Combating Content Theft

Elliot Silver
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One of the things I’ve learned about search engine optimization is that search engines such as Yahoo and Google really like unique content. The more unique content you write, the more the search engines will reward you with better placement in their rankings, obviously driving more traffic to your site. Sometimes when unique content is written, others steal it, either trying to pass it off as their own or because they are lazy and want to put up information but don’t feel like writing their own content.
Lately, I’ve noticed an increase in the later. There are people stealing (or borrowing) from various domain blogs and posting either full posts or posting partial posts without adding their own commentary and without seeking permission. While I don’t mind if someone quotes me for the sake of writing an informative blog post, I do mind when people just take my content without even asking.
When I notice this, I do my best to contact the domain owner via Whois lookup to let them know I have an issue. I don’t want them to gain rankings in Google at my blog’s peril. More often than not, the offending person apologizes and takes down my content. However, there are times when the offender has Whois privacy on their domain name and doesn’t have their contact information readily available. This is annoying, and through a hosting company, I found out a way to stop it.
If a website steals content and you either can’t get in touch with the owner or the owner refuses to take down the material, you can file a Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaint with the host, and the host legally has to take action within 24 hours of receiving the complaint. The one caveat is that you need to file an official complaint. It’s not difficult though, and you don’t need an attorney to do it for you, as there are several DMCA complaint templates available online at no cost. Simply find out the web host and email them your complaint.   The issue should be resolved fairly quickly.

Take Advice for What It's Worth

Elliot Silver
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When I had to write reports in high school and college, I was usually required to cite many sources rather than a single source. This was to ensure that the information was accurate and factual instead of simply one person’s opinion. Sometimes a person’s opinion is accurate and factual, but it is important to see what others say to make sure of it. The same goes when you are looking for advice in the domain industry.
Whether you are looking for advice on whether to buy, sell, develop, park…etc or anything at all in this industry, you should try to get as many opinions as possible and make the best determination yourself. Before Frank Schilling started his famous blog and before the domain forums became as popular as they are now, most industry pioneers had to go out on a limb and go solo for many of the things we openly discuss today. They didn’t have (many wouldn’t want) the luxury of openly discussing strategy. Today, it is an important part of the domain industry.
Just like anything else, it is important to know about who is giving the advice and their motivation. I was reading one of the popular forums the other day, and someone was asking how they should reply to an offer/solicitation. Some of the answers were not only unhelpful, but they probably would have been harmful. There are plenty of sources of information out there, so the best advice I can give is to use all of your trusted sources carefully.
Free advice is cheap, but it can be very expensive.

Bigger Isn't Better

Elliot Silver
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Of course I am referring to the size of your domain portfolio. Some people may think that because they have 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 or 20,000 domain names, they are better off than others. I really couldn’t disagree any more, unless you happen to have an unbelievable portfolio (meaning you spent many sleepless nights over the past several years researching and cashing in on money making domain names).
I saw a post where people were asked how many domain names they own, and I was pretty surprised at the amount of people who owned hundreds of domain names. Additionally, I’ve received emails from many people who have asked me to appraise their domain names, and they’ve sent a list of hundreds of mediocre domain names to evaluate. I really believe a person can go broke quickly by registering hundreds of new domain names. Technology and data mining scripts have gotten to the point where it is nearly impossible to hand register domain names that will pay for themselves in PPC revenue, unless a trend or event happens that makes the names relevant. I would like to suggest that people focus on quality and not quantity.
One trend I’ve noticed is that some people believe that because they have an entire portfolio of hundreds of similar names, the set has more value. For example, if someone owns 12345Golf.com, 12345Shopping.com, 12345Travel.com, 12345Sex.com…etc, the names aren’t more valuable simply because almost every 12345 domain name is owned by them. Unless someone else wants to build a huge network of websites using that idea (doubtful), the set is a $7.50 X x,xxx annual drain. One thing to think about is why would someone pay your premium, when they could come up with an idea that is similar and hand register the set (123456 for example).
There is nothing wrong with owning a large portfolio of domain names if you are generating enough revenue to support it, or if you are making enough profit in sales that you can incur the renewal costs with no problem. However, I have seen people become overwhelmed with renewal fees, and it can be difficult to watch some domain names drop because of it.
My advice is to keep your portfolio as trim as your budget will allow. Instead of buying dozens of new registrations, it might make more sense to buy one quality name.

My "Relentless Attacks" on Unique Extensions

Elliot Silver
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I was looking in my trackbacks today and saw a trackback from a blog to my post “.Mobi Meltdown” where I linked to another blogger with whom I agreed about .mobi names at the TRAFFIC auction. I was going to respond in the comment section of that person’s blog, but I ended up writing quite a bit and figured I would give my thoughts more exposure rather than burying them at the bottom of someone else’s blog.
From DomainerDeveloper.com:

“I must reiterate that I find it disenchanting and absolutely remarkable how so many credible, domain industry veteran investors appear to still be missing the mark when it comes to understanding these fascinating domain extensions. Instead of exploring the many possibilities and communities that are building up around these unique extensions, they continue their relentless attacks.”

First off, I disagree that I have been a source of “relentless attacks.” Before last week when I asked “Is There Money in .Mobi Development,” (which only received one affirmative response with hundreds of page views) the last time I even mentioned anything about .mobi was a February 7th post where I was commenting on someone else’s post about the trouble facing .mobi in getting consumers to recognize and adopt the extension. Prior to that, my last mention was way back in December – a lifetime in this business. If this is considered relentless, that’s pretty weak.
Aside from this inaccuracy, I must ask one important question. Why would I care about .mobi or .any other extension when I can do the same shit with my .com names? If I believe many mobile users are navigating to my websites, I can make sure the mobile browser is detected to give the visitor an optimal experience. Whether I own the .mobi or not, my websites can be mobile-ready, just like thousands of other large companies who may not have even heard of .mobi (or own their .mobi names for protective purposes).
I don’t have the time or bandwidth to develop more than a few domain names at a time. Why would I want to mess around with an unproven extension when I can stick to .com? I am sure there are plenty of people who have plenty of time to experiment and try to earn a return on their investment, but I don’t have the time or the desire to become a .mobi missionary.
At this moment, I don’t envy people who paid mid 5 figures recently for .mobi names to see the 13 “premium” names sell for no more than $18k at last week’s TRAFFIC auction. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, people like Rick Schwartz can afford to take a $200,000 gamble on a .mobi or .whatever domain name. If he hits paydirt in 5 years, people will still probably be jerkoffs to him, but it is his prerogative. I don’t see a very active market for .eu domain names, and I am not familiar with too many that are developed, although there were many people who spent thousands of dollars on those names.
When I buy a domain name for development, I make sure the name is as liquid as possible in the event things don’t work out. If I wanted to sell Lowell.com, Burbank.com (currently under development), WeddingEntertainment.com or a few other names I own, I could make a profit because I bought them for fair prices. If I paid $25k for a non-“premium” .mobi name, I wouldn’t be happy at this moment knowing what these recent “premium” names did. That was the point of my last post.
Sure, maybe 5 years from now some alternate extension domain owners will hit paydirt. IMO, it would have been smarter to invest in more liquid domains in the .com extension either for development or to flip. Are condo investors in Vegas or Miami happy when they see much lower comps on similar condos that they own? Are they willing to wait out the market? Some are, but many are just trying to not lose their shirts when they sell rather than waiting out the market.
Sure, maybe I am “missing the mark,” but I think we are aiming for different things.

Guest Post: Keepin It Real & Keeping The Money Coming In

Elliot Silver
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The following post is courtesy of a friend and well-known, but private domain investor. He gives some strategic advice which he adheres to, and it makes him quite a bit of money. When I first started out in the domain industry, my strategy was to sell as many names as possible for thin profit margins. It takes a lot of $30 domain sales to make good money. My friend has generated PPC revenue (correction from earlier) for a few months, and then sold his names for a revenue multiple.

“This past week I sold a total of 9 minimal income domains for $2,450. I paid a total of $61.85 for them (all were reg fee). In the year I had them they made about $800 in ppc income. So my total return on a $62 investment was $3,250 with a net profit of $3,188. That works out to a 5,142% ROI. Sure I could have held them instead of selling like others try and wait till they find a 10x buyer, but odds are I’d be waiting a much longer time and would have to invest more of my time in continued marketing which has a cost factor to it and if you do that you don’t keep cash flow coming in. You want your resell domain properties to flip fast. Time is money. There’s nothing wrong with pricing to sell at 2x or 3x. It works. It moves inventory quickly. It’s the way to keep constant high profit cash flow coming out of your portfolio with enormous ROI’s.
The strategy then is to not be greedy if you want to make money in the domain biz. Make a profit, but make it possible for the next buyer to make a profit too. Where else can you make a 5,000% ROI??? I know of no investment that can do that kind of number on a reliable continuous basis week after week, but domains can if you keep your prices reasonable to sell quick. That’s the secret!”

While I plan to keep the domain names I build into mini-sites, I think my friend has a smart strategy to produce a growing revenue stream. The buyers of his names/sites will benefit from his legwork – it’s a win/win for everyone.

Planning to Attend a Conference

Elliot Silver
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As I am preparing to attend the GeoDomain Expo in Chicago in July and the TRAFFIC conference in New York in September, I would like to offer some advice to those who are planning on attending. Most conferences are expensive, and coupled with airfare and hotel registrations, it’s important to take a few things into consideration before attending.
Usually it can save quite a bit of money by registering early, so I recommend reviewing the upcoming conferences far in advance and using the early bird registration option. Most of the big domain and related conference websites have the dates and locations of upcoming conferences many months in advance. If finances are a big issue, try to attend a conference closer to home to avoid paying airfare.
In the past, I’ve used Farecast to find the best prices on airfare. The cool thing about that site is that it gives prices for various airlines, and it recommends whether you should buy the tickets now or wait based on their experiences. I’ve also found that you can save money by booking your hotel using the special conference rate, which is usually less expensive than you can find elsewhere. If the conference is in a big city with good transportation, you can usually save money by booking at a different hotel, but make sure it’s close enough (and safe enough) so that you can get home in the wee hours of the morning. I wouldn’t recommend staying in the Lower East Side during TRAFFIC, for example, because you will spend much more than you saved on cab fare alone.
As most people will tell you, conference attendance is about networking and meeting with old and new friends. Most of the panels offer valuable information and advice, but the primary reason I attend conferences is to meet with friends who I might see only one or two times a year. I would recommend reaching out to people with whom you want to meet to let them know you are planning to attend the conference. It’s likely that the person or people will be more than will to meet and chat with you at some point during the conference. While it’s nice to have a short conversation in passing, it’s even better if you make plans to speak ahead of time.
For the GeoDomain Expo, I am excited to listen to the panels and learn as much as I can. While I’ve received a tremendous amount of advice from the Castello Brothers, Rob Grant, Jessica Bookstaff, and several others, I am not an expert geodomainer yet. I want to learn how I can operate and grow my two geodomains, and I want to meet with the companies that offer products or services to help develop my geodomains. Take some time to scope out who will be in attendance and who will be speaking on the panels. If you make plans to go “off campus,” make sure you aren’t missing a panel of interest. Make appointments with sponsors and other exhibitors if you want to learn about the company or products. It’s usually easy for them to take a few minutes outside of the exhibition hall, but you should ask ahead of time so they can be prepared.
I am getting excited to attend the GeoDomain Expo and TRAFFIC. I’ve only attended a few conferences, but I’ve never, ever been disappointed with them. Each conference is a unique experience, and I think they are well worth the expense if you are serious about the industry or want to get serious about the industry. Almost all of the serious domain investors and developers attend the conferences, and it’s a great opportunity to learn from the professionals in a personal setting.

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