Weekend Domain Projects #1: Get Your Portfolio Organized

53538233_18be30b03f

A reader gave me a great idea for a new weekly series and I thought the idea was so darn good I’d make it happen! The suggestion was:

“I would love to see a series on your blog about things I can do each weekend to help move my business forward.”

This particular reader is a part-time Domainer who mentioned earlier in their email that since they work during the week and have a wife and kids the weekend is the only time they really get a full day to focus. So I’ve decided to bring you a new series for the weekend warrior in all of us, Weekend Domain Projects. So if you find that you have the most time on the weekends, this series will hopefully help you optimize your time, ready to rock? Let’s get started!

To kick things off I thought I’d start with one of the most important weekend projects you can do, get your domain portfolio organized. I have written posts in the past about filtering your domain portfolio however this is really better suited for determining which names have the most liquidity or development potential right now. Organizing your portfolio means building a system that makes it easy to keep track of what you’re buying, selling, and monetizing, and most importantly, if you are hitting the goals you’ve set for yourself.

Below is a step-by-step process for getting your portfolio organized and making sure you’re staying on track. It’s still early in the year so the sooner you get organized, the better. So fire up Excele or Google Docs and let’s start organizing!

Put all of your names in one spreadsheet – start by putting all of your domains together in one spreadsheet. Names can easily get spread across multiple registrars so having them all in one place is important. Make a column right next to “Domain Name” called “Registrar” where you can easily keep track of which registrar each name is with and if you want feel free to add a column for “Expiration Date” as well.
  1. Add a column for “purchase price” – this one might take all day but you should do it some day, add the purchase price for every domain you own. It is so important to know this yet once you have enough domains this can easily be forgotten, make sure it’s on your spreadsheet.
  2. Add a column for “purpose” – yes, every name you buy should have a purpose. This could be develop, monetize, flip, or hold but make sure you know why you bought each name in your portfolio.
  3. Add a column for “goal” – every domain needs a purpose and a goal. If you bought a domain to develop or monetize, how much do you want it to make and by what date? If you bought a name to sell, when do you want to sell it by and what price are you expecting?
  4. Add a column for “Notes” – last but not least create a notes column to keep track of your progress. If you hit a goal, highlight the cell in green, if you’re still shooting for a goal highlight it in yellow.

Now every weekend you can spend 20-30 minutes looking at your portfolio and making sure you are hitting your goals. You’ll start to see your portfolio in a whole new way and those crappy names that you thought were so great will start to stick out like a sore thumb. While making this spreadsheet for the first time could take a while, managing it on a weekly basis shouldn’t and will help you stay focused and make sure you’re buying domains for a good reason.

Feeling more organized? Good! Look out for your second weekend domain project next weekend!

Photo Credit: iBjorn via Compfight cc

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton