Everybody loves to see an email come in from their favorite marketplace telling them a new offer is now pending for one of their domains. Depending which marketplace that is for you personally, it will likely give the option for you to start an auction that will last for between 5 and 7 days. If you decide to start an auction then it will make the domain available for anyone out there to bid on (including the person who made the initial offer). While some people are lazy and let the auction run its own course, there are a number of pro-active things you can do to promote your auction at no cost and get it in front of more potential buyers. Try using some of the tips below to market your domain auctions and get them seen by more buyers, possibly bringing additional bids and selling your names for more profit!
Post Your Auctions on Domain Forums – There are a number of popular domain and webmaster forums out there who will let you share your auctions for their visitors to see. This is almost always free of charge and can be a great way to reach an extremely targeted audience. Since other webmasters and domain investors are always looking for new projects to take on, by joining the forum and sharing your auction you’ll be guiding them directly to what you’re selling! Another great marketing option on these forums is to utilize the Forum Signature space. Add a link into your signature so it can be shown below every new post or reply you make on the site!
Share Your Auctions Across Social Media – We all have social media accounts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other websites. Many of these websites have groups and specific tags that people use to share things related to the industry. Get on Facebook and search for domain or SEO related groups like this one which allow you to post your auctions to their members. There are dozens of them out there and it costs you absolutely nothing to share in them. Along with that, get on Twitter and tweet your auction using popular tags such as #Domaining #DomainNames #Flippa #GoDaddy and others. Social media marketing is a great option to promote your auction free of charge. Once again, using proper tags and posting in proper groups can get you lots of views from the perfect target audience!
Buy Some Advertising – Webmaster, domain investors, SEO experts, and other internet marketers use a variety of different websites to handle certain tasks each day. Lots of these websites and blogs have advertising spots available to purchase and some even have areas on their website specifically setup for auction links. Have a look at NameBio and you’ll see that they have pretty affordable advertising opportunities that will get your auction displayed in front of every visitor!
Search and Email Potential End Users – This one is self explanatory. If you just started an auction for the domain “MiamiPlumbers.com” then it might be a good idea to Google “Miami Plumbers” and contact all of the relevant businesses which show up in the first few pages of the results. Let them know the domain is currently in auction and it would make a great fit for their company. Don’t include your auction link inside the initial email because that looks like spam. Instead, introduce yourself and make them aware that the name is available. After you receive some initial interest they will be more likely to click your auction link. This method can be great for getting bidding wars going on generic domains!
One final note is that not all marketplaces require you to a receive initial offers before you can send the domain to auction. Some websites, such as Flippa, give you the ability to pay one flat fee and send your domains directly into a live auction which can ran between 3 and 30 days. Even if you decide to start an auction without any initial offers in place, use the methods above to market your auctions and get them into the eyes of more potential buyers!