Brand Protection Extends Beyond Typo Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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Many companies that do business online know that it’s important (maybe even critical) to buy typos of their company name. Just type in different variations of ElliotsBlog.com to see how I feel about that (EliotsBlog.com, ElliotBlog.com, ElliottsBlog.com and maybe even a couple I forgot about). Some people are bad spellers, have fat fingers, or have other issues that cause them to accidentally mistype a domain name. When the company owns its typos, it doesn’t have to worry about losing this traffic.

However, typos aren’t the only defensive domain names a company should consider when making strategic domain acquisitions. Companies should also take what their customers call their company into consideration as well. After all, consumers will be typing the domain name into their browsers if they don’t use a search engine. I purchased the shortened version of my father’s business name (not really a generic that people would type in randomly), and surprisingly it receives a bit of traffic every month.

There are plenty of other companies who employ this domain strategy as well. I found some of these examples of smart domain buys, even though some of these companies don’t do much business online:

Salvatore Ferragamo – Ferragamo.com
Mercedes Benz – Mercedes.com
McDonald’s – MickeyDs.com
JC Penny – JCP.com
Radio Shack – TheShack.com
Dairy Queen – DQ.com

One example of a company that may have missed out on purchasing a domain name is Bed, Bath, & Beyond, when BedAndBath.com sold on Sedo for $50,000 to a company other than BB&B. Several years back, there was a northeast retail chain called LeeJay Bed and Bath (now out of business), but most customers called it Bed and Bath. Additionally, many customers refer to Bed, Bath and Beyond as Bed and Bath, and if they do it aloud, they probably do it online as well.

Although $50k is a lot to spend on a domain name that isn’t the exact business name, I think this would have been a smart buy for BBB. You have to assume anyone typing in BedAndBath.com is looking for a bed and bath store (if not BBB), and Bed Bath and Beyond probably has everything a visitor would want. Considering that the name still gets over 5k visitors a month and the store likely spends a whole lot of money on Adwords, they could have saved money in the long run, rather than spending it on PPC links on BedAndBath.com forever.

The price of other domain names is something that should be considered when trying to protect a brand. If the business is referred to by a common phrase or term, and the matching domain name would cost more than the LTV of the potential lost customers, then the money would be spent more wisely elsewhere.

Another consideration in this is purchasing alternate extensions for brand protection, and I will discuss that in a post later on this week. Someone asked me for my thoughts on that topic last week, and I will discuss those later.

Buy Domains in Bulk to Save Money

Elliot Silver
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This might be obvious advice, but I’ve used it many times and want to share it with you to get a better deal on a domain acquisition. Oftentimes when I inquire about a domain name, the owner will mention that he has others. More often than not, the name I inquired about is heads and shoulders above his other names. On occasion, there is more than one name I want to buy, and I use it as leverage to get both names at a better price. The owner is happy making more money, and my cost per acquisition is less.

If a domain owner doesn’t come out and tell you he has other names for sale, you might consider asking – especially if a Whois lookup reveals that he has other domain names. Here are a few ways to find out if a person has other domain names that could possibly be for sale:

1) Ask if the owner is selling other names. This one is obvious.

2) You can do a Reverse IP search to see if other domain names are hosted on the same server, although that won’t do you any good if he has his name(s) parked or if he uses a popular hosting company and not a VPS or other dedicated server.

3) Search Google for the domain owner’s name and “Whois” or the domain owners name and address. Sometimes Google will cache a page that has Whois information that other people searched

4) Search Google for the owner’s name + the domain name you want to buy. Perhaps he has a domains for sale page containing this name and others.

5) Do a Registrant Search to find names that are currently owned (or perhaps once owned) by the owner. This is great because a domain owner may have privatized a domain name years back, and now you can see what else he may have.

It’s almost always better to have this knowledge before beginning a negotiation. Get a price for the name you want first, and then say something like, “would you sell xyz.com and abc.com for $x,xxx” where the price of both takes into account a discount on the first name you want.

Re-Purchase Your Sold Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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There have been a few times where I sold domain names for less than I wanted to sell them. The majority were sold as parts of bulk deals that wouldn’t happen without those specific domain names, and I wanted to close the deals at the time, so I included them. I can’t say that I’ve regretted any deals done in the past, but there are a few domain names I’d love to have back in my portfolio.

With the economy performing poorly and many domain owners looking to raise capital (who isn’t?), now might be a good time to repurchase some of these domain names, perhaps at an even better price than you sold them.

The first thing to do is to check to see if the owner has spent time or money on developing a website on the domain name. If not, you may be in luck, especially since the domain name probably isn’t earning as much revenue as it once was. Send the domain owner an email asking if he would consider re-selling it, and make him an offer.

There will be a fine line between lowballing and trying to get your domain name back for its adjusted market value. Just be cautious, as you don’t want to lowball one of your former clients, as this might lead to future lowballing on his part. I’ve recently bought back a few names that I had sold within the last few years, and now might be a good time for you to do the same.

A Domain Name Doesn’t Matter

Elliot Silver
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If you have a unique business plan or web development idea that can’t easily or quickly be replicated, the domain name you choose for your website hardly matters. You can be   CrazyCrazyCrazy.us or some other funky domain name, and you will still have success if there’s a strong market for your product or service. The domain name matters much less than the idea and execution.

If your idea isn’t completely unique or you are entering a market where there is considerable competition, the domain name can be critical to your company’s success or failure.

In just about every market, a new industry leader can emerge (or   a new company can instantly be competitive) if he has the category killer domain name for the industry, as long as his product is at least competitive with the industry leaders. The company doesn’t necessarily need to be innovative to gain market share – just competitive.

New companies need to be innovative to take market share away from the leaders, or they need to spend considerable sums of money on marketing to get consumers to think its products are better or to give them a reason to buy them over its competitors products. A domain name doesn’t necessarily do all of this, but the category killer domain name does convey trust and is instantly recognizable.

Torah.com may not be the best looking website yet, as it’s a work in progress. However, I receive many Jewish-related questions every week from people who think Torah.com is the expert. I may not be from Lowell or have the most comprehensive site about Lowell (it’s debatable), but hundreds of people still visit Lowell.com each day, and many people book their hotel reservations right on the site.

A new company can spend a lot of money on marketing to convey trust. A category defining domain name can be expensive, but it can give instant credibility to a new or rebranded company.

Find Domain Names for Sale in Google

Elliot Silver
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Google LogoMost of my domain purchases have come from either direct inquiries to domain owners after Whois searches or by finding domain names for sale listed by companies such as BuyDomains and Sedo. I have also purchased domain names via drop auction, new registration and a variety of other places commonly known by domain investors.

I have also bought domain names that I found were for sale through Google searches. Domain owners sometimes believe that the best way to find a buyer for a domain name is to create a landing page that shows the domain name is for sale. When someone lands on the site, possibly to see if anything is there, they will find that the domain name is available to purchase.

I haven’t heard of many people using this method to find domain names for sale, so I wanted to share a few search queries that might help you find good domain names that are currently for sale by their owners, many of which are not listed on domain sales websites.

Some searches I have used to find domain names for sale include:

  • “This domain name is for sale”
  • “This url is for sale”
  • “Buy this domain name”
  • “Make an offer for this domain name”
  • “To purchase this domain, click here”

In addition to the above search terms, there are dozens of similar terms that can be searched depending on the domain owner’s verbiage preference. Oftentimes, these domain names are not listed for sale on the big brokerage websites. Further, many times the Whois information may be private, although the owner’s email address is actually listed on the website, making it easier to contact the owner.

There are a lot of crappy domain names for sale that you will have to wade through to find good names, but the search could be worth the effort. It may be especially beneficial if you find a different phrase that hasn’t been searched by people like myself, as you may come across even more hidden gems for sale.

Long Term Domain Holdings

Elliot Silver
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FAUWhen you’re investing in a speculative domain name, keep in mind that you could have your money on the sidelines for a long time. If you are paying registration fee, it’s not a lot of money to worry about. However, if you buy dozens or hundreds of domain names at registration fee, or if you buy a domain name for a lot of money, it could be burdensome.

This morning, I was reading an article in CNN about researchers at Florida Atlantic University who are currently in the early stages of attempting to generate power from the Gulf Stream. The project uses ocean turbines much like companies harness wind power with wind turbines, and if it’s successful, there could be many ocean turbines installed underwater throughout the world. Fellow domain investor had learned about this potential power source and registered OceanTurbines.com nearly a year ago. Smart thinking!

The only downside is that the article said “If the pilot program is successful, it could take another five to 10 years before the technology can be implemented.” In speaking with Stephen, I know he has a number of similar domain names – like SeaTurbines.com, and his company is all over the solar business. Stephen knows his names won’t be worth big bucks for a few years, but his well-capitalized company is able to hold out and wait for the value to increase.

If you are buying speculative domain names or an expensive speculative domain name, it’s important to realize that your money could be tied up in these domain names for a long time. You need to figure out whether you can afford to hold out or not. I know a lot of people own portfolios of these names, and each year it becomes harder to renew, but they do it because they’ve already figured the previous years are a sunk cost and don’t want to lose their investment.

If you are going to need the money in the short or medium term, perhaps it’s not a smart investment – even if you think it might be the next big thing. Every days something new is the “next big thing,” and you can go broke pretty easily if you are always trying to register everything related to it.

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