The Mizel Method

What to invest in now?

March 20th, 2008 Posted in Domains

If you have money, or you make money, you gotta be scared right now.

As much as you’d like to be in cash, you know damn well the government is going to give the value of your nestegg a huge haircut this year, probably in the neighborhood of 15% or more through inflation and currency devaluation (printing too much money).

The bottom line is you absolutely must stay invested in something that has a chance of beating those twin demons if you hope to come out of this downturn successfully.

• While there are opportunities in equities, the broad-based stock market has little chance of recovering in the next few years. Some see a big drop as eminent.
• Real estate, both commercial and residential, are fading fast, with record foreclosures, and trouble even in “unstoppable” markets like Boulder, Portland, Raleigh, and Austin.
• US Government bonds don’t even keep up with the kind of inflation we are seeing today, and will likely see later this year.

So where does that leave us?

Well, last year I decided to so something rather bold and put 10% of my money into generic keyword domain names. This video pretty much convinced me I was on the right track. (It’s a seminar presentation by domain investor Frank Schilling).

I don’t have any blockbusters like Travel.com or Sex.com. Most of those top-level category generics are long gone, and would probably go for six or seven figures.

But I am finding some very good two and three word names through Drop services like SnapNames and NameJet for under $250. Many of these get highly responsive type-in traffic and generate cash when you park them. A few can be redirected to sites you own, or even affiliate links, and pay for themselves in 6 months or less. In my opinion, most of these names will be worth well over $1,000 in a few years. A few might even fetch five figures.

I’m also registering a lot of fresh domains for new, upcoming products, services, and industries. You would be surprised what’s still available when you look outside the typical domainer niches like mortgages and online dating. Think of solar, ethanol, globalization and other growing trends not only as stock investments, but as domain investments as well.

And listen, with a few exceptions, I’m not selling the bulk of my names for at least 2 – 3 more years, when I expect prices to really spike. The traffic from the names makes over $1,000 a month, which is enough to pay the registration fees, and even fill up the car every now and then. LOL! That’s the kind of portfolio you want to build too.

How do you get started in this?

First of all watch the video with Frank. It’s not a sales pitch or promo, it’s a presentation by a real domain investor who has over 370,000 names, telling you how he got started and what he’d do now. I bet you learn a few surprising things about domain investing that will make you money.

Second, spend some time at online domainer hangouts like:

DNForum.com

DNJournal.com

Domainer.com

And the most important, pick up the Domains into Dollars course by Phil Craig, who’s a savvy investor and also a good friend. Phil figured out exactly how to buy profitable names in this environment, and his formula is what I’ve been using since I bought the course last September.

I now have over 1,500 names, my investment is cash-positive, and frankly, I’m sitting on an asset I expect will outperform all my other investments over time.

Jonathan