Find a Domain Name Buyer Using Tumblr, Blogspot, and WordPress

I always find it interesting when I come across a blog or other website on Tumblr, Blogspot, WordPress, and other platforms and the owner has decided to simply use the platform for its domain name. For instance, it would be like me using ElliotsBlog.Wordpress.com instead of ElliotsBlog.com.

My guess is that most of the blogs that do it either don’t know how to set their website up using their own domain name, they don’t want to spend the time or money setting up their domain name, or they don’t know that they could use their own domain name instead of the more laborious url.

That said, I think you can use these platforms to find a buyer for one of your domain names, and I’ll share some advice about how.

Visit these main platforms and other similar platforms, and insert your keyword .com domain name in front of the .platform.com url. For instance, if you owned ElliotsBlog.com, you would visit ElliotsBlog.Tumblr.com, ElliotsBlog.Blogspot.com, and ElliotsBlog.Wordpress.com to see if there is an active website. Assuming there is, find out who operates the website and get in touch to try and sell your better domain name.

It can be difficult to get in touch with the operators of these websites because they aren’t required to leave their contact information. Another issue is that these people are probably less knowledgable about domain names, so your close rate will likely be lower than other methods.

On the other hand, these are people who have built their brands on poor urls that they don’t own or operate, so having the opportunity to purchase the .com domain name might be appealing. These might be the perfect candidates to offer lease, lease to own, or financed deals.

In your pitch to these people, I recommend informing them that you’d be willing to offer guidance on correctly setting up the domain name for them so they can move their site seamlessly. You should probably learn how to do that before volunteering this though.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

25 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks for sharing. Another nice tip to find buyers but you are right about the successful sales rate because they are either not interested or have lack of knowledge about domain names.

    Still this method can be tested and see the outcome.

  2. This is great advice but as you mentioned, finding the contact info can be a bear.

    I have started to include a sentence in my domain sale emails that reads:

    If you have never purchased a domain name before, I will do my best to assist you in the transaction.

    I get told to piss off less.

    • Hadn’t thought about doing that, but it makes sense. Many of these people pay an “Internet guy” quite a bit of money to handle things like this, and if you let them know you’re going to help them with the transfer process, it might help close a deal.

  3. Good tips. However, these people are not usually willing buyers. They can find success in running their blog off a blog sudomain than owning a domain name. The blog types you mention are free to use. It’s easy to monetize them.

    For example, GoogleSystem blogspot is a massive unofficial website that scores heavy traffic and has a ton of sites linking in. Smart bloggers don’t need a domain name to become successful.

    • That’s a good point, and I agree.

      If they ever decide to sell their blog, it’s probably better if they are able to sell the website + domain name as a package. I would assume it’s more enticing to sell the entire package and it probably makes a better sale, especially because they would have been able to get their domain name ranked rather than getting more pages indexed for WordPress, Blogspot, Tumblr, or other platforms.

      I have not had success selling a domain name to a blogger like this, but I haven’t spent much time trying.

    • I agree the blogged should acquire their name. If they sell the domain in the future, they can still maintain the blog handle unless it’s sold as part of a package deal.

      You can get ranked for a keyword using either the domain name or the blog. I prefer to use a custom name to build value into the content. If you run a blog on a subdomain of a platform, you will get indexed and create links for that blog name.

      However, building value in a custom domain is best when the overall package includes the domain name, blog handle, and possibly the content. As mentioned, I prefer to use a custom domain across my network.

    • Blog handles can be transferred to another owner. It is an easy process to do. You give the handle so they can use or just retain as a way to protect their brand.

    • Correct, but it can’t really be “sold” since the platform can theoretically take it back (ie Twitter takes back handles due to abuse and other violations). As far as I know, there is no ownership of a handle or subdomain given to users, so that means it can’t be sold.

    • In the package deal, the main selling point is the domain. You transfer the handles as a courtesy to the buyer. Otherwise, another individual may come along and register the blog name.

      There are many blog babes registered that haven’t been updated in more than a decade. I’m sure a blog platform prefers to see blogs utilized to build interest in their service.

      Essentially, you transfer the handle as a courtesy to accommodate the buyer. Content can be thrown into the deal.

    • Yes, exactly. Securing all the Twitter hsbdkes to domains yiu own is wise. This saves the buyer the headache in trying to find another alternative to their domain name. It is an effective strategy to secure matching blog, email and Twitter accounts.

    • Yes, exactly. Securing Twitter handles for any domains you own is wise. This saves the buyer the headache in trying to find another alternative to their domain name. It is an effective strategy to secure matching blog, email and Twitter accounts.

      We see an Instagram Twitter handle with 22 million followers. This is huge for this app

    • You probably won’t find handles to all your domain names since many are valuable and already taken. However, you can set aside time to see which handles are available.

      It is a time consuming process. For the most part, you give yourself an edge with closing a deal. In your case, you have sold many domains as standalone sites.

      You will also have to open exact match email accounts using gmail, yahoo, outlook or any other email services you prefer to use and which email names are available.

      This accommodates the buyer to own the email, handles, and the domain name. You’re basically doing all the legwork to cement the deal.

    • If you own hundreds or thousands of domains, it will take a long time to determine which of these handles are available.

      The best strategy is to look for exact match handles once you acquire new domains. It will save you time. Then, you can go back to see if handles are available for your other domains.

      You’ll be surprised that some good handles are still available. If there is no singular handle, a plural handle will be adequate.

  4. http://happywonderer.wordpress.com/

    I tried to give the owner the domain name but she does not want and I let it dropped.

    Go figure.

    bunnysprints.com/wordpress.com

    I gave the owner the domains names bunnysprints.com and bunnysprint.com and she was so happy and she told me her business picks up tremendously and now she is writing a book.

    Go figure!

  5. I have had many deals stopped dead in it’s tracks because of what their “Internet guy” tells them. Often, IT guys don’t like domain investors because we can do for their customer in a month what they couldn’t do in five years- and for way less money.

    • I’ve had the same thing.

      When someone says they need to get the opinion of their SEO guy, I can pretty much tell the deal isn’t going to happen. While a domain name is arguably less important to SEO these days, I assume the SEO guy knows the company owner has a certain amount of money to spend on his Internet marketing, and the more that is spent on a domain name, the less is available for SEO and web services.

    • SEO and IT will jeopardize a domain sale. Their motivation is to avoid losing a substantial budget.

      It is always best to speak with Marketing, most notably the SEM.

      A domain name is important to SEO if you use it the right way. However, you can produce traffic with a brandable name that has nothing to do with the product or services.

      it will take time and money to establish these leads. A good domain name can speed up results.

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