The Beginning of My Large-Scale NamePros Lander Experiment

… or the AbdulBasit Makrani approach, but with a twist: I will keep the domains at Afternic but at higher than usual prices (mostly $4,888) to make up for the somewhat extortionate commission (I agree with AbdulBasit on that front) I will have to pay for not using the Afternic landers.

Portfolio size: x,xxx domains.

Why now?

The end user climate is quite volatile, with consumer and business confidence at sometimes pre-Great-Recession lows but accommodative monetary conditions likely, especially after the post-Powell era begins at the Federal Reserve.

Why still keep them at Afternic?

Because for my portfolio, the occasional registration path Afternic impulse buy that would not have occurred otherwise is just too tempting to say no to. AbdulBasit’s portfolio is one of the best in the industry from the perspective of his average domain value so in his case (or Adam Strong’s case), you can get away with cutting out Afternic. For the overwhelming majority of domain investors, myself included, I do not believe that to be the case.

What lander type am I using?

A simple Make Offer one, since I love the fact that NamePros makes it easy to collect and analyze end user info, even things like IP address/block analysis. As data from Afternic and others shows, Buy It Now pricing is what will lead to the highest possible sell-through rate. Thus, for Make Offer to be worth it, you have to leverage the intelligence you are gathering so as to maximize the sales prices you will be negotiating. I have mentioned on numerous occasions that I am not as good at end user negotiations as Adam Strong (“bleed ’em” being his trademark expression, lol) or AbdulBasit and it’s been a while since I have applied my negotiation skills at scale, so I am treating this experiment as an opportunity to fine-tune skills that I am currently not happy with.

Example domains?

You can check out all of the DadDomains.com domains, just type them in and you’ll see the lander I am using. Again, sticking with something super-simple for now.

My expectations for 2026?

Higher average end user sales prices, a strategy I believe is aligned with what I consider to be the K-shaped nature of the end user space right now. With affluent end users like tech/AI companies (also expect good things in 2026 for sectors such as health) having robust spending power, whereas less affluent end users are vulnerable and oftentimes postponing the very expansion decisions that would lead to them buying your domain.

This is not a strategy I would have tried in 2021-2022, as grassroots level liquidity conditions and the realities of smaller end users were different back then. Forced saving, stimulus checks, grants/loans depending on jurisdiction and so on. Yet another example that the name of the game is doing what works *now* rather than trying to find some universal “what *always* works” panacea.

Initial thoughts about NamePros landers?

Quite positive.

I love the blazing fast speed of everything and I think those of you who are used to a more restrictive landing page experience will be very pleasantly surprised, as you are allowed and encouraged to collect a ton of end user data that can be leveraged for negotiation optimization.

Plus, you are in complete control of your leads.

You email them when you want to, follow up when you think it makes sense, etc.

This type of flexibility can lead to sales that would not have occurred otherwise. For example, I recently recall seeing Brad Mugford from DataCube post on X that he closed a deal where the negotiation process was started all the way back in 2011. Always good to have the option of always following up with your leads, as the realities of domain investors change and an offer which was considered too low at one point might all of a sudden seem tempting if you need capital for other domain acquisitions or for real life-related reasons.

The landers are sharp and fast-loading.

For now, I’m trying to keep them as simple as possible but I have only just started playing around with them, so we’ll see.

There are a few small things I’d tweak, like allowing me to use an avatar different than my NamePros one (since that avatar has the text DadDomains.com, and I wouldn’t want an end user who might buy for $4,888 to see the $14-$20 prices you guys are getting). But those are minor issues that can be circumvented by for example having a NamePros account for the landers that’s different from your regular one.

All in all, I am very optimistic based on what I have seen thus far, plus the fact that AbdulBasit (with whom I keep in touch and whom I trust) has had very positive things to say about his own experience and the support he is getting.

Here’s to a super-profitable 2026!