Internet Business Blog

Domain name prospecting can be a very lucrative source of income. Every day, domain names are traded for thousands of dollars. Considering the cost of registering a domain name can start from as little as under $10, it’s not surprising why people can see great opportunities.

I’ve registered hundreds of domain names over the years, but my experience in trading domains is limited. A lot of the domains I’ve registered were destined to be partnered with an idea, but most were to become virtual real estate/advertising platforms. I’ve sold a number of domains, some with and some without websites attached. More recently, I sold a domain name without a website for a 4-figure sum, which I think is an excellent return on the $18 it cost to register it for two years.

Done badly, domain prospecting can land you in hot water and make you the recipient of a letter from a lawyer. Done well, you can quite easily make a nice return on a speculative investment, turning a pizza meal into a mortgage payment or more.

So just how do you find a winning name that you will be able to register and sell without ruffling anyone’s legal feathers? Well, I’m not an expert on the subject, but one thing for sure is to steer well clear of other people’s registered trademarks unless you want to risk legal action.

What I’m going to show you is a tool that I use to find all of my domain names. As well as making it very easy to come up with great domain names, it also tells you whether or not a domain name is available to be registered or who it’s already registered to.

The following has nothing to do with the domain I sold, but here is an example of me searching for a domain name based upon three distinct keywords; London, Olympics, 2012.

The tool I use in this video is Domain Name Pro and it’s the best piece of software I’ve come across for checking domain names even though I probably use less than half of its functionality.

Once you’ve registered your domain name, you need to let potential buyers know it’s up for sale. That’s where the likes of Sedo come in useful. Not only do they have a very active marketplace where you can list your domain and take you through the entire selling process, but they also allow you to display a sponsored parking page and offer you a share of any ad clicks.

If you’ve got any spare domains that aren’t being used for anything else, you could do worse than parking them with Sedo, collecting a share of any click-throughs and potentially finding a buyer for them just like I did.