Domain Name Investment
as Online Money Earning Method

This post contains affiliate links. It means we get a commission if you purchase from some of the companies we advise here at no extra cost to you. Be that as it may, the advice below represents our real opinion.

Investing in domain names - with other name Domaining - is an easy and cheap process. You buy domain names that you consider interesting ones. There is no one single formula to tell you which domain names are good ones. You can find something that others don't even think of and make thousands of profit from it. Most of the single-word domains are already gone, but still, you can find suitable domain names for reselling. You can look for some misspell in a word that would serve well or something that sounds good, some two-word constructions, something that is short or catchy. If you find one that is available, buy it and start selling it. If you are lucky, someone will buy it from you for a much higher price. This way, you can make a profit from domaining without too many efforts.

Look for domain names that have a sought-after ending, like .com, .net, or .org, etc. You can buy domains that had an owner before, who didn't pay for it any longer. They delete these, and you can buy them immediately. For expired ones, you might need to wait a few days. Domains have an expiry date until former owners can still take them back for themselves if they pay their yearly domain-fee. Usually, if an owner lets their domain expire, they will not renew it during the expiry period, and registrars will delete them.

Where to find a domain to buy?

The best website for domain search is ExpiredDomains.net. There you can browse deleted, dropped, expired, or auctioned domains. You have plenty of options, even without registration. Just choose "show filter" above the list. If you register on the site, you can find more advanced search settings.

Another considerable resource for dropped domain names is JustDropped.com.

To find a suitable name is rare as others are watching these lists regularly too. To obtain promising domain names, some even set up a pre-order at specialized companies for a fee, even before they became expired. This way, when the desired domain gets expired and drops, they automatically buy it. This process is called drop catching.

What is the alternative method of searching for dropped, expired, and auctioned domain names? Invite them by yourself. Play around with letters, words, and expressions. If you are creative or lucky enough, you will find some cool names for yourself.

There are great sites where you can try to create multiple variations of your ideas. One of the best such sites is NameBoy.com. Just type in a word you would like to include in your future domain name. Click the Generator under the field. Uncheck the offers from the BlueHost tickbox. This way, you can see all domain variations of your word, ending with .com. Most of the ideas will be red (already sold), but browsing results, you can find green, available domains, and some of them might be a pretty good one. The site's algorithm doesn't always work flawlessly. Sometimes you can find seemingly available domain names, but clicking on them makes you realize they are not available. Nevertheless, the site may give you good ideas. On this site, you can find useful advice too about how to choose the best domain names for you.

If you have found a suitable domain name, you can buy it. We advise you to go with the best domain name registrars:

If you use the links above to buy your domain, you can often find promotional offers there, such as a free domain name for the first year - if you buy it with hosting.

It is worth knowing that you can save money on hosting. Our advice is to buy a hosting packet that doesn't limit the number of domains connected to them. This way, you will get a hosting place for all of your newly bought domain names. With a hosting packet like that, you can even create a website on all of the individual domains, using only one unlimited hosting plan. Once you bought an unlimited hosting plan, then every new domain names cost you only the yearly domain name fee, which is typically around $7. The two hosting providers and domain name registrars above are good choices for the first year as they will give you free privacy and SSL options, easy WordPress installation if you wish to create a blog or webshop on the domain. Choosing the privacy option will hide your identity in the domain's public datasheet. Usually, anyone can check the owner's details in WHOIS databases. If you have a privacy option enabled, your name and other data are not visible in this WHOIS database. Only a unique, auto-generated email address will be visible, which is not directly accessible for you. People that are interested in buying your domain can contact you through it. In this case, an email sent there will be forwarded to your private email address by your registrar.

Later if you only need to acquire domain names for a cheap yearly cost, you can do that from different registrars too. A few low priced registrars that we advise are Dynadot.com or NameCheap.com.

Buying a domain name from one registrar but hosting it at a different company is not a problem. In your dashboard at your registrar, you can edit the DNS settings of the newly purchased domain name. It takes a few minutes to set up your domains "A" record and adding the host's IP address. This way, your regular hosting provider hosts your domain.

Where to sell your domains?

One of the best place to sell your domain names is DAN.com. It is a popular and well-designed site. There are other specialized sites too, like Sedo or Afternic. If you accept a piece of good advice, avoid the marketplace of GoDaddy.com and Flippa.com. We had quite bad experiences with these latter two. You can also try to sell your domains on eBay. Another method is to upload a static page on the domain address to let visitors know that it is for sale.

If you search, you can find other private websites too, where they buy, sell, and let out domain names. They might buy yours for their portfolio.

Don't expect to sell domains quickly. Domaining is a long time investment. And, if someone thinks your domain prices are too high, consider that maybe their idea is cheap.