Wordpreneur.com

For the most part, the basics of this idea have little or nothing to do with writing. But heck, you’re all wordsmiths, right? And you want to know about ways to use that skill/talent/interest to double your money (or more), correct?

Well, OK then, here you go…

The formula…

1. Register a domain
2. Sell it for 2X or more what you paid for it.

Mind-numbingly brilliant, eh?

Of course, I’ll present the two ways I’ve done this. The first (today’s post) is what I call the “Quick Turnaround” approach. The second takes more work and time, but you’ll probably find it more interesting (particularly if you’re an editor)… and if you play your cards right, it’ll likely be more lucrative.

But that’s for a future post. Here, now, ladies and gents, is…

The Quick Turnaround Approach

1. Register a new, fresh domain name through GoDaddy or some other reliable but low cost domain name registration service; I’ve used GoDaddy for years and have not had the need to bother with anyone else, so can’t personally recommend any service but GoDaddy. Obviously, GoDaddy isn’t the only reliable low cost service out there.

Don’t pay more than $10 for the domain. If the service you’re looking at (or, ugh, currently using) charges more than that for nothing more than your annual name registration fee, go elsewhere, and quick.

2. Go to eBay and put it up for auction in the Domain Names category. Set a minimum price of $24.95 - $29.95; depending on what you paid for the domain, this effectively doubles your out-of-pocket cost and expenses.

That’s it. The minimum you’re asking will make the domain low enough to be bid on impulsively at the end of the auction (a lot of bidders do that). Better, of course, is if people start competing for it and bid up the price. Unlikely. But it does happen.

Simple, right?

Well, the assumption here is that the domain name is a good one. And by that I mean:

• A dot com name.
• No hyphens. Just alphanumerics.
• English words, or cleverly manufactured/coined ones (memorable, in other words).
• Short (or as short as you can get them). The longer they are, the less likely they’ll sell.

Here’s one more thing I do: I also give away a “free logo” design with each domain. Extremely easy to do when you’re armed with the right software — in my case, I use Xara Webstyle 4. It was already in my personal “Web development toolkit” for the tons of other online graphics I’ve already been using it to produce. Quick-and-easy logo design also happened to be one of those things it could do, so click click click, I started giving away a free logo design with each domain.

Besides, the logo designs look good in those auction listings.

Speaking of which, one other thing: I take back the statement that writing has nothing to do with this idea. It does… in the form of your eBay listing’s sales copy. The better you write your copy (describing the name, its benefits and features, why it’s a good dot com moniker, uses it’s suitable for, etc.), the better your chances of making a sale. Heck, it may even mean the difference between a regular bare minimum sale and one that starts a (ka-ching!) bidding war.

Just in case you’ve already concluded that there are no good names left… uhm, then explain how I managed to do the exact thing I just described above no more than a couple of weeks ago. Sure, it wasn’t one of my best sales, but at close to $120 for something that cost me $10, it wasn’t bad either. Time spent? Heck if I know. Literally, I just “dabble” at it, preferring to spend my time writing and futzing around with this site instead.

Bottom line: The names are there, Grasshopper, waiting for you to come up with them, register them, and sell them for a profit. Note how we haven’t even said word one about traffic. Stay tuned.

Resources Mentioned:

• eBay | Domain Names category
• GoDaddy
• Xara Webstyle 4

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