It is estimated that a third of all registered domains are owned by domain speculators. These are people who register domains with the hope of selling them later for huge profits.

Have you ever wondered who will buy your domain name, and what they will do with it? Chances are, if you can narrow down your target market and focus your energy there, you will have a bigger chance of selling your domains much faster.

Lets look at the different types of domain buyers, and see what they do with a domain name when they buy one. This should help us to better market our domain names, and better yet, determine if our domains have any re-sale value.

Who buys your domain name and what they end up doing with it after the purchase depends on the domain buyer’s approach to domaining. Ideally some buyers will be end-users buying a top-quality domain name to brand their website, but more often, the buyer will be another domainer.

The Domain Flipper
The Domain Flipper is one that seeks to flip domain names like real estate. They are not necessarily concerned with huge profits, but simply to be profitable. They buy a domain name on the domain aftermarket and then sell it hours or days later for a profit. This profit can be anywhere between just under a hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars. If they are really good, then they might earn thousands.

These guys know the domain aftermarket very well, can spot great deals immediately and snap them up as soon as they are made available. A lot of these guys subscribe to our newsletter for our exclusive deals.

Domain Flippers do not necessarily hold large domain portfolios. These guys tend to prefer to remain highly liquid, so that they can take great domain deals as and when they happen to come by. Some domain flippers may often only carry between one and ten domains at any time. These flippers often don’t carry junk domains.

If you have access to a pool of potential buyers, then this can be a great way of making money in the domaining arena. The holding costs are minimal, and you could make very decent profits if you can afford to buy low and sell high.

The Domain Monetizer
Domain Monetizers are people that park domains for a living, and as such are more concerned with acquiring domain names with traffic. These guys will buy a domain name, often from an expired list, and try to earn as much from it by parking the domain name while the back links and search engine rankings continue to produce targeted traffic.

When the domain can no longer generate enough parking revenues to cover its renewal, they simply let it expire, unless they manage to find a buyer.

Some of the biggest deals in the domain industry have included portfolios of well-known domain monetizers. This area of domaining is changing daily. First we had the influx of millionaires swallowing up every traffic portfolio.

This really is one of the most profitable and most preferred aspects of domaining, as you hardly have to lift a finger to earn real cash. Domain parking has been consistently generating less revenue over the past year, and as such, this method of domaining is becoming a bit risky.

The Domain Investor
Domain Investors are more concerned with buying, low and selling high. These guys buy domains when they are cheap, hold onto them until they are more valuable, and then sell them off for huge profits.

Domain Investors are often in it for the long term, compared to domain flippers. These guys however, do not invest in crappy domain names. Some savvy domain investors develop their top domains into internet brands, which eventually adds even more value to the internet real estate.

Domain Investing can reap success in that one can sell only 5% of thier domain portfolio each year and still manage to make huge profits. However, the downside is that if they are unable to sell enough domains to cover renewal costs, they will have to depend on other methods of generating revenues, such as domain parking.

The Domain Developer
Domain Developers buy or register a domain name, develop a website for it, and then seek to sell the domain name as a revenue-generating website. This is a bit risky; as you have to get it right in order to make a profit.

Domain Developers will develop a domain name, add content, do search engine optimisation, market the website etc., and hopefully, within a few months they should be able to sell the website/domain name in the region of ten times their initial investments.

This is not a popular way of domaining. This is very time-consuming, and domainers tend to be very lazy people seeking to make a quick buck or two. Outsourcing the development and marketing can prove to be very costly, and could potentially erode the profit margin. If it is not done correctly, the development may not add any value to the domain name, rendering the project a mere waste of time and money.

People who practice this type of domaining are often people who already have the requisite skills to carry out all the tasks themselves.

The Domain Builder
Domain Builders are domainers with the end-user mentality. These guys develop their domains, but from a strictly business perspective. They strategize and plan the development all the way to ensure that the finished website becomes a viable ebusiness capable of earning serious revenues.

Domain builders are not necessarily interested in selling their domains later, and do not give a toss about the pennies that domain parking has to offer. Domain Builders can be found in all the categories above, but their approach to building brands on their internet real estate will be different than just simply trying to make a easy buck.

What type of domainer are you?