Double Dose of Development Tips: Develop Complementary Sites & Use a Coming Soon Page

Elliot Silver
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I want to offer you two separate development tips today, although they aren’t exactly related to each other. I have had very good luck with DogWalker.com, a site which now boasts somewhere around 80 paid/paying customers. As more and more companies signed up, I began to seek ways to scale this model.   $10-20k/annually is great revenue for a website like this, but it’s not exactly enough for someone to do full time – even if it grows at a 15% clip.

I thought about different ways to scale, and one idea I had was to acquire another domain name in a similar vertical. I wouldn’t want to cannibalize my listings by marketing a product that was too similar, yet I would want to offer something that was different, enabling me to have a cross-marketing opportunity. I sought out quite a number of names, and most owners were asking for more than I would be willing to pay – even knowing that the model would work. I finally came across CatSitter.com, and made the acquisition.

CatSitter.com will be a great complementary website, and it is going to make money. Not only does it get traffic (had 19 visits yesterday), but many companies that offer dog walking also offer cat sitting services and/or cat boarding. I also paid much less for CatSitter.com, and I can use the same platform as DogWalker.com, lowering my development costs. I can then pass the savings along to customers, in the form of a cross-marketing discount.

One of the smartest things I did after launching DogWalker.com was contact several large organizations and franchises to seek their assistance marketing to members/franchisees, and the largest pet care company agreed to do so. The result of this was that I have about 18 listings from one company’s franchisees throughout the US, and more franchisees sign up each day.   Many of these franchisees offer cat sitting services, and I already have commitments from paying customers on DogWalker.com who are waiting to pay for a CatSitter.com listing when the site goes live.

The second development tip I have today is somewhat unrelated, but it’s important. Despite the fact that CatSitter.com is making a bit of money at Parked, I have taken the parked page down and put a search engine optimized coming soon page up. I anticipate launching the site very soon, but I want the visitors to know there is something better coming. I stupidly forgot to do this several days ago, but it will be going up shortly.

Not only will this be used for lead generation in the meantime, it will also be used to show Google/Bing that something is coming after being parked for 8 years. When I did this with DogWalker.com for 3 weeks, I had 3 inquiries (plus 3 or 4 sale inquiries), and the site launched as a PR1.   Although there will be less time in between the coming soon page and the site for CatSitter.com than there was for DogWalker.com, it’s still something I am going to do and would advise you to do.

Well, that’s it for me for today. Hope these tips were helpful!

Is it HopStop.com or StopHop.com? Confusion with Rhyming Domains

Elliot Silver
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HopStop.comI am headed down to Park Slope, Brooklyn today to meet with the buyer of ParkSlope.com. He suggested a sushi restaurant, and I have no idea how to get there, but fortunately there’s a handy website that will map my voyage using New York City’s public transportation.

HopStop.com is a great tool for people who use the subway system in New York City, and it looks like the website is expanding to other metropolitan areas. There’s only one problem – I can never remember if the website is called HopStop.com or StopHop.com. Judging by the traffic the typo parked page receives (Compete says over 1,000 visitors/month), I am not alone with this problem.

There are a lot of factors to consider when buying a domain name on which you plan to build a brand. Consumer confusion is one of those things. Buying spelling typo domain names may not be enough. Think about all of the ways people may butcher your domain name, and buy those potential typos as well.

1,000 lost visitors a month might not be much when your site receives close to half a million visits, but I am sure the 12,000 visitors a year are well worth the $8.00 annual renewal fee.

Reaching Out to a Potential End User Domain Buyer

Elliot Silver
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I am going to try something a bit different today and give you an inside peak into how I hope to sell a domain name to an end user company that knows the value of potential clients who visit the domain name.

My company owns the domain name ResistancePool.com. For those who aren’t aware, a “resistance pool” is generally a small indoor pool with streaming jets, allowing people to swim in place. These are similar to treadmills in a sense but they allow people to swim instead of run. Resistance pools are perfect for smaller areas, allowing people to work out in a place where a lap pool couldn’t fit.

I have done some research, and I see that there are a number of advertisers who are bidding on the keyword phrase “resistance pool” using Google Adwords. Those pool companies include:

  • Endless Pools (EndlessPools.com)
  • FitMax (FitMaxiPool.com)
  • FamilyPoolFun.com
  • SwimEx.com

I also did some research to see what other companies offer these types of pools but who aren’t using Adwords. Since it’s the winter time – and since many parts of the country are facing frigid temperatures, some companies may not be advertising right now. Other pool companies that offer resistance pools include:

  • Sentry Pool (SentryPool.com)
  • Hydroworx.com

Now that I have a small list of potential buyers, I am going to do a bit of research to find the names and contact information of the companies’ principals and/or marketing contacts. Here are the contact name I found (email addresses not included here):

  • Endless Pools (James Murdock, President)
  • FitMax (Lawrence Chang)
  • FamilyPoolFun.com (Jeff Backer)
  • SwimEx.com (Mark Pearson and Suzanne Marchetti)
  • Sentry Pool (info@SentryPool.com)
  • Hydroworx.com (Anson Flake, Paul Hetrick and Mike McHugh)

Not only will I use this information to get my emails in front of the right people, but hopefully Google will visit my site, and I presume many of these companies monitor their brands with Google Alerts, so they should see this blog post as well.

The hard work of finding potential buyers is nearly complete, but here is the email that will be sent to the buyers today:

Dear (Contact),

I see that your company is one of the few pool companies that sells a resistance pool. My company owns the keyword domain name ResistancePool.com, and I would like to sell it. Instead of having to pay Google, Yahoo, or Bing every time someone clicks on advertisement, you can own the domain name for this competitive search term.

According to the Google Keyword Tool, there were 320 exact match search for “resistance pool” last month, and the number is almost certainly higher during the warmer months in the Spring and Summer. Owning this product domain name can help bring you new high value clients, and perhaps more importantly, it will prevent one of your main competitors from doing the same.

I am currently offering ResistancePool.com for just $850.00, paid via check, bank wire, or Paypal. I am also amenable to using Escrow.com, and we can split the fees. Since I am offering this domain name to several companies, the first one to reply with “I want it!” will get the rights to acquire it. The domain name is registered at Moniker, a Florida-based domain registrar.

Please contact me at once if you would like to purchase ResistancePool.com.

Regards,
Elliot J. Silver
President, Top Notch Domains, LLC

Fourth Quarter Estimated Taxes

Elliot Silver
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Well, it’s almost that time of year again. Most of us dread paying taxes, but I suppose if you have an estimated tax payment due for Q4, your business is alive and well. Estimated taxes for the fourth quarter of 2009 are due on January 15, 2010.

Here’s some info from the IRS to learn about Estimated Taxes. You can also download the Domain Tax Guide if you’d like (affiliate link).

I like posting these reminders because the schedule can be a bit confusing since it’s not evenly spread out. A couple of years ago, I accidentally paid the second installment in July instead of June, so this is also a good reminder for me. In case you run a small business or are just starting a domain business, here are the Estimated Taxes Due Dates:

  • January 1 – March 31: Taxes Due April 15
  • April 1 – May 31: Taxes Due June 15
  • June 1 – August 31: Taxes Due September 15
  • September 1 – December 31: Taxes Due January 15 of the next year

Invaluable Advice on Domain Blog

Elliot Silver
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I want to give you a perfect example about why domain blogs are invaluable sources of information and why people frequently visit and read popular domain blogs. Yesterday evening, Larry Fischer of DirectNavigation.com had a brief post about the sale of CookingGames.com, which he titled Cookinggames.com sells for $350,000 – WTF ?

Larry speculated that the set-up of the domain name looks similar to DressUp.com, which he knew had “absurdly high PPC revenue.” There was 20+ comments on his blog related to the domain name, its traffic, and the PPC revenue from the buyer of the domain name as well as a couple of other knowledgeable people. Just by reading Larry’s post and the comments that followed, I learned quite a bit about a particular vertical I knew nothing about prior to reading the post.

After reading Larry’s post, I did a bit of research on this vertical, and I was very surprised at the results. Just have a quick look at some of the information I gathered below for these parked keyword domain names. GEKT is the Google Keyword Tool’s exact monthly searches, and the Compete information is estimated monthly traffic.

  • RacingGames.com: GEKT: 368,000 monthly, Compete: 5,960 visitors
  • ShootingGames.com: GEKT: 450,000 monthly, Compete: 7,457 visitors
  • FunnyGames.com: GEKT: 450,000 monthly, Compete: 17,188 visitors
  • CarGames.com: GEKT: 673,000 monthly, Compete: 7,465 visitors
  • GunGames.com: GEKT: 90,500 monthly, Compete: 3,069 visitors
  • MakeoverGames.com: GEKT: 135,000 monthly, Compete: 1,672 visitors
  • FashionGames.com: GEKT: 135,000 monthly, Compete: 3,537 visitors

I am sure there will be plenty of people who try to register names like FrenchCookingGames.com or something like that, but that wouldn’t have value (at least none that I can see). Everyone could be given the same information, but some people will still register bad names like my example and try to sell them for stupid money.

Learning how to get a feel for domain values is part of the reason why it’s smart to read and analyze posts and commentary from proven industry leaders. You never know who will appear with commentary or what you might learn.

CES 2010: Take a $1,688 Gamble on Smart Televisions

Elliot Silver
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Consumer Electronics Show

This morning on the CNN website, there was coverage of the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show currently being held in Las Vegas. CES is one of the preeminent technology tradeshows that features product launches, pre-release gadgets and technology, and previews of electronics and other devices. Companies who are featured at CES are looking for buzz for their new products or upcoming launches.

In the article, CNN reported that, “‘Connected TV’ and ‘smart TV’ are two terms that already are being tossed around CES this year. Both refer to the idea that couch potatoes are looking for ways to get the power of the Internet and social media onto living room television sets.”

To me, “smart tv” or “smart televisions” sounds more brandable for a category of televisions, similar to smart phones. As a domainer, I did some domain research on that term and found the following:

For under $1,700, you can buy the domain name for a term that could be big in the next couple of years, and for under $7,000 you can buy both. My business model is built around short term flips, so it’s not a gamble I want to take, but it could be worth investigating if this type of investment appeals to you.As you may recall, SmartPhones.com sold for $95,000 at TRAFFIC.

I don’t have any affiliate or advertising relationship with Buy Domains or Page, but if you want to reach someone at Buy Domains, drop Sonia an email, and if you want to reach page, visit his website.

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