Create a Business Continuity Plan

Elliot Silver
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4

I think it is important for domain investors should create some sort of business continuity plan for their domain investments, even if they do not technically operate a business. If something unexpected happens that prevents one of us from operating our business or directing someone else to operate it, some sort of continuity plan would be helpful.

I created what amounts to a business continuity plan in the event something happens to me while I am still operating my businesses. It might not be 100% complete, but I think it would provide some guidance to the people who would be managing my business.

I thought I would share some of the topics that I felt were important for my business continuity plan. Keep in mind this plan is a work in progress – I regularly make revisions and additions as things come up. Importantly, I do not keep confidential or sensitive information in the continuity plan. Things like passwords and private account numbers are kept separate and secured elsewhere.

You are welcome to share some things I may have missed:

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Update Nameservers After a Transfer

Elliot Silver
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2

I’ve been consolidating my domain names at one registrar. It makes management of the domain names easier, and I have less work tracking down renewals, sales listings, and parked pages.

On some of my domain names, I have forwarding enabled. Instead of parking some of my domain names that don’t earn much revenue, I forward them directly to a “for sale” landing page to help drive sales. Typically, I use the registrar’s default nameservers and add a forward / redirect because that is the easiest way to set up forwarding.

When a domain name is transferred, it should retain its nameservers. Parked domain names set up using the parking company’s nameservers should continue to resolve to the parked page after a domain name transfer.

For domain names that use a registrar’s nameservers and forward elsewhere, the forwarding

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One Thing I Look at When Bidding in a Domain Auction

Elliot Silver
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8

I am currently involved in a domain auction with a handful of bidders. I want to share a relatively common sense tip that can sometimes help me determine how much I am willing to pay to acquire a domain name.

There is about a day left in the auction, so I am internally trying to determine the maximum number I am comfortable paying. I checked a very similar name (plural vs. singular) to see how it is used and who owns it. I noticed that the similar domain name is listed for sale on a popular aftermarket website. That domain name has a buy it now price of a little under $2,000.

Some might argue the other domain name is more valuable than the name in auction. I could go either way on it, although a case could be made for either domain name. The keyphrase of the domain name in auction has has one extension registered while the comparable name has 5 of the most popular extensions registered.

If I would win the auction and price the domain name in the

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Make Sure the Offer is Firm

Elliot Silver
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8

As a domain investor, there are few things that are more annoying / frustrating / angering than agreeing to a deal with a buyer and having the deal fall through to no fault of your own. Deals fall through all the time and for many different reasons.

When I am negotiating with a prospective buyer, I regularly learn that the domain name we are discussing is one of the domain names they are considering. Oftentimes, when faced with an inquiry or offer form that requires an offer to be submitted, a prospective will enter a tentative offer. This may be the amount they would be willing to pay if they choose this domain name. They may not have finalized their domain name choice and they may be negotiating to buy several domain names when they just need one.

On one hand, I understand what they are doing. They like a few names and need to buy just one. Because many domain owners won’t negotiate with someone who isn’t a serious buyer, they need to negotiate as if they are actually buying a domain name before a decision is made. As a domain investor,

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When Buying a Domain Name, a .edu Email Address Tells Me…

Elliot Silver
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7

For some reason, people still claim to be students in order to try and get a lower price on a domain name. Whether a person is a student or not, many people tell domain owners they are students to influence the price of a domain name. I think people must read advice columns that suggested this tactic, and they don’t know any better. Sorry, but the “poor student” routine doesn’t work.

I occasionally get inquiries from people with .edu email addresses. This could indicate that the person is a student, but it could also mean the person is an alumnus of the college or university and retained their email address. With all of the email services out there, people who use a .edu email address likely do so to show that they are students.

When I see a .edu email address on an inquiry, it tells me that the person is almost certainly not willing to pay what my domain name is worth. They are either a student with a low budget (for real) or they are pretending to be a student so they can claim to have a low budget. Unfortunately,

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How I Deal With Problems

Elliot Silver
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0

Last week, I had what amounts to a billing issue with a company. The bank told me one thing that appeared to blame the company for the issue. I called the company, didn’t get an answer right away, and I quickly escalated the issue to the executive office. I let company President’s administrative assistant know what I thought happened, and I made it clear that I was unhappy and thought there was some sort of ethical lapse.

To make a long story short, the company investigated and it turns out it was a bank issue. For whatever reason, the bank erred in explaining what happened, and when the branch manager called the bank’s call center, the information he received was similar to mine. It took him meeting with a company representative to figure out what happened.

After learning what happened, I apologized to the company for my attitude.

I regularly see people post complaints and sometimes borderline defamatory comments about domain industry companies on forums, in blog comments, on Twitter, on review websites, and various other publications. People get upset (often rightfully), and they fire away to make sure others know about their poor experience. I don’t think this is generally the best approach.

Had I written something online about what I thought happened – which had initially been confirmed

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