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[S290]Selling A Domain Name

by Pamela Upshur, Pam

In Web hosting and online business setup, domain name selection is the first hurdle to surmount. You cannot afford to go wrong with your domain name because it plays a very vital role in your online business success. It can even become one of your trademarks, a part of your brand. Your domain name has commercial value which you can apply patent to. Choose your domain name wisely; invest time and business knowhow on it alone.

As far as letters, numbers, and hyphens, you can get creative with your domain name – just don’t place the hyphen at the start or at the end. You could not use special symbols and spaces in your domain name also. Excluding the domain extension (.com, .net, .org, etc.), you could have anything from 2 to 63 characters in your domain name, which is not case sensitive.

To get you started, here are some useful tips you can follow to craft your business' online identity.

1. Use your company's known/registered name as your domain name. It’s easier for people to remember or find you online if your URL is your company name itself. Intel, Microsoft, Del, etc. are easy to find on the Web because they use their registered name, the name known to everybody, as their website URL. It’s a known fact that at least 90% of people who are not sure about the company’s website just type the company name in the address bar followed by .com. Thus, brings us to the next useful tip when formulating your online address.

2. Choose the .com extension for your URL. Since it's one of the first extension created for domain names, people are hotwired to type .com after a domain name on the address bar. You yourself know this all too well by now. For online business purposes, it's absurd to choose other extension if you can get the .com. However, there are instances wherein you can use other extension for your online business domain name also.

For instance, if your range of business is country specific, you can choose the extension assigned to your country like .us, , .au, etc. This is the best alternative after the .com extension. Moreover, you have to know that the .org extension is used for noncommercial websites.

3. Be a step ahead against your competitors by using your company's name as domain name. When you shall have developed your brand later, or you have a well developed brand to begin with, many of your competitors will ride on your success by closely imitating your company's name as their domain name. Don’t give them this luxury by using your own name in your URL itself. It’s better to be clever right from the get go than pursue intellectual or patent rights in the future.

You might think that these tips are ordinary, but you don’t want to dismiss these if you want to succeed in your online business down to your domain name.

Would you like to be that lucky person who sells their domain for thousands or even a million dollars? It IS possible to find quality domains and resell them for huge amounts of money. The time is ripe for acquiring top domains and selling them. Now that the Internet Boom is behind us, valuable names expire everyday. The best way to find these domains is to use services on the Internet such as DomainsBot to weed out the bad names. Or just check out Hot Lists on sites like Namewinner or Pool.

So what makes a "good" domain name? Usually short, single word domains and 2-3 letter .coms, .nets, and .orgs are the best. The more specific the better. These can be hard to come by but when you find them, you can almost guarantee that you can make good money from them. Once you have purchased a nice domain name, get a good appraisal of the name to get an idea of the possible worth. In order to sell your newly appraised name, you have to find a buyer. Here are your basic options for selling your domain name in a nutshell:

1. Sell it on Ebay

This is the easiest and quickest way to sell your domain name. There are several tricks to landing a good sale at Ebay. One is, start your price low. People want a bargain. Once you have received an initial bid, it will draw peoples attention to your name and create more bids. You may want to set a reserve price if you want to make sure you get X amount of dollars. When selling your domain on Ebay, make sure your domain name is in the title of the description. Also, include an appraisal to show to possible buyers the value of the domain. Keep your description short, clean, and really emphasize how important and rare your domain is. For example, if your domain is 3 letters and ends in "I", stress how most 3 letter domains that are highly valuable end in "I" because it usually stands for "Incorporated". If it ends in "E" it could stand for "Enterprise". A little bit of marketing saavy can go a long way. I once sold the domain 0pp.com for over $200. It even has a number in it making it worth very little. But I emphasize its possible uses and potential. Also, spend the extra $1 for the Bold Listing and make sure your auction ends on a Sunday afternoon or evening. This is when most people are browsing Ebay. It will make a big difference.

2. Sell it on Domain Sites

The only sites you should even consider putting your name up for sale is on ebay.com, Afternic, or Sedo. These are the most popular and where some huge sales have taken place. The only downside is that there are high numbers of domains already for sale and usually the site will get a commission of something around 10%. There also may be a small fee to join. Appraisal Blast charges a minimal fee but no commission. Your domain will get more exposure there just because there aren't hundreds of domains for sale. You may also have luck selling it on forums such as DomainState. The prices of sales there seem to be lower.

3. Contact Large Businesses with Deep Pockets

This approach takes some time and patience. Let's say you have acquired a great domain name that would work great for any business in the field of the stock market. You may want to locate some of the bigger sites or businesses and make an offer to sell your domain name. Make sure the name you own doens't have any elements that are already trademarked because you may be forced to give up the name. You may want to go on the Internet and look up current websites that deal with stocks and find ones that don't have the greatest domain names. Make offers to these sites stating how your domain is much better and will HELP them. If you get a company to bite, the rewards are usually very generous!

In summary, selling domains for high amounts of cash depends on two key elements. First you must have a quality domain, one that doesn't have numbers or isn't too long. It must be clear and easily recognizable. ".com" is the best, but even domains such as the ".us" are gaining popularity. The second key is Marketing, Marketing, Marketing! I can't stress that enough. You have to create a good reason for someone to buy your domain. How can THEY benefit from it. When these two steps are fulfilled, a sale is almost guaranteed!

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Both Pamela Upshur & Kc Smith are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Pamela Upshur has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Computers and The Internet and Auto Insurance. Pamela Upshur is the owner of UpshurCreative.com Specializing in fully functional turnkey websites complete with php scripts and databases. Visit site at: