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Ever Sell A Domain? I'm Not Sure How To Do It

by boaterscott
8 replies
the short version...

I bought a domain last year and put up a quick Wordpress site to see where it would rank. It's now #1 or 2 (depending on the order of the keywords used).

The domain I bought has the white collar profession, + the city, for example (this isn't it, but you'll get the picture) www.LawyerMemphis.com (like I said, this is not my website I only put it there to show folks what I'm talking about - I live in a different city and it's a different white collar profession)

It's my belief that this domain/website has value because when folks type in this white collar profession, plus the city name, my little website comes up at the top of Google. I want to sell the domain to the highest bidder...

I'm thinking about using a clever direct marketing campaign (Dan Kennedy style) to all of the related businesses in my city. It's a small/medium U.S. city (about 300,000 folks).

PRICE - I'd love to see if a local law firm would buy it for a high dollar amount, say 5k (of course I'd be happy with $200, but why not go for it), or perhaps have a bidding/auction.

1. Any thoughts on how to approach businesses?

2. How should I price it?

3. If they yes, anyone out there have a standard contract I can modify?

4. I'm just a guy in a home office, how can I convince them this is ligit (if they are interested).
#domain #sell
  • Profile picture of the author Sparhawke
    This is an interesting question and one I will simply subscribe to in order to see how it turns out, however...i do not think you should have any problem finding a standard contract in such places like flippa.com and lets face it, if it is not legit they will soon figure it out :p

    I think the main problem you will run into is that you will not find anyone to take it on for anywhere near the price you want, the page rank is great...it came up #6 for me but there is another site called MYmemphislawyer which may have a bit of an issue with another company, especially based in the area and field they are in possibly squatting on their business.
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    “Thinking is easy, Acting is difficult
    And to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world ~ Goethe”
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    • Profile picture of the author boaterscott
      First of all - THANKS for the quick reply. I will check out flippa.com (never heard of it before). That alone was made your comment valuable. I should have pointed out that that is not the city I am in, and that is not the profession. I just used it as an example. In my city I do come up on top when you type in the profession and the city.

      Thanks a bunch - and I will post my results, good or bad. I'm going to use a "Pill Bottle" mailing campaign. more details to follow...
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      • Profile picture of the author boaterscott
        also wondering if there are any other legal concerns?
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  • Profile picture of the author TVChatten
    Flippa would be the fastest route...but though consider that people are looking for deals there, so you could lose a little bit than what it may be worth. Sedo is the slowest route in getting offers but 1. it's free and 2. you may get a pretty penny from your domain. You may want to look up rick latona but of course if you go that route, that's more money as he's like a domain broker.

    It's easy to convince someone that it's legit due to the fact that if you sold on Flippa, they would send you a .txt document that you would have to upload in the root document of your site, hopefully your site is up with Alexa Ranking (if not that's okay) but it gives it a nice little figure.

    I know this all sounds a bit jibberish but I'm mainly just answering your questions lol. There's a lot more into it so if you want the full package, just let me know and I'll type it all lol.

    Legal concerns would be like if you had Rihanna.com, but with your domain I don't see any concerns over that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sparhawke
    Oops, wrong topic :p
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    “Thinking is easy, Acting is difficult
    And to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world ~ Goethe”
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  • Profile picture of the author Gene Pimentel
    Scott,

    You're on the right path. This type of domain will sell every day of the week. The difference between selling it for $200 or $5K is how much perceived value is there for the potential buyer. Using your example, if LawyerMemphis.com was getting 100 visits a day (easily achievable) and you realize that one new client for a lawyer is worth many thousands over the years, then it's a no brainer for a lawyer to want this domain and have it as a 'doorway' to their main site.

    If they yes, anyone out there have a standard contract I can modify?

    You don't need a contract. I have never used one in the 10 years+ that I have been selling domain names. Use a service like escrow.com for any sale over $400-$500 or so. The 'contract' is built in.

    I'm just a guy in a home office, how can I convince them this is ligit (if they are interested).

    Show them the results of the domain. Get it ranked high in Google. Get traffic going to it through natural means that will stick. I'm just a peon in a home office, and sell domains every day, some in the tens of thousands. As long as you conduct business professionally, nobody cares who you are.

    I have a free report in the war room that covers this in more detail.



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  • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
    Flippa, as mentioned is a great place to auction off a site, but your local lawyers (or actual profession that you have) will not be on Flippa looking for this site.

    Contacting all the local businesses by letter, postcard, drop off a flyer or however may result in a higher sale price.

    Look on Google to see if any of these companies are buying Google Adwords for your search term and there site is NOT in the free search results. Show them that they could own that site and not have to pay Google for the front page listings.

    You could point them all to the listing in Flippa so they can bid it out if you want to use the auction style. Just put a BIG buy it now price.

    If they spend a lot on advertising, they would be glad to pay thousands one time for your site.

    Another option would be to "rent" them your site. For $200 - $500 per month you will add all their contact information to the site so they get the benefit of being 1st/2nd in Google search results and you maintain the ownership of the domain.
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    Greg Schueler - Wordpress Fanatic... Living The Offline Marketing Dream...

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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    You can also list domains on sedo.com and afternic.com. I've had most success with sedo.com. Domains don't sell as well on Flippa as websites do, so I wouldn't list them there.
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