Picking the Right Domains to Develop

Have you ever had an experience that gives you a completely new perspective on the world? This happened to me this last week at the Affiliate Convention and I’m still collecting all my thoughts. One of my biggest learning experiences is picking the RIGHT domains to develop. While I do have 120 domains developed out of the roughly 600 domains in my portfolio only about half of them make a good passive income for my business. I’ve always just considered this the luck of the draw – after the convention I have some new thoughts here.

Picking the right domains to develop is the key and it’s not as random as I thought. Okay – so I never thought it was random – I’ve always focused on getting my domains ranked on the first page of Google. For a business this is essential and having Linton Investments on the first page of Google for Domain Investing has been a big win for my business. However, for your own domains being on the first page of Google might not provide the returns your looking for because you may be in a niche that doesn’t pay well. This is something I really never paid much attention to.

Here’s an example that I think most Domainers can relate to. You’re sitting at home watching the news and hear about a growing trend – you run to your computer and start buying domains with this keyword. You think to yourself – if this trend takes-off I’ll make a fortune! What you might not be thinking about is if there is a way for you to actively monetize the trend outside of Adsense. As Adsense revenues continue to decline Affiliate products will become more and more important. If there is no easy way to sell a product to a visitor on your site then you’ll just be relying on Adsense and might miss-out on the goldmine you expected.

I saw a special on CNN last year about the growing popularity of “Coal Stoves” and “Coal Furnaces” and thought I could make some good money in the space. So the trend is a good one – people were actively buying coal furnaces and stoves to save on their heating costs…but they weren’t buying them online. It makes sense – would you buy a several hundred pound item online? So while I hit the trend I missed the revenue potential.

Picking the right domains to develop will dictate how much you can make with the domain. So, after the conference I’ve examined my most successful domains and realized “they are all in niches that have been easy to monetize online.” My best domains are those that sell affiliate products in niches that visitors are actively looking to buy online. Now it’s Christmas time so people are looking for gifts online – so be relevant and pick your top five or ten retail domains, develop them and you could claim your piece of the Christmas shopping craze. December is the biggest retail sales month of the year – are you getting your share of the revenue? Pick the right domains to develop and you can!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton