Part of my obsession with the internet is buying domain names. I currently own about 54. Which isn’t so bad since I know a couple people personally that have upwards of 300 domain names they keep active. But I’m not trying to justify my addiction to GoDaddy, just trying to keep things in perspective.

Of the 54 domain names I own, I actively maintain 5 of them. The remaining 49 domain names are either static pages or currently undeveloped. Each of the domains were bought with the complete intention of making money online minus my personal site that is more for me to keep engaged with my friends.

I use GoDaddy for all of my domains. Yes there are slightly cheaper options with lesser know companies but I have found that GoDaddy has a good Customer Service group and with the additional features integrated with their web portal, managing large numbers of domain names is simple.

That’s great but why do you buy them?

I’m an entrepreneur. Like many of yo, I want to make money online. I’m not greedy, I am satisfied with what I make online now between all of the different sites but the idea of making more excites me.

Domain names are the virtual real estate and it’s all about LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION, and by location I mean keywords. I am online 80% of my waking hours. Reading, writing, trolling, while doing this I am not specifically looking for keywords but they tend to jump out at me. When I do see a phrase or buzz word that peaks my interest, i go straight to GoDaddy without passing GO and I check to see if it’s taken. If not, I claim ownership.

As I said I do it with the intent to build them into functioning site but I have also been open to sell some of them after reading “How to Get Top Dollar Selling Domains”. Sedo is a site that some people use to buy, sell and action off domain names. Building up the domain first could greatly increase you market value though since you will be selling traffic and a proper domain name. Many people have business around buying and selling domains like it’s the stock market.

Until recently I had never come across one of these companies but after getting Strip Blogging active, I got an email from one.

Dear Admin,

Please pass this along to the owner of the domain “http://www.stripblogging.com”. We are interested in having a discussion with them about the posible purchase of this domain name. We have a client that is interested in paying top dollar for the full rights to stripblogging.com and says the offer will be substantial…

I thought this was a fraud so I replied saying I would be happy to entertain any offers but I would need to know a dollar amount they claim is substantial before taking time for a phone call.

OMG. I got a response and they told me about the ‘client’

Thank you for replying. Our client is starting a new business in the adult industry and has the intent of using this domain name to post article about the industry and sell products and advertisements. He has indicated that based on the length of your ownership of the domain and the work you have already put into it, that a payment of $500. would be generous for the full rights.

So after reading the entire email I was unsure if I should be excited or insulted. Excited that someone was approaching me with $500 or insulted that $500. was all they were offering.

I paid about $8 for the domain and really only have a few handfulls of posts made. I guess that $500. would be generous. I was going to take them up on it. A $492 return on investment is not bad. Then my inner voice started talking.

Damn inner voice!

I do a small amount of marketing on sites when I start them up. Driving traffic and getting attention is the point of this right? I do this while also branding myself into the fold. Many of the people who visit my personal site and other blogs I write in have also started reading here. Do I really want them to be directed to a porn site that they once thought was associated to me? not really.

Since this would have been my first domain name sale and hell, who couldn’t use an extra $500. I was bummed that the jerk offs had to tell me this was for the adult industry. I could have guessed it but them telling me made it worse. Then again, i am glad they said something since I would have been freaked to check the site in a couple months and saw naked bodies everywhere. Who know how many people went there to read a site about making money online, just to see boobies. Comical…kinda.

Proof is in the pooding

This was a bad deal but it just goes to show that there are people looking for great domain names and it is getting harder to find them. I think of myself as an online investor.

But what I am wondering is “should I have sold?”

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