In the 2000s, domain flipping was massively profitable and an excellent online business for up-and-coming entrepreneurs. But as of late, not many people consider domain flipping when talking about ways to make money online. So, is domain flipping still profitable in 2022?
Here are 4 reasons why domain flipping is still very profitable:
- People are more open to using unconventional TLDs.
- There’s a growing market for domains.
- There’s access to better and more advanced tools.
- There’s no special skill necessary to start.
Let’s take a deeper look at these reasons to understand why domain flipping is still profitable and how you can capitalize on it.
1. People Are More Open to Using Unconventional TLDs
In the early days of domain flipping, “.com” was the go-to TLD (Top-Level Domain). It was popular, trustable, and worth more than domains having other TLDs.
It was much easier to sell the domain “xyz.com” than it was to sell the domain “xyz.net” or “xyz.co.uk.”
That said, people won’t literally buy the domain “xyz.com” just because of the TLD. The domain name also needs to be “good,” meaning it needs to fit one or more of the following criteria:
- It must be short—ideally, less than 10 letters.
- It must be easy to spell and remember.
- It must be brandable.
Now, as you can imagine, there can only be so many “good” domain names. And if “.com” is the only profitable TLD, all the money-making domain names will soon run out.
And this is exactly what started to happen. As a result, there was a sharp decline in domain flipping during this time.
But then, in mid-2011, the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) approved over 1200 domain names. You can check out the list over at IANA’s (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) database.
Over the years, people started using and trusting other TLDs more. Stuff like “.io,” “.tech,” “.app,” “.shop,” etc., started becoming popular and saleable.
In fact, you can go around searching for “.com” domains that are selling for good money and then use that domain name with a related TLD relevant to the niche, and it will have a market.
Though the non-“.com” domains might not fetch as much money as the “.com” domains, they can still fetch good money, making domain flipping a viable business again.
2. There’s a Growing Market for Domains
Hobbyists, aspiring entrepreneurs, and even established businesses are creating over 252,000 new websites every single day. And judging by the trend, this number will only increase in the coming years.
Now, every new website will need a “good” domain name, and this is where you can make a profit as a domain flipper.
Simply register domain names relating to fields or niches that are popular now or likely to be popular in the coming future.
Once you own these domains, label a price, and wait till someone looking to create a website in the related niches comes and buys it from you.
What’s more, people are more educated and concerned about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) nowadays than they used to be.
As such, more people are looking for “older” domains—domains that have existed for a few years now—as that can improve one’s Google rankings.
This is why more people are selling old domains, and more people are buying them.
You can also jump in here, buy an old domain (warning, it’s going to cost a lot), raise its price so you have a profit, and wait for someone to buy it.
3. There’s Access to Better and More Advanced Tools
The trickiest part of being a domain flipper—the part that you have to get right—is buying the right domain. Because if you buy the wrong domain, it will never sell, and you’ll lose your money.
So, how do you buy the right domain? Well, you need to do a lot of research.
Back in the day, most of the research was done manually. You’d have to talk with other people in the community to learn what they’re doing, keep tabs on multiple industries to get an idea of upcoming trends, and much more.
But now, we have access to powerful tools that can do much of this research for us.
For example, SpamZilla can help you find old domains with tons of backlink data. This gives it a huge SEO boost, thereby increasing its value.
Next, we have Domain Hunter Gatherer, which can help you find high-value expired domains.
And speaking of expired domains, we have tools like Dropcatch, Pool, and Nidoma, which can help you find domains that are just about to expire. These lets you buy them before they expire, allowing you to get them at a low price while retaining all their SEO value.
These tools will help you save a lot of time on research. And since time is money, these tools make domain flipping much more profitable.
4. There’s No Special Skill Necessary To Start
You might have heard blogging is dead, or blogging is no longer profitable. But running a blog myself, I can assure you that blogging isn’t dead and is still profitable.
What has happened is that blogging isn’t as easy and straightforward as it used to be. There are more blogs now, meaning more competition.
Furthermore, modern blogs need to have better design, provide useful information, and abide by new SEO rules to get traffic and become profitable. This has made blogging harder than it used to be.
So while blogging isn’t dead, it’s just harder now, and if you want to succeed as a blogger, you need to try harder.
The same goes for other methods of making money online—affiliate marketing, YouTube, social media ads, etc.
However, domain flipping is still as simple and straightforward as it used to be.
Like before, you need to research to find “good” domain names and sell them. You don’t need to have any special technical know-how.
This means you can start domain flipping immediately without investing time or money in courses.
