TOP 10 mistakes new gTLD investors are doing in 2018!

(I have orginally posted this article at Namepros at end of July 2018 for my fellow domain investors there, and it got very good feedback. Here it is with small modifications/updates). Have a good read!

Mistake no.1 - you are registering BAD, WORTHLESS names!

This mistake is far far the most important one - everything else can be forgotten, but if you have bad names, you will never make any profit.

Mistake no.2 - you are registering lot of names, and will be forced to dropped them prior the first renewal.

This is because you ignore the fact that even in best portfolios which are really well selected, only 1% of names are sold yearly for price which can be considered significant. And many portfolios I see here are not well selected, and there will be 0 sales in total, due to mistake no.1

Mistake no.3 - you spend too much time at domain investor forums, instead of LikedIn, Twitter, Facebook or Twitter.

Just to clarify, I love domain investor forums, and I love to hang around there. I also like to buy domains there for few dollars. But most of your end users (when it comes to new gTLDs) are simply not there. You need to reach out on various platforms, as on forums you speak mostly with other domainers, which is great for educational or recreational purposes, but not for your sales. Largest sales are made to end users, not to fellow domain speculators/investors.

Mistake no.4 - you are trying to impress, or get an agreement/approval from hardcore .com investors.

I mean, come on - selected, high quality new gTLD domain names are direct competition to valuable .com portfolios - there is only limited amount of money spent on domains, and new gTLDs are redirecting part of that money flow towards them. It is therefore logical that it is an unwanted competition for many .com holders and we can not expect lot of praise on them because of that. Saying that, I can clearly see some .com investors are very nice and genuine , so this can not be generalised - still, it is good idea to have this notion somewhere back in your mind, as seeking approval of your new gTLDs names from someone who spent years to build his or her legacy extensions portfolio can be an doomed effort from the very start.

Mistake no.5 - you are trying to get an appraisal of your new gTLD name from .com investors.

Again, even in 2018, you will get lot of "regfee" comments or "I would stick with .com" comments. In general, anytime someone gives you an appraisal or advice, try to check the domain portfolio of that person ..for example, if you see lot of bad domain names, it also can give you some information about the quality of such "appraisal".

Mistake no.6: you do not have your own marketplace ..

It really takes only few minutes and few dollars to create domain name marketplace, using solutions like efty.com, or to create simple webpage using wix.com. There is really no excuse for not having your marketplace nice and ready. Especially after GDPR legislation in place since May 2018, we really need to project some more credibility towards end users, and having nice marketplace is good way to do so!

Mistake no.7: you have your marketplace created, but you operate from .com domain name...

Really??? If you sell new gTLDs, you need to lead by your own example...so your markteplace also should operate on new gTLD extension. How can you possibly persuade end user to replace his long or ugly legacy name with new gTLD, if you do not operate from new gTLD? Think about it for a minute.

Mistake no.8: you are registering domain names with renewals around 500 and higher.

And you persuade yourself that you will develop it, if not flipped within 1 year. Yes, you can have 1 or 2 such names, no problem, but if you buy 30 of them, there is no way you will be able to develop all of them within 1 year. So you will end up dropping maybe 28 of them.

Mistake no.9: you do not care what are companies behind particular extensions.

You even can not tell difference between registrar and registries.

Mistake no.10: you registered 1000 of very bad names, which will be only pure money loss.

Then (because you got lucky), you finally get a really good new gTLD name, with low standard renewal. Finally something good! This is a name which you should keep and wait for good ofers. But (because you have spent money on those 1000 bad domain names and everyone laughts at you ) you feel you need some casflow now! And because you are lazy to create your own marketplace (and from unknown reason you cannot also create your LinkedIn profile which is free of charge), and you do not like to send emails to end users because it is too much work, and you do not like to make phonecalls (from your country it is expensive anyway), you start $1 auction at some domainer forum...then it goes like this:

1

up

up

last 24 hours, SUPER PREMIUM name, a STEAL!!!

2

up

LAST BID IS $2, SUPER PREMIUM, INSANE NAME!!! Can anyone give $3? Do I see $3 for it?

up

up

up

me: ok, I will take it for BIN, USD 10...

And then you are again left with your bad 1000 names.

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So guys, are you guilty of any of this? :)