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What to do with old abandoned websites and domain names?



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What to do with old abandoned websites and domain names?

Hello all. To any webmasters, bloggers, entrepreneurs out there. I'm sure many of you have launched new projects, websites that you've worked on for a while but never took it to the next level, or grew bored of working on it and largely abandoned and neglected to nurture your website in favor of working on other things.

I have several sites and domains like that and have them in the past. Projects that I've started but ran out of steam on! And due to getting tied up in other things, not had the time to invest into them and get them off the ground! Usually these I end up flipping around the time it comes to renew them and let someone else have a go at them.

Sometimes I've seen some of my old sites that fit that scenario perfectly that I've flipped and seen the new owners put some effort into them and they have made them their money back and a profit on top and some are still up and running today. Some just eventually vanish though and that probably means they, like me, either ran out of steam or just didn't put enough effort in to take it to the next level.
What to do with old abandoned websites and domain names?
And sometimes I wish I never flipped them and just kept them and worked on them myself. Because I look at those old sites and see areas on it that they should go in that they hadn't that I would of done. That sort of thing. Seeing your dreams not quite fulfilled by someone else is a strange feeling when it comes to websites. Although dream is a bit strong, more idea. But can you relate to that?

And have you ever come across this scenario before yourself for your own websites/projects? Do you have many "back burner" sites that you have on simmer? How many do you have and do you just abandon them and let them expire or do you always renew them or do you just try and flip them like I usually do on DP or WF or Flippa or somewhere?

If you keep them, and always renew them. Do you ever bring any back and revive them? Have you seen results and success from doing this? Old sites/projects/ideas you started but mostly abandoned but breathed a new lease of life into it and made it a profitable and lucrative website/business?

I ask because I have several sites like this that are coming up for renewal soon that I have largely neglected for a while and I either need to do one of several things with them.

  1. Renew them and then work on them which will involve time and money.
  2. Renew them and then just leave them as they were/are.
  3. Let them expire/drop and just totally abandon / forget them.
  4. List them up for sale in places and let someone else buy them.

With option 1, I'd have to invest time and money into them. More time than money if I do it all myself. But to save time I'd probably buy services for it = money.

With option 2, nothing would really change, I'd still have my sites/domains and everything would be as it was except how much it would cost me to renew them.

With option 3, that's more a really last resort and I hate doing that, I'd probably rather go with option 1 or 2 than let them drop as I believe in them and that wouldn't be right.

With option 4, I might be earning quick cash for them but with not much earnings or traffic to speak of offers would be low. Plus someone else would get my sites for cheap and could turn them into a huge success and that isn't right with me either lol...

What should I do here do you think?

Develop these sites and try take them to the next level & die trying?

Or not develop them and just let them die!!

Or at least try and sell them?

Which option would you say would make the most sense?

Thanks!

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Cristian
I've done such things in the past, abandoning domains and websites just to focus on something else.
It really depends on what you have on your plate at the moment, are you earning a good income right now? Do you have your plate full so to speak? If you do have good ways of creating income that eats most of your time and you are happy with that, keep doing it and just sell your websites.

But if you have the time and you think some of them still have potential, go ahead and re-invest in them and maybe they'll turn a profit around at some point. Even better, PM me with some offers, I'm really thinking of buying such unstarted projects because they're easier to manage, when starting from scratch I have to invest a lot of work and time and I probably just quit half way through, this was I may have a chance on actually finishing a project and earning from it.



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Lynne
Oh wow Mike, I hope I never have to make this choice myself since I can only imagine it must be heart breaking. Each of my websites are like my babies. I have started them on my own, grown them and nurtured them. I only have 4 websites though. 3 I am blogging on regularly and the 4th is a business website I am hoping to launch early 2017.

I find it really hard to keep adding fresh content on a regular basis and keep my eye on the ball with all 3 websites. It's tough. I would always opt for number 1 I think. I like doing almost everything for my own websites and yes I do outsource a little of the work, but just to support the things that I do.

I have never sold a website before and I don't ever want to do that. I think it would remind me of the feeling I had when I was little. My mom bought me a daisy bush when I was about 3 or 4 years old. She helped me plant this little bush in the front garden and I water it everyday and it grew huge. I was in charge of trimming it and used to flower with hundreds of beautiful white daisies.

When I was 6 we sold that house and about a week after we moved out we drove past our old house and the first thing the new owners had done was chop out my beloved daisy bush.

So on that note I think if I couldn't do number 1 I would go for number 2 or 3. Call me sentimental LOL



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vinaya
If you are not using your website or domains, sell them and make money from your unused domains and websites. You can flip your website and domains on various sites. Domain/website flipping sounds simple, however, it is really hard to achieve this.
I have a domain listed on flippa. Since it is a good brabdable two word domain which is two years old, I priced it $50. When I listed on flippa, I had to pay $9 as listing price. During the checkout process I had to pay $59 because flippa holds money on escrow. The domain did not sell and my money is on hold.



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Corzhens
Maybe I will go for the last option which is to sell it because websites and domains are like cars which become useless when not in use. An old website which has stagnated for a long time will have little value. But if you will spruce it up to get a decent number of traffic then probably it can fetch a better price in the market. With the domain name it depends on the name if it is attractive or not.



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