Flipping generic domains to end-users for high returns feels amazing, doesn’t it? Not only is true that end-users — individuals and companies who intend to harness your domain names as platforms for distribution of products, services, and information — dish out more cash for generic domains than any other type of party would, but in the process of flipped you’ve injected value into the global economy by scooping your domains to men and women with development plans.  Chances are that if your end-user buyer paid an amount you’re satisfied with, their development plans are urgent, comprehensive, and well-defined.

Contrary to what many domainers believe, locating end-user prospects for your domains is incredibly simple if own enduser-type domains — generic products, services, and GEOs — such as the domains which appear in our NameFlipper lists. If you elected your domain purchases out of pure speculation, none of the methods outlined in this article (except possibly #5) will help you. Hit your back button and visit DnJournal.com, DotWeekly.com, NamePros.com, DnForum.com, and other blogs/fora to learn which types of domains sell. If you’re willing to spend money to gain such knowledge immediately (and notch your first few end-user sales!), consider participating in our auctions.  Hundreds of enduser-type domains expire each day and can be caught for $100 or less.

And our methods for amassing candidates:

1. Peruse organic search results. It’s the most obvious but the most important technique. Search your domain’s keywords on Google, Yahoo!, and Bing both with and without quotes. Sift through multiple pages of matches if necessary, collecting lists of relevant candidates. Prospects who rank high, particularly on Google, often house interrnal SEO specialists and would be more likely appreciate the SEO benefits of building a landing page on your domain name. Google tends to place heavy emphasis on site prominence, Bing on closeness of match between query and site domain name.

2. Examine URL and title matches. You can directly locate web pages containing your keywords in their URLs via Google’s inurl: operator and in their titles via Goole’s intitle: operator. If you’re pitching SimpleTouch.com, for example, you’d search inurl:simpletouch and intitle:”simple touch”. Google doesn’t offer a way to query which sites contain your keywords in their domain name specifically. For this purpose we recommend DomainTools’ Domain Search Tool at http://domain-search.domaintools.com.

3. Inspect sponsored search results. While vast numbers of these results consist of irrelevant catch-all advertisers (e.g. shopzilla.com for product generics, tripadvisor.com for anything tourism-related, etc.), this is an excellent way to locate established players offering the product or service your domain keywords describe. If advertisers are bidding high on your keyword (check the Google AdWords Keyword Tool and enable the “Estimated Avg. PPC” column), these players might find the possibility of replacing their sponsored ads with your domain + a landing page very compelling. To locate sponsored results, search your keywords in quotes on G/Y!/B and examine which advertisers appear on the top, right and bottom sidebars. Additionally, you should perform a pure Google Sponsored Links Search (http://www.google.com/sponsoredlinks) on your keywords in quotes and peruse the matching advertisers. A Google Sponsored Links Search on “incontinence products”, for example, reveals Depend®/Attends®/Tena® as major manufacturers and HDIS® as the most prominent distributor of incontinence products. If you live outside the USA, be sure to search google.us rather than google.com as the former option will typically bring up far more advertisers.

4. Target owners of alternate TLDs. Oftentimes, endusers will secure keywords in multiple TLDs and choose to either redirect these domains to their websites or leave them parked in order to sample type-in traffic. For example, neither Storage Shed Plans nor MyShed Plans appear as organic matches on “shed designs”; however, the former comapny redirects ShedDesigns.net to their estabished site at StorageShed-Plans.net and the latter company parks ShedDesigns.info. If you owned ShedDesigns.com, this finding would reveal two strong, fresh prospects worth contacting regarding their interest in purchasing your domain. The fact more endusers than domainers own ShedDesigns TLDs logically indicates that ShedDesigns.com is an enduser-type domain.

5. Resarch keyword synonyms and corresponding industry players. To locate keywords similar to those within your domain, pull up the Google AdWords Keyword Tool and type your keywords into the search box (leaving “Use synonyms” checked and turning on “Filter my results > Include adult content in my keyword results” if your keywords are adult-related). Choose Match Type: Exact, then hit “Get Keyword Ideas”. Scroll down to the “Additional keywords to consider” section (sorted in descending order or relevance by default) and locate the first few matches which receive 500-25,000 exact monthly searches. Perform items 1-4 above on these matches. So say, for example, you own RabbitRepllent.com. The AdWords Keyword Tool reveals users searching for “rabbit repellent” also frequently want “deer repellent”. Lo and behold, DeerRepellent.com is owned by Plantskydd® — a company which also sell rabbit repellent — making them a white-hot candidate for your RabbitRepellent.com. Alternatively, if you own MotorcyclePayment.com, this method will reveal that your best potential candidates to be matches which appear on searches for “motorcycle loan(s)” and “motorcycle financing”. Finally, consider searching NameBio.com and DNSalePrice.com for past enduser purchases of domains similar to your own.

6. Investigate specialized directories. One of my favorite tricks for locating endusers super-efficiently is to Google your domain’s keywords followed by the word “directory”. Say you own HeavyConstruction.net, for example. A Google search on “heavy construction directory” brings up, between the top few matches, several industry portals which collectively contain thousands of enduser candidates for this domain name! Most of these matches don’t include “heavy construction” with their domain names or page titles and would hence elude Google’s indexing on “heavy construction”. Further, if your domain name is product/service-oriented, we strongly recommend plugging your domain’s keywords into ThomasNet.com. Try this out on VibratoryEquipment.com (”vibratory equipment”), for example. It works beautifully.

7. Explore brick-and-mortar business listings. If none of your web-oriented candidates have bitten your bait, realize that the majority of potential endusers for your domain name (including many of the wealthiest!) likely don’t yet have Internet presences. Manta.com comes to the rescue here. While their industry categorizations are often verbose and confusing, they display (approximate) revenue figures and employee counts for most U.S. companies so long as you’ve signed up for a (free) Manta.com account and are logged in. These statistics, combined with our enduser priing guide, will aid you immensely in setting prices within reach of your candidates’ budgets. Other business directories worth exploring include Yellow Pages, Superpages, Business.com, Dexknows, and Hoover’s.

8. Take a swing through online stores. If you own a product generic, try this: perform some research to determine several niches your product falls into. For example, a little Googling on “conference folders” reveals that online stores which offer conference folders tend to sell “promotional items”, “corporate gifts”, and “leather products”. Now, Google these three categories (plus variations) and between them you’ll pinpoint of hundreds of potential destinations your ConferenceFolders.com. You’ll be surprised how many of these candidates would take interest in your domain name, even if they don’t offer the corresponding product per se, as search engine-referring traffic often accounts for vast percentages of their revenues. They would hence likely appreciate the SEO boost that would accompany purchasing and developing your domain name.

9. Connect with domain brokers; obtain references. Never understimate the power of collective knowledge. If you own a particularly valuable domain name — such as a category-killer .COM which receives 10,000+ exact monthly searches — and are seeking to liquidate, consider touching base with a qualified, experienced domain broker. These industry mavens are often well-connected with communities of endusers seeking to purchase domain names that match specific criteria (e.gs. IP telephony-oriented names, domains begining with Jewish-, etc.) and can dispose of your domain quickly for a $250-$1000 commission. Major players in the domain brokering business include Rob Sequin and Rick Latona, among other. Rick publishes a daily newsletter offering premium domains to major buyers worldwide but is hermetically selective about which domains he accepts. You might also consider partnering with other expert enduser-facing selling by joining a domain buyers group.

10. Harness your passion. Are you just getting started in the domaining business? Remember that endusers are real advocates and business officials striving to create value through a cause or product. Visions for change, not notions of owning strong domain names, galvanize these movers to make purchases, and hence they will only select your domain name if they view it as a fitting little engine to help amp up their innovation machine. If you are completely new to the domaining industry, reread the previous two sentences, close your eyes, and put yourself in the positions of some of these innovators. Let these visions flow through your mind for 2-3 minutes. Now, grab a sheet of paper jot down your areas of expertise and causes you feel passionate about or have vied for in the past. Pick the 1 or 2 of these life areas you’re most intimately familiar with. Then, scan for dropping domains containing keywords characteristic of those subjects and list endusers who would value them based on your expertise. As a college student, for example, I felt passionate about Middle East peace One day, around the time I began domaining, two particular dropping names thus caught my eye: IsraelStats.com and IsraelPeace.com. They immediately evoked my memory of an organization named Israel21c which invested gobs of energy into spreading knowledge about facets of Israel beyond the regional conflict. Their site, Israel21c.org, regularly published impressive fact sheets on Israeli society and technological developments. Despite that Israel21c.org appears neither on searches for “israel stats” nor “israel peace”, I could not imagine a more perfect home for the domain pair pair. Israel21c readily purchased the duo for $400. You, too, can pluck the seeds of your world knowledge and implant them to become the roots your domaining experience. I wish you much success.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 5:33 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.