[Tuts] End-User Lead Generation for your Domains

Finding end-users for their domains is every domainers dream. Flipping generic domains to end-users for high returns feels wonderful, doesn’t it? Flipping to other domainers is one thing, but the real deal are end-users – individuals or companies with some actual development plans for your domain and a vision to turn it into a brand. This is where the real money lies and where you can actually get a worthwhile ROI for your investment, both time and money.

Here are some methods for generating leads to sell your domains:

1. Organic search results:

This is the primary method for generating leads. Search your domain’s keywords on major search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. both with and without quotes. For example i want find leads for my domain DotSutra.com. So i’ll key in dot sutra and “dot sutra” into Google and see the first few pages of results that come up.

Websites ranking high up in search engines, particularly on Google, are likely to have a good understanding of SEO or have run amny costly campaigns for their own website to rank high. If you own a generic domain, your domain can rank high for those keywords, thereby reducing SEO and marketing costs for the company.

2. Examine URL and title matches :

You can directly locate web pages containing your keywords in their URLs via Google’s inurl: operator and in their titles via Goole’s intitle: operator. If you’re pitching Dotsutra.com, for example, you’d search inurl:dotsutra and intitle:”dot sutra”. See the screenshots below. Google doesn’t offer a way to query which sites contain your keywords in their domain name specifically as of now.

3. Sponsored Search Results:

This method is an excellent way to locate established players offering the product or service your domain keywords describe. If advertisers are bidding high on your keyword (check the Google AdWords Keyword Tool and enable the “Estimated Avg. PPC” column), these players might find the possibility of replacing their sponsored ads with your domain.

To locate sponsored results, search your keywords in quotes on Google and examine which advertisers appear on the top, right and bottom sidebars.

If you live outside the USA, be sure to search google.us rather than google.com as the former option will typically bring up far more advertisers. If your domain’s keywords or the TLD focuses on a particular country or region, this can be done by going to the corresponding Google site and searching for advertisers.

4. Target owners of alternate TLDs:

Oftentimes, end-users will secure keywords or their company name in multiple TLDs.

They can then choose to redirect all other extension’s traffic to their main website without losing type-in traffic or can just buy the name to protect against a competitor using it. The company might also use domains in other extensions to expand to other regional or product markets too.

But this case can be tricky at times. If the current owner has a trademark on the name, you might be in trouble as you have showed “bad faith” by trying to sell the name to them for a profit. Checking for trademarks shall be covered in a separate tutorial.

5. Research Keyword Synonyms:

To locate keywords similar to those within your domain, pull up the Google AdWords Keyword Tool and type your keywords into the search box. Leave “Only show ideas closely related to my search terms” unchecked at first and turning on “Filter my results > Include adult content in my keyword results” if your keywords are adult-related.

Here are some settings that might help you get slightly better results:

1. Choose Match Type as Exact

2. In advanced filters, set “Global Monthly Searches” to >=1000

3. Set CPC to >=$1 or more.

You will have to mess around with the advanced filters a bit depending on language, adult names and whether your niche is broad or a very small one(basically how popular your domains’ keywords are).

6. Online stores & Directories:

If you own a product generic, try doing some research to determine several niches/categories your product falls into. Now, Google these categories (plus variations) and between them you’ll pinpoint of hundreds of potential destinations. You’ll be surprised how many of these candidates would take interest in your domain name, even if they don’t offer the corresponding product per se, as search engine-referring traffic often accounts for vast percentages of their revenues. They would hence likely appreciate the SEO boost that would accompany purchasing and developing your domain name.

7. Go Offline:

If you don’t hit gold online, then its time to go offline. You must realize that the majority of potential end-users for your domain name (including many of the wealthiest!) may not yet have a web presence. In fact offline clients can be a boon for you if you provide other online services like web development or hosting, etc. These products can easily be upsold to such clients.

You’ll either have to look around locally for potential clients or you can check out product/services business directories like Yellow Pages, Superpages, Business.com, Dexknows, and Hoover’s.

These are some of the standard tricks for finding end-users. Feel free to share or add any others…