Many people in the world make websites for fun, as a hobby. On the other hand, a huge proportion of websites are designed to make as much money as possible for their creators and owners. The fact that they can be used as instruments for financial gain means that trade in websites has boomed over the last decade. Buying websites that are undervalued can prove highly profitable to those who know which ones to buy. The best ones will provide a large amount of sustained income, as well as often appreciating in value for later sale.
A highly important segment of the website market is that which receives so-called type-in traffic. Despite the advent and development of search engines, it turns out that a large proportion of internet users prefer to type in their desires as a URL. This means that sites such as '' or '' can experience incredibly high traffic. These names, as a result, are valued very highly. The fact that users go straight to the sites makes them highly effective advertising spaces which do not have to market themselves specifically, which itself would incur costs in time and money.
Although by this stage most of the obvious and simple single-word names have been taken, many options are still available. For instance, simple typos mean that URLs which are close to real words receive a lot of traffic. Despite the error in navigation, this traffic is just as valuable as any other. Another idea is to monitor the newest trends that are emerging online. Events in the world as well as new, emergent topics are both areas which produce a lot of interest. This interest can be leveraged into type-in traffic if managed correctly. Twitter, with its hashtags, for example, is an incredibly powerful tool for researching what the hottest keyword strings are going to be in the near future.
Less focused systems for choosing which websites to buy can also be used. Bulk-buying systems, assisted by specially-designed software, can make the purchase of extremely large numbers of domain names possible. This software can be capable of pulling together data from a variety of different sources to help with your decisions. For example, it can examine keyword search frequency on Google as well as checking the average ad bid on Yahoo's cost-per-click advertising platform. Despite the fact that this is becoming quite a mature industry and most of the easiest choices are already gone, a modicum of effort can yield strong results.
Another way to get into buying and selling websites is to use what is known as the Marchex model. This requires significantly more capital for start-up costs than the normal domain names above, but can of course yield much higher returns. The general idea is to buy into established names with proven track records, taking the income that goes along with them and expecting future appreciation. With the current boom in online advertising, it seems likely that the values of most domain names will increase over time.
A highly important segment of the website market is that which receives so-called type-in traffic. Despite the advent and development of search engines, it turns out that a large proportion of internet users prefer to type in their desires as a URL. This means that sites such as '' or '' can experience incredibly high traffic. These names, as a result, are valued very highly. The fact that users go straight to the sites makes them highly effective advertising spaces which do not have to market themselves specifically, which itself would incur costs in time and money.
Although by this stage most of the obvious and simple single-word names have been taken, many options are still available. For instance, simple typos mean that URLs which are close to real words receive a lot of traffic. Despite the error in navigation, this traffic is just as valuable as any other. Another idea is to monitor the newest trends that are emerging online. Events in the world as well as new, emergent topics are both areas which produce a lot of interest. This interest can be leveraged into type-in traffic if managed correctly. Twitter, with its hashtags, for example, is an incredibly powerful tool for researching what the hottest keyword strings are going to be in the near future.
Less focused systems for choosing which websites to buy can also be used. Bulk-buying systems, assisted by specially-designed software, can make the purchase of extremely large numbers of domain names possible. This software can be capable of pulling together data from a variety of different sources to help with your decisions. For example, it can examine keyword search frequency on Google as well as checking the average ad bid on Yahoo's cost-per-click advertising platform. Despite the fact that this is becoming quite a mature industry and most of the easiest choices are already gone, a modicum of effort can yield strong results.
Another way to get into buying and selling websites is to use what is known as the Marchex model. This requires significantly more capital for start-up costs than the normal domain names above, but can of course yield much higher returns. The general idea is to buy into established names with proven track records, taking the income that goes along with them and expecting future appreciation. With the current boom in online advertising, it seems likely that the values of most domain names will increase over time.