How To Become A Domain Broker

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/01/15/how-to-become-a-domain-broker/

Jan 15, 2020

域名注册数量正在上升，这已是不争的事实。截至目前，该行业注册了3.547亿个域名，年增长率约为4.3%。尽管成千上万的新域名扩展名——如.club、.shop和.io——被引入市场，但强大的顶级域名（TLD）依然是域名开发的核心.com。

值得注意的是，.com域名占据了超过25,000美元的销售额。

随着新域名注册的激增，优质域名的价值有望提升，从而为域名经纪人打开极具利润潜力的机会。有多赚钱？Voice.com 2019年以3000万美元售出，2015年 360.com 以1700万美元成交——这只是冰山一角。

现实是，任何有头脑的人都可以成为域名经纪人，但只有最优秀的人才有权获得大额交易。

在本文中，我将讨论你如何也能成为一个大家庭。但请注意——事情并非全是阳光和玫瑰。域名经纪人花费无数小时打电话，撰写邮件、回答问题并谈判价格。你必须做好充分准备和投入，才能让域名管理为你服务。

设定合理的期望

主域名经纪人——以及卖家——常常忘记，域名并不是彩票，而只是用来交易利润的商品。

域名经纪人的目标不是向买家收取高价，也不是他们有责任去寻找愿意支付特定要价的买家，除非价格与其公平市场价值相符。作为域名经纪人，你的角色是促成域名以反映市场价值的价格出售，目标是赚取可观利润。

不同的域名有不同的市场价值，这意味着有些域名利润会比其他的更高。找到合格的终端用户对每个名字来说都不同且可能很困难，尤其是高端域名。

了解如何查找关键词丰富的域名

要成为成功的域名经纪人，你需要掌握基本概念，其中之一是关键词丰富的精确匹配域名。这些对品牌来说价值巨大，因为它们针对特定关键词。

搜索引擎会优先排名关键词丰富的域名，因为它们假设这些域名是特定品牌的虚拟财产。当有人搜索该关键词或其变体（也称为“搜索查询”）时，该域名很可能在搜索引擎结果页面中排名靠前，因为它与搜索查询非常接近。它在页面上的位置越高，带来的流量越多——因此价值也越大。

作为域名经纪人，你不一定拥有你出售的域名，而且大多数情况下，这些域名属于另一个个人或公司的财产。不过，流程依然是一样的。

如何找到关键词丰富的域名？

要找到关键词丰富的域名，你需要识别人们积极搜索的热门关键词。市面上有多种关键词研究工具，如WordStream和Moz，它们提供了关键词的可量化数据——从平均月搜索量、竞争情况，甚至是按点击付费（PPC）价值。

如果你已经有想了解更多的关键词列表，那很好——你可以批量上传到你选择的关键词研究平台，获取搜索量和其他有用指标的报告。如果没有，你可以输入一个简单的单词关键词，根据受欢迎程度获得建议，并获得更具体的关键词列表，用于你的域名管理。

推广的时间

一旦你有了一份你想要操作的合格名单，真正的工作就开始了。寻找买家和卖家、与他们联系、获取回应并让他们签署独占协议，需要付出大量的努力。如果没有独占合同，当你为他们提供价值后，有人可能会绕过你的工作。我已经遭遇过无数次这种情况，这种感觉令人沮丧，尤其是当你刚刚起步的时候。如果有人不能对你的工作作出承诺，我建议你寻找另一个名字来操作。

你到底如何出售域名？

成功出售域名的秘诀是将它们展示给广泛的受众，而不仅仅局限于一个或两个平台。像Flippa和Sedo这样的网站在域名销售行业中享有极佳的声誉，而且使用起来也相当简单——但不适合高端域名或高金额交易。将你的域名连接到合适的最终用户，是最优秀的域名经纪人脱颖而出的原因。

请记住，出售域名不会一夜之间发生；这是一个漫长且常常枯燥的过程，如果你想出售出色的域名，你需要保持对研究、潜在客户开发和后续工作的关注。积极主动地进行域名买卖操作，随着时间的推移，会有显著回报。

作者：Michael Gargiulo

Michael Gargiulo，VPN.com首席执行官。我们帮助《财富》1000强企业、创业者和公司保护他们的品牌。在此阅读Michael Gargiulo的完整高管资料。

It’s no secret that domain name registrations are on the rise. With 354.7 million domain names registered to date, the industry is seeing a very steady growth of approximately 4.3% year over year. While thousands of new domain extensions — such as .club, .shop and .io — have been introduced to the mix, the almighty .com top-level domain (TLD) continues to remain the bread and butter of domaining.

It is worthy to note that .com domains make up an overwhelming number of sales above $25,000.

Following this surge of new domain name registrations, premium domains are potentially increasing in value, therefore opening up doors to extremely lucrative opportunities for domain brokers. How lucrative? Voice.com sold for $30 million in 2019, and 360.com sold for $17 million in 2015 — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The reality is that everyone with a presence of mind can become a domain broker, but only the best are privileged with large deals.

In this article, I’ll discuss how you can become one, too. But be warned — it’s not all sunshine and roses. Domain brokers spend innumerable hours on the telephone, drafting emails, answering questions and negotiating prices. You’ll have to be well prepared and dedicated to make domaining work for you.

Set Reasonable Expectations

Main domain brokers — and sellers — often forget that domain names are not lottery tickets, but merely commodities meant to be traded for a profit.

The objective of a domain broker isn’t overcharging buyers, and neither is it their responsibility to find buyers that will pay a specific asking price unless it matches its fair market value. As a domain broker, your role is facilitating the sale of domain names at prices that reflect their market value with the objective of making a nice profit.

Different domain names have different market values, which means some will be more profitable than others. Finding qualified end users is different and likely difficult for every name, especially the premium domain names.

Learn How to Find Keyword-Rich Domains

To become a successful domain broker, you need to have a good grasp of basic concepts, one of them being keyword-rich exact-match domains. These carry immense value for brands because they target specific keywords.

Search engines rank keyword-rich domains higher because they assume the domains are the virtual property of specific brands. When someone searches for the keyword or a variation of the keyword (also known as a “search query”), the domain is very likely to show up high on search engine results pages because it closely matches the search query. The higher it is positioned on the page, the more traffic it generates — and thus the greater value it carries.

As a domain broker, you won’t necessarily own the domains you’re selling, and most of the time, they’ll be the property of another individual or company. However, the process is still the same.

How Do You Find Keyword-Rich Domains?

To find keyword-rich domains, you need to identify popular keywords that people actively search for. Several keyword research tools are available, such as WordStream and Moz, and they provide quantifiable data about keywords — from the average monthly search volume to competition and even pay-per-click (PPC) value.

If you already have a list of keywords you’d like to find out more about, that’s great — you can bulk upload them to your chosen keyword research platform to get reports on their search volume and other useful metrics. If you don’t, you can input a simple one-word keyword to get suggestions based on popularity and get a list of more specific keywords you can use for your domaining.

Time For Outreach

Once you have a list of qualified names you want to work on, the real work begins. There is a lot of hard work that goes into finding buyers and sellers, contacting them, getting responses and getting them working under exclusive agreements. Without an exclusive contract, someone can possibly navigate around your work once you have provided value to them. I have had this happen countless times, and the feeling is deflating, especially if you are just getting started. If someone cannot commit to your work, I would recommend finding another name to work on.

How Do You Actually Sell Domain Names?

The secret to successfully selling your domain names is putting them in front of a wide audience and not limiting yourself to only one or two platforms. Websites like Flippa and Sedo have excellent reputations in the domain name sales industry, and they’re fairly straightforward to use — but not suitable for premium domains or high-dollar transactions. Connecting your name to suitable end users is what makes the best domain brokers standout.

Remember that selling domains doesn’t happen overnight; it is a long and often tedious process, and you need to stay on top of your research, prospecting and follow-up if you want to sell great domain names. Being proactive in your domain buying and selling exploits can pay off significantly over time.

By Michael Gargiulo

Michael Gargiulo, CEO of VPN.com. We help Fortune 1000, entrepreneurs and companies protect their brand. Read Michael Gargiulo’s full executive profile here.