Domaining MBA Monday: 3 Signs You’re Getting Off-Track

Domain Investing can be can incredibly inspiring, so inspiring that new investors often have a hard time focusing on one thing at a time. This usually leads to project overload, or domain overload, both of which could lead you off-track and into the red. Remember, if you’re spending more money than you’re making you haven’t started a business, instead, sadly you have created a money pit, stay off-track long enough and that money pit will only grow.

So I thought it was time to put together a short list of common signs you can look for to know if you’ve gone off-track. If this is happening to you, don’t feel bad, it’s happened to all of us, the key is getting focused and getting back on track. So look below and if you’re exemplifying any of the signs below, take a step back and see how you can course correct:

  1. You are buying domains in a category that you’ve never sold before. Buying domains can easily get out of control. Maybe you found that when you add the words “In School” to a domain there are tons of possibilities so you start buying, FoundInSchool.com and BuyInSchool.com, etc. The list goes on and you keep buying even though you’ve never sold a domain in this category. Maybe you start buying .CC domains and keep buying even though you can’t seem to sell a single one. Stick to what you know when you’re getting started and if your portfolio is starting to fill up with domains dissimilar from anything you’ve ever sold before, it’s time to re-evaluate what you’re buying.
  2. You are developing five or more domains at once. Domain Development can be a lot of fun and as well as a great way to create passive income. Here’s the thing though, you really can’t build-out more than a few names at once. The reason is that development doesn’t mean just throwing a site up, it means doing the things to a site that are required after it’s built, this is what creates traffic. If you’re building too many sites at once you probably don’t have the time to follow-up on the SEO-side which means you’ll probably end-up with a bunch of developed sites, but no traffic, and no traffic means no revenue. Stick to building one or two sites at a time and really make those a success before you move-onto any others.
  3. You are spending more money on expired domains than you are making selling them. This has to be one of the most common ways I see new investors get off-track. You get inspired by expired domains, and start staying up late every night buying different names that you’re sure you can flip for big bucks. The problem is, you’re not. Don’t keep repeating something that doesn’t work and remember, many expired domains are someone else’s junk. Be incredibly selective when buying expired domains and if what you’re buying isn’t selling, take a step back and examine whether it’s the quality of what your buying, or the methods your using to sell. Either way, don’t buy more expired domains until you can make some money off of the ones that you’ve already bought.

Of course there are more than three ways to know that you’re getting off-track. Feel free to share your own tips below or comment on any of mine. If you find yourself off-track, congratulations, identifying that you are off track is the first step to getting back on track!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton