Interesting Possible Domain Acquisition Scam Attempt

Elliot Silver
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26

Yesterday morning, I received an email that was supposedly from a person who worked at a multi-national bank, and his company wanted my help in acquiring a ccTLD domain name. The person said he had trouble getting in touch with the domain owner, and his company needed the name for an urgent project.

Based on the email’s url, it appeared to be from a person at that bank, and upon my reply, he asked me to either put him in touch with the domain owner or to negotiate on his behalf. I told him I don’t offer negotiation services, but I would try to get in touch with the owner for him and put him in touch.

I reached out to the owner via email, and I was able to get a reply from him within a few hours. I thought it was a bit strange that I could get a reply so easily but the person from the large bank couldn’t. Nevertheless, I emailed the guy from the bank to let him know I was able to get in touch with the domain owner, and he asked me to offer him up to $1 million for the domain name paid using an escrow service.

At this point, I really felt something was fishy, and I looked at the email headers to determine that the email hadn’t originated at the bank, and in fact, the url in the original email was spoofed. I again reiterated that I don’t do negotiations and I have not heard back from the guy.

I don’t know where the scam comes in with this, but it’s clear there was an attempt made. Perhaps they were going to ask me to front some money or send me a check that is in a greater amount than a deal I could strike, and I would cash it and send them the difference, which wouldn’t be noticed until the check didn’t clear, and I would be out that money. Whatever the case is, it appears that this is a new scam.

If you get an email like I received, keep in mind that it could be a scam.

Vuvuzela: World Cup Horn Trademark?

Elliot Silver
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2

Before the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, most people outside of the African continent probably had never heard the persistent buzzing of the vuvuzela, a plastic horn that is constantly heard during soccer matches. Announcers and broadcasters have had to make big changes to compensate for the buzz, which apparently generates a sound with decibel levels greater than a chainsaw.

Because of the phenomenon, people across the world, including in the US, have taken to the vuvuzela. In fact, a guy was kicked out of Yankee Stadium the other day because he wouldn’t give up his vuvuzela.   Of course as a result of this, people have been registering vuvuzela-related domain names to capitalize on the craze.

These registrants need to be careful of their registrations, as these domain assets could potentially become liabilities for some domain registrants. According to an article in the New York Times, the vuvuzela was created by a man named Neil Van Schalkwyk after seeing a tin trumpet in a soccer match, and in 2001, he created the first plastic vuvuzela, while trademarking the word.

Interestingly, a look into the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) shows a dead trademark for the vuvuzela, which was filed for in 2005 and abandoned in 2008, according the the record.

The battle lines continue to be drawn, and it’s probably only a matter of time before domain names come under scrutiny, perhaps after the 2010 World Cup has finished. With speculation about the horn’s place in the the 2014 World Cup already taking place, this could be a playing field in which domain owners should stay away.

Always Have a Back-Up Plan

Elliot Silver
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2

I learned a valuable lesson this past week and want to share some advice with you based on what I learned. Everything worked out for the best, but it’s a good lesson in preparation.  

For those of you who use the services of an accountant at tax time, you probably have been asked a lot of questions about your business. I gave my accountant the Domainer Tax Guide, and he found it very helpful since my business is not the traJditional bricks and mortar business that he usually represents.

Last week, I had a meeting with a company about one of my domain names, and because of the nature of the proposal, i needed some tax advice before doing anything. Unfortunately, my accountant was nowhere to be found. His voicemail box was full and i couldn’t get in touch. I was a bit panicked because this proposal was unlike anything I had ever done, so his opinion was essential. I had no back up accountant to ask, and still don’t know of any accountants that would be able to jump in and advise.

Long story short, after a few days of trying to get in touch, I was finally able to reach him. He was taking the continuing education classes that are required annually and wasn’t checking messages regularly. Fortunately we connected, because he advised me that the proposed deal wouldn’t be as beneficial as I anticipated, so his advice was certainly appreciated.

For legal issues or questions, there are several great domain lawyers I trust in the event my attorney is out of reach, but I didn’t have an accounting backup plan. If you take domain investing seriously, you should have a legal and accounting backup plan in the event that you have a pressing situation. It would be smart to have a back up programmer and designer, too, but those probably aren’t as critical when a situation necessitates a professional opinion.

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I’m posting this from my iPad in Cape Cod so my apologies for any typos. I love this business! 🙂

Tip to Make Money on Your Developed Website

Elliot Silver
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7

As I’ve mentioned in the last few months, I am not really building any more websites for the time being. I believe I have built enough websites to manage (maybe too many), and I need to focus on generating revenue from these websites.

The best tip I can give to any web developer to make money is to be proactive in seeking out advertisers. Unless you have a really popular website, it’s most likely that you will have to seek out advertisers rather than waiting for them to come to you.

Visit competing websites and see who is advertising there and contact those companies directly. Install Google Adsense on your website and see what companies are advertising on your site via Google. If they’re small (not a lot of red tape in the marketing department), try to contact those companies and work out direct deals with them.

In almost every circumstance I can think of, you should make more money from direct advertising deals than you would with Adsense, affiliate programs, or some other type of indirect advertising deal. You need to be your own advocate when it comes to getting advertisers, and you should know all the details about your site that advertisers will want to know (traffic, pageviews, % of direct navigation, SERP for key terms…etc.).

It’s nice when advertisers reach out to you to advertise (and a credit to your website), but in many cases, you need to do the legwork to find advertisers and you need to convince them to spend their marketing budget on your website rather than elsewhere.

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Just as an FYI, someone saif it might be against Google’s TOS to contact advertisers directly, so do it at your own discretion.

FreshDrop: Communicating With Its Customers

Elliot Silver
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1

Fresh DropI noticed something on FreshDrop.net that I can’t recall seeing as prominently in the past on another website I visit. There’s a box in the lower right hand corner of my browser that “What could we change to make you want to continue using us?” and it has a box for customers to provide comments and feedback.

Staying in touch with customers’ needs and suggestions is one of the smartest things a company can do, and it’s even more important for an Internet-based company to reach out, especially when the company doesn’t have sales representatives that deal directly with its customers. There have been plenty of websites I’ve used that don’t have exactly what I need, and if I can find it elsewhere, I just don’t return.

FreshDrop.net is a website I use frequently, and I offered a suggestion to them about adding a newsletter option. It would be great if I could receive an email with the upcoming dropping domain names that I have based on specific filters I set up.   If you have any comments or feedback for the FreshDrop.net team, log in to your account and leave a note.

The company behind the pop-up question is KissInsights, in the event that you don’t have a FreshDrop.net account but do wish to reach out to your customers online. The pop up is a bit intrusive on the lower right, but it will probably ensure your visitors see it and take action.

Sign Documents Online with Adobe Electronic Signature

Elliot Silver
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21

This probably sounds silly, but since I work from a laptop, one of my bigger annoyances is going to hook up my Macbook to a printer and scanner to print agreements, sign them, and then scan them back to my computer (yeah, I should get a wireless device for it but that’s not the point).   It’s not that big of a deal but it’s one of those stupid, little annoyances. A friend of mine introduced me to a new Adobe online service that will virtually eliminate this.

Adobe’s Electronic Signature is a free, Internet based service that allows parties to an agreement to share and sign the agreement online. Users simply upload an agreement (only pdfs are accepted), enter the email address of the other parties, post a due date for the signatures, select a signature profile, and hit submit. The user has the option of choosing a standard signature, or the user can upload an image of an actual signature to make it more authentic.

Once the user has finished his part of the agreement, the other parties are notified and receive an email to access the agreement online. The must click the link furnished by Adobe to access the agreement. Once there, they are unable to alter the agreement, and the service leaves a note on all pages to show that all parties read and acknowledge each page. The other parties then check off their electronic signatures and the agreement is executed.

It’s an easier way to get important documents signed online without having to worry about scanners and fax machines.

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