Midascode | Buy & Sell Websites

Trying to find a good domain name is the virtual equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack. Long gone are the golden days where you didn’t have to have 50 attempts before finding the domain you want.

But it IS still possible to find some great domain names, and the process can be made easier by using some domain finding tools.

I have compiled some of the very best domain research tools below.

Good luck finding your needle.

Dislexicon

Dislexicon takes small words and adds suffixes and prefixes. Also, it gives you the meaning of the words, and with some practice can be a very powerful tool.

Link: Dislexicon

Just Dropped

This site is great for finding domains that have expired recently. You will get a few freebie searches, which is often sufficient.

Link: Just dropped

Word Mixer

You simply enter up to 5 words which are then mixed into new words. Simple, but effective.

Link: Unique Name Mixer

Wordfinder

This is a tool for crossword puzzles, but if you are smart, you will be able to use it for finding domains.

Link: Word Finder

Domainsbot

This is a search engine for finding domains. Works best with specific names.

Link: Domainsbot

Today I invite you into the secret world of domain tasting…

What is domain tasting?

Domain tasting (also known as domain kiting) is the process of abusing the 5 day free trial period when registering a domain name. The domain tasters simply register thousands of domains per day, then monitor them for 5 days, and purchase the ones that get traffic.

People are generally split on the morale issues behind this technique. Some say it is fair, and is a clever technique… others say it is cheating, and immoral.

However, recently thinks have gotten a lot darker.

Let’s look at this example:

* A perfect domain name pops into your mind.
* A quick check at your favorite domain registrar reveals that the domain is still available.
* For some reason, you put off the actual registration for a few days.
* And when you come back to finally register the domain, it’s taken by someone else!

Most people presume this is coincidence, but it now appears that it is part of the domain taster’s artillery.

It is thought that the domain tasters are monitoring the searches you do at places like Godaddy.com (Godaddy deny this). Then, they simply register all the domains that are searched but not purchased.

In other words, they let you do the research, and then they take the domain from under your nose.

Recently DNforum reported these chocking stats:

August 12, 2007 was the largest Domain Tasting day ever Domain Tools reported. They recorded over 8 Million Transactions today. This is a new high. We have never seen 8 Million transactions on one day before. That would be either an add or delete. Over 99 percent of these transactions are completely free and use the 5 day grace period to test domain names for traffic before they are purchase for a long term buy. Sometimes organizations will taste a domain name for multiple 5 day windows. They can tie up a domain for a long time and test it longer. Domain Tasting seems to be getting worse, the number of transactions continues to grow. I can see a day when more domain names exist in the 5 day grace period then exist as real registrations.

and Bob Parsons from Godaddy has this to say on this issue:

“Just over 35 million names were registered for the month of May. Of those just over 2.7 million were permanent registrations. That means that 92.3% of all domain names registered were part of a scam now known as domain kiting. These names were kept off of the market, they were used to generate search engine revenue - AND BECAUSE OF A LOOPHOLE ICANN REFUSES TO ELIMINATE - those 32.3 million names were used without being paid for.”.

It certainly appears that the secret world of domain tasting is no longer much of a secret.

What are your thoughts on this?

Dean

What is the oldest domain name on the net?

I am sure most domainers have wondered this at one point… well today I am here to finally reveal the official oldest domain name in existence.

SYMBOLICS.COM (Registered 15th March 1985)

Kinda boring?

Many people presume it would have been porn.com etc… but it would seem that the net was seen more as an identity than a money making platform.

Now that I have wet your appetite, would you like to know the 100 oldest domains on the net?

Here goes:

Rank

Create date Domain name
1. 15-Mar-1985 SYMBOLICS.COM
2. 24-Apr-1985 BBN.COM
3. 24-May-1985 THINK.COM
4. 11-Jul-1985 MCC.COM
5. 30-Sep-1985 DEC.COM
6. 07-Nov-1985 NORTHROP.COM
7. 09-Jan-1986 XEROX.COM
8. 17-Jan-1986 SRI.COM
9. 03-Mar-1986 HP.COM
10. 05-Mar-1986 BELLCORE.COM
11= 19-Mar-1986 IBM.COM
11= 19-Mar-1986 SUN.COM
13= 25-Mar-1986 INTEL.COM
13= 25-Mar-1986 TI.COM
15. 25-Apr-1986 ATT.COM
16= 08-May-1986 GMR.COM
16= 08-May-1986 TEK.COM
18= 10-Jul-1986 FMC.COM
18= 10-Jul-1986 UB.COM
20= 05-Aug-1986 BELL-ATL.COM
20= 05-Aug-1986 GE.COM
20= 05-Aug-1986 GREBYN.COM
20= 05-Aug-1986 ISC.COM
20= 05-Aug-1986 NSC.COM
20= 05-Aug-1986 STARGATE.COM
26. 02-Sep-1986 BOEING.COM
27. 18-Sep-1986 ITCORP.COM
28. 29-Sep-1986 SIEMENS.COM
29. 18-Oct-1986 PYRAMID.COM
30= 27-Oct-1986 ALPHACDC.COM
30= 27-Oct-1986 BDM.COM
30= 27-Oct-1986 FLUKE.COM
30= 27-Oct-1986 INMET.COM
30= 27-Oct-1986 KESMAI.COM
30= 27-Oct-1986 MENTOR.COM
30= 27-Oct-1986 NEC.COM
30= 27-Oct-1986 RAY.COM
30= 27-Oct-1986 ROSEMOUNT.COM
30= 27-Oct-1986 VORTEX.COM
40= 05-Nov-1986 ALCOA.COM
40= 05-Nov-1986 GTE.COM
42= 17-Nov-1986 ADOBE.COM
42= 17-Nov-1986 AMD.COM
42= 17-Nov-1986 DAS.COM
42= 17-Nov-1986 DATA-IO.COM
42= 17-Nov-1986 OCTOPUS.COM
42= 17-Nov-1986 PORTAL.COM
42= 17-Nov-1986 TELTONE.COM
42= 11-Dec-1986 3COM.COM
50= 11-Dec-1986 AMDAHL.COM
50= 11-Dec-1986 CCUR.COM
50= 11-Dec-1986 CI.COM
50= 11-Dec-1986 CONVERGENT.COM
50= 11-Dec-1986 DG.COM
50= 11-Dec-1986 PEREGRINE.COM
50= 11-Dec-1986 QUAD.COM
50= 11-Dec-1986 SQ.COM
50= 11-Dec-1986 TANDY.COM
50= 11-Dec-1986 TTI.COM
50= 11-Dec-1986 UNISYS.COM
61= 19-Jan-1987 CGI.COM
61= 19-Jan-1987 CTS.COM
61= 19-Jan-1987 SPDCC.COM
64. 19-Feb-1987 APPLE.COM
65= 04-Mar-1987 NMA.COM
65= 04-Mar-1987 PRIME.COM
67. 04-Apr-1987 PHILIPS.COM
68= 23-Apr-1987 DATACUBE.COM
68= 23-Apr-1987 KAI.COM
68= 23-Apr-1987 TIC.COM
68= 23-Apr-1987 VINE.COM
72. 30-Apr-1987 NCR.COM
73= 14-May-1987 CISCO.COM
73= 14-May-1987 RDL.COM
75. 20-May-1987 SLB.COM
76= 27-May-1987 PARCPLACE.COM
76= 27-May-1987 UTC.COM
78. 26-Jun-1987 IDE.COM
79. 09-Jul-1987 TRW.COM
80. 13-Jul-1987 UNIPRESS.COM
81= 27-Jul-1987 DUPONT.COM
81= 27-Jul-1987 LOCKHEED.COM
83. 28-Jul-1987 ROSETTA.COM
84. 18-Aug-1987 TOAD.COM
85. 31-Aug-1987 QUICK.COM
86= 03-Sep-1987 ALLIED.COM
86= 03-Sep-1987 DSC.COM
86= 03-Sep-1987 SCO.COM
89= 22-Sep-1987 GENE.COM
89= 22-Sep-1987 KCCS.COM
89= 22-Sep-1987 SPECTRA.COM
89= 22-Sep-1987 WLK.COM
93. 30-Sep-1987 MENTAT.COM
94. 14-Oct-1987 WYSE.COM
95. 02-Nov-1987 CFG.COM
96. 09-Nov-1987 MARBLE.COM
97= 16-Nov-1987 CAYMAN.COM
97= 16-Nov-1987 ENTITY.COM
99. 24-Nov-1987 KSR.COM
100. 30-Nov-1987 NYNEXST.COM

This domain list was part of a 30-Nov-2004 blog entry
at Jottings.com entitled “My Kingdom for a Time Machine!”

There is one factor that is often overlooked when buying websites: Multiple revenue streams.

A site that makes $1000 per month may seem like a great site to purchase, but the reality is that it is a dangerous purchase due to
being heavily reliant on Adsense.

Personally I always apply more value to sites with multiple revenue streams… e.g memberships, donations, affiliate deals, fixed ad deals, adsense etc…

However, I have seen sites that claim to have multiple revenue streams, but in reality they are not making any money from them. So be careful.

Dean

I recently spoke to a web site owner who asked me this question:

There are a few points to address here… firstly, it is generally accepted that any list built directly from the site SHOULD be included in the sale of the site. If it is not, then you should make this clear and reduce the price.

Secondly, some sites have a double opt-in and a membership as well. So for example, a forum requires you to register and give your email address, but that same forum may have a weekly newsletter on aweber as well. This is rare, but it can cause problems. The biggest issue is the use of the brand name. For example, the new owner may decide to send a weekly email to the forum members via the forum software, he may start the email: “Hi, Jim here, the new owner of xxxx.com” - But the old owner may still be emailing the same people weekly and saying “Bob here from xxxx.com”

In my opinion, any brand or company related list SHOULD ALWAYS be included in the sale… ALWAYS!

So onto my final point… transferring the list via aweber.

Note: I have never done this, if anyone knows of any better techniques, please let me know.

Ok, the main issue with using aweber to do this, is the fact that they require the leads to re-validate their subscriptions. This means that a % are not going to do this. So straight away you are weakening the stregth of a list.

With that in mind, if you are going to buy a site with a list, and you wish to transfer the list to your aweber account, I would set the price based on the final list size.

e.g If the list is 1000 and the seller wants $10,000, I would say “I will pay you $10,000 if 950+ validate, but $9,000 if it is less than 850 and so forth…”

Here is what Aweber say about this issue:

Import Leads:
All imported leads must be verified before they will be added to your mailing list. Within minutes of being imported a notice will be sent to the lead asking them to verify that they did indeed request to be on the mailing list. Once verified they will immediately be added to your account and visible for email delivery. Learn about the many benefits of using verified opt-in, “Study: Verified Opt-in Reduces Unsubscribes & Complaints.”

* Only emails that have specifically requested information from you may be imported.
* Purchased emails or FFA link page email addresses may not be imported.

See the unsolicited email section of the service agreement. If you have questions about this policy, ask us. Violation of the service agreement will result in immediate account closure.

If you are not happy about asking them to re-validate, then you could import the leads to your own list software, but that is a whole new set of issues.

Site Sellers Summary: If your list is associated with your site in any way, then it SHOULD be included in the sale.

Site Buyers Summary: When using Aweber, be aware of the re-validation losses you WILL get.

So you wish to splash some cash on a new website? Today I am going to show you one of the places that the high rollers go to find websites for sale.

If you are looking for websites that are high traffic or high profit then the vast majority of site selling places will frustrate you.

However, there is a place within a popular site selling forum that is great for anyone with deep pockets.

Here it is….

Drum roll….

Sitepoint.com

But wait a minute… Everyone knows about Sitepoint.com already, this is nothing new…

Well perhaps you already know about Sitepoint, but not many people are aware that there is a section called the “Premium Section” that only deals with premium websites.

On the first page as we speak there are two sites for sale at over $250k

If you are sick of crawling through piles of crappy $100 proxy and arcade sites, then this is the place for you.

Enjoy.

Today I am going to tell you of a hidden danger when buying websites. This is something you will need to be aware of if you want to make a lot of profit from buying and selling websites.

Today I was contacted by a site owner who wanted to sell his motorsports portal. The site looked nice, and certainly had potential. But the source of traffic was mainly from offline word of mouth. In fact, I later discovered that he would go to major motorsports shows and spread the word whilst he was there.

This for me instantly devalued the site. I would be unable to go to these shows, but even if I was forced to go, I wouldn’t have the same knowledge and contacts that the previous owner had… In summary…

His shoes were too big to fill

This is something that you MUST be aware of when buying a site. I am sure you wouldn’t purchase a website in Japanese for the same reasons. You have to be confident that can you run the website AT LEAST as well as the previous owner.

If you want to make big moeny from site flipping, then you will need to be able to run the site BETTER than the previous owner.

So ask yourself: “What is my main asset/skill?”

For some of you this may be SEO, or marketing… for others it may be that you have an indepth knowledge of an industry. Once you have identified your main asset, the key is to look for a website that compliments your skill.

This is actually one of the biggest mistakes site buyers make.

For example, I have a friend who is an SEO guru. He was looking to buy a site, and I found a great site for him to consider. However, he refused to buy the site because the previous owner had no knowledge of SEO.

Instead of seeing this as a negative, my friend should have seen it as a positive. He could get the site cheaper due to the site not being SEO optimized, then he could use his own skills and vastly improve the sites traffic, rankings and revenue.

Be wary of your strengths and weaknesses, then look for sites that compliment both areas.

Dean

Recently I have been in discussions to buy numerous forums, and on almost all occasions the forum owner has attempted to trick me and their readers.

If you ever consider buying a forum, this may be the most important information you will ever read.

When buying forums the activity/popularity of the forum is vital. Nobody is going to pay good money for a dead forum. So many forum owners have started editing the “users online” stats, thus making the forums seem a LOT busier than they really are.

This has happened to me on many occasions, and not once has the forum owner mentioned this, I always had to discover it myself.

So what is the problem here?

Well, to be blunt, they are trying to con you. If they can make the forum show that there are 500 users online, when really there are only 5, it is obviously going to make you happier to pay more money.

Today on DigitalPoint.com I noticed such a forum: Britney forum. If that link is not working, you can visit the forum directly at www(.)eternal-allegiance(.)com

Let’s have a look at the stats:

Threads: 75,321
Posts: 1,136,730
Members: 4,095
Moderators: 5

Fairly impressive thus far.

—————————-
March 2007
—————————-
29,645 Unique visits
143,262 Page views
7,36 GB bandwidth

This is where it gets interesting. the forum had 143k page views in March. Certainly an admiral figure, but probably about average for a forum.

Let’s compare that figure to a website I launched only 5 days ago (on a budget of zero).

date - - - - visits - pages - hits - - - bandwidth
01 Apr 2007 770 1693 15748 52.75 MB
02 Apr 2007 859 1984 18189 60.61 MB
03 Apr 2007 361 851 7497 25.47 MB
04 Apr 2007 254 600 5384 19.57 MB
05 Apr 2007 539 1251 11526 38.61 MB

So to compare, let’s use the pages figure.

Sellers forum = 143,262 Page views in one month.
My new site = average of 6379 page views per day.

There are 31 days in March, so if I multiply 6379 x 31 = 199,749 page views per month.

So my new site that has had almost no promotion, and has not had one cent spent on advertising, is getting approx 25% more traffic than the sellers forum.

Now let me tell you something that will shock you…. MY SITE DOES NOT GET ENOUGH TRAFFIC TO WARRANT A FORUM!

You heard me right. I could add a forum to my new site, but from past experience there is not enough traffic to sustain a forum.

So in summary, the sellers Britney forum is getting an average amount of traffic, forums NEED high amounts.

I visited the forum, and was expecting 5 or 6 people online. This will amaze and shock you…. how many people do you think were showing as online when I visited this forum?

Bear in mind that I have already proved that it is a fairly low traffic site from a forums standards.

wait for it…..

wait for it……

There are currently 9 members and 1439 guests on the board

1448 people are reading that forum at this exact moment in time. WOW. That is more than DigitalPoint.com, yet according to the stats, the forum is fairly quiet. The alexa rank of 467,751 confirms my thoughts.

If you are ever going to purchase a forum, please do not look at the users online section. There are many mods out there that can inflate that number to any number they want.

This hopefully will act as a warning to forum buyers and forum sellers.

If you are a forum owner and wish to inflate this figure to impress the users of the forum, that is fine. But please mention that in your sales pitch.

Thankyou.

Welcome to part eleven the final part of the Midascode.co.uk site buying guide.

We recommend that you also read the previous chapters:

* Everything changes
* Site buying multiples
* Industry importance
* Traffic relevance
* Traffic quantity
* Established Websites
* Time Is Money
* Content is king
* Website Income Sources
* Enjoy it

Today is the final part of our site buying guide and we hope you have learnt a lot more about buying and sellling websites online.

I am going to share one last piece of advice with you…. Try and build a network!

More specifically… try and build a related network of websites. Last year we purchased websites on almost any type of subject, but now we have focused on a specific industry. There are many advantages to doing this:

1) Interlinking (Within reason you can promote all of your other sites)
2) Brand strength (Your brand is more powerful with 8 sites than 1)
3) Link power (Spread that link love between your sites)
4) Interpromotion (Have a competition on sites A and B sponsored by C and powered by D )

Having multiple sites in the same niche can be very beneficial, just make sure that you have enought time and resources to run them all.

We hope you have enjoyed our 11 part site buying guide. Feel free to subscribe to our feed for future updates.

MidasCode.co.uk

Welcome to part ten of the Midascode.co.uk site buying guide.

We recommend that you also read the previous chapters:

* Everything changes
* Site buying multiples
* Industry importance
* Traffic relevance
* Traffic quantity
* Established Websites
* Time Is Money
* Content is king
* Website Income Sources

Enjoy It

If you are going to buy a website then it is vital that you enjoy the topic of the site. This is a mistake we have made in the past, so try not to make the same error.
If you do not enjoy the topic of the site then there is more chance that you will neglect the site, but if you really enjoy it then adding content, finding partners etc will come a lot easier.

Someone once said “If you love your job then you will never work a day in your life“, this is especially true online, so stick that what you know and love.

Midascode.