Peter Askew builds businesses based on interesting domain names. He buys descriptive one or two word .com’s that address a pain point or market need.
You can read more about his journey at his website.
You can also visit his website at Askew.org
Articles
He has shared tips about his process at:
- Window shopping for expired Domain Names
- Want to build a side business? Just buy a great Domain Name
- My thought process on buying expired domains & developing online projects (Twitter thread)
Current Projects
Vidalia Onions
Peter bought the VidaliaOnions.com domain name in 2014. He decided to partner with a farmer to create a direct-to-consumer business. They expected 50 orders for their first season in 2015. Instead, they got over 600. This project now funds his other ventures.
He has shared more about his experiences at I sell onions on the Internet.
He shared an image of the first VidaliaOnions·com logo on Twitter. When the project worked, he re-invested $4k into new logo and brand.
RanchWork.com
RanchWork started due to a collaboration between Peter and David McCollough. Peter and David were collaborating on a separate project when Peter noticed this domain in David’s portfolio. They decided to join forces on this and redevelop the site. He wrote about the project more at Must ride mule (to & from) work location.
When he relaunched the site in 2013, it earned $119 in job postings. In Sept 2020, site generated $2,760. It currently gets 50,000 visits & 250,000 pageviews a month.
He ended up buying the whole project from David in 2017.
He has had consistent, steady growth for the jobs email. He previously had a Facebook page with over 16,000 followers, however deleted the account after Facebook started limiting distribution.
Strategies
In 2020, he posted about his experiments advertising in Working Ranch magazine and Progressive Cattle Mag.
He purchased RanchJobs.com in 2020 for $5k. He redirected the URL to RanchWork. In the 30 days prior to September 12, 2020, it sent 445 visits.
BirthdayParties.com
This website is a curated directory of birthday party venues & mobile entertainment providers.
He shared a years worth of lead gen for this project on Twitter.
He sold 6 domains/projects to fund this venture.
Pitching Machine
He bought http://PitchingMachine.com in October, 2020, for $2,652.
Past Projects
Duderanch
Peter bought the Dude Ranch domain for $17,949 in 2009. He created a marketplace of dude ranch vacations and later partnered with David McCollough, who owned GuestRanches.com. He later sold the site to David.
He wrote more about the project at The dude that built DudeRanch.com
CallTracking.com
Peter bought this domain for $21,000 in 2017 and tried to turn it into a SaaS product. The project didn’t work out, but he still sold the domain for $120’000
Features
The Dot-Com Don: Meet the Domain Prospector Turning Stray URLs Into Real Businesses
Most entrepreneurs acquire domains to fit their businesses. Peter Askew does the opposite.