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Best Places to Sell Domain Names

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Finding the best places to sell domain names is an essential step in your domain investing career. And in this day and age, it seems as though there are an endless amount of possible places to list your domains for sale, and that can be daunting if you are just starting out.

I have spent countless hours researching, testing, and trying out different places to sell my domain names. I have narrowed it down to this list of best places to sell domains names. But first I want to cover all the different types of domain name listings you can have (and should have):

  • Offer/Counter Offer listing: The offer/counter offer listing is perhaps my favorite way to list a domain name for sale on a platform. The offer/counter offer format creates a listing that will only allow potential buyers the ability to make you an offer. And better yet? You get to set a minimum offer amount, so you will never waste your time with low ball offers. This type of listing is my preferred method as it doesn’t pose the threat of double selling your domain name by having it listed as a buy now simultaneously on multiple platforms.
  • Offer/Counter Offer/Buy Now listing: Similar to the offer/counter offer listing, except here you also have the option to add a buy it now button to reel in those impulse buyers.
  • Buy Now Only: Buy now only is a great feature and it allows you to tap into the psyche of the impulsive buyers. I have “fallen” for this many times! It creates a listing with only a buy now button. Make sure that you place only ONE buy now listing for your domain name. If you list it on multiple marketplaces with a buy now, and they both sell (yes, that can happen) you can be in a lot of trouble, get your account banned or worse, get sued.
  • Landing Page/Parking Page: If you haven’t setup a landing page for your domain name, you need to do this as soon as possible. If someone types your domain name into their browser and the domain name has a landing page, you will make a good impression. Ensure that you have a proper contact form, an excellent logo, and you can even add a listing description. If you impress them enough, they will reach out to you and attempt to negotiate a deal to acquire the domain name. There are also Parking Pages, which are similar, except they allow you to monetize your traffic by way of CPC advertising.
  • Forum Listing: A lot of transactions take place every day on domain name forums, and it would be foolish not to have at least one thread listing your domain name for sale. Again, you do not want to limit yourself to one place, the more eyes that fall on your listings, the more potential to sell the domain name.
  • Auctions: This one is straight forward as auctions are the best way to sell your domain name quickly. Assuming you are brave enough to list it at no-reserve (which out-perform reserve auctions) then you are guaranteed a domain sale. When all else fails or if you need to liquidate your domain name, put it up at auction.
  • Brokerage: Much like the inbound brokerage listings that I offer, some brokers will allow you to list your domain name with them on a non-exclusive agreement. And if an inquiry comes in through their site, they handle the sale for you. This form of listing will allow you another outlet to garner interest for your domain names.

Best Places to Sell Domain Names

Marketplaces


Did you know that most people only list their domain names on one or two marketplaces? Why would you limit yourself like that? What if the perfect buyer for your domain name is browsing a marketplace, and your domain name isn’t on it? The more places your domain name is listed, the more eyes will come across the domain name, and more opportunities to make a sale will occur. The following marketplaces are a must when it comes to listing your domain names for sale. There are more marketplaces than I have displayed here. However, these are the ones that I’ve had the most experience with and the ones that have worked best for me. I have listed them in alphabetical order:

Afternic

Afternic is dubbed as one of the largest domain marketplaces on the web. Once you have listed your domain with Afternic, will gain worldwide distribution to over 100+ resellers. With fast transfer capabilities and over 75 million qualified domain searches each month, it would be foolish not to have your domain names listed for sale on their network. As of this post, Afternic offers the following ways to list your domain names for sale:

  • Offer/Counter Offer
  • Offer/Counter Offer/Buy Now
  • Buy Now Only
  • Parking Pages

BrandBucket

BrandBucket offers you one way to list your domain names, but don’t let that fool you, their market does very well. They have a unique approach to domain name listings. It is quite an exclusive marketplace (which is a great thing) as they require that your domain name goes through an approval process before becoming an active listing.

The best part about BrandBucket is that they do all the work for you. They have logo designers create logos for your listing that make them pop, professional writers that write short but useful listing descriptions, and they even price the domain names for you. It is truly hands off, as they do it all for you. The “only” caveat is that listings cost $10 (peanuts), and you can only have your domain name listed at BrandBucket. Aside from that, if you have some brand-worthy domain names, this is the marketplace for you.

Flippa

Flippa offers a multitude of listing options. From their lively domain auctions with one-of-a-kind listing description capabilities to their new landing pages and domain portfolio manager, you can find just about every way to sell your domain names on their platform. Having catapulted my career from the use of their marketplace, I have to say, I am their biggest fan. As of this post, Flippa offers the following ways to list your domain names for sale:

  • Offer/Counter Offer
  • Offer/Counter Offer/Buy Now
  • Buy Now Only
  • Landing Pages
  • Auctions

GoDaddy

GoDaddy offers a variety of ways to list your domain names. From their premium domain name listings to their 7-day auctions, you can find just about every way to sell your domain names on their platform. They require a $4.99/year auction membership, but that is peanuts compared to all the names you can sell (and buy) with your membership. As of this post, GoDaddy offers the following ways to list your domain names for sale:

  • Offer/Counter Offer
  • Offer/Counter Offer/Buy Now
  • Buy Now Only
  • Parking Pages
  • Auctions

NameJet

NameJet offers only one way to sell your domain name, at auction. Do not let that fool you though, their marketplace is very powerful. From their pre-release auction marketplace along with a drop-catching system, they are one of the top places to sell your domain names at auction. As a frequent buyer of domain names on NameJet, I can tell you that the sellers get a significant amount of action on their listings.

Sedo

Sedo offers plentiful ways to sell your domain names. From their parking pages to their daily auctions. They also have a very large user base, and a lot of sales happen every single day on Sedo. It is one of my favorite marketplaces to list my domain names, and having just recently sold some on their platform, I am very impressed! As of this post, Sedo offers the following ways to list your domain names for sale:

  • Offer/Counter Offer
  • Buy Now Only
  • Parking Pages
  • Auctions

NamePros Forum


There is only a handful of forums in the domain name industry, and only one of them stands out, NamePros. They are the largest domain industry forum in the entire business. There is a lively community, and there are many different sections of the site that you can list your domain name for sale. As of this thread, these are the available sections on NamePros that you can sell your domain:

  • Top Domains
  • Domain Auctions
  • Fixed Price
  • Make an Offer
  • Liquid Domains
  • Numeric Domains
  • Traffic Domains
  • Bargain Bin
  • Creative: Finance, Lease, Trade
  • New Generic Top Level Domains
  • Country Code Top Level Domains
  • Internationalized Domain Names

As you can probably tell, there is no shortage of places on NamePros that you can list your domain name. Having sold numerous domain name through their forum, and on top of everything else the site offers, I am a fan.

Landing Pages/Parking Pages


There are numerous companies offerings landing and parking pages. Personally, I’m not too familiar with parking pages outside of the fact that some people make a living from parking revenue alone! So if you have a big portfolio that garners a lot of quality traffic, parking pages may be the way to go for you. I don’t use them. I use instead landing pages. That does not mean parking pages are a bad thing, quite the opposite, this is just my personal preference. Landing pages offer you a unique way to present your domain name for sale. You can create an infinite amount of designs, color schemes, patterns, whatever you can think of to make the landing page pop. Being that I don’t use parking pages and don’t know enough of about them (if you do, feel free to fill us all in by leaving a comment here) I will stick to what I know, landing pages.

DNPages

As of this post, DNPages is under development. I have personally had a chance to look through the backend of their system, along with testing out their landing pages. I have to say, it’s a unique approach to landing pages! I’ve very excited to see the full product when it launches.

DomainNameSales

DomainNameSales is an efficient domain name management system. I’ve had the pleasure of using their system and making sales through their platform on numerous occasions. I am a fan. They also offer you the ability to have their in-house domain brokers field all of your inquiries! On top of all the features you get access to by utilizing their system, they are definitely on the top of my list for landing pages. As of this post, they offer the following ways to sell your domain names:

  • Landing Pages
  • Parking Pages
  • Inbound Domain Name Brokerage

Efty

Efty is a great domain name management system. They offer a very in-depth, and forward thinking approach to domain management. On top of the numerous features you get, you also gain access to their landing page system. They are definitely at the top of the list for management systems that you need to check out. The landing pages are just a big bonus to the great features you already get!

Domain Name Brokers


Domain name brokers are by far one of the best ways to sell your domain names. It’s what they do day in and day out. If your car broke down, would you let your cousin who only works on cars once a year attempt to fix it? Or would you hire a professional mechanic that works on cars every day? Now apply that to domain name brokers!

There are numerous, phenomenal domain name brokers in the industry. Here is a list of all of the domain name brokers/brokerages that I have personally worked with (if you have any more brokers that you have personally worked with, please add to this list in the comments section here):

In alphabetical order:

Andrew Rosener | MediaOptions.com

David Clements | Brannans.com

Domain Holdings | DomainHoldings.com

John Daly | NameConnect.com

Ryan Colby | OutcomeBrokerage.com

And of course, what kind of writer would I be without the infamous shameless plug of my own domain name brokerage service.

In Summary


As I have mentioned, this post is strictly my personal, unbiased opinion of the services that I have had a personal experience using. There are numerous different paths you can take; these are merely my recommendations. My advice to you is to explore every possible form of selling your domain names so that you too can gain your experience. Everyone has their preferences, but as a whole, your domain name has to be visible for it to be sold. Sitting around waiting for someone to contact you from your Whois information is not optimal. From there, you can learn what works best for you!

Best Way to Invest Your First $1,000

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There are a lot of different ways to invest your first $1,000 in the domain business. However, some ways are much more beneficial to your ROI than others. In this post, I will cover the best way to invest that first $1,000 in domain names. If you are just starting out, you should pay close attention. This initial bankroll that you’ll use may be your last if you do not go about it correctly.

First things first, put your wallet down. Should you be so eager to buy domain names that you end up flushing a thousand dollars down the drain? No. The best way to not lose money is by not spending it. That is until you have an actionable plan in place that will all but guarantee you a healthy return on your investment.

 Best Types of Domains Names to Invest

Forget about what’s trending at the moment, trends are fleeting. Instead, focus on what has a proven history of sales. These are domain names that have time and time again proven to be valuable:

  • One word  generic .com
  • Two word generic .com
  • GEO + keyword .com
  • One word generic .org

These types of domain names are timeless and have always had value to potential buyers. In my opinion, if you are just starting, these are the only types of domain names you should consider acquiring.

One Word Generic .com

While a majority of one word, generic .com’s may be out of your price range, I can assure you there are some hidden gems out there. For instance, I had acquired Trophs.com for only $100, Flipped it within a couple of weeks for three times that. Although I sold it rather low, I still tripled my money, and that lead to me being able to buy three more similar domain names and repeating the process. Always keep your eyes peeled for these gems, they are out there.

Be careful, however, because you can get so lost in hunting down one word .com’s that you will settle for the worst kind. Long, hard to pronounce, and even harder to spell. Stay far, far away from these odd, dictionary words. There are no real buyers out there for them. I advise you to focus on other types of domain names first, and if you happen across a word .com, then and only then should you consider acquiring it.

Two word Generic .com

These domain names are the bread and butter of the industry. They are price-able in the end-user “sweet spot” ($5k-$15k), and it’s much easier to pick up these domain names at wholesale prices.

A while back, I managed to acquire SlowDown.com for a mere $4k. I put up a landing page and within a couple of weeks received an inbound offer on the domain name and ended up negotiating, and closing the sale at $15k. That is how much power a generic, two word .com domain name has. They offer a variety of possibilities all within an affordable budget range for you and your future buyers.

GEO + Keyword

The best bang for your buck will be GEO + Keyword .coms. Think about the possibilities when you get your hands on a domain name like DenverRealEstate.com, LosAngelesPlumbing.com, or even NewYorkLawyer.com.

If you are into cold calling, and looking for quick flips, your money is best spent here. You can pick up a proper GEO + Keyword for much less than $1k and turn around and sell it the same day for a handsome profit. Some investors make their living with these types of domains.

One Word Generic .org

There are more not for profit organizations than I can count. These are also a fantastic investment. However, you will likely have to play the long game on these. Not for profits and outbound marketing do not mix. Let them reach out to you. Be careful here as well, as you will likely be waiting quite a while, so make sure you have them listed on every marketplace as your buyers may not be as internet savvy as you are.

Deciding on Your Investment Strategy

Now that you have an idea of the best types of domain names to invest in, you need to decide how you want to move forward.

Are you going to play the long game? If so, that can drastically change your approach. Do you want to flip domains quickly? Or do you want a blend of both worlds?

Long Game

The long game is all about forward thinking. What kind of technologies will be present in the future? What kind of businesses will be going online? What sort of company has the longevity that will ensure your investments will still hold value in the future?

A few that come to mind are Real Estate, Insurance, Health, Money, and Travel. There are hundreds of others, of course, but you should focus on the biggest industries as they tend to die off less frequently than the smaller ones.

Also, GEO + Keyword domain names with big industry keywords are all but guaranteed to always be around. So if you invest in these, you can also play the long game with them.

Quick Flipping

Quick flipping is all about value investing. Finding an undervalued domain name is like spotting Bigfoot in the wild. Tough to do, but once you master the art form, you can flip the domain names the same day.

One word generic .com’s and GEO + Keyword domain names are your best friends here. With the one word .com’s you can turn and flip it to an investor. With the GEO + Keyword domain names you can pick up the phone and call local businesses, tell them the benefits, negotiate a price and wrap up the deal within a few hours of acquiring the domain name.

Hybrid of Long Game and Quick Flipping

By far the safest strategy as it allows you the ability to make some quick returns to cover your operating costs, and generate you some recurring income until your long game domain names sell.

With only $1,000 to spend, you can take half and invest it for quick flipping, and put the other half into your long game domain names.

How Many Domain Names to Buy


The big question. How many domain names should you buy with that $1,000? Personally, I prefer to stay focused on only one, but if I had to choose more, I would invest in no more than three domains.

With three, you can dabble in a few different investment areas and diversify your approach, allowing for a learning experience to see which strategy works best for you. With three domains, you can also stay focused and not spread yourself too thin. However, this does limit the quality of domain name you can buy.

All being said, I recommend you focus on acquiring just one domain name at a time. Spend the entire $1,000 budget (but don’t overpay) on the best possible domain name you can find and spend the following weeks trying to at least double your investment.

The Domain King himself, Rick Schwartz, has a remarkable post about how you can make a million dollars in domains in 36 months. And it all starts with $1,000: read it here.

In Summary


Now that you have a an investment strategy in mind, you can start browsing the marketplaces, forums, and investor portfolios to find the perfect domain name to invest your first $1,000 in. Take your time, this investment will make or break you. If you are just starting out, this will likely be your biggest learning experience. Don’t be like the rest of us who flushed money down the drain when we first started, be different. Think. Research. And then, when you are 100% certain, spend your hard earned money.

Why Being a Domain Investor is the Best Job Ever

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Learning how to invest in domain names changed my life in so many ways that I could write a trilogy of novels about it. It is the greatest endeavor I have ever taken on.

I’ve wrangled with pursuits in just about every vertical. I spent a majority of my life as an audio engineer and record producer, I’ve worked in fast paced sales environments, dabbled in real estate, and I’ve even pursued learning how to become a helicopter pilot. None of those paths ever challenged me quite like the domain industry does.

These are the top 5 reasons I believe that being a domain name investor is the greatest job on the planet!


Reason #1: Freedom

I am writing this post from the balcony of my Hawaiian condo overlooking the entire Pacific ocean. Palm trees are blowing in the wind while I listen to the chirping of island birds and light classical music.

This is the view that i’m blessed with all because I chose this career path.

Could I do that with a regular 9-5 job? NO! I would probably hear nagging co-workers, angry fingers clunking away at keyboards, receptionist telling people to hold, someone yelling at the printer, and my boss on my back about my TPS reports. Ugh. Gross. No thanks.

With domain investing, I can work from anywhere in the world. Allowing me the most freedom I could crave from any career path. In fact, the first six months of my career was mostly spent on the golf course working from the comfort of my golf cart via my iPhone!


Reason #2: Limitless Potential

This industry is not a “get rich quick” one by any means. But I tell you what… when I first started, I had virtually nothing. Lost everything, down in the dumps, and only a few grand in my pocket. When I decided to give this industry everything I had, it gave back ten fold. In my first year and a half in the industry, I reeled in almost $2M in sales. I don’t say this to brag, but to show you how limitless this industry is. And I started with little money. Nowadays, if you do it right, you can start with less than $100, and see some serious results. In fact, I dare you to take The $20 to a Baller Challenge! You’ll soon find that there are absolutely no walls! You can go as far as you want to in this industry. There is no limit to the amount of money and success you can garner from becoming a domain name investor. None I say!


Reason #3: The Excitement

There is no better feeling than waking up to a sale. None. Even more so, there is nothing quite like watching your auction take off and surpass all of your expectations!

What about the chaos that occurs when a new country comes into the picture and changes up the industry overnight? Completely blows your mind! Domains that used to be the bottom of the barrel are now the most sought after investments? Doesn’t make any sense, but guess what? It can be unpredictable, and that is what makes it so exciting.


Reason #4: You Can Never Master It

There is no way to perfect the art of domain name investing. None. You can never know it all. Why? The domain industry is always evolving. Always challenging you to grow, and learn new things. Sure, you can become a 10th-degree black belt domain investor, but nobody truly knows how many degrees there actually are! You can bedazzle your black belt with thousands of 10 carat diamonds, and when you think you know it all, BAM, something new to learn. You can never master it. Period. And that is a beautiful thing that should keep you interested in the business forever.


Reason #5: The People

Sure, you have your forum trolls, grumpy old-timers, bitter bloggers and the like. But a majority of the population in this industry are amazing human beings. They love it as much as you do. They are the same type of addict as you are. They eat, sleep and breathe domain names just like you do. They are the only ones on the planet that get you. And frankly, you can never have a dull conversation with a fellow domainer. There are NO awkward silences. Why? Because there are so many topics to discuss. So many things to debate. So much information to share! And the only people on the planet that will understand you are your fellow domain investors. Better still, the diversity in this industry is unlike any other. People from all around the world, personalities from all walks of life will emerge out of the wood-works to meet, greet, and talk domains. No matter how different we are, we will always have one thing in common; domains. And that makes this community one of greatest on the planet.


In Summary

If this doesn’t ring a bell to you, you’re probably not a domain investor, and you happened upon this post via Google. If that is the case, look around, dig deeper, and you too will find that this is the greatest industry on earth.

I am proud to be a domain name investor, for more than just these five reasons. I am delighted when I see the look of confusion on peoples faces when I tell them what I do. It’s my passion, my purpose, and I am finally accepting of the fact that this is where I belong!

Setting up ExpiredDomains Filter’s Like a Boss

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ExpiredDomains.net is my favorite tool for finding expiring domains, closeouts, pending releases and just about every domain name that is for sale (in some form or another) on a marketplace.

For some, the learning curve is a little steep, but it is worth every waking minute spent learning how to use their platform. If you don’t already have an account, I highly recommend you sign up asap (you can set one up here).


Step One

I personally always start setting my filters in the “Marketplace Domains” tab since I don’t really seek out deleted/reg-fee names. First things first, click on that tab!


Step Two

In order to access the filter panel, you need click on a marketplace tab. For simplicity, click on the first one titled “GoDaddy Closeouts”


Step Three

From here, you’ll want to click the “Show Filter” link to open up the filter panel.


Introducing the Filters

Now it’s time for the fun to begin. This is what the filter panel looks like when you first open it. Epic right? And there are 3 pages of filters to help narrow down your search!

I will start on the first tab titled “Common” and cover everything on the page before moving on to the next page. To help you follow along, I have numbered every filter type on the Common tab, as I will be referencing them in the tutorial.


Common Filter #1: Domain Name Whitelist

The Domain Name Whitelist filter allows you three different areas where you can whitelist keywords. For instance, if you’d like the domain name to start with the word “The” you would enter it into the “Starts with” text field.

  1. Starts With: This allows you to select a keyword or keywords that the domain name will start with. It can be as simple as “the” or really narrow it down to something specific like “attorney”. So if you entered Attorney into this field, your results would only be: Attorney+Keyword
  2. Contains: The same thing, however, the word will show up no matter where it’s located. So if you typed in “The” your results may include: The+Keyword, Keyword+The, Keyword+The+Keyword, or even words like Fathering.com
  3. Ends with: Same concept here, except the results will only produce domain names that end with your chosen keyword. So if you typed in “The” your results may include: Keyword+The or even a word like Bathe.

But that is not all, my favorite part of these filters, you can enter multiple keywords! For instance, if you wanted to find every domain name that starts with the keywords “Attorney”, “Lawyer”, “Turtle”, or “Mouse”, all you have to do is enter the keywords and separate them with a space. Side note, I use quotation marks for my examples, but you do NOT need to use them in the filters.


Common Filter #2: Domain Name Blacklist

The Domain Name Blacklist is exactly like the whitelist, except here, you tell the filters to filter OUT these keywords so you do NOT seem them in your search results!

  1. Starts Not With: This allows you to select a keyword or keywords that the domain name will NOT start with. For example, if you wanted to exclude the words “Bank” and “Money” from the starting words, you’d enter: Bank Money
  2. Contains Not: Again, much like the whitelist, except here the filter will seek out the word or words you use in any part of the domain name and NOT display them in the search results.
  3. Ends Not with: Same as Starts Not With, except the words are excluded from the end of the domains in the search results!

Common Filter #3: Domain Name Contains AND

This filter lets you add additional keywords to your search results. It takes your whitelist allows you an “AND” feature. For instance if you want your domain name to start with “The”, you can use Domain Name Contains AND to add “Media” “Company” “Race” and your search results will include all of the domain names that start with “The” AND have one of those keywords in it somewhere! Great feature.


Common Filter #4: Domain Name Wanted and Unwanted Characters

This is for you letter and number seekers! This filter allows you to enter characters that you want whitelisted or blacklisted in your results. For instance, if you do not want any vowels in your search results, you would blacklist like: AEIOU, and not a single one of the search result domain names will have a vowel in it! Same goes for whitelist, if you only want search results to show you domain names with vowels and certain numbers, you could whitelist: AEIOU9876, and your search results would only show you domain names that have those characters in them.

[alert type=”danger” close=”false” heading=”Quick Tip”] You should be testing each of these filters out as we go so you can get a real feel for them! [/alert]


Common Filter #5: Domain Name Settings

The Domain Name Settings filter is my most used filter, it really lets me narrow down the foundational aspect of the domain names I am seeking.

No Number: No domain names with numbers allowed

No Characters: No domain names with letters/characters allowed

No Hyphens: The best filter ever 😉

No Consecutive Hyphens: What I said above.

Only Numbers: Shows you domain names that only use numbers

Only Characters: Shows you domain names that only use letters/characters

Min and Max Filters: You can set a minimum and maximum filters here. For instance, if you are only looking for 5-7 letter/number domain names, you can set “5” to minimum and “7” to maximum in the length fields. And so on down the line, these are pretty straight forward.


Common Filter #6: Domain Name Pattern

Domain name pattern whitelist and blacklist is an incredibly useful feature. I spent a few hours using just this filter to find some of my best brandable domain names. You can search for just about every pattern, and, you can include your own letters and numbers in there.

Some example patterns:

CVCV = Teso

CVVC = Toot

CvxC = LVXP

9NNCVC = 976RAK

See where this is going? All the letters you want to of your own, just place in lower case. So if you are looking to create something like ZOVANI, then you can use = CovVCi

Consonant O V Vowel Consonant I, really useful if you want to get super creative!


Common Filter #7: PageRank

Don’t know what PageRank is? ExpiredDomains.net explains it very well in this post. After you’ve read it, come back here.

You can check three different boxes, No Fake PR’s, no Unsure PR’s and no PageRank -1. You can also set the minimum PageRank and maximum PageRank here.

Some domain investors love acquiring high quality PageRank domain names that they can use to develop, or sell. I personally don’t use this filter unless I am weeding out fake PR’s.


Common Filter #8: Common SEO

If you are searching for investment grade domain names, you don’t really need to worry about most of these settings. The one I use most often is WBY, which is for the Wayback Machine Year (the year of registration). You can set a minimum and maximum year of registration here. I use the maximum and generally set it to around 2004 so the domain names I am seeking are all 10 years or older. The other settings, in my opinion, are for investors seeking domain names to develop or sell to developers. I don’t use them.


Common Filter #9: Listing Settings

The listing settings filter is also one of my favorites. It allows me to really narrow down the “when” and “how much” in my search results.

The “only new in the last” checkboxes will filter out all the domains and only show you the ones that have been listed in the last 12/24 hours, week, or 30 days. You can even select “Watchlist” to only show the domain names you are watching.

You can also get really specific by utilizing the “add date”, “end date”, “Name Ending”, and “Ends in days”. By utilizing these filters, you can narrow down exactly when the domain was listed, or when it’s due to end. Great for the “snipers” looking to pick off last minute domain names.

The “max price” filter is great so you never see results that are over your budget, and if you skip down a couple filters, you’ll see text boxes letting you further narrow down your price ranges. This is great, especially if you are taking on The $20 to a Baller Challenge.

The listing type is straight forward, you can look at either buy it now listings, make offer listings, or auctions (“bid”).

On to the “Bids”, you can find all of the auctions with ZERO bids, that is also great for the snipers. Setting up the filters for the last day, with auctions that have zero bids… can you imagine the possible gems you can find?

Domains per page is simple, how many results do you want to see per result page? I usually set it to 200, because “more is better” right?


Now onto the second tab titled “Additional”. To help you follow along, I have numbered every filter type on the Additional tab.

In the additional tab, you’ll see settings like TLD, Keywords, and other filters that will help you further narrow down your results.


Additional Filters #1&2: TLD’s

Pretty straight forward here! What extensions do you want to include in your search results?


Additional Filters #3: Keywords

Again, another fantastic filter! You can select which language you want the keywords to be! On top of that, you can add a minimum and maximum word count. This is really helpful, especially if you are only seeking, say, a 2 word, english domain!


Additional Filters #4&5: Name in selected TLD is available/registered

Although I have never needed to use them, they are great filters. If you are looking to find a domain name that you also want to register in another specific TLD, you can check the box of the TLD you also want to register, that way your search results will only show you domain names that are available in your other filters, AND available in the specific TLD you check.

Vise versa for the selected TLD is registered. If you are hunting down an in-demand domain name, you can check off the boxes of TLDs that the keyword(s) is registered in. For instance, if you are seeking a .com, and you want to make sure it’s in demand, you can check TLD is registered in: .net, .org, .info and so on. That way, you only see results for domain names that are registered in other TLD’s!


Additional Filters #6: Geo Domains

For you GEO hunters, this is going to be your best friend! You can search for domain names that have specific GEO attributes! Give this one a shot, set it to “Only Geo Domains” and pick a country… look at the results! All of the domain names include a GEO specific keyword (city, town, state, so on) among your other filters.

Now keep in mind, if you check only 100% GEO domains, you may want to remove some of your other filter restrictions. This filter will only show exact match GEO locations. For instance, a city name, a town, a country, a state.. so on. Even though there are a few bugs (really tough to filter out all those domains) but… it works, so if you are seeking the name of a specific place on the map, only 100% GEO Domains is your knight in shining filter.


Additional Filters #7: Social Stats

Another cool feature that I’ve never really had to use. With social media being the main point of contact between businesses and their user base, you may want to consider using this filter for your own acquisitions that you plan to develop. Although most of the generic social media usernames are taken, still worth a shot. You can seek out social media profiles that are connected to the domain name, or you can select whether the username is take or available! Cool filter, but likely won’t be using it much.


Down to the final tab, Adwords & SEO, however, I’ve decided to exclude this tab. Why? Because I don’t use it anymore, and if you want to buy, and flip/sell domain names, then you need not worry about that tab. And I’ll tell you why. So many times, I’ve set search volume and CPC filters only to find that after all my other filters were set too, there were almost no results to weed through. Another reason being that some really good two and three word domain names have low CPC and low search volume. Take, for instance, one of my domain names: SoilToEnergy.com, has absolutely no search volume or CPC. I would have never seen that auction had I placed the SV and CPC filters on it. While it may not be a million dollar domain, it’s still a valuable brand for a future tech/science/green company that specializes in sustainable energy sources from soil. I have many more domains of the like, most of which I would have missed out on by limiting the filters too much.

One more quick tip, you can save your searches! After you apply your filter, click this button:

Once saved, you can access your saved searches from the drop down menu at the top of your screen:

Now that you have filters set you should start exploring! Go through the different marketplaces by clicking their tabs to see your filtered results from every type of marketplace. Good luck!

The Art of Buying New GTLD’s

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We’ve recently seen the new GTLD market gain substantial traction. However, these extensions are still in their infancy. At the moment, the power of these new GTLD’s has yet to be fully realized by the masses.

I have to admit that at first, I was not impressed. I thought that it was a marketing ploy aimed strictly at domain name investors. I couldn’t fathom why anyone would spend thousands of dollars to register something so wild and different when they could buy a great, generic keyword .com instead. After some time, I finally caved in and decided to give it a go. Don’t get me wrong, a majority of my portfolio is still .com, but I am very glad that I diversified and acquired some new GTLD’s.

To date, I’ve managed to sell quite a few new GTLD’s and have averaged a solid return on my investments and reeled in well into five figures in profit. To name a few, I have sold Internet.Marketing, Night.Life, City.Life, VR.Dating, Design.Agency and quite a few others.

I firmly believe that the right combination of keyword + extension new GTLD’s will have an impressive, and exponential rise in value over the next five years. However, when you make the decision to acquire a new GTLD as an investment and to want to ensure a substantial profit is in your future, you must take into consideration these three main attributes.


1. Keyword & Extension Combination

The art of acquiring one of these domains based on the combination of keyword and extension is quite simple; find the most relevant two keyword phrases, and put a dot between the words.

For instance, registering Insurance.Flowers would make no sense, and has zero value. Just because Insurance is a quality keyword, and Flowers is a quality keyword, doesn’t mean pairing them with a dot in the middle will create a domain that will have value.

A better pairing would be Car.Insurance. Why? Because “Car Insurance” is an extremely relevant term, highly valuable in the .com, and has an obvious commercial use. All you’ve done is take the keywords “Car Insurance” and placed a dot in the middle.

All being said, there are only a handful of new GTLD extensions that can accommodate premium combinations. Choose wisely.


2. Renewal Price

Renewal price is a big factor when deciding what kind of new GTLD to buy. Some of the renewal fees are mind-boggling and well into the thousands of dollars per year.

While I understand that some of the renewal fees are much higher for “premium” new GTLD’s, I do not think it is wise to invest in a domain name that will eat away at your future profit every year.

I do, however, have one or two domains that cost me around $500 a year each in renewals. I made sure they were the most premium new GTLD that I could buy so that even if it takes 5-10 years to find the perfect buyer for it, I would still make a substantial return. One example is Travel.Agency, I spent a good amount acquiring the domain name, and I have to spend $500/yr renewing it. I don’t even flinch at that. Why? For one, I could develop it into a lucrative business, and two, this domain name will sell for six figures one day.

With new GTLD’s launching all the time, your options are limitless so make sure when you buy a new GTLD, you heavily consider the renewal fee. Otherwise, any profit you might have made will slowly disappear.


3. Development Potential & Brand Ability

This one goes for every domain, but even more so for a new GTLD. You have to ask yourself how likely it is that a serious business can be developed on the domain name. Will a company spend thousands of dollars to market this brand? Is it worth it for them to step into the world of new GTLD’s? Will acquiring this domain name give their brand the needed edge to become #1 in their niche?

Take for instance the recent sale of Smart.Watch. That is a prime example of a new GTLD that meets all of the requirements, especially brand ability and development potential. You can name your product with it, sell the product with it, and run an extensive and successful marketing campaign all around the domain name.

There are numerous other examples, for instance, Coffee.Club is a brilliant and highly brandable domain name that has a lucrative business model behind. Who doesn’t love coffee? Who hates running out of coffee? The subscription box model is also extremely successful, and they did a phenomenal job picking the domain name for their business. While it may have cost them $100,000 to acquire the domain name, no amount of money can replace the branding value that brings to their business. Feel free to Google the term “Coffee Club” yourself and compare their domain name to the others you see. Which one stands out? Simple, Coffee.Club.

It goes without saying that domain names are the doorway to your brand, and if you decide to brand your company with a new GTLD, you have to choose wisely.


In Summary

Take your time, do your research, and make sure that you take into consideration everything you can before deciding to invest in a new GTLD. There are far more risks involved, so even more research has to be done before buying one. There are, however, far more opportunities available for investors seeking long-term profits.

Be sure to stick to relevant keyword combinations with a dot in the middle, keep your renewal costs down, and make sure you don’t get overly creative when buying a new GTLD and you should do just fine.

Businesses Are Heavily In Love With Instagram And For Good Reasons Though

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Right from the major brands to some of the locals, businesses located globally to some family based shops, everything is growing with the help of a simple yet useful Instagram account. Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms and will surpass FB and Twitter in following years. Every month, you will come across an average of 1 billion active users on a globalized calculation.

A recent study clearly portrays that around 80% of businesses will have their accounts on IG. Within a short span of time, that percentage will grow into 100%, no doubt. Businesses have not restricted their services to posting pictures and videos. They are even using the latest Instagram stories for reaching out to mass population within a flick of second. So, if you want to grow real instagram likes and grow your business within a day, IG might be that promising platform for you.

Reasons to get an account on IG:

Instagram is one of those platforms, which can help bridge gap between customers and clients. There are so many reasons on why businesses are deeply in love with IG.

  • It is a perfect spot for connecting passions. Business owners can easily tap into people’s passion for creating some deeper relationships with businesses online and off. It will help them to know what clients think about them and improve their business centric notions accordingly.
  • Everyone loves a visual glow rather than reading through boring articles and pieces of content. Therefore, IG came up with unique forms of creative tools, which will help you to tell a story and create some immersive formats for inspiring some actions on your business accounts.
  • For sparking some exploration, IG business might be the right solution for you. It is a great way to connect to some new customers and then strengthen relationships with existing ones.

Get to create business blogs on IG:

With some of the handy new tools in the market, companies of any size can well be recognized with business profiles. They can get some thorough insights about posts and followers, and can also promote posts for driving around the ever growing business objectives. All these services are now available within IG mobile app! Things cannot get better than this! It means customers can now see some of the valuable information on profile like contact details or business address.

Monthly advertisers on IG:

You will come to know more mobile video is currently helping out in growing IG community of the monthly advertisers. It can further help in transforming the ways in which brands will connect with people. So, once you have a promising account on IG, there is no looking back. The best thing about this mobile platform is that it keeps on growing. Similarly, your business account will get updated with every new feature hitting the market. It will work automatically so you don’t have to bother working on updated news on your own. Businesses will definitely grow a lot with IG by your side.

Author Bio: Pete Campbell is a Business Tech Analyst. He is very responsible towards his job. He loves to share his knowledge and experience with his friends and colleagues.

My Favorite Domain Investing Tools & Resources

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Whether you are first starting out, or a seasoned domain investor, you need quality resources and tools at your disposal. Without quality tools, informative content, and a little bit of humor, becoming successful would be an even harder task than it already is.

On my domain investing journey, I have been blessed to find these tools, educational resources, and have spent countless hours researching and finding the perfect combination to help me on my path to success. This list is not a full list of all the tools and resources available to you by any means, it is, however, my personal list of favorites.

The list is in alphabetical order (except the first one).

DomainSherpa

DomainSherpa.com is number one for an infinite amount of reasons. It is also the only resource that I am showing bias towards on this list. Why? The content on this site made me who I am as an investor.

When I first started, I had the opportunity (donation or not) to have my domain portfolio reviewed by the Sherpas. These are people I look up to, and they are investors I admire. So it was an honor to be on the show and get the feedback from these industry thought leaders. Even thought it wasn’t the most enamoring feedback, I had a lightbulb moment when one of the Sherpa’s said something that changed everything about my investing process.

However, being on the show is not the only reason I believe DomainSherpa is the best resource for domain investors. It did help a lot, but the main reason DomainSherpa is my favorite resource is the excellent quality of content that Michael Cyger and the Sherpas put out every week. The videos are very thorough and feature of some of the brightest minds in our industry. If you haven’t watched every single video on his site, you aren’t investing right. Instead of watching Netflix every night, tune into a DomainSherpa video. I guarantee you will pick up at least one golden nugget of information from each video that will make you a better investor.

DNAcademy

DNAcademy.com is still under beta testing, but I can tell you right now that this will become your ultimate resource. I’ve had a first hand-look, and you’re going to love it. I will be providing a far more detailed review once the site is live. But for now, be ready for the awesomeness coming your way soon.

DomainIQ

DomainIQ.com is without a doubt one of my favorite tools. Aside from the epic amount of tools you get access to as a DomainIQ member, you also get access to my favorite tool, the DomainIQ related domains filter. I use this tool daily as I am always hunting for my next acquisition. When I find a domain name that sparks my interest, I seek out to find out what other domain names the registrant owns. Sometimes, I will find that they only own a few names, perhaps they are not an investor, and I can get a real bargain on the acquisition. Other times, I find that they own well into the hundreds of thousands of domain names, and I spend time filtering through their portfolio to see if I can put a package deal together. Whatever the reasons, this is a must-have tool for any serious domain investor. From their anonymous email service, all the way to their domain snapshot history tool. If you don’t have DomainIQ… you need it. Period.

Domaining

Domaining.com should be open in your browser 24/7. There is no excuse not to have it open, and there is no excuse for you not to read every single post that is aggregated through the site. While I haven’t listed every single domain blog in this post, Domaining.com has a feed of just about every authority site that matters in the industry, and it is a great place to scour through all the industry relevant posts! There are some very talented writers in our industry, Domaining.com allows you access to their feeds from one centralized place.

DSAD

DomainShane.com is a phenomenal resource for witty remarks and great insight into the current industry trends. I spend a lot of time perusing the site, especially for his daily auction list recommendations. I’ve found a some great gems on there all because he took the time browse the marketplaces and do the work for me, and he’s done a phenomenal job ensuring that every day, a new list goes up.

EstiBot

EstiBot.com is far more than a valuation tool. With an account, you get access to roughly 30 different tools! My favorite, of course, is the appraised drop lists. I scour those on a daily basis! Seriously, every drop, pending delete, pre-release, auction and closeout can be accessed with EstiBot stats through just that one tool! From a domain permutation tool all the way to a typo generator, and on top of the many other tools you get access to, this is a must have tool for any serious domain investor to keep in their arsenal.

ExpiredDomains

ExpiredDomains.net is without a doubt one of the most useful tools there is for any domain investor. I use ExpiredDomains.net like my life depends on it. It’s how I find 99% of the domain names I acquire, and I sincerely recommend you do the same. It will blow your mind. They offer the most advanced search filters I’ve seen to date. You can search for domains on just about every marketplace, and you can filter your search results down with the precision of a surgeon. If you’ve never used ExpiredDomains.net, you can learn how to set up their filters here. Once you get comfortable with the interface, you will likely spend all day on their platform. You have been warned; it’s that addicting.

FollowUp

FollowUp.cc is phenomenal email tracking, and follow up reminder tool. I cannot recall every single email I sent, no matter how great I think my memory is ;). FollowUp has a very simple to use service that allows you to CC yourself with a follow up reminder. For instance, if I send an email and I want to remind myself to followup exactlu one week from now, I would CC myself with 1week@FollowUp.cc. It’s that easy! And I believe with some mail apps you can set a rule to always add a CC automatically. So eventually, you won’t even need to add a CC, just send the email and be reminded in 1 week (or however long you choose) to follow up! Fantastic tool for salespeople, because it is well known that if you don’t follow up, you don’t make sales.

Sidekick

GetSidekick.com is a must have for any serious salesperson. It is an easy to use mail extension that allows you to see when and if your emails have been opened. But that is not all they offer, you can even schedule your emails to be sent at a specific time and, as you compose an email, you’ll have all the relevant information about your recipient. See your past contact history, social media content, mutual connections, and a whole lot more.

Google Keyword Planner

Google AdWords Keyword Planner is the tool I use to find a wealth of information. Specifically, search volume, CPC, and relevant searches. I also use it when I am registering fresh domain names. If I want to register something, say around the keyword “Travel”, I will type it in, and look through the entire relevant searches and if I can find a great keyword combination that hasn’t been registered, I can immediately see the search volume, CPC and competition for it right there. It is definitely a notable and worthwhile tool to use.

Google Trends

Google Trends is perhaps the most useful tool when it comes to solidifying a purchase or fresh registration. Why? Because if I am buying domain names that I believe will be valuable in the future, I want to see a rising trend. I also want to compare it to other keywords and see which one is currently trending, rising, and has the most potential for the future. You can compare numerous keywords at once with a hand color coordinated graph. It’s a gem when you have to choose between two similar keyword domains. I’ve used it multiple times when I was stuck between choices.

NameBio

NameBio.com is the best database of recorded domain name sales there is. I spend a ton of time on NameBio researching comparable sales to help me better valuate my domain names. They have the best search filters I’ve seen for any sales history database. You can narrow down the search results to show you only the most relevant comps. They update the database almost instantly, and they provide you with a direct link tool so you can always recall or share your search results.

NamePros

NamePros.com is the biggest domain community on the web. There are so many different things you can learn, buy, sell, and accomplish on their forum. Most importantly, you need to build a network, and it all starts with socializing with your fellow domain investors! There is no better place to do so than on NamePros. Check them out, create an account, and start getting to know everyone in the industry. It’s a small, tight nit group of folks – and as the saying goes “your net worth is only as big as your network”.

Ricks Blog

RicksBlog.com, heard of it? If you haven’t, you’ve likely been living under a rock for far too long! The Domain King himself, Rick Schwartz offers a massive amount of insightful content on his website. Much like you should be watching every DomainSherpa video; you need to read every blog post this man has ever written. Seriously. You can start with my all time favorite from his blog, Make a Million Dollars in Domains. 12 EASY steps and 36 Months! REALLY!

TextMechanic

TextMechanic.com is a phenomenal, and yet a simple to use tool. I absolutely love this tool. I use it for everything. From their line combination generator which I used to create my entire selection of 5L .com’s to their letter case converter that allows me to change quickly the letter casing on my big list of ALL CAPS domain exports. You can generate lists of numbers, sort text lines with numerous filters, and a plethora of other useful tools.

ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo.com is a must have for any serious lead generation. It has helped me find numerous end-users and has been the sole reason for quite a few sales. Their interface is simple but effective. You can narrow down your searches incredibly well with their filters. From narrowing your search results down by company revenue, niche, management level, keywords, and many more great filters. Sure there are other lead generation tools; this one just happens to be my favorite. I use it daily, and I have never had a problem with their service!

In Summary

There are a plethora of tools and resources at your disposal. The best thing you can do is familiarize yourself with your favorites, learn from the resources, and master how to use the tools within your workflow. That way, you can work smarter, faster and more efficiently. These are my favorite resources and tools, and they help me everyday!

Learn about Thunderbolt 3 as Compared to Its Previous Versions & USB-C

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The original Thunderbolt and then Thunderbolt 2 was launched prior to the much-hyped Thunderbolt 3. The previous two versions were used to sharing the same port and cable type (port type same as Apple’s Mini Display) and they also had really impressive data transfer speeds of 10Gbps, and 20Gbps respectively. The previous Thunderbolt standards had an active cable implying that the cable itself was actually a device which necessitated power for operating smoothly (that is the reason why the majority of all Thunderbolt 1 and 2 devices actually need an additional external power source for functioning perfectly.) However, this fact really made Thunderbolt an exorbitant solution, since the cable itself seems to be at least, 10X more expensive than any USB cable having the same length.

The Difference between USB-C and Thunderbolt 3

Technology is progressing at top speed and there are no cookie cutter solutions that act as universal solutions for all devices or issues. Today, the market is flooded by an unprecedented array of systems, devices, and even features for customizing your technology requirements. So it is certainly not surprising when people ask about the actual differences that exist between Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C.

  • Thunderbolt 3 is reversible, flip-able, and symmetrical and both the sides could be inserted into the port in both the directions and so you do not any longer have to be careful about inserting the cable, right side up.
  • Thunderbolt 3 could be delivering about 100 W of power.
  • Known for supporting alternate nodes like Thunderbolt, DisplayPort etc.

Thunderbolt 3 is known for defining a host of competencies which would be running on USB-C cables and connectors. Briefly speaking, Thunderbolt 3 is responsible in bringing Thunderbolt effectively to the USB-C. Here are some of the superb features presented by the Thunderbolt 3 and what they actually would be providing. You could buy USB-C Thunderbolt hub to enjoy multiple benefits.

  • Thunderbolt 3 is supposed to be bi-directional and has 4 lanes of the standard PCI Express Gen 3 also, 8 lanes of the DisplayPort 1.2.
  • At 40 Gbps, it is regarded as the fastest available connection as compared to the intuitive and original USB 3.1 that would be operating at 10Gbps.

Thanks to the latest Thunderbolt 3 port, now it is easier to connect to any device, dock, display, and that would also include billions of the current USB devices.

Some Differences between Thunderbolt 3 & Its Two Predecessors

  • Thunderbolt 3 comes with the USB-C connection type that substitutes the Mini Display Port type.
  • All the Thunderbolt 3 cables would be functioning as USB-C cables.
  • All USB-C cables would be functioning as the Thunderbolt 3 cables provided they are of extremely good quality.
  • Thunderbolt 3 enjoys the best data transfer speed that is as high as 40Gbps provided the cable is about 0.5 m or even shorter. For 1m or relatively longer cables, Thunderbolt 3 would be supporting cheaper and passive ones having 20 Gbps and expensive and active cables that would be retaining 40 Gbps speed.
  • Thunderbolt 3 is actually backward-compatible with the previous versions of Thunderbolt, however, because of the latest port type, you would be requiring adapters for using legacy Thunderbolt devices.

Conclusion

All USB-C devices such as Google Pixel, when plugged into the latest version would be working smoothly. However, as the new version Thunderbolt 3 devices are known to be using discrete Thunderbolt chips for working, they would not be working when plugged into the USB-C port. All Thunderbolt versions, however, would be allowing for daisy-chaining maximum 6 devices in one go to a host and could be carrying Hi-Def audio and video signals along with the usual data.

Author Bio: Pete Campbell is a Social Media Expert. He loves to share his creative knowledge of social media with his clients & friends. He is passionate about trendy gadgets.

Digital Marketing to market your Amazon Affiliate Business

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Internet is definitely a boon to most of us especially when it comes to digital marketing. Digital marketing has changed the whole game of business by providing several perks which is why it is becoming popular around the globe. Digital media have helped those people who do not have funds in the beginning to invest in their business as it does not require heavy funds to set up a business with the help of digital media. You can simply connect to the biggest digital marketing retailer which is Amazon.

Moreover, you do not have to be physically present all the time to handle your business as everything goes virtually and you can handle it from anywhere. All you need is just a good internet connection.

For all those aspiring business people Amazon affiliated business is nothing less than a gift. Amazon affiliated business allows people from all over the world to come and set up their business at a single place. The biggest benefit of that is you will be immediately in the Global network offered by Amazon. Amazon offers several programs which helps you to take your business up a notch and one of such program is Amazon affiliate business.

What is Amazon affiliate business?

Amazon affiliate business allows you to share link of Amazon website products in your website and to refer. If you are interested in becoming Amazon affiliate then you are supposed to visit the associate program page and signup there for absolutely free. To get approval for your registration you must have a website already which you will promote using this program.

After your successful registration after the approval they will provide you a back office where you will have your personal id to login into. Here is the headquarters for all the Amazon affiliate businesses. In this login ID you will be able to check all the analytics of your program which includes the number of sales you have made with the help of this program, products which you have successfully sold and many more such things.

You can even track all the links where your program is activate it and this is an important step when it comes to tracking your Analytics. Once you have registered yourself as an Amazon affiliate business then you will be able to sell any of your product from your website and will get a percentage of profit which Amazon will earn from it. If you want to know each and every step right from developing your site to booking profits out of Amazon affiliate websites, then it is recommended to check out http://www.journalreview.org/ blog for getting good ideas from real experimented case studies.

Benefits of using Amazon affiliate program

There are many benefits which your business will get because of this affiliate program offered by Amazon and some of them are as follows:

  • Amazon is well established: Amazon is a well-established that site which is ruling the business world in the internet. People have faith over Amazon and if they see any website associated all included in Amazon they trust it immediately. Because of this you will immediately earn your trust of people because you are affiliated with Amazon.
  • Track whenever you want: as mentioned earlier you will be given a login id where you will be able to track all the information related to your affiliation program. From that Id you can check the status of a particular link and the sales occurred with its help. You can also track the amount of profit which you earned with the help of your affiliation program.
  • Amazon cookie: you should not forget that Amazon cookie is another great benefit which is associated with its affiliated program. There is no denying the fact that it is not as fast as affiliation program but definitely helps you to earn huge profits.
  • Continuous improvement in the traffic: Amazon continuously works to improve the customer traffic on their website and it continuously grows with the help of various strategies availed by it. You get a direct benefit from this feature as the more the traffic will be attracted into the website, the more viewership will be give into your link or product which will help you to improve your profit.

Read More : On-page seo techniques

These are just few benefits which you will get if you are a part of Amazon affiliate business and there are many benefits other than these. It is definitely a good way to improve the sales and to popularise your website.

Top big mistakes to avoid when starting any business

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When starting a business, people tend to make different mistakes that cost them a future success and profits. You should identify and avoid them to succeed.

How to avoid top mistakes when starting your business

When thinking about starting your business, one of the main things that you should do is to check a list of common mistakes and learn how to avoid them. That’s because they can easily sabotage your endeavor and turn it into a big failure.

What are these expensive mistakes?

Top mistakes include the following:

  • Not creating a detailed business plan;
  • Doing what you love;
  • Not doing your market research;
  • Ignoring your competition;
  • No considering your weak and strong sides;
  • Not investing into effective marketing;
  • Not ensuring that you have the required money;
  • Not taking advantage of online marketing;
  • Not realizing what you actually offer.

Not creating an effective business plan

Without a good plan, you have no idea whether your business will succeed in the future. Its basic purpose is to predict both pros and cons of your endeavor. There are different reasons why you need to create it. This process can be time-consuming or confusing and it requires a lot of research, but it will save you a lot of money and time in the future. Read a custom essay on this subject.

Doing what you love

There are many people who like the things that they aren’t good at. That’s why you should do what you are good at and what will bring you money instead of doing what you like. It may not sound as interesting or catchy, but it’s a more effective and profitable approach to business ideas and start-ups. Otherwise, there’s no point in running a business.

Not doing your market research

Nowadays, many people decide to start new businesses even without doing any research. No wonder they end up with a failure and their endeavors collapse. It’s necessary to test your services and products before starting any new business. If you miss out this important step, you won’t understand whether customers will want your offers. Do your deep market research before getting started.

Ignoring your competition

It’s another fatal business mistake made by many people today. Use effective methods and tools to determine what your existing competition is. This knowledge will help you stand out and understand how to beat competitors. Market saturation is another important aspect that you should comprehend. Ensure that there is enough room in your chosen area to offer your products and services to succeed.

Not considering your weak and strong sides

All people have both weak and strong sides. Sometimes, they don’t fit the chosen business model, thus leading to unwanted results. For instance, if you aren’t an outgoing and friendly person with good communication skills, retail businesses aren’t suitable for you. To achieve success, you should know your strengths and weaknesses.

Not realizing what you actually offer

If you want your business ideas to be really successful, it’s necessary to understand what you offer to end up with a unique selling proposition that customers will like.

Not ensuring that you have the required money

Most start-ups won’t make money at all, while others fail to earn good profits for long years. This means that you must have enough funds to live and support yourself while developing your new business. Ensure that you also have the money necessary for your endeavor to grow and survive. Failing to do that is a big mistake when starting any new business. There are many effective solutions that you can use, including small business financing through non-traditional lenders or traditional banks.

Not investing into effective marketing

Potential customers won’t know about your business or where to find it without effective marketing. Unfortunately, there are many small business owners who are reluctant to spending their money on ads. They choose free marketing, which can be efficient, but it takes a lot of time. You need to create a detailed marketing plan, set up successful campaigns, and keep doing that to run a profitable business. Market your products and services even before opening your business.

Not Installing SSL Certificate on Website
Security is most important for every small or big website. If you don’t install SSL, then you make a big mistake. SSL encrypts the information that transfers between server to browser and vice versa. SSL certificate secure your visitors data like usernames, passwords, Credit Card information and more. It improves customer trust ratio and keyword ranking in search engine. If your business website contains multiple sub domains, Wildcard SSL is perfect for you. Buy cheapest Wildcard SSL cerftificates to secure website with sub domains in discounted prices.

Not taking advantage of online marketing

Any successful business must be online. You must have a website for your business to let people find your products and services easily and fast. That’s because more and more consumers are looking for their required goods online. Ensure that your business is listed in popular online directories and market it over the Internet effectively to reach potential customers and increase their base. Use social medial tools to do that too.

If you’re planning to start a new business in the near future, you should understand that it’s a process, not any event. Take enough time to do your research to be able to avoid big mistakes.

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