Domain Name Business is a great business, no doubt about that, especially for old timers who have been in the business for long — long enough to have learned the rope. There are equally great opportunities for new timers who are willing to learn before diving. I decided to write this piece because of experience I had with some young Domainers few days ago in a public forum. There I was privileged to meet with some enthusiastic fresh Domainers who are really eager to learn the business. They are brilliant minds indeed and if enough resources is given their way, they’ll go places in no time.

I was delighted to answer some of their questions but couldn’t continue due to some personal reasons. The zeal, the burning desire, and the efforts these guys are putting in into learning is amazingly contagious. And the speed at which they learn is commendable too. However, I equally noticed just like in every fresh Domainers some mistakes that need to be pointed out and corrected in other to minimize potential heart break in the business.

There are so many ways domain can bring you money and there many ways too you can loose money to domain if you aren’t careful. In other to take care of this, you need to be in he know. Below are some of the simple and most common mistakes you need to avoid if you hope to maximize your chances of making money in domain.

1. Registering Bad Domains — I remember those days when I was new in domain; how I quickly rushed and registered up to 5o domain names that all turned out to be useless. Neither could I forget picking trade mark domains in the hope of selling for big buck only to have it turned back to the trade mark owner with nothing given to me in return. New Domainers used to have all kinds of delusional approach to domain — especially when one heard that certain domain sold for huge buck, they go wired registering anything related to the said domain not taking into cognizance  factors that influenced the sell. Such factors may includes: Development, prior knowledge, and events

Before you register any domain, be sure to check the quality, then compare and contrast. Don’t just register it because you imagined it is good, your imagination may not be good enough in this matter. Brainstorm the domain in question by following these processes –

Ask yourselves – What class of domain does this falls into?

(a) Keywords Rich Domain — If the domain is made up of two or three words, find out if the phase is rich keywords. How you know if such domain is Keyword Rich Domain is by finding out how many times people search that keyword on search engines. How do you find out? No, not by typing it directly on Google search engine and looking for the number of returned results – that’s a terribly wrong search technique.

Look for any keyword search application within your reach such as Word Tracker Scout and other domain tools, but bear in mind that none of these tools comes close to Google Keyword Tools. Check the phrase and see how many search volume it has, this is what determines whether the domain is good or not – the higher the search volume, the better the keyword.

You can also use Bing Keywords Tools just as alternative to the Google tools, it doesn’t match but it’s quite accurate and gives you close idea especially if you are experienced with old Google keyword tools. If the phrase you brainstormed has good search volume (i.e the local search is greater than 1,000), you can proceed to register it as a Keyword Rich domain name – such domain is guaranteed to sell at reasonably high amount on a good day.

(b) Future Trend Domain — I am sorry to tell you that you may not have what it takes to engage in trend Domaining at early stage of your domain business adventure. Anyone who succeeds in trend domain is no doubt among the best Domainers – why? Because you don’t register trend domain when it is trending, they are registered long before the trend starts. By the time the average Domainers begin to hear the trend, virtually all the worthwhile domain in that trend must have gone, leaving you with only craps you think that is worth anything.

The only technical way to succeed in this is if you have a knack to spot the future trend long ahead of time and graphic understanding of qualities of good domain names and how domain business work in details.

Let me give you tiny secret you may not know yet – Before any technology begins to emerge, it has been in experiment, the board rooms, the laboratories,  and other places like that long before it hits the news which is when most of you begins to hear about it, some have already known about it years ahead. This is how professional Domainers get future trend domains. So, what is trending for you now or you think is about to trend is actually old piece of news for some. 3D is trending since last year, 3DPrinters.com was registered in 1999!

Yes! Thunder do strike but you don’t have to wait for a one in a million chances in your domain business; you need actionable approach if you hope to really make money. Except you have a thousand or two thousand dollars to invest in registering every conceivable phrases around the future trend hoping that two or three sells out of your hundreds of domain will cover the cost and make you profit. If not, then investing in future trend domain may not be for you yet.

(c) Premium Generic Domain — This is the choicest class of domain for businesses looking to enhance their brand equity. Any domain that falls under this class of domain is always highly priced but how sure are you that yours falls under this category? Every good domain name can be called premium domain but in this regard, I’ll treat only dictionary one word domain, 1-4 letters acronym, and generic coined words as premium generic domain.

Any dictionary one word domain is a good name though the more popular it is the better domain it is.

Any 1-4 letter acronym is also a good domain, who shows interest in it and how long you are will to hold onto it is what determines the final sell.

Where new domainers make mistake most is trying to form words out of the blues. If you are to do that, such generic domain must possess certain qualities to make it good. It must be Short, Brandable, Memorable, and Pronounceable. Anything short of these four qualities is void

2. Being too Eager to Sell Domain — In effort to sell as fast as possible (doesn’t matter if the domain they wants to sell is just a crap) they end up spamming forums and domain marketplaces; marring their reputation in the process. In domain business, reputable and experience is everything – once you have it, you can sell any thing.

What to do: Invest enough time in building personal reputation. Put selling behind first. Invest in domain education. Ask questions to industry experts. Associate with the in house Domainers. Be ready to invest time into domain business; that time includes holding your domain for longer time before selling.

Still there are much more mistakes but we’ll add it during commenting. Now, go ahead and speak your mind – ask questions using the comment box below.