.

Mr3Days.com – No keywords. Without knowing the slogan “We Buy Houses, Cash In 3 Days”, it wouldn’t make sense. I owned the toll free number, domain names and corporation. I spent thousands in advertising every month.

Both domain names were picked before any of my knowledge of the domain industry. I had no idea what a keyword domain was and why it mattered. I’m assuming the rest of the world is the same. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. There was no pressure to picking the perfect domain name based on what the domain industry says is good or bad. Honestly, if it was not for the domain industry I would not care what a keyword domain name is.

Here is my logic without considering our industry, and I will say this is an odd concept, to some at least. I look for the best possible domain name based on people. That’s right, I pick a name based on what my customer could relate to and/or understand. More often than not it brings me to keyword domain names. If the keyword domain name is not available I do get creative. Mr3Days.com was not the first choice for my real estate company, that would have been RealEstate.com, WeBuyHouses.com or SellMyHouse.com. These names were taken and not for sale, so I kicked in with some creative thinking, created my slogan, cartoon character and then the name came to me. Very similar to my current branding, Chef Patrick. I started with DNKitchen.com, realized all kitchens have a head chef, created the character and re-branded as ChefPatrick.com.

Which do I believe was more successful of the two, Mr3Days.com (made up) or PropertyMitigation.com (keyword)? Mr3Days.com hands down!

Closing thoughts:

• Keyword domain names are most important to online only businesses.
• Keyword domain names are important if radio advertising is in your marketing plan.
• Keyword domain names are not the end all for SEO. ChefPatrick.com ranks very well for “Domain News and “Domaining”, most days on the first page of Google.
• Being creative with a domain name is OK!
• Some of the most successful companies have “made up” names. Examples – Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook, Starbucks, Publix, YouTube, MySpace, eBay and so many more.
• Visit Alexa.com and view the top 100 sites. The majority of them have no keywords related to the site itself.

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Guest post written by Caitlin Randolph of BrandBucket.com. On Monday, I am going to post my personal views on this topic.

In the sea of existing .com names many start ups find themselves stuck treading water, having an impossible time finding a keyword domain that is memorable yet inventive and unique. As the amount of internet entrepreneurs increase, you must find a way to stand out from all the other advertising companies that use ‘Advertising’ in the name. Ask yourself what makes your company different. Begin with a unique name; start ups need to be bold to be noticed. Try combinations of different words with various affixes and don’t pin yourself into a corner with an industry keyword.

It’s the information era, so consumers expect businesses to be more transparent. People want to read a sentence summing up a business rather than read a business name, make assumptions and then try to fit it into a business genre. Websites and networks like Twitter and Linkedin give web surfers all the short bits of your business that they want, so its now more important to have a memorable domain name and user name consistent with your business rather than fretting a business name consistent with your industry.

Take this lovely website for example, Patrick knows what appeals to people – food. ChefPatrick.com is an inventive domain name that makes you hungry. A ‘hunger’ for information is exactly what it appeals to for web surfers. A connotation like ‘hunger’ is far more important than the literal meaning. Patrick does not cook on his website but he does discuss what is cooking in the hungry world of domaining. It is this inventiveness that gives Patrick a very brand rich domain and leaves room to expand it into more. Put together words that you wouldn’t automatically match to create a great brand like Firefox and Facebook.

If matching up words isn’t successful, BrandBucket works to create all new words to build a brand off of. The three major parts used to invent names are suffix, prefix, and flair. These parts play a crucial role in the tone and connotation of your unique name. The suffix and prefix give the connotation of a name by adding word parts we are familiar with while the flair adds the tone of being fun, masculine, serious, relaxing, etc.

Prefix - Starts the word, examples: Syn, Sym- with, together (synonym, symbiotic, sync)

Suffix – Ends the word, examples: ster, er – Person who does something (swimmer, advertiser, friendster)

Flair – Adds memorability and activity to the new word, examples: io or i ending or the growing trend of dropping letters that are unnecessary to pronunce (Technorati, flickr)

Here is a breakdown of the domain name acentria.com using the three parts of a name. At first glance, you pick up a soothing feminine vibe due to the “ia” at the end, but in fact it has to do with something about circles, center or around because of ‘centr’. The letter ‘a’ at the beginning adds flow to the name as well as the benefit of being at the top in alphabetical listings. Every single word and every single domain can be broken down. This gives insight into how your customer will perceive your name.

A solid name allows your business to evolve and even reinvent itself at times. Don’t drown in the search for a domain name with your industry key word, but instead get creative and build a life raft of word parts and fun phrases to float right on out to the web.

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