Side Hustle Ideas – Domains
How you can earn money by buying and selling domains
Selling domains have, for a long time, been a popular Side Hustle Idea. Have you ever tried to find a free good .com domain? Then you know how hard it is to find a free .com domain that has not already been taken. The golden days when it was still possible to find free, really good domains are gone, and I think the prices, in most cases, have peaked.
- CarInsurance.com — $49.7 million
- Insurance.com — $35.6 million
- VacationRentals.com — $35 million
- PrivateJet.com — $30.18 million
- Voice.com — $30 million
- Internet.com — $18 million
- 360.com — $17 million
- Insure.com — $16 million
- Fund.com — £9.99 million
- Sex.com — $14 million*
*Sex.com has been sold twice, for $14 million in 2005, and $13 million in 2013.
One reason is that the domain name is less important from an SEO perspective and that many more top domains have become popular. But don’t despair; it’s still a huge business, and with more top domains, there are even more opportunities out there.
Most valuable top-level domains (TLD)
Here is a list of the most valuable top-level domains. But there can be real nuggets of gold out there. For example, if you could get your hands on seguro.es, it would probably be the best deal you ever make (seguro means insurance in Spanish, and es is the top-level domain for Spain).
- .com – is the most valuable and sought-after TLD. It stands for “commercial” and is perceived as the most legitimate and established TLD, suitable for virtually any type of website.
- .net – Originally intended for network technologies, .net is now a popular alternative to .com for businesses, tech startups, and personal sites.
- .org – Standing for “organization,” .org is traditionally associated with non-profits and charities, but a broader array of sites uses it. It’s valued for its non-commercial intent and trustworthiness.
- .io – Very popular among tech startups and software developers, .io has become synonymous with innovation in technology or input/output in computer science. The domain extension initially represents the British Indian Ocean Territory, but its tech association has made it valuable.
- .ai – As artificial intelligence has grown in importance, so has the .ai TLD, which corresponds to Anguilla. It’s highly sought after by AI companies and projects.
- .co – Often considered an alternative to .com, .co is the country code TLD for Colombia but is used globally by companies, startups, and other commercial ventures.
What is a good domain name?
These are the most important factors that influence a domain’s value.
- Top-level domain – As described above, the top-level domain has a huge impact. sidehustle.com will be much more valuable than sidehustle.is for example.
- Length and simplicity of the domain name – A short name is easier to write and, most times, easier to remember.
- Keywords and niche – Keywords like top, best, buy, and sell are examples of keywords that we naturally use in our search queries. Combine them in a niche that has a big financial value, then you have something really valuable. www.buygold.com is much more valuable than www.buygrass.com.
- Existing traffic and Domain Authority – If the domain already has a lot of traffic and good domain authority, it can save the buyer a year of SEO optimization which can be extremely valuable.
- Trends – If you are fast at catching new trends, then you stand a really good chance of picking up domain names that have the potential to be valuable if the trend is long-lasting.
How to acquire good domain names
So, where can you find those good domain names?
- New domain name – Finding a domain name that is not taken – It’s the cheapest way, but also the hardest way to get your hand on a good domain name. A suggestion is to use a tool like ChatGPT to help you generate a list of domain names that you would like to investigate. And then, with the help of a bulk domain search service, check if they are available.
- Expiring domains – There are also a couple of services monitoring domain names that are expiring, it can be that either the owner isn’t interested in keeping the domain, their credit card has expired, or they just forgot to prolong it. Have a look at Namejet.com for example.
- Buy from the owner directly – If the name you are looking for has already been taken, but the site doesn’t seem to have been updated in a long time, then you might have a good chance of buying it for a reasonable price. If you can find contact information for the owner on the site, it’s probably the easiest way to find the owner. If you can’t find it, try a whois service that might tell you the owner directly. If that also fails, try sending an email to the registrar and ask them to forward it to the owner.
- Buy from marketplaces – One alternative is to buy a domain/website that someone is actively trying to sell. Check out marketplaces like Flippa. or GoDaddy Auctions. The price is usually much higher, but you also get more information on how the domain has performed previously. Before handing out a lot of dollars, you need to have a clear idea of how you can improve the site so you can sell it at a better price. Don’t forget that you also have to consider that you most likely will have to pay some commission when selling it.
Always do some background checks before buying an existing domain so it’s not associated with spam, malware, or any other inappropriate content. You can use tools like MX Toolbox Supertool and Wayback machine.
How do we raise the value of the domain?
Buying and selling domains is a long game. You will unlikely buy a domain and sell it a week later with a profit. Count that you must keep it for at least 6 months, sometimes much longer, to make a good profit.
A new domain
If the domain has no content or just a simple landing page, it’s a good idea to start building it up. More or less, all successful websites have the following types of pages.
- Home page – Create a presentation on how you think this site should be used and how it could look.
- About us – Set up a fictional team and history
- Contact page – How to get in touch with you.
- Privacy policy – Needed for regulatory requirements
- Terms and conditions – Needed for regulatory requirements
- Sitemap.xml – Helps for SEO.
By doing this your site will most likely get some traffic and history, and if you put in the work increase it’s Domain Authority. This in turn will lead to a higher valuation for the potential customer since some of the work is already done for them.
If the domain name refers to a specific niche you can most likely can create additional pages to make it even more valuable.
A previous existing domain
If you bought a site with existing content, you should already have a good idea on how to improve it. If it’s an expired domain, you should investigate its history and find out if there are any high-ranking pages that you can rebuild to increase its value. If you have a paid account on for example Semrush it’s easy, otherwise you have to put in some more work with the free tiers of SEO tools and the Wayback machine.
Selling the domain
Finally we are coming to the part you probably was looking for, selling the domain. If you have done a good job it will be so much easier to close a deal.
Sell the domain yourself
Pros of selling a domain by yourself
- No need to pay a commission
- You have direct contact with the buyer
- Full control over the sales process
Cons of selling a domain by yourself
- Less exposure might lead to lower price
- Risk of being cheated
- More complicated process with payments and transfer
Sell the domain through a broker
The most well-known brokers are probably Sedo, Flippa, and Media Options. They all take a big cut, but in turn, your domain will be marketed, and you will get a very professional handling.
Pros of selling a domain through a broker
- Large audience
- Platform and support through the entire process
- Less effort for both the buyer and seller
Cons of selling a domain through a broker
- They take a pretty large commission on the sale
- Less control of the sales process
Sell the domain through a domain auction
A domain auction is like the middle ground between doing it by yourself and using a broker. Examples of auction sites are GoDaddy Auctions, NameJet, and SnapNames.
Pros of selling a domain through a domain auction
- Large audience
- Potentially a bidding war
- Set a time frame to speed up the sales process
Cons of selling a domain through a domain auction
- Unpredictable sales price
- You have to pay some fees
Conclusion
Buying and selling domains as a side hustle can be a very profitable side hustle. It may not be as easy as the golden age of Internet, but with some investigation and patience you can still earn a lot of money. Escpecially if you take the time and improve the domain authority of the domain.
