I came across an excellent article on affiliate marketing that I wanted to pass along.  It’s well worth the read as it gives you a basic yet solid understanding of affiliate marketing.

Let’s take a realistic look at affiliate programs, what they can and can’t do for your business and how to maximize your chances of creating a successful, long-term business with them.

WHAT IS AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM?

An affiliate program (also known as a reseller, associate, referral or partnership program) is essentially a revenue-sharing arrangement whereby you, the affiliate, receive payment from the owner of a product or service that you promote on their behalf.

Affiliate programs are an excellent way for the new internet entrepreneur to start an online business.

TYPES OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

There are various types of affiliate programs.

The most simple involves you, the affiliate, placing a banner ad, graphic or text link at your site which is linked to the site of the business you are promoting. This link is coded with your unique affiliate ID so that the site visitor is recorded at the target site as having originated from your site, thereby allowing you to be credited with the sale.

Payment is generally a fixed percentage of the sale value (commission) or “pay per click”, where the affiliate is paid a certain amount for every time a site visitor clicks on the link at the affiliate’s site, whether or not a sale is made.

The more sophisticated affiliate programs are multi-tier and allow the affiliate to earn commissions not only on the traffic they directly refer to the target site but also a proportion of sales generated by their sub-affiliates.

BENEFITS OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

The greatest benefit of affiliate programs is that when you are just starting out in your own online business you don’t have to worry about creating your own product or service. You just promote someone else’s and get a share of the revenue pie for your efforts.

You also don’t have to concern yourself with warehousing, transport or logistics headaches. All of this is handled by the business whose products/services you are promoting. All you need concentrate on is driving traffic to that business’s website. This means that a high proportion of your revenue is profit.

The owner of the product/service is also responsible for collecting payment, customer service and the myriad other details that come up on a day to day basis in running the business.

DISADVANTAGES OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

The main and obvious disadvantage of affiliate programs is that it is the owner of the product/service who earns the lion’s share of the profit on the sale.

You’re working on commission. You will NEVER earn by way of affiliate program commissions as much as you can earn by way of profits from producing and selling your own product/service.

As a result, affiliate programs represent a high opportunity cost when you consider what you could earn if you instead channeled the time and energy you spend on promoting affiliate programs into creating and promoting your own product/service.

For this reason, it does not make sound business sense to rely solely on affiliate program income for the longer term growth of your business.

Instead, think of them as a way of dipping your toe in the water when you’re first getting started, and a nice little sideline once you’ve created your own product/service. Do NOT build your business around affiliate programs with the intention this will always be the backbone of your business. You’ll be stunting your own growth if you do.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT AFFILIATE PROGRAMS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

So, keeping in mind what affiliate programs can and can’t do for your business, let’s turn to what you should look for when choosing an affiliate program or programs to promote in your business.

Synergistic Products/Services

First off, and this is a cardinal rule, only promote those programs which will allow you to create synergies with your site. This means selecting programs that naturally complement the subject matter of your site and that will therefore be of interest and relevance to your site visitors. This will ensure your prospects (ie your site visitors) are pre-qualified which will result in a relatively higher conversion ratio (the ratio of visitors to purchases) than would be the case if your traffic is untargeted (which will be the case if you promote unrelated products and services from your site.)

Quality In All Things

Keeping the need for synergy uppermost in mind, look for quality programs first and foremost. The last thing you want to waste your time, money and reputation on is a shoddy product or service. There are just too many quality programs out there to settle for anything less.

Stability of Company

Look for a company that’s been around for a while and that’s reputable and stable (both financially and in its management). Any reputable company will have full contact details readily available so do your research.

References

Look for testimonials and references from other affiliates. If the company you’re interested is not forthcoming when it comes to putting you in touch with other affiliates, move on.

Affiliate Agreement

Look for a professional, considered and detailed affiliate agreement (contract). This shows that the company is serious about its business.

Watch out for exclusivity clauses and other restraints. Some affiliate agreements will require that you not promote competing businesses’ products and services. This is not to say you should avoid such agreements. As a general rule, it is your interests not to promote competing programs anyway. Just be aware of what the agreement says on the subject to avoid getting yourself into hot water.

Look also for an agreement that treats spammers harshly. This protects not only the company but other affiliates as well. The last thing you or any other reputable affiliate needs is to have your reputation and the reputation of the product/service you are promoting besmirched by these sorts of tactics.

High Commissions

Promoting someone else’s affiliate program necessarily requires that you divert traffic away from your site and towards someone else’s. Make sure you’re properly compensated with a high commission structure. And be sure to set up your link so that when the visitor clicks on it, a new browser window is opened for the target site. This at least keeps your site in front of the visitor so they can go back to your site once they’ve finished at the site your link has taken them to.

Lifetime Commissions

Look for affiliate programs that will credit you with not only THIS sale but all other sales the customer may make in the future. Many programs are set up so that the customer is identified as “yours” so that when the customer returns to the target site in three months time, the sale is recorded as having been generated by you.

Residual Commissions

Include programs that offer residual commissions in your portfolio. Good examples are webhosting services, autoresponder services and the like where customers sign up for a continuous service that requires periodic, regular payments. You receive periodic, regular commissions as a result.

Tracking of Commissions

Look for programs that allow you real-time access to your stats so you can keep easy track of your commissions.

Reliability of Payment

When checking with affiliate references, find out what the business’s record is on paying out commissions. If they’re slow or there appears to be a pattern of problems, keep looking.

Frequency of Payment

Make a note of payment schedules too. Some programs pay weekly, some monthly, some quarterly. Some only pay once you accumulate commissions of a certain amount. None of these arrangements are necessarily good or bad in and of themselves. Just be sure you know what to expect.

Programs that Require Payment Up Front

Two words: MOVE ON!

Affiliate Support

Finally, take a look at what support the business offers its affiliates to make sales. Do they provide resources such as sample ads, banners, logos and the like? Do they provide useful advice about maximizing your sales? A good affiliate program provides affiliates with a LOT of support in these areas.

MAKING MONEY FROM AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

OK, now you know what to look for in an affiliate program. Here’s how to maximize your sales of those products and services and, therefore, your commissions:

Get Your Own Website

No ifs, no buts. DON’T rely on the you-beaut self-replicated job the company provides all its affiliates. Link to that site from your main site.

Get Your Own Domain Name

This presents a much more professional image. Many people won’t give the time of day to a business that thinks so little of its prospects that the owner won’t shell out 70 bucks for a domain name. So mean business and look like it.

Get Traffic To Your Site (Duh!)

As a rough guide, you will need at least 500 targeted unique visitors a day to your site to make reasonable money from affiliate programs.

You Must Have A Site That Will Attract Repeat Visitors

If your website is nothing more than a splash page consisting of little else other than banners for umpteen different affiliate programs, forget it. Your site must be worthy of your visitor’s time and interest before you can even begin to think about converting that visitor into a paying customer. So create a real site with real content that will keep them coming back for more.

Personal Testimonials

A personal testimonial will result in more sales than a mere link or advertisement. So take the time and trouble to write a personal endorsement of the product or service you are promoting. And, of course, it goes without saying that in order to write a personal endorsement, you must know that of which you speak. NEVER promote a program you haven’t first purchased yourself. If you don’t think enough of your program to invest in it, how do you expect to persuade others to?

Promote With Your Sig File

Include a link to your site in the signature of every email you send.

Promote In Your Own Ezine

Finally, if you’re not already publishing your own ezine or newsletter to stay in touch with your site visitors, start. It’s a great way to promote not only your site but also the affiliate programs you promote from your site.

MAKING SERIOUS MONEY FROM AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

The only way of making SERIOUS money from affiliate programs is by creating your own product or service and recruiting affiliates to sell for YOU.

The affiliate program phenomenon is one of the Internet’s true success stories. It provides a toe-hold for the would-be internet entrepreneur to begin a real, live business of his or her very own. But the real beauty of affiliate programs lies not in what they can do for you, as an affiliate, but what they can do for you, as a recruiter of affiliates for your own program. By all means jump on the bandwagon and start promoting other people’s products to get your start. But don’t wait too long to start developing your own product line. There is a ready-made salesforce numbering in the millions ready and waiting to sell it for you.

Elena Fawkner is editor of Home-Based Business Online. Best business ideas and opportunities for your home-based or online business.

So, I have this dilemma.  A dilemma that I’m sure most domain owners (or domainers) face at some point in their domaining career. What the heck should I do with all my domains!?  There are a lot of great things you can do depending on the time, patience and budget you are willing to work with. Things such as:

Domain Parking

Mini-Sites

Ecommerce Store

Wordpress Sites

Domain parking is great if you have a lot of good domains with natural type-in traffic because you will likely generate decent revenue for all the PPC’s that you receive.  The only caveat is that there is a lot of talk about how the PPC earnings have gone down likely due to the economy and other factors.  I personally think people have gotten more technically savvy and realize what a PPC site is and avoid clicking on the links.  

If you’re new to domaining, some of the places you can park your domains are Sedo.com, Skenzo.com, Parked.com, TrafficZ.com, WhyPark.com, ParkingRevolution.com, or ActiveAudience.com,.  Some of these sites have strict requirements regarding their acceptance of your domain portolio such as you must currently be earning a certain amount of revenue through your current parking provider or you must have at least 1000 domains, etc.  I believe Sedo is the only one on my list above that does not have any requirements while the others do.  (Sadly, I tried to get a couple hundred domains parked at Parked.com and I was rejected probably because my domains were not of the caliber they were looking for so for now I stick with the one that still loves me, Sedo.  :)  )  

However, I’m considering WhyPark.com.  Why? While it’s one of the few places where you PAY to park your domain, you have the greatest customization through them.  You can add images (theirs or yours), relevant unique content, SEO, custom pages, etc.   You can even ad your own ads!  You can park up to 100 domains for $100 so that essentially costs you $1 per domain if you have 100 domains to park!  (Sorry Sedo!  I still love ya though!)  :)

So, with that said about parking domains and stagnating revenues, there has been a lot of hype of a new way to develop domains called mini-sites.  This is a neat concept but a fairly new one so I’m going to wait on this until the results are in.  The concept being that you purchase a mini-site for your domain from a company such as MiniSites.com or AEIOU.com.  The site or sites that you have created are usually a 1-page up to a  5-page site with a few articles written for that sites keywords and, of course, advertising so you can earn revenue.  Costs vary but can range from $80-$250 per site from the two sites I mentioned.   I’ve read mixed reviews on these especially regarding the actual results of their SEO generating a true increase in traffic.  If that’s the case, then there’s always room for improvement and with a little time, who knows…maybe they can achieve true SEO perfection.

E-commerce is one of the more time consuming ways to develop a website; that is if you’re going to go the traditional route (eg. create website, get inventory, market your site and then sell/ship products).  If you’re planning on creating multiple e-commerce sites at this level, then I’d have to say you’re nuts! It could be possible even if you hire a full-time shipping staff and leased a warehouse for your inventory, but even then, having just one e-commerce store would be enough of a management workout!  One of the other ways that you could have your own e-commerce store with minimal management and no inventory is to have an Amazon Associate Store.  I wrote a couple of posts about doing this if you’re interested: A great way to setup and online store and Instructions for setting on an Amazon Associate store.   I’ve got a couple of AOM stores setup and plan on creating a couple more but need to work on the SEO for them (gosh, it seems that darn SEO is a full-time job in itself!)

Lastly, you can setup simple Wordpress sites.  Those are probably the easiest to mass produce on your own.  This is what I’m considering doing but WhyPark is still in the running.  

Wordpress pros - free, lots of free templates

Wordpress cons - time, time and time (time to setup which isn’t too bad but the time it takes to maintain articles is going to be painful not to mention all the SEO that needs to be done for every site), plus I would have to pay for hosting all my sites.

WhyPark pros - I will have more free time then compared to the Wordpress option (even if I spent time customizing my sites through WhyPark) 

WhyPark cons - it will cost me $1 per domain and I probably won’t know how good their SEO truly is until AFTER I sign up.

So for me the bottom line is how much is my time worth and which option is likely to generate a nice monthly revenue in the long run.

I finally installed the Associate-O-Matic software on my website.  The installation is very easy. It seemed a little intimidating but it really turned out to be straight forward.  I do have a computer background so I have a good understanding of system administration so that might have made a difference for me but I hope you’ll find it as simple as I did.  I went ahead and modified the installation instruction from Associate-O-Matic to hopefully make it more user friendly.  I encourage you to try the free 30-day trial and see for yourself!

The website I created with Associate-O-Matic is http://www.identifygreen.com/shop.php. It’s not fully configured yet.  I think that is the more difficult (and time consuming part)!  

Don’t forget, you need 4 things :

1)   domain name (WebMom Domains has this.)

2)  hosting with Apache and PHP 4 or 5 (WebMom Domains has this also!)  :)

3)  Amazon Associate ID (free and quick to signup)

4) Download Associate-O-Matic software

 

Installing Associate-O-Matic on your website

1.	Unzip the files contained in the Associate-O-Matic ZIP file to your local hard drive. Make sure that you retain the original directory structures. You will want to see the /AOM directory after you unzip the files.             TIP: To unzip .ZIP files you need a program such as WinZip.  You probably have a program on your computer that will unzip this file.  Try double-clicking the ZIP file.  If you have a Zip program, your computer will know what to do with it.
2..	Open your FTP client software (or use the control panel provided by your web host) and upload the Associate-O-Matic files to your server (web host).             TIP: Some FTP client software examples are FileZilla, CuteFtp and SmartFTP. I use FileZilla.  My FileZilla FTP client application looks like this:   See the circles in red?  This is where I initially type the needed information so I can transfer or upload the files:           Host (your domain name)           Username (your FTP username given to you by your hosting provider)           Password (your FTP password given to you by your hosting provider)           Port (is normally 21 unless you are using a secure shell FTP such as SFTP) Click the Quickconnect button and you will get connected to your hosting account (aka server). Now, on the left side of your FileZilla application where it says Local Site, change to the directory where you unzipped your Associate-O-Matic download on your computer. First, upload (FTP) the encrypted PHP files in BINARY mode which are: shop.php admin.php aom.php To set to BINARY mode on FileZilla, go to the Menu Bar and click Transfer –> Transfer Mode –> Binary Looking at the Local Site using FileZilla, select the 3 PHP files mentioned above (hold down the CTRL as you select each so they all remain highlighted).  You can right-click the highlighted files and select Upload -or- you can drag-and-drop them into your Remote Site folder. Now, you can go back and change the transfer mode to AUTO by clicking Transfer –> Transfer Mode –> AUTO.  (By setting your FTP software to AUTO, it will decide the mode to use whether it be ASCII or BINARY for the remaining upload.) Now, in your Local Site folder, select the AOM directory and copy the entire directory to your Remote Site by either using the Right-Click –> Upload method -or- drag-and-drop the AOM directory from Local Site into Remote Site. By selecting the /AOM directory, you should be downloading all of the following files below.  /aom/[all the files] /aom/images/[all the image files] /aom/cache/ Ideally, you would FTP the files to your main public site root directory. Typically, most hosting providers have you log directly into the Site Root folder so you shouldn’t have to worry about changing directories on the Remote Site.  Just make sure you don’t overwrite any of your existing non-AOM files if they happen to be named the same. Example Store URLs: http://www.yoursite.com/shop.php (best choice, shortest URL) http://www.yoursite.com/dir1/dir2/shop.php (also works, longer URL) I used my Domain Name identifygreen.com.  So, my store URL is http://www.identifygreen.com/shop.php.  Check out the #7 section of this article for directions on how to change the URL so you don’t have to type in shop.php at the end. The shop.php and related files can be placed anywhere on your website directories so long as the hierarchy of Associate-O-Matic files remains the same in relation to themselves.
3	Set the permissions for provided files/directories.             Normally this can be done by right-clicking on the file or directory from your FTP client. NOTE: Windows users should contact their web hosting provider to determine the best method for changing file/directory permissions. Most likely they will provide a mechanism to do this within their control panel.   The permissions for Linux/Unix users are as follows and can vary from web host to web host: NOTE:  You may need to modify your permissions beyond the below recommended settings. You’ll know because Associate-O-Matic will give you cues that you still need to write and/or read enable a particular folder such as /aom. For example if 775 doesn’t work you may need to make it 777. Okay, so using FileZilla, you would Right-Click each file or directory below and select File Permissions and make sure the Numeric Value is set to the numbers below.  (Don’t worry about the CHMOD part - that’s geek talk for linux folks!)  :) shop.php  [CHMOD 644] admin.php  [CHMOD 644] aom.php  [CHMOD 777] /aom directory  [CHMOD 755] /aom/images directory  [CHMOD 755] /aom/cache directory  [CHMOD 755] all other permissions should be fine by default I checked all my files and the only one I had to change was AOM.PHP.  It was set to 644 and I changed the Numeric Value to 777 and clicked OK.
4.	You can rename your shop.php and admin.php files or leave them as is.  I kept mine the same.             If you rename the files, be sure to keep the .php extension on the end. Also be sure to open the file in a text editor (e.g. Note Pad) and edit the portion at the top where it says “shop.php” and change it to the new name you’re using. The same goes for the admin.php file if you rename it. For example, instead of: http://www.yourdomain.com/shop.php You could name it: http://www.yourdomain.com/best_store_ever.php
5.	Now that all of the files are on your server, it’s time to open the Associate-O-Matic Control Panel.             This would be the admin.php file or the new name if you renamed it. For example, in a web browser open the address replacing “yourdomain” with your domain name: http://www.yourdomain.com/admin.php Another example of an admin URL is what I have for my site http://www.identifygreen.com/admin.php. NOTE:  The first time you open the Control Panel, you’ll be asked to enter your login username and password. Once set, you’ll be asked for this login on all subsequent visits. If you ever decide to change your login, simply delete the file in the /aom directory called cfg.login.php. You’ll then have a chance to reset the password. You can also reset the login from within the control panel.
6.	Once you enter the Control Panel, you’ll see a number of settings.             At this point you’ll want to make sure you enter your correct Amazon Associate ID (Amazon Section) and the other information for your site (Site Section).  It’s the first screen to come up so make sure to get it in there right away and click Save All Settings. Don’t be overwhelmed by the number of customizations you have at your disposal. You can actually save your settings at this point just to make sure everything works. Or go ahead and enter some more of your site details and then save. In the Control Panel Settings section of our online documentation, we describe in much more detail each of the various settings. You can login to your Control Panel at any time and update your settings.
7.	If you would like your domain name to point to your store page (shop.php), please read this post in the Tips & Tricks section of our forum:             http://www.associate-o-matic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=52 One suggestion would be to use Domain Forwarding where your Domain Name is held.  For example, if you purchased your Domain name from WebMom Domains, you would:           Log into your WebMom Domain account           go to your Domain Manager           check the Box in front of the domain you want to forward           click the Forward button (green arrow icon)           check the Enable Forwarding box           type in the URL for your website (eg. http://www.YOURDOMAIN.com/shop.php)           click 301 Moved Permanently           click OK.  That’s it!  (Note: It may take a few minutes for this to take effect.)
8.	Congratulations! You’re done. Lastly, view your store from within a web browser.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you see a blank screen or errors, please see our troubleshooting section. ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you are using an Amazon Associate ID that matches the locale of your store otherwise you won’t receive credit for sales from Amazon.

I just ran across a website that allows you to create a custom Amazon Associate storefront in literally minutes!  It’s called Associate-O-Matic.

What’s an Amazon Associate store you ask?  It’s your own online store featuring Amazon products.  When people purchase Amazon products through your online store you can earn up to 15% referral fees through Amazon.

All you need is a Domain Name and a Hosting account with Apache and PHP (WebMom Domains has both for its hosting so you don’t have to worry about it if you sign up with us!).  

You can sign up for Associate-O-Matic’s Lite or Full Version.  The difference between the two is that the Lite version is FREE while the Full version has more functionality.  They have a comparison checklist for both versions on their website that you can check out.  You can also sign up for a 30-day Full version trial which is what I will be doing.  I’ll report back to you on the ease of setup when I’m done!

Besides needing a domain name and a hosting account, you will also need to become an Amazon Associate which is easy to do.  The sign up is FREE and once you create an account, you can use your Amazon Associate ID and build your online store with Associate-O-Matic.  Actually, if you sign up for an Amazon Associate account, you will find there are many other opportunites to generate revenue.  I will be adding those ideas later…

Okay, now let’s talk making money with those PPC’s as a content publisher (yes, that’s the terminology just in case you haven’t heard it before).  :)  Let’s talk specifically about Google AdSense (and keep in mind that there are similar programs out there such as Yahoo’s Yahoo! Publisher Network and so forth).  If you have a website or blog and are interested in displaying Google ads, you would do the following:

1.       Make sure your website or blog is setup and running and has some content because Google will actually have someone review your site before approving your AdSense account request.

2.       Decide whether you need a Business or Personal account before signing up.

3.       Now, you’re ready to sign up for a Google AdSense account! Yippee! (It generally takes 2-3 days to get approved but sometimes it can take up to a week so plan accordingly.)

4.       Once you are approved, you can log into your Google AdSense account and customize how your ads will look on your website and then copy the HTML code onto your website or blog.  You can use this code on as many websites as you want as long as your websites are valid and acceptable to Google’s program policy.

It’s a good idea to review Google AdSense program policies as well as their Help Center.  They won’t hesitate to disable your account if they feel something was violated.  For example, you do NOT want to encourage anyone (friends, family, etc) to click on your Google ads!  That’s called an Invalid Click and it’s a big no-no!  Big brother is watching so follow the rules.    I will be adding more details about Google AdSense later this week.

So,  once you get your account setup with the contextual advertising program of your choice (Google AdSense, Yahoo! Publisher Network, Microsoft Ad Center, etc), you can start earning revenue from those ads on your website or blog.

PPC or Pay Per Click is a form of advertising on the internet particularly on search engines such as Google or Yahoo but also commonly used on websites containing content such as blogs.  PPC’s are everywhere.  You’ve seen it when you Google.  Take a look next time you’re on Google - type in a search for something like “designer jeans” and when the search results are returned, you’ll notice that there are “Sponsored Links” above the organic results on the top left and also vertically down the right side.  These Sponsored Links or Sponsored Ads are paid advertisements.

People advertising on Google pay them every time someone clicks on their ads or Sponsored Links.  This type of advertising is called Google AdWords.  On Yahoo, it would be called Yahoo! Search Marketing.  And there are many more places where this type of advertising takes place but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll just focus on Google.

These people advertising on Google also bid on the keywords (the search terms that people type in such as “designer jeans”).  For example, let’s say you are a denim store called XYZ Jeans and you want to pay for advertisements on Google.  You would:

1.       Create a Google AdWords account (takes 5 minutes)

2.       Create  an Ad Campaign if you haven’t already done so (typically it’s 2-3 lines of something catchy that will entice people to click on your Sponsored Link).  This Ad Campaign will show up anytime someone types in your keywords (see next line).

3.       Assigned Keywords to your Ad Campaign related to your business (this is where you bid on keywords and where it can get costly for your business if you’re not careful - there are likely to be major companies you are bidding against who have bigger budgets than you).  The bottom line is the more you pay for these keywords, the closer you get to having your ad displayed on the first page.

So, now you have an Ad Campaign running on Google:  a user comes along on Google and types the search terms which happen to be the keywords you paid for (eg. “designer jeans”) and voila!  You’ve probably paid a hefty price for those keywords and now your Ad or Ad Campaign showed up on the first page!  Woo hoo!  The user clicks on it and gets taken to your website and Google deducts the cost of the bid or CPC (Cost Per Click) from your Google AdWords account .

But you’re saying that good to know but I want to make money not pay for those darn Per Per Whatevers!  Okay, then.   Check out Part 2 of this article.

Domaining in the simplest terms is the buying and selling of domain names.  For domainers (people who buy and sell domain names), a domain name is essentially like an internet real estate market.  Like the real estate or stock market, the domain market can fluctuate depending on the economy as well as other circumstances.  There are trends and the serious domainers follow them closely.  Just like stocks and real estate (and we all know you’ve heard this phrase), you want to buy low and sell high.  Most domainers have hundreds and sometimes thousands of domain names in their portfolio.  Generally, they consist of a mix of new and after market domains.  They hold onto them until they feel it’s the right time to sell and especially if there is a person willing to pay market value or more for it. 

 

In the “old” days (late 80’s to early 90’s), dot com’s were freely available and many domainers during the early years bought all the premium domain names thinking that someone would pay top dollar down the road for them.  Of course, during that time there were many people that thought these folks were crazy, however they would eventually have to rescind their comments because those very “crazy” folks were selling their domain names for thousands of dollars years later.  Were they smart? You betcha! 

 

Well now, it’s a completely different situation.  All the so-called good names are gone for the dot com’s and dot net’s but are they?  Well, yes, all the good ones were already registered but not everyone hangs onto their domain names.  Often, they are auctioned or sold off in the domain aftermarket on sites such as Sedo.com or tdnam.com or they expire unbeknownst to the owner. If you keep an eye out for an expiring domain name or one that is up for auction, you can buy them and turn around and resell them for a much larger profit.  While that sounds simple, it does require a good understanding of the domain market, and in particular, it requires knowledge of what constitutes a valuable domain name.  So like real estate or the stock market, you need to follow the experts.  They will give you insight into where the trends might be leading.