What are domain newbies and domain junkies up to this days and is there any difference between these two types of domainers and their activities? Sure there is... Domain junkies are those domainers that badly want to be involved in the domain game, and have a "large" portfolio so they can fit in with the rest of the "cool" kids on the block who in this case are the veterans who have been around for years... They sort of try to buy their way in and earn some kind of respect by having many names. It's the who has the biggest.....You know what...type of scenario.
Domain junkies have collections of all kinds of mostly worthless weak keyword domains, probably 95% consisting of usually hundreds of odd and unheard of ccTLD vanity type domain names, acronym and numeric com/net/org domains with supposedly all this potential for end users and development. Domain junkies portfolios usually consist of no more than 500 or so domain names with reg fees for each domain ranging between $8 - $30. Domain newbies are a different kind of domainer breed, these domainer up and comers are the ones that do not know anything about the domain game and simply follow in others footsteps.
If somebody has this kind of domain than they must also have a similar type of domain because if somebody else has it... Newbies have domains that are four, five, six keywords long and sometimes even longer. Is there really a market for such long domains? Of course theirs must also be worth something, right?...if somebody else owns the same type of domains just in a different niche/category? Wrong!
Domain newbies usually don't have too many domains overall... Probably less than a hundred total for most domain newbies. They are however convinced that their domains are gold and they are worth thousands. Ok, so maybe not thousands but a few hundred bucks at most is what they will accept for their most prized .com domains. Most of their domains are worthless though, of course, but that doesn't stop them from trying to sell them or market them just about everywhere they could...and they do! It's a full time gig.
Domain newbies are the ones who will be around the domain game for a few month's, burn through a few hundred bucks or in some cases a few thousand bucks and then call it quits, for obvious reasons. Wasting time and money sucks...and there aren't as many opportunities as there were before, so it is not easy to try and make it and turn a profit. Anyways, domain newbies are feeding other domain newbies with incorrect information about domains, valuations, etc. This cycle is nothing new though... Has been going on for years. If you are a domain newbie or junkie, you really need to find reliable sources and trusted sources of information when it comes to making your investments.
Hanging around newbies that will be gone tomorrow isn't the smartest. Taking another newbies advice on how to invest your money is not so smart either. You see, the newbies of 2001-2002 are todays multi-multi millionaires with all of the best keyword domains because they did their research and acted when timing was right. They include Frank Schilling, Kevin Ham and so on. The newbies of 2003 and 2004, which include myself and many others successful domainers as well have done alright for themselves...
The ones that have came up though in the last few years, you really don't hear much about. Of course there is limited opportunities, and that is the primary reason that there hasn't been so many major players to pop up. Since 2005 the domain game has been very different... Yes, there were opportunities in 2005, 2006 and into 2009 they continue to exist. For a newbie who is just starting out with the domain game, my best advice is to not buy anything at first and just observe. Take weeks and month to process all of the information first, and then you can begin to spend some money and register domain names that you have information and reason to believe that they may be worth something.
I closed quiet a few deals towards the end of the year in December of 2008 and I had to deal with a lot of different people in doing so. I was shocked to see just how bad the situation is with domain newbies and junkies. I honestly don't remember things being as bad as they are today in my years of being heavily into domain buying and selling which was 2004 through 2005. It seems like there is a lot of these domainer up and comers that fall into one of the two categories mentioned above: junkies and newbies that are everywhere you go.
Every domain blog or forum... There is no getting away from them. Unfortunately, I don't think they are any good for the industry or their business ventures. They surely can't be considered professional domainers and they are just distorting reality. I was looking for very particular domains, and posted up requests throughout the various domain forums. I received a few hundred messages at least, with probably 90% of them being not what I clearly asked for. I was offered domains that were registered just the day before. Some genius even figured out he could delete the domain and get a refund within four days. Some domains that were sent my way were even unregistered.
Some domains were typos where I really wanted to reply and say "look, your domain is a typo.. it is worthless" but it's none of my biz... So I carry on. Some people actually kind of harassed me, well at least it felt like it. They contacted me a couple of times per day, trying to get a response/confirmation of my decision. One person wanted my phone number so he could explain to me why his domains are so great.
I rarely reply to anybody if I am not interested in a domain, but the newbies seem to think that there should be some sort of courtesy to reply anyway? I got cursed out a bunch of times for apparently wasting some peoples time because they put together custom lists of their own domains for my consideration and I never even replied. Do I really have the time to reply and say thank you to hundreds of messages every day?? I wish! Some newbies just don't give up though...
One followed up a bunch of times and offered me logos for each domain for free. Another one offered me full website development. One guy offered me coupons/special discounts for domain registrations. Lots of bundles and special deals/offers it looks like being offered with domains this days --- they must be hot? LOL. I don't know what to make of all of this... It's kind of funny, but sad too. The people are trying hard, and I can't blame them... But seriously, it is kind of stupid, and not how you go about selling domain names to another professional investor.
I hope that some of the people take notice, and do the following: Learn how to conduct yourself professionally, that is first and foremost and number two just learn how to do proper research on the domain names you acquire. The chase for domain names is an endless one. You need to focus on quality domains, that have actual potential for development as well as end buyers. If you can't even resell your domain names to domain investors, then your domains are definitely worthless because if a domain investor cannot recognize or see the potential in the domain, if it is priced fairly, then it is highly unlikely that anybody else will.
Observations at WannaDevelop.com
02/23/2010: Dozens of Amazon affiliate stores for sale.. Developed by DomainMassDevelopment.com 01/11/2010: Wanna be part-owner of DomainState.com with myself and a few others? Ok, read this now... 11/02/2009: FS gets it on with WP... It's about time, no??!?! 08/24/2009: If all else fails... Who is gonna pay the bills?!! 08/22/2009: Frank Schilling has the winning formula $$$$$$
