If you’re going to manage you own inbound sales inquiries, I think it’s a good idea to create a corporate website. The website can be a simple HTML website or something that is more fancy, but it should have enough information to help build trust between you and a counterparty. You can also create an email address with the matching domain name to reinforce credibility and make it clear the inquiry is being handled by an authorized representative of the business.
I operate two professional websites for my business – TopNotchDomains.com and Embrace.com. The former is more of a corporate website and the later is more of a marketing website. Both of these websites offer details about who I am and provide background information about my business. The idea is to show counterparties I am experienced in the business of domain names and know I can be trusted to complete a deal.
In addition to having a website, I also use corporate email addresses that utilize Gmail. I think this helps show that my business is established, as a generic free email address can make you seem less professional. For a great deal of things, I use a Gmail email address I’ve used for more than 20 years, but responses to inbound inquiries and negotiations are almost exclusively done with a corporate email account.
The purpose of the website is to establish a level of trust with counterparties. They can see that I am a real person with a real business. In addition, they can also see that I am established in the domain name industry, so when I say that I think a domain name is worth a specific amount, that may hold more weight. In addition, I can guide a counterparty on the often murky escrow, legal, and domain name transfer process.
Beyond building trust with another party, a corporate website also shows this is my business. Instead of potentially being perceived as a lucky guy who bought a good domain name long ago who might be happy to turn it into some loose change, it shows the business is serious about domain names and knows their worth.
Creating a website has never been easier. There are a vast amount of platforms and services that can help create websites, add relevant information, review and edit biographical content, add illustrations or photos, and help with pretty much anything else that’s needed for this. There are also many hosting options for websites – whether you use your registrar or a third party. In short, it’s neither expensive nor time consuming to create a professional-looking business website to build trust and show expertise.
Beyond having the need to stay anonymous (perhaps someone who has a professional career outside of domain investments), there is very little reason for not having a professional website. I think it can help domain investors with negotiations and sales.
