Names I’ve Recently Purchased

Elliot Silver
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43

As I’ve done in the past, I want to share several of my recent domain purchases. The intent isn’t to show-off or sell these domain names, but rather to give you an idea of what types of names I have been buying. As you can see, I am still buying city/town .com domain names and product/service names, too.

Although I am sure some people will reply with comments to post their domain names (fine with me), I do recommend that some people who are here to learn about the business take the time to figure out why I buy certain names rather than use this as an opportunity to try and sell their names.

If you post names, keep in mind that others have the opportunity to offer comments and/or criticism.

Plainview.com – private acquisition (already sold)
EastLongmeadow.com – private acquisition (already sold)
Douglaston.com – private acquisition (already sold)
EastMeadow.com – private acquisition
DraperyHardware.com – Namejet (already sold)
DetoxCleanser.com – Snapnames (already sold)
TattooStarterKits.com – Namejet
ChandlerLandscaper.com – hand registration
Sextionary.com – forum acquisition
CloudConsultant.com – Snapnames
RingtoneSites.com – Snapnames
BumperProtectors.com – Snapnames
BikeAmsterdam.com – Snapnames
BikeSydney.com – hand registration
CollegeDormRoom.com – Namejet
SonomaValleyTour.com – hand registration

Saturday Afternoon Updates

Elliot Silver
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9

This week was extraordinarily busy for the mid-summer. I feel like a lot of things were accomplished and there were quite a few big news stories. Here are a few updates and some advice for domain development and sales.

  • I received several emails from people letting me know they bought a .CO domain name (or many), and now they want advice on what to do with them. I hate writing multiple email replies with the same content, so I will just post it here: “It’s really a wait and see game to see how the aftermarket develops.” It’s like that commercial with an art auction where the winning bidder says, “I’d now like to sell this piece of art I just won.”   There will be an aftermarket, but I don’t have much of an idea about what pricing will be like nor do I know for sure whether they will become valuable or when they will be desired by end users.
  • Similarly, I saw that Francois has expanded his domain investment reach and launched Flipping.co, a website dedicated to .CO domain sales. If you feel the need to cash out now and/or test the waters, that could be a good place to list your names for sale. Knowing Francois’ MO, he will market the hell out of that site in the very near future.
  • Speaking of MO (modus operandi), Mike Sullivan and Brian Null from MO.com interviewed me last week. People frequently ask me about my background, and I hope this interview will answer any questions you may have. Additionally, there are some great entrepreneur interviews on MO.com as well. Brian Null is the owner of MO.com and former owner of GolfCourses.com, and Mike Sullivan is the blogger behind SullysBlog.com.
  • I was watching a baseball game the other night when I saw an advertisement for a pet food company appear behind the batter on the green screen, and it made me think of something I don’t always consider. When using affiliate banner advertisements on websites, it’ smart to coordinate them with national advertising campaigns. I have been using 1800Flowers campaigns coordinated with their ads on tv – especially during the holidays. They may not pay as much as other affiliates for example, but consumers will presumably be more apt to buy with a brand they know and trust.

Use Your Analytics Data to Buy Domains

Elliot Silver
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6

One of the neat things about owning domain names with websites that get a good amount of traffic is the ability to analyze traffic data, especially the traffic that comes from search engines. Google Analytics is a great tool to see what information people are searching for in Google and Yahoo, and where they visit on your site.

This data can also be a great way to find domain names that you may want to register to take advantage of the search engine traffic. Instead of looking at the GAKT data, you can see the “real data” from your own experience, and since the traffic landed on your site, there’s a good chance you already know the field/vertical.

Yesterday afternoon, I was looking through my search data, and around 68% of the daily traffic was from Google. I dug deeper, and I noticed that a lot of traffic was coming from variations searches for the name of a concert tour that was coming through Lowell. I quickly searched to see if anyone owned the domain name, and it was a huge domain company that picked it up a few months ago, likely after noticing the same trends.

Although the term may not exactly be generic, it’s likely it will earn far more than the cost of the name, and of course if this is done over a huge amount of domain names, the overall risk is mitigated and a business decision can be made.

However, you can also do this for non-trademarked search terms. For example, if I see that I am getting a lot of traffic for “Lowell fireworks,” it might be a good idea to buy the .com and either forward it to the fourth of July page or build a one page site with info about fireworks every year and back link to the main site. It would be cheap to host, easy to build, and as the exact match domain name, it would probably rank pretty high. This could be beneficial to your domain name.

Whether you opt to park, redirect, or use for backlinks, the domain names you find via analytics data could be very valuable to your company.

Salon.com Grabs TuckerCarlson.net After Carlson Let it Expire

Elliot Silver
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7

Tucker Carlson Keith OlbermannThe news circling the political pundit websites today is that The Daily Caller, a website founded by Tucker Carlson, purchased KeithOlbermann.com. On the new website, there’s a bold headline, “WE OWN YOU The Daily Caller acquires KeithOlbermann.com.”

Later, it was Andrew Allemann who pointed out that Tucker Carlson had to go the UDRP route to get his domain name, TuckerCarlson.com.   Carlson filed a UDRP and was awarded his domain name in June of 2008.

Now Salon.com has gotten in on the action. In reporting today’s news bits and mentioning Andrew’s article, the website poked fun at Carlson for being cheap and not spending a “couple bucks to nail down TuckerCarlson.net.” Salon.com wrote that it purchased TuckerCarlson.net at Godaddy, although they are using a privacy protection service.

The irony of the whole thing is that the current registrant of TuckerCarlson.com (presumably a company associated with Carlson because he won the UDRP for it) was the previous registrant of TuckerCarlson.net, and they let TuckerCarlson.net expire in November of 2009. The fun continues.

Who is Aldo Landucci?

Elliot Silver
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7

In the last few days, my Blog has received a number of visits from Google after people searched for the term “Aldo Landucci.” One of my readers had posted an email he received from a “Aldo Landucci” in an article I wrote about domain scams. Since I don’t have any evidence that this is a scam, I decided to give it a separate blog post.

I know of many people who have received the same (or at least a similar) email, which seem to be targeting the acquisition of .net domain names. I don’t know if the person is closing deals, replying to emails, or if it’s even a real person, but I wanted to let you know that a lot of people have received the emails, so don’t get your hopes raised too high if you happen to get one, too.

Incidentally, Justin Godfrey, the former owner of EscrowDNS wrote a post on DNForum about this email since it mentions the company he founded. According to Justin, “It’s come to my attention that someone is sending out emails offering to purchase domain names and then suggesting to use escrowdns.com as a potential escrow service. I have also received an email from this person as well and do not know if they are scammers or if they are legit buyers, at any rate, Escrowdns.com is in no way affiliated with this person.”

Below is the text of an email I’ve seen used by this person.   Feel free to let us know if you’ve closed a deal with this person or at least if you’ve had further conversations with “him.”

“Dear Sirs,

I’d be interested in a possible purchase of your domain xxxxxxxxxxxx.net ; please, let me know if you wish to sell and your best asking price for a possible quick deal or, at least, your price expectations around whom negotiating.

I’m serious and I can guarantee a smooth transaction closed through EscrowDns.com or any other authorized domain brokerage services or, if you’re a verified paypal.com member, I can pay in advance through them, no problem. You’d transfer the domain in my hands only at payment confirmed, we’d discuss these details in a second time.

Just for your curiosity, I’m acquiring few generic domains to develop with targeted content in the next months during my spare time so, if you’ve other domains no longer useful to you, kindly send me a list to talk about a possible sale of the same, I guarantee a quick reply in any case.

Kind regards

Mr. Aldo Landucci
Email: aldo@nym.hush.com”

Use Facebook to Buy Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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16

Facebook.I send out a lot of domain inquiries for domain names I’d like to purchase. Unfortunately, my inquires don’t always yield responses, despite the fact that I try to make fair value offers for these domain names. I am certain that I it’s not always because the owner doesn’t want to sell that I don’t receive a reply though.

There are many reasons why you may never hear from a domain owner when you make a genuine inquiry:

  • Email gets marked as spam/junk
  • Owner gets too many emails
  • Email address not active
  • Domain owner is out of town for an extended period

With social networking sites becoming popular for people of all ages, it’s much easier to get in touch with a domain owner on Facebook, and I have almost completed my first acquisition using the site.

When sending an inquiry via Facebook, I recommend a brief introduction, since sending a message on Facebook is more personal than a simple blind email. In the first message, after you introduce yourself, you should confirm that the person is the owner of the domain name. It helps to know where the Whois registrant lives and match it up with the Facebook profile.   Let the person know you’re interested in buying the domain name and would like to discuss a potential sale.

I’ve received a number of replies using Facebook to connect, and it’s a really good way to get in touch with someone, as many people rely on Facebook for their connections.

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