To Renew Or Not To Renew
Every domainer faces the same dilemma at different times of the year, each year - to renew or not to renew various domains they own. I own over a 1000 domain names in my portfolio and I carefully review each one before pushing that renew button at my favourite registrar.
There are certain criteria you can follow to help you decide the fate of each of your domain names at renewal time:
1. Does the domain name cover it’s renewal cost in revenue per year? This is quite simple to determine if you park this domain name, as a couple of cents each day can equate to more then your renewal costs per year.
2. Is the domain name brandable? Is it marketable? You can read more about brandability and marketability and general domain appraisal techniques in the Domaining Manifesto.
3. Does the domain fall into a popular domaining category (LLL.com, LLL.net, LLLL.com etc) or is it a dictionary domain name.
4. Does the domain name have backlinks or traffic? You can easily check backlinks and PR via CheckPageRank.net
5. Does the domain name have development potential. Can you fathom developing this domain name into a quality website in the near future?
It is important to separate any sentimental feelings you may have towards certain domain names from the cold, hard facts when reviewing your domain portfolio in order to stop wasting money on renewing domain names that are simply not worth it. That said, it is also extremely important to make the right decision and not lose a valuable domain name on account on not doing the necessary research.
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4 Responses to “To Renew Or Not To Renew”
August 25th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
1,000 domain names? Holy cow!
What a coincidence this post is because I was just canceling some of the domains I had in my portfolio (if you can call it that). They were my first attempt at creating a niche site, but they never went anywhere.
After purchasing them last year, I discovered tools that helped me realize that they weren’t up to the standards one should expect when selecting such things.
August 25th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Make sure that you are checking your portfolio 3 months in advance of delete notices.. That way you don’t have to let anything expire. You can at the very least list the domains you no longer are interested in at TDNAM or Afternic or Sedo. If worse comes to worst, just sell them for $20 or even $10 on TDNAM. That will help pay for some renewals on other domains.
If you are always working 3 months in advance you will be suprised what you can sell.
August 25th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
@Kelly
I gave that some thought, but I must have been off my game the other day when I did all this because I tried looking into it and got a little lost. Questions I had were where do I sell my domain name at places like Sitepoint (or maybe that was my bad in the first place), and how much does the service charge for me selling my domain name.
Silly question, but does TDNAM stand for the domain name after market?
August 26th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Mark, Yes, it’s the Godaddy site. I just renewed a $1000+ domains today myself, although I didn’t have any this go around that I was trying to sell for cheap. I find if I can work a few months in advance I can sometimes sell the ones I am not renewing for at least a pittance. I have paid the annual fee, so it is just 5% or $5 minimum on a sale… which even if I sell a domain for $10 I net $5…. and it adds up on 100’s of domains.