The Art Of Forgetting About Your Domain Portfolio

There was a time where I thought about my domain portfolio every single hour of the day. At this time that is not the case. I find myself only checking in on it once or twice a week. I was recently hired by a startup company here in Los Angeles and am now only looking at my domain portfolio as an additional income stream. This has happened to me in the past, but this time it is a little different.

Although my domain portfolio doesn’t receive much of my attention these days, I’ve set myself up to still generate an additional income stream from it. Before I continue, I’ve never been one to boast about how much I make from domain investing. Anything I’ve blogged about or posted on facebook has been purely for educational purposes. In all honesty I don’t care to talk about that aspect of it. My goal is to focus in on the systems that we can all create for ourselves and generate a few extra dollars while doing so.

The system I have created for myself is one that has been used by many for years. There is nothing unique about what I am doing. Now that the majority of my days are spent at work, I truly had the chance to test out this system. As most of you know I am not really acquiring additional names at this time. The one thing I am doing is parking my names. Almost all of my domain portfolio is currently parked with DomainSponsor.

Many of you have asked why I tend to use DS for my parking needs. To bluntly put it, I like the results that I have seen so far. Although I only earn a few dollars from parking my names with the platform, it is enough for me to continue doing so. My domain portfolio would be considered small in comparison to those who have focused their efforts on building a parking portfolio. My goal was never to build a parking portfolio. The goal for me was to park a name, until a better opportunity presented itself.

Domain parking has taken on a new meaning for me, because I don’t have much time to focus on anything more than that. I do plan on building a team to help sell names, but I don’t see that happening in the near future. For now my focus will be on parking names, answering inquiries and developing one site. One of the main things I like about domain investing is the fact that you can have a full-time job and still make a decent profit.

One thing I have learned is if you are not parking your names, then you are not only missing out on valuable analytics but you are also leaving money on the table. Regardless of what you are planning on doing with your portfolio, a domain should be parked until you have developed a plan for it. I wasn’t always a believer in domain parking, but I am now. Especially since Adsense, can’t necessarily be depended on for minisites anymore. I’ll go more into this later, but to make a long story short I’m not happy with the Adsense program right now.

Poll Results: Are You Buying Or Selling?

On March 27th I posted a poll titled: “Are You Buying Or Selling“. This poll was well received and a whopping 51 votes were placed in total. According to the poll, the majority (24 votes) of you are Buying And Selling names. I used to fall within this category but have since decided to shift gears and concentrate on selling.

Selling Domains was the second most popular choice with 15 votes. I originally decided to conduct this poll because I noticed a number of premium domains being liquidated at discounted prices. Buying Domains came in 3rd with 10 votes. I wasn’t surprised that this was the case. I know a number of domain investors who have slowed their buying habits down within the last few months to concentrate their efforts on selling and developing.

I’m Not Buying Or Selling Domains came in fourth with a total of 2 votes. I’ll guess that the two people who voted for this option are most likely developing or simply holding onto their domains.

This poll was fun to conduct. I like the fact that Buy and Selling was the top selection, but have struggled to actively do this for myself. Although I like to multitask, I am much better when I concentrate my efforts on a single task. With that said, the majority of my efforts will be on selling for the rest of the year. Here’s a great article from Inc. magazine on why you should do the same: Don’t Multitask: Your Brain Will Thank You.

One Of My Favorite Domaining Blogs Returns: DotWeekly.com

I just wanted to commend Jamie Zoch on returning to the blogging landscape. Your unique writing style was missed and I am glad that DotWeekly.com has returned. This goes to prove that you can’t keep a good writer from writing. I’m sure I speak for many when I say this, welcome back and we look forward to your future domaining contributions.

On another note, if you are a domainer that has always wanted to start a domaining blog for yourself, feel free to contact me and I will help with this process.

Rest In Peace Dad

My Father passed away on April 2nd, 2013. As most of you have noticed, I have not written anything since April 1st. I decided to step away from the blog for a few weeks to really focus my efforts on handling his affairs. In this time I also had a chance to reflect on the life he lived and the amazing things he did while he was here. On April 20th, my brother and I held a tribute service for our Father. Our goal was to provide those in attendance with a picturesque view of our Father’s life.

Before I go any further I personally want to thank Morgan Linton, Daina Linton and Yan Huang for attending the tribute service. My brother and I have received some amazing support during this time and the three of you helped contribute to this tremendously.

After thinking about it for the last couple of days. I’ve decided to share the speech I gave at my Father’s tribute service. I want as many people as possible to hear his story. Although this is only a small glimpse into Dr. Jay Dell Thompson’s life, it will give you a good idea of how our Father chose to live his life.

–

If I were to summarize Dad in four words, it would have to be:

Brilliant, Compassionate, Dedicated And Selfless

He was brilliant because his mind operated without limitations. He was constantly learning, regardless of what the topic might have been. His thirst for knowledge has and will always fascinate me. His form of Sunday reading took place not just one day, but every single day of the week. I remember asking him why he felt the need to keep all of the Medical magazines he received. He simply replied that he planned on reading them. And he did just that.

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, as his mother Mae Thompson was a school teacher in Illinois. My Father was fascinated with his mother’s mind in the same way that I am fascinated with his.

He was compassionate because he cared. He cared so much about people, that he found himself wanting to become a Doctor at an early age. In my opinion this was his destiny, one which he fulfilled in a remarkable fashion.

Compassion filled his veins and overflowed into the local communities he served for over 30 years. He made the utmost effort to make sure everyone received the proper medical attention that they deserved. There are countless times where I witnessed him exchange his services for baked goods. My Dad never went into medicine for the money; he went into it because he understood what it truly meant to be a Doctor. In my opinion, Dr. Jay Dell Thompson was a Modern Day Medicine Man.

As we all know, he was dedicated to his craft but what you may not know is the fact that he was also dedicated to being a Father figure. He was the absolute best father that Eustace and I could have had. I honestly can’t remember a day of him not being there. He made sure that Eustace and I were busy at all times by filling our schedule with basketball games and other activities. Although my Father didn’t know how to play golf, he made sure that I learned to do so.

He understood the doors that golf would one day unlock for me and he found himself coaching me and many others through a sport that he had never actually played himself.

While he was actively participating in my life, he made the same effort to do so with countless kids in the communities that he practiced in. Kids who thought that the cards of life had already been dealt didn’t realize there was a medicine man right around the corner from them and just like the medicine men in ancient times he was ready to provide his tribe or village with the leadership, support and attention it deserved.

For those kids that were growing up without Fathers, he filled the void by becoming one. He understood what it felt like to grow up without a father and made sure that those kids would never have to feel the pain he had once felt. For those kids who felt they would have to settle for sub par educations, he went to parent teacher conferences for them and made sure that their voices were heard. He even helped some get scholarships to both high school and college.

When it comes to being selfless, I could simply reiterate all of the points that I touched on above or I could provide a little insight into just how selfless Dr. Jay Dell Thompson truly was. Although I won’t go into much detail into how our Father passed, I can say this. He was filling prescriptions for his patients up to the day he took his last breath.

My name is Jason Meyer Thompson and I am proud to be one of Jay Dell Thompson’s sons. He was a father, a friend, a community hero and now he is a legend and I look forward to sharing his story for the rest of my life.

–

I created a memorial site, which can be found at JayDellThompson.com. Feel free to share this story and the memorial site with anyone and everyone.

A Couple Of My Domains Have Been Frozen

This morning I woke up to an email notifying me that a few of my domain names had been frozen. This didn’t surprise me considering what has been going on lately. What surprised me were the reasons given for why my names had been frozen. I didn’t realize there was an authority out there that was judging the quality of names in one’s domain portfolio.

According to the notice that was sent to me, the domain names were frozen for the following reasons:

1.  Too many characters in it.

2.  Doesn’t represent a company brand at this time, but it could in the future.

3.  The name was owned by someone else in the past.

4.  The name will be owned by someone else in the future.

5.  The name was registered using a promo code which has since expired.

Fortunately for me, the names which were frozen in my account would be considered to be the bottom of the barrel. I didn’t think that these names were going to sell and from what the notification says there is a chance that I will receive a refund for these names in the near future.

Out of curiosity has anyone else received a notification like this in the last week or so? I’m trying to make sure that I safeguard myself from any legal ramifications which could potentially stem from something of this nature.

Weekly Reflections – Happy Easter, Back To Developing And Selling

I haven’t typed up one of these entries in a while, so what better day to do it then on Easter. I’ll have to make it quick, as I am craving a smoothie and feel like going on a run. If you are like me, then you know you have to work out when you feel like doing so or you won’t do it at all.

Before I get into the domaining side of things I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter. I had the pleasure of attending mass last night at the Church of the Good Shepherd. I haven’t been to church in quite a while and it was very refreshing to attend a special service, where my older brother was being baptized for the first time. I’m glad I was able to attend and support him through this process.

Alright, now onto the domaining side of things. This week marked the transition from being a buyer to a seller. I’ve accumulated some great domains over the past couple of months and am now ready to profit from these acquisitions. There are a few domains I plan on holding onto, but there are several which I will be flipping for flip sake.

I tend to do this a couple times during the year. It allows me to focus on the areas which are going to profit me the most. It also allows me to stockpile some cash for when I return to acquiring domains. Best of all I can now free up a little time to really refocus my efforts back onto development. Some of my development efforts are purely to help me in the flipping process and the rest of my development efforts are focused on one main project.

I’m really excited to get back to business and can’t wait to share my future successes with you. Hopefully all of you are having a great weekend and remember to get some relaxation time in for yourself. Until tomorrow!

My Saturday Selection

These days I try to work less during the weekends and play more. Although this is the case, I do spend an hour or so browsing through auctions out there. My favorite place to buy domains is GoDaddy Auctions. There have been some amazing deals on the auction site as of late. I’ve been steadily purchasing domains since the start of the year and now I will be transitioning from buy mode to sales and development.

This won’t change the fact that I will still be browsing the auction site on a daily basis. It has become part of my routine and helps me identify the type of names people are buying. Identifying trends and patterns is important for me. Recentely, I noticed there were several geo debt consolidation names dropping. I wouldn’t of noticed this if I hadn’t scheduled the time to check GoDaddy Auctions on this particular day. Since I was acquiring names at the time I was able to grab a few of these debt consolidation names for little to nothing.

I absolutely love watching where the auction action is taking place and figured it would be fun to publish a new weekly segment called My Saturday Selection. In this segment I will feature one auction that I would bid on myself, if I were buying names. This will give you an inside view to the way I think as a domain investor. What domains I feel would add value to my portfolio and what I’d be willing to pay for such a name. Last but not least, the auction itself has to end on Saturday! This wouldn’t be any fun if it didn’t.

Here is my first Saturday selection and it happens to be at my favorite auction site: Rewardable.com

Currently, this domain has 21 bids and the highest bid on the name is $500. I could see myself participating in this auction and if I was I would set a cap of about $750. If the name went over $750 I would tap out. I learned a long time ago that you need to set limits for yourself. If something exceeds a particular threshold then I take action. Sometimes the best action one can take is backing down, even if it requires you to miss out on an opportunity which might net you a profit. The keyword in this is might. Nothing is guaranteed with domain investing and it is all purely speculation until proven otherwise.

There are less than 30 minutes left in the GoDaddy Auction for Rewardable.com. I’m looking forward to seeing what the final outcome of the auction will be. It’s Saturday and it is time for me to sign off. I hope all of you are having a great weekend. Happy Easter!

Shopify Infographic: Dropshipping

This is a follow up post to the free dropshipping guide blog entry from yesterday. I am extremely fascinated with dropshipping and will be using the guide, which was published by Shopify, to learn a little more about the area. Here is an infographic which pretty much highlights the important points from the dropshipping guide.

Infographic Credits: http://www.shopify.com/dropshipping

So You Want To Learn More About Dropshipping? There’s A Free Guide For That!

I seem to always run into the best information as I am on my way out the door to work out. As someone who runs a number of  product driven affiliate sites, I’ve always asked myself what the next step would be. For me, the next step is to eventually convert a few of the sites into full fledged e-commerce sites.

Dropshipping has always been something that interested me. The only problem I had with dropshipping was the abundance of misleading information out there on the web which has you come out of pocket more than you should have to. When I came across this free dropshipping guide I figured it was something that some of you might be interested in learning about as well.

Shopify is the company behind this dropshipping guide and it looks very promising. The guide is easy to read and includes the following sections:

Chapter 1: Understanding Dropshipping

Chapter 2: The Supply Chain and Fulfillment Process

Chapter 3: Finding and Working With Suppliers

Chapter 4: Picking Products to Dropship

Chapter 5: Starting Your Business

Chapter 6: Evaluating Sales Channels

Chapter 7: Running a Dropshipping Company

Chapter 8: The Key Elements Of Success

It also includes a section with additional resources. If you’ve always been interested in dropshipping like I have, the Shopify Dropshipping Guide is a great place to start.

*On a side note, I own Dropshipping.me and am interested in selling it. If you would like to learn more information about this name, feel free to contact me.

Photo / Logo Credits: http://ecommerce.shopify.com/guides/dropshipping

How I Sold A Domain While Sleeping – Part 2

If you haven’t read part one of this two part series, please make sure to view it here.  In part 1 I described the initial steps that were taken to help me sell a domain while sleeping. These steps enabled me to prepare for what happened next.

On March 11th I received an inquiry about one of my domains. This shouldn’t of been a big deal, but I noticed something interesting about this particular inquiry. The person making the offer went to extreme lengths to hide their identity. They used a hotmail email address and made an initial offer of $100 for the name.

This was a low ball offer, which I carefully worded the following reply for:

Hello (name),

Thanks for inquiring about the domain (domain).

I appreciate you making an offer on the name. I am in the market to sell the name, but your offer is lower than I would sell it at.

Best Regards,

Jason

This reply was sent to the party which made the offer on the same day that the initial offer was received. That was the last interaction I had with the potential buyer. A few days went by and I figured that the buyer just wasn’t interested in negotiating with me. I contemplated following up with the buyer, but before I could move forward with that I received the following email:

Your Premium Listing Just Sold

I received this email on March 14th at 4:56 am in the morning. I didn’t notice this email until I received another email titled:

Attention Jason: Please review your cancellation

That’s when I realized that one of my domains ended up selling. It was no surprise to see that the buyer decided to move forward with purchasing the domain through the GoDaddy premium listing service, rather than negotiating with me. The transaction went as planned. Although I thought the buyer might find an alternative domain to register, the fixed price of $998 that I set was obviously within reach for them.

Fixed pricing helped me sell a name that I thought wouldn’t end up selling anytime soon. The GoDaddy premium listing service is now something that I use on the majority of my portfolio. The exposure that it provides is invaluable. I ended up selling another domain for the same price a week later using GoDaddy and went from being a speculator to a believer.

Yes the percentage that GoDaddy takes from each sale is a bit high, but it is worth it in my opinion. When setting a fixed price, make sure to factor the 30% commission into the equation. If you have any questions about the sale which occurred, feel free to ask them below or send me an email. You can read up more about the premium listing commission rate here.