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Taking a Blog Break

I have been writing articles on my blog since 2007. I have been fortunate to have the advertising support of many domain industry companies over the years, and I appreciate that. By accepting advertising revenue, I have felt obligated to publish articles on a daily basis. I usually take the weekends off from my blog, but that’s about it.

For the past 15 years, I have spent many hours each week searching for interesting topics to write about, writing articles, responding to comments, and performing general website upkeep and maintenance. I have made great friends and gotten to know many colleagues because of my blog. By publishing this blog, I have forced myself to stay up to speed on the latest industry news and trends. All of this has helped me become a better domain investor.

The new year is a good time to make a change, and I am going to take a break from this blog.

As advertising renewal dates have come and gone since last Spring, I haven’t offered the opportunity to renew banner placements. The remaining advertising commitments expire on Saturday. With no advertising commitments in place, I am comfortable to take time off. It may be a month or two – or it may be longer. It is an open-ended break.

Besides the income, the thing I like the most about domain investing is the flexibility it gives me. I can take my kids to practices or classes in the afternoon. I can play tennis or go for a bike ride or a run during the day. I can have lunch with my wife or do errands. I am able to travel anywhere in the world and still operate my business. Domain investing is an ideal business for me.

Despite having this flexibility, I have never felt completely free with the blogging obligations I put on myself. No matter where I am or what I am doing, I feel the constant need to publish content that will interest readers. I enjoy writing about domain names, but the commitment has become a burden.

This is not a “goodbye” post. My full focus will be on my domain investments. I thoroughly enjoy buying and selling domain names. Spending more time on my domain names should help me fine tune my business. Maybe I will pick up some more hobbies or do some community service or volunteer work. I will probably write an article from time to time. Perhaps I will return to my blog in the future.

I wish you continued success with your business. I will be working hard to continue growing my business, and I hope you continue to grow yours as well. I appreciate many of the interactions I have had with readers and commenters, some of whom I call friends. I am grateful for the friendships and connections I have made with other investors around the world.

Until next time…

Hilco Digital Assets Announces $10m Investment in Squadhelp

Squadhelp has become a leading brand naming marketplace, connecting business owners and entrepreneurs with domain names listed for sales on its platform. Led by its CEO Darpan Munjal, Squadhelp has been innovating while sharing a great deal of helpful search and sales data and insights to customers and prospects.

This afternoon on Twitter, Hilco Digital Assets announced that it “closed a $10m investment as the lead strategic investor in SquadHelp.” Andrew Miller, Managing Director of Hilco Digital Assets, will take a seat on Squadhelp’s Board of Directors. The announcement did not mention the valuation of Squadhelp, nor did it mention whether other entities invested as well.

Here are the tweets from Hilco Digital Assets announcing the investment:

Questions Related to Uni —> Afternic Parking Migration

If you are a Uniregistry customer, you most likely received an email explaining the upcoming migration of the Uniregistry Market and parking platform to Afternic. The subject of the email I received was “Important notice – ACTION RECOMMENDED to move your Market & Parking accounts to Afternic within 6 weeks“. Andrew Allemann wrote about this as did Theo Develegas.

I have had a Uniregistry account since its inception. I started with parking and the Market for sales, but I later moved all of my domain names off of the Market and nearly all of them off of parking. I primarily use my own inquiry forms and Dan.com for my domain name sales right now.

I have about 1,100 domain names listed in my Uniregistry Market account. Since I neither parked most of my domain names nor directed them to the Market, I never took the time to delete sold or expired domain names. My portfolio at Uniregistry is totally outdated due to the lack of upkeep. If GoDaddy would migrate this list of domain names to my Afternic account, it would be annoying to remediate. I will almost certainly delete just about all of the domain names listed there, with the exception of my parked domain names.

Some Uni-Registered New gTLDs Will be Transferred to 1API

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I received an email from Uni (formerly Uniregistry) that I initially thought was a Whois verification email and almost ignored. It was, in fact, a somewhat important email informing me that one of my domain names is going to be transferred to 1API if I don’t take action sooner.

Here’s an excerpt from the email I received:

Advice and Resources for a Newbie Domain Investor

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Someone reached out to me on Twitter seeking advice for selling domain names. In a short tweet thread, I shared a few thoughts and resources that a new domain investor could use to learn about domain investing.

I shared the tweet thread below so others can see, and I welcome visitors to share some good resources for a new domain investor. I am not monitoring comments much right now, so it may take a bit of time for comments to be approved.

The thing that I think helps me the most, even now, is closely watching domain name sales while observing the domain names companies and startups are using and buying. Understanding what is selling, to whom, why, and for how much, helps me buy and sell domain names.

For any person wanting to make money from domain name investing, it is important to understand this isn’t an easy business nor is it a quick way to riches. In fact, I think there is a steep learning curve that can be quite costly.

AI.com Now Forwarding to ChatGPT Website

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Early this morning, Andy Booth tweeted about AI.com, asking if the domain name was acquired by ChatGPT. Andy presumably asked because the AI.com domain name is now forwarding to the ChatGPT website, a popular AI chatbot.

AI.com had long been owned by Future Media Architects (FMA). In September of 2021, I reported on the sale of AI.com. The deal was brokered by Saw.com, which has long represented FMA on its domain name sales. In my article about the sale, I shared what I understood to be the asking price of AI.com along with a comment from Saw.com Founder and CEO Jeff Gabriel:

Markmonitor Highlights Job Openings

Last week, GoDaddy layoffs impacted 8% of its workforce around the world. I am sure there are quite a few experienced people seeking new job opportunities. In fact, several talented people I have met at GoDaddy were, unfortunately, laid off by the company.

While checking out LinkedIn, I saw that Markmonitor, a corporate brand protection company and domain name registrar, posted an update with links to several job openings the company currently has. The opportunities range from account management to product management to technical development. It looks like there are additional job openings listed on Markmonitor’s website, too.

If there are domain industry folks looking for new opportunities in the domain name space, Markmonitor might be a good place to look for a new job in the industry:

Recent Posts

Hilco Digital Assets Announces $10m Investment in Squadhelp

1
Squadhelp has become a leading brand naming marketplace, connecting business owners and entrepreneurs with domain names listed for sales on its platform. Led by...

Questions Related to Uni —> Afternic Parking Migration

5
If you are a Uniregistry customer, you most likely received an email explaining the upcoming migration of the Uniregistry Market and parking platform to...

Some Uni-Registered New gTLDs Will be Transferred to 1API

2
I received an email from Uni (formerly Uniregistry) that I initially thought was a Whois verification email and almost ignored. It was, in fact,...

Advice and Resources for a Newbie Domain Investor

2
Someone reached out to me on Twitter seeking advice for selling domain names. In a short tweet thread, I shared a few thoughts and...

AI.com Now Forwarding to ChatGPT Website

1
Early this morning, Andy Booth tweeted about AI.com, asking if the domain name was acquired by ChatGPT. Andy presumably asked because the AI.com domain...