Confessions Of An Old Domain Reseller

Actually I can't confess to many juicy indiscretions as yet because I've been a domain reseller less than three months. You see it's me that's old, not my business. I'm still waiting for the sexy parts myself. Hope I can recognize them when they do show up. I will confess that I didn't know what I was doing when I got into this business. Would I have made this investment if I'd know that my competition included eighty thousand other domain resellers? Oh, probably. Good initiative and poor judgement has been the story of my life.

I got my domain reseller store as a birthday present. Which one? I'm not telling. But I'm older than dirt and I'm retired, and I think--no, I know--my wife desperately wanted me doing something other than bothering her. Well, her plan worked

I went out to my office April 3rd and she hasn't seen me since. Ok that's an exaggeration. But I do spend a lot of time out here. The store the Registrar provides is a miracle of utility; and it isn't all that unattractive either. The problem is that all the stores look pretty much alike, and I've spent a fairly long life avoiding just that. Also, you can't hook the basic store up to Google Analytics and work with Webmaster Tools. I decided I had to build a parallel web site to serve as a facade for the actual reseller store and allow me to put my own creative stamp on it. A good idea? I Don't know yet.

It took this Internet tyro the better part of a month to build that parallel site. I guess I could have saved time with professional help, but what would have been the fun in that? Besides, professional help costs money and I'm not called Cheap Mike for nothing. While I built that site I cheerfully blew through the ad credits for Adwords and Adsense the Registrar had given me and took another chunk out of my own pocket. That didn't bother me much because to my amazement, I sold some domains. The old cynic in me hates to admit it, but I was thrilled.

I'm still in over my head. I don't know how many times I've come out to my office with what I thought was a good idea and spent the day developing it to find out I had reinvented the wheel. I find I am often selling domains to people who know more about what I'm selling than I do. I am somewhat comforted by the old adage that the man that learns the most is the one that spends his life making a fool of himself.

Speaking of making things, I haven't made a lot of money yet. Actually I haven't made a dime. I've sold several domains and made some good commissions, but Adwords and Adsense have taken the profits. But I'm enjoying myself. Only a fool--and a young one at that--would expect to make an overnight profit on an investment of less than two hundred bucks.

In some ways it's the most fun I've had since I retired--and for some time before that. I go to bed every night thinking about ads for domains and get up every morning with some bright idea or another that evaporates with the morning mist and my first log-on. But it doesn't matter, I'm thinking all the time and at my age that's a good thing! So, while I can't confess to anything too titillating, I can admit to having a good time.