Announcing DomainInvesting.com

As you can tell, I made a big change on my blog late last night and rebranded it as DomainInvesting.com. In addition to this major change, I also changed the color scheme and made a few changes to the design of the website. I am very excited about the changes, and I’d like to get your honest feedback about it in the comment section below. Keep in mind, the design may be a bit of a work in progress.

I think you can appreciate the reasons I moved from a personal brand to DomainInvesting.com. The primary reasons I made the change are as follows:

  • My blog moves from a personal blog to an industry blog
  • Aligns with branding of other popular domain name websites
  • It becomes the authoritative brand for people who don’t know me, especially those outside of the domain space
  • Expert contributors may share articles without confusion over who wrote the article
  • Possible SEO benefits for domain investing keywords

Sometime in the next couple of weeks, I plan to either write a series of articles or perhaps a (free) e-book about how I made the domain name change on an active website. This is something many companies and people contemplate, especially after a major domain name acquisition, and I believe I can offer feedback and insight about the experience.

Before making the change, I reached out to a few people I trust to get their feedback, and it is appreciated. I also appreciate the fact that Lonnie Borck sold the domain name to me. I am not going to discuss how much I paid for it, but I will say that Lonnie had planned to create his own blog, and I finally convinced him to sell the domain name to me after close to two years of discussions on and off.

Theo Develegas from Acroplex created the logo, icon, and the color scheme, and Tia Wood did the redesign, website edits/changes, and oversaw the migration. The team at Everspark Interactive (highly recommended by Braden Pollock) oversaw the website optimization for me and offered guidance on the transition. Alan and Deron from Go Daddy were very helpful with the hosting account set up, and they made the move easier.

I also want to give a big thank you to the companies who are advertising on my blog. Many of them have paid in advance, and this big change was made during their advertising term. I reached out to each company individually to seek permission to make the change prior to the end of the year, and all not only approved but were very supportive of this. I couldn’t spend the time I spend on my blog without advertisers, and I appreciate all of them for supporting my blog and me.

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

102 COMMENTS

  1. Dear Elliot,
    I have been pretty harsh on you in an earlier reply I posted on one of your posts so this time I intend to make up for it.

    First of all, the change is great. You will definitely profit from moving to a more global sounding domain name.

    Secondly, the site is pretty slow loading. Don’t know what’s wrong but you definitely need to look into it as it will drive some visitors away.

    Thirdly, the color schemes used (blue, green and white as the background) are pretty effective for any online business. Good choices made here.

    Fourthly, I hope (as a domainer) you will focus on tips and helpful posts directly related to domaining rather than the usual stuff you have been doing at your prior blog.

    Fifthly, be more encouraging towards those who take a lot of time to reply to your posts. Be nice to them even if they are criticize your or your views. That shows your real character. Don’t be like every other domain blogger online who is so full of their own s$$t that they just can’t listen to what others have to say.

    Sixthly, don’t lose your individuality. That is what made you who you are today so the change of name shouldn’t mean a complete change of identity.

    Lastly, encourage other domainers to post guest posts on your blog. There are tons of domainers in Asia (where I come from) who don’t really understand what American domainers talk about at most times since the domaining environment here is quite different. Make efforts to bridge the gap since this will be (and probably is) the biggest domain investing market in the whole world.

    Best wishes. I won’t comment on your new blog anymore unless I see some of these changes made to benefit all domainers and not just you (or other American domain investors) and I will make sure no one else I know here (in India and the rest of Asia) bother visiting either.

    Regards,
    Savio D’Silva (M.S.)
    http://www.saviodsilva.in

    • Thank you for all of that excellent feedback.

      I’ll address your comments individually:

      1) Thank you

      2) I need to huddle up with Go Daddy to figure it out. It’s probably a combination of traffic and other issues, but slow loading time isn’t good.

      3) Thanks… I have Theo the general color scheme I wanted and he chose these colors, which I like as well.

      4) I think I’ve shared quite a bit of tips and advice. Perhaps some of it got lost in the shuffle. Here’s the “Advice” category, which has some of those articles: https://www.domaininvesting.com/category/advice/

      5) I don’t censor my posts, and to the contrary, I usually engage people who share differing opinions. I think it’s good when people have different views on various topics. The only thing that bothers me is when people are rude or make hurtful comments that aren’t constructive.

      6) The transition will be challenging. At the end of the day, it is still my blog, and I need to find a good middle ground since the branding change doesn’t necessarily imply that it is a personal blog.

      7) That is in the works 🙂

  2. Hi Elliot:

    Congratulations on the redesign. A brave and progressive move that I think will achieve your goals.

    A couple of comments….

    -Love the wider format. I don’t understand why so many websites have superwide margins. To me, a wider format is more attractive and more functional.

    -The menu bar is reverse type. Usually not a good thing. It might be worth exploring an easier to read menu bar.

    -The letters in the logo are so close together. Might be worth having the designer make the logo more readable as well.

    Just my two cents of opinion.

    Congrats again!

    • Thanks for the feedback. I don’t love how the 468 x 60 banners above / below the post are floating in so much white space. Might make a couple of small changes to fix that appearance.

      I am not sure what you mean about the menu bar being reverse type… can you explain?

    • Reverse type is when light font is used against a dark background. It is more difficult to read, especially for longer text. However, IMO even on a menu bar dark font against a white or light background is best.

  3. A great move Elliot, and even more interesting to hear that it took two years to acquire this sexy new domain. Now that’s investment!

  4. I really want to emphasize how helpful Tia Wood has been throughout this change.

    She has been working on the redesign for the last few weeks and was instrumental in implementing the change last night to make sure there weren’t any major issues. I think she signed up around 2:30 this morning and took care of all the major stuff (like redirects and other things).

  5. Congratulations, Elliot!
    I wish you nothing but continued and growing success. I think your move is a good one. Business-focused strategy prevails over the long term, as you know, and a domain that captures your mission clearly is respectful and convenient to the visitors and customers you hope to serve. I think your transition is seamless, and applaud your agility and progression.

  6. Congrats Elliot on the launch.
    btw I found I had to open my window wider to see the advertisers and content at the same time. just 2c

  7. Yes, I think the rebranding is a good idea. It gives you the ability sometime in the future to create something bigger on the domain other than just a blog, and that would add a lot of value. Something similar to dnjournal.com or domaining.com maybe.

    Also, having a great domain like that makes your site sound more authoritative, and should help it in the search engines.

  8. *

    Congrats, Elliot!

    Looks nice and professional.

    Great name, by the way.

    The site loaded fine for me. The earlier instance might have been a burp in the system.

    *

  9. I think the logo is nice looking, but takes away from the amazing domain you have. When looking at the logo, the domain does not jump out at you, possibly because it is a little hard to read the letters.

  10. Great rebranding! Maybe it’s personal taste, I don’t like ads (e.g. 101Domain at the top and DNForum between blogs) disturbing the flow of your blog entries.

    • The ads are what allows me to spend the time I spend sharing insight and tips. If I was wealthy enough to not need advertising revenue, I would probably spend my time traveling and I wouldn’t be blogging.

  11. Congrats on the name, Elliot!

    I wouldn’t expect much of a boost in SEO benefits for the ‘domain investing’ terms. That phrase isn’t a high volume search term and you already dominate most ‘domain’ terms already 😉

  12. In agreement with all said here.

    Nice job! That’s what’s so awesome about the internet. Your IP is still there, just but a new coat of paint on. Excellent work, and great job showcasing a great domain name. Well done,

    Jon

  13. Great move, Elliot. Congratulations. Of course there is probably a line around the block waiting to buy Elliotsblog.com should you ever want to sell that. I think I even did a post about how unique and valuable that is. btw, Theo: GREAT job on the logo!

  14. Elliot,

    All reason for change are correct.

    1) “Elliots Blog” font is too small.. for now.

    Transition the brand/logo slower. You have so many years of “Elliots Blog” content, references… that you may need more time in order to really feel the upside… by the new commercial brand.

    Remember, there are more web development needs ( which was the origin of your personal brand) than domain investors.

    Wise move, but slow down.

    2) Title, clean html code. You are wasting spaces in which you need to maintain Elliots Blog on Meta title. ( GOOG allows 62 characters.

    3) Description – A) Sharpen up your meta description. Its written as if you are an amateur… Maintain Elliots Blog on meta description unless you reach 25 words

    4) WP Theme – Get advice. Should you rename the name of your theme. Your source code reads your WP Theme named “Elliots Blog’

    Success and thank you for all your insights and market pulse.

    geoff

  15. I think that it is not a good idea to re-brand Elliotsblog.com to domaininvesting.com.

    Elliotsblog.com was a personal blog, and tho it accumulated a lot of content, and was relatively popular, it read like a PR site for many domain outfits, and seldom carried any hard hitting articles, or in.dept pieces, to warrant the more serious domain investing.com name.

    I was often reminded that Elliotblog.com was a personal blog, and private affair that owed no one any explanations, and was not obligated to divulge information. He then can those articles be sufficient to pass as serious public investing guides?

    And, because the name is relatively long, about 15 characters, the logo needs truncation.

    Further, there is a need for Elliotsblog.com, and a need for domaininvesting.

    You asked for honest opinion, so that’s mine.

    • The Melville Candy Company went out and acquired the category defining Candy.com domain name, but that makes them no less of a privately held company. Similarly, DomainInvesting.com is a privately held entity, and I am going to continue to withhold private information pertinent to my business (purchase and sale prices, for instance).

    • Staying with your analogy, if one was to ask Candy.com what is the ingredient in their delicious Wisp Gold, they most certainly will not say, hey we’re a private company.

      Elliot, I am only trying to make your blog better. You need to give more information because you are a blogger, tipster, and the exert. You have certain responsibilities in order to keep us coming here. You need to reveal more information on your sales and purchases, or don’t blog about them at all, like the rest if us. I’m just saying.

    • Your continued badgering about this isn’t going to change things.

      I’d give up my blog before I give up my right to keep my business private. My responsibilities are to my family, and I am not going to compromise my domain investing business so others can make money at my expense.

    • I think it’s pretty rude of you to demand someone reveal their private business information. You really can’t expect for Elliot to go against an agreement he made with someone else, right? Fine to have an opinion but let’s do without the demands shall we?

    • That’s the issue we are debating. Everybody can make money, money is fungible. In order to run an authoritative domain investing.com, you have to be prepared for people to make money at your expense sometimes.

      Or sell the thing. You can’t hold back, else your readers will lose money. Is that acceptable to you?

      It’s embarrassing that you would make that state me t, I therefore, urge you to delete it. I’m sure you didn’t mean to say that.

    • “We” are not debating.

      I am telling you I am not sharing my private business details, so you might as well save both of us some time here.

      No matter how much info I share, people will always buy crappy domain names and think they have gold. Back in the 90’s some people were hand registering garbage when there were amazing names available to hand register.

      I guess from my perspective this is a dead issue.

      Again, I will give up blogging before I am forced to share private business details.

  16. @Elliot,

    You wrote that you purchased the domain name from Lonnie, but that you are not going to discuss the transaction? Huh? On domain investing.com, you will not discuss the investment you made on domaininvestment.com? Sounds like Elliotsblog.com still.

    • If I have to do all that, research and all, just to digest your article, then why bother?

      If you intend to be the authority you speak about, then get down to business, and write a full, comprehensive article. I don’t have time to burn, when I come here, I want the full gist, concisely, fairly, substantively, and so forth…

    • When I want to learn something, I do research. If you don’t like it, don’t read my blog. You keep saying you’re going to leave for good but always seem to come back. There must be something you’re getting out of it (at no cost to you of course). If not, you shouldn’t waste your time reading or energy arguing.

  17. Brilliant, Elliot! You got the single perfect exact match domain for your site- and this is absolutely where it belongs. Bravo!

  18. Elliot,

    You appear to have an amazing following. I would still brand the site with your personal imprint. At least make it known above the fold that you are at the helm.

    I am a wedding and stationery industry influencer and have tried to make my site work. I started the site http://www.weddingindustrydomains.com as a platform to attract design and marketing work for my company http://www.localtrafficbuilder.com. I am just changing to a one price model or call for quote Would love your feedback.

    Thank you,

    Brian Lawrence
    201 446 1038

  19. Congrats Elliot!

    Nice move on the rebranding. A textbook example of how a powerful generic domain can shift perceptions of a brand.

    • My feeling is that no matter what logo I chose, there would be people who dislike it. There was a huge outcry when Yahoo changed its logo, but they made their choice and moved on.

      Feedback is appreciated though.

  20. Might as well follow up my emailed congratulations with a public thumb’s up here while I’m on the page …

    Congratulations on the acquisition and good job on the apparently seamless rebrand! It’s good to see that an authoritative domain will be paired with a site already recognized as an information hub within the industry.

    That ebook — if you get a chance to write it — would benefit every domainer in the field, since potential buyers frequently hesitate to purchase a better domain, simply due to concerns about transitioning. Armed with a “How To Change Your Domain Name” ebook, domainers should see a lower percentage of sales fall through. Please write it!

    Also, thumb’s up on the logo. Before seeing it, I had some hypothetical concerns; but Theo / Acro has handled those nicely.

  21. Smart choices, both the name and the template.
    I wanted to suggest you to adopt a more fresh template in the past so I am glad to see that there was no need for that suggestion.

    Now this place will be a little bit a meeting point for discussions among domainers and a more opened point… It is not a problem, on the contrary, as long as you will continue not to censor like instead others unfortunately do…..

    Good luck!

  22. @Elliot,

    In order for me to start congratulating you like the rest of your friends on this blog, I have to know how much you paid for the name, I’m sorry. The price is a chief component of the value; as well as a key variable.

    For example, if you paid 6 figures for it, then I will not congratulate as much as I would if you paid a few hundred dollars for it. That’s not being petty, I am very serious. It’s not professional to be blogging in the dark. Give us full information. You have to choose who your audience is. Are you blogging for domainers or for end users? If it’s for us, then we can handle the info, we’re big boys here. All these people kissing your ass should not go to your head.

    I’m done, until you understand…

    • I don’t need your congratulations.

      If you need to know how much I paid for the name, unfortunately, that is too bad for you. Frankly, it’s none of your business.

      Lonnie and I agreed to not share the price, and I will not break an agreement for your sake.

      If that means you’re “done,” no hard feelings and good luck.

  23. Congrats Elliot, this is a smart move for many reasons, the top reason in my opinion is that if you ever wanted to sell this blog one day in the future, it will be easier now. I like your approach of trying to get people from outside of the Domain Investors community, interested in Domains. I see a lot of this,(ie. Adam’s interview on Shoemoney) and its great for business! Congrats again from all of your friends at Net Profit Media!

  24. I was busy due to Eid. Just checked and surprised to find this new change. It looks great and a sensible business move too. Domain name is awesome. Wishing you good luck.

  25. Congrats to Elliot and those who made the new site happen. I like the logo and square gravatar – nice and friendly!

    @ domenclature, a resource for finding out publicly announced domain sales is:

    http://dnsaleprice.com

    in the interest of sharing, which Mr. Silver has done to the extent of giving away trade secrets of domainers.

  26. Elliot-

    Great move. I hope you build it up and sell it for millions.

    I remember you posted a blog a few years ago warning people about the downfall of branding your name in a business.

    Reading your blog has made me some money and saved me even more.

    Congrats!

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