How do you flip a domain name?- My latest challenge!

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I recently acquired a pretty cool domain name! I have to admit that it was bought on a whim, with a view to flipping. But how do you flip a domain name? My latest challenge awaits, and I will document the journey here!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through one of these links. Please be assured that there is no additional cost to you by doing this. Please read my disclosure for more information. Thank you.

So, how do you flip a domain name? –

What’s involved?


5 steps to flip a domain name

  1. Find a suitable domain name
  2. Purchase, and register the domain name
  3. Value your domain name
  4. Market your domain name
  5. Sell the domain name to your buyer

What’s Mark Zuckerberg got to do with it?


Ever have one of those days when an idea just pops into your head, and won’t go away? I had one of those just recently!

For a while now, I’ve been very into listening to entrepreneurial podcasts when out walking. Entertainment/education, and exercise: two birds, one stone! My choice this particular day, was the “Invest Like A Boss” podcast (all about non-traditional investment opportunities), and today’s subject was something I knew nothing about. The subject, this episode, was The Metaverse!

Really interesting discussion about the future of the Metaverse, and some companies that may be worth a punt, from an investment point of view. It turns out that Facebook is positioning itself to be at the forefront of this Metaverse technology, and will be investing heavily in its development.

During the show, they spoke about the recent interview that Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) had with The Verge, in which he said “We’re basically mediating our lives and our communication through these small, glowing rectangles”.

small glowing rectangles text over a shot of somebody using a cell phone

Hmm! “Small glowing rectangles?”, I thought. He’s referring to mobile/cell phones as “small glowing rectangles”! What a great domain name that would make for a tech/phone/communications niche!

An idea was born! I would see if the domain was available.

Buying a domain name through Wealthy Affiliate


For me, the most logical place to see if the domain was available, was through the platform I already have an account with. That platform, being Wealthy Affiliate. Prior to this, I would have had no idea how to purchase a domain name. My membership allows hosting for up to 10 (own domain) sites, which is fine, as I am not currently using all of these.

The process was very straight forward, and took, literally, just a couple of minutes! 

It was just a question of doing a quick search on the appropriate page on the Wealthy Affiliate platform.

Screen shot from Wealthy Affiliate showing the Domains tab

Now, I know from the recent training I’ve been doing, that a “.com” domain is preferable, and fortunately this was available.

I was now the proud owner of the domain smallglowingrectangles.com The cost? Just $14.99 (£11.16). The question is, could I now flip this domain to make money? Time will tell!

How do you value a domain name?


“Where can I value my domain?”, was the next question. If you Google this search term, you will get pages of options. On the day I did this (27th October 2021) the top result (organic) was…

solvid.co.uk

10 Best Domain Name Value Estimators & Domain Appraisal

This gives a useful starting point!

From here, it is easy to put the details into all of the domain value appraisal tools.

Marketing my domain name


Having bought my domain name, I now need to sell it to complete the process. For this I need to put it “out there” somehow: get it known!

I could have just sat on it for a while, and put it in a domain name auction, but thought that if I built the website on it, I could let the site “age”. Hopefully get it to rank on page 1 on Google. This, I thought may increase the domain value, hence I went ahead and published the site.

This should also gave me the chance to put up a landing page to attract potential buyers.

The other way I intended to market this domain was through Pinterest, creating visbility through pinning.

Pinterest screen shot - someone tapping keys on a cell phone

Timeline of a domain flipping process!


Person holding cell phone. Screen showing domain purchase date.

Timeline of a domain flip………

  • 10th October 2021 – Listened to the podcast about the Metaverse

  • 10th October 2021 – Domain purchased

  • 10th October 2021 – Website build

  • 12th October 2021 – Landing page published – What are small glowing rectangles?

  • 12th October 2021 – Post published – The domain smallglowingrectangles.com is for sale!

  • 13th October 2021 – Landing page indexed by Google

  • 18th October 2021 – smallglowingrectangles.com is position 2, 1st page of Google!

  • 28th October 2021 Facebook changes its name to Meta, to focus on the Metaverse

  • 3rd November 2021 – Found this inspirational post on the Wealthy Affiliate platform

  • 6th November 2021 – Ranking for keyword “Glowing Rectangles”, Yahoo position 5 page 1

  • 7th November – Small Glowing Rectangles ranks 1st position on Google, Bing, and Yahoo

  • 7th November 2021 –  1st message arrived through the contact form….. Its SPAM! (update 21/07/2022)

  • 21st July 2022 – To date, #459 spam messages received  through the contact form! (update 21/07/2022)

Jaaxy rank tool showing smallglowingrectangles.com ranking position 1 of Google, Bing, and Yahoo searches

So, did I sell my domain name? –

 (And how much for?)


The short answer so far, is NO,… not yet!  – (as of today’s date = 27th October 2021)

To be fair though, I literally only just bought it a couple of weeks ago!

I am in no rush to sell it, as I would like some time for the quote from the podcast to be picked up by other blogs, podcasts, and news channels. This, hopefully, will create a bit of a buzz, throw up some interest, and Google searches for “Small Glowing Rectangles”.

I have no actual factual basis for my theory: At this point it is a bit of a punt!

Was it worth doing?


So, how do you flip a domain name? Is it worth doing?

For me, this was a bit of an experiment, done on the spur of the moment! I was curious to find out about the process, and see if I could come out with some extra money in the bank.

Because I hadn’t paid a massive amount for the domain registration, and the hosting cost was negligible, because I was already paying a subscription to Wealthy Affiliate anyway, it was worth the small investment.

I’m no flipping expert, but am enjoying the process, and learning how to flip a domain! 

 

What next?


At this stage, I still own smallglowingrectangles.com, and there is no conclusion to the flipping process currently.

I though it would be a good idea, rather than have a separate post for a future update, to just add further developments to this existing post. I think this would give better continuity.

For this reason, I will update this post as things progress, and will highlight any updates, for clarity and transparency.

 

Conclusion


Patience, my friend, patience!

This flipping business has a way to go yet until it is concluded!

If you are interested in following this journey, please pop back occasionally to see further updates.

And, if you have any experience, or domain flipping tips and advice, please Iet me know.

Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

 

Wishing you much success……….

From The Desk Of THE INFINITE AFFILIATE

 

Related content….

 Wealthy Affiliate platform review

WEALTHY AFFILIATE REVIEW (2020) – Affiliate Marketing For Dummies Or Experts?

Global Money Line Review | Online Lead Generation

About the author

Colin Hitchman - Author

Having frequently thought about the possibility of leaving the “DAY JOB”, I have discovered a plethora of opportunities to work from home. In this site, I aim to explore what it is possible to achieve from someone who is computer-literate, but has no background in actually working online.

10 responses to “How do you flip a domain name?- My latest challenge!”

  1. ebor Avatar
    ebor

    This is really a cool part of owning a website you gave just posted on. Flipping a domain name sounds really cool and fun from all I can take back home from your article. It shows how important getting the exact website name can be.

    Thanks a lot for this wonderful post.

    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Ebor, glad you liked it. Never underestimate the importance of a good brand name! 

      Thank you for your interest. 

  2. Levered Income Avatar
    Levered Income

    Colin,

    Thanks for the informative article on domain flipping – a great “digital nomad” business and a great way to lever efforts and results. Using the news and new business directions by larger companies present great opportunities for new domain names. Creating a landing page to convert traffic into sales is also a great hands-on approach.

    Other value-adds for the domain flipping model I have done are creating logos and brand concepts for the domains as well as building websites selling those digital products.

    For strict domain resales, I use GoDaddy/ Afternic to market and sell the domains (and to avoid dealing with the purchase inquiries, transaction completion, escrow, etc etc.). Zero effort other than researching and buying the domain names for your portfolio. They do take a 30% commission, but getting $5,000 for a domain you paid $10.00 for originally makes it worthwhile.

    Good luck!

    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Levered Income, thanks very much for sharing your preferred routes for domain name flipping. As I am new to this, I really welcome other people’s experience. 

      If I could get a four figure return, that would be absolutely brilliant! 

  3. Fana Milandzi Avatar

    Thank you for enlightening me on this subject . I am gaining something on this subject. As a new man, you are giving me some ideas .

    Your content is easy to follow and educational. I like the way you put your subjects. Your grammar is well written , It teaches one that a well-researched niche can go a long way. For sure I am learning from people like you . I like when you touch on keywords .

    Since I arrived here in WA I learn every day . The community here is helpful .Although I am struggling I will get there

    1. admin Avatar

      Fana Milandzi, Thanks for your comments, and I’m glad my content is helpful to you.

      The community at Wealthy Affiliate are incredible! If you have any questions regarding things you may not quite understand yet, they are always quick to respond with solutions to any problem.

      All the best with your blogging journey.

  4. Daniel Tshiyole Avatar
    Daniel Tshiyole

    Not a lot of people know this, but it is actually one of the most challenging tasks. Choosing a domain name that is catchy and will draw the attention from a lot of individuals. I struggled to pick a domain name until I settled with premium Protein Shakes. Let me know what you think of that domain name 

    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Daniel, “Challenging”, absolutely! the internet has been around for a couple of decades now, and it is hard to find a decent domain that is still available. Sometimes you have to think outside the box a little! I think your choice is a good one. 

      All the best with it.

  5. Lizzy Stabel Avatar
    Lizzy Stabel

    I had no clue that I could make money from flipping a domain. Reading about all this on your blog post, made me realize that it doesn’t seem hard at all to flip a domain and that I would just need some patience. Am I seeing this correctly? Also, Wealthyaffiliate seems like a good company to host my future domains, so thanks for the tips.

    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Lizzy, I am very much a beginner at this, as well! Someone else in the Wealthy Affiliate community has had some progress with this, so I am hoping I can mirror this success. As for timescale, I’m going to wait and see what happens. I have not set any deadlines. 

      I love the fact that you can launch/host 10 domains/sites with Wealthy Affiliate – very cost effective!

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