Hi, I’m Val. Together, my husband and I own several domain names and a few small websites.
I purchased domain names for the business ideas I wanted to develop but found I had more ideas than time to bring those ideas to life. The domain names I did not have time to build a website on (and launch a business) sat in my domain portfolio without earning a single penny.
I thought my domain names were an investment. But with every year that went by without any revenue from the unused domain names, I realized these undeveloped domains were a cost, not an investment.
What are the costs of Owning a Domain Name?
There are two fundamental costs of domain name ownership. The first cost is the purchase price of the domain. For a domain name that is not already registered, you can pick up a DOT COM for under $15 for the first year. Most registrars charge less. The next cost is the yearly renewal fee; this is usually the same as the initial registration fee. That said, different domain name extensions (.AI, .DAY for example) have different renewal fees.
You might say, “well, when you sell the domain name, you can recover your money.”
That is part of the reason for the investment in domain names but doesn’t change the fact that while you are holding the domain name it is costing you money. And, if you are a domain name investor, you likely have several domains in your portfolio.
There is another scenario (that also highlights the costly nature of domaining). I’ve bought and held domain names then lost interest in the business idea behind the original purchase and just chose not to renew. The money spent to purchase and renew the domain each year was a wasted cost.
Two Questions about Your Domain Investment
- How many domains names can you afford to hold without earning any revenue?
- How many domain names would it take for you to be forced to either sell, drop or develop a domain?
NetCost0.com is a Domain Name Monetization Blog
This site is about making my domain names pay for themselves through domain name parking and web publishing. I am testing for myself the different ways people say they make money online. For us, our first goal is to have each domain name just pay for itself.
So, while NetCost0.com is a blog about making money online with domain names this is not a get rich quick scheme and you’ll learn what works for us and what doesn’t.
Making Money Online
There are several ways to make money on the web. You can bring your brick and mortar business to the internet by building a website. This opens up another marketing channel for your business and allows you to reach Customers outside of your local area, moreso than an ad in a national or international print publication.
Other entrepreneurs sell subscriptions to their website data or their newsletter. This is another way to make money online.
The focus of this site is on monetizing domain names and the first order of business is to recover the cost of a domain name purchase.
For a domain to pay for itself, the domain needs to generate about 3 cents per day. I talk about this in my first VLog. You might think that bar is low, but nothing is free in this world and 3 cents per day does not come easy, as I have found.
One way to earn 3 cents per day with a domain name is through Domain Name Parking.
Domain Parking Companies have fixed templates that display your Domain Name alongside advertisements. You do not pay for hosting the domain; you “point your domain” to the parking company’s wew servers. You earn revenue when a visitor comes to the parked page and clicks on an ad.
Two other ways to recover the costs of owning a domain are through Domain Leasing and Domain Development.
Domain Leasing is not a means of producing revenue that I want to pursue. My preference would be to sell the domain name myself or through a domain name broker. The closest I would get to leasing a domain to someone is through domain name financing where the Buyer puts down a percentage of the price and the balance is paid in monthly installments.
Domain Development
Most people understand Domain Development when the phrase “Website Development” is used. This is much more interesting that Domain Name Leasing and infintely more attractive than parking a domain name. This can fundamentally change the business from being “in the red” to being “in the green,” and profiting. Ultimately, this is the “profitable aim” (and likely why you bought the domain name in the first place). However…
Building a website takes time. And while you’re doing that, the other domains you have are sitting in your portfolio costing you money.
Welcome to NetCost0.com – a blog about making money on the web with domain names by making them pay for themself first.