Labor Day Weekly Update

Elliot Silver
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Hope you’re having a nice, long weekend if you’re in the US and if you’re not US-based, I hope your week gets off to a strong start. Here are a few updates and thoughts from me as the week begins.

– There was an interesting article on Econsultancy this morning.   According to the author, Ian Harris the CEO and founder of Search Laboratory, “Parked domains are generally low quality resources.” I tend to disagree with this, especially on generic domain names that people type-in to their browsers in lieu of using a search engine. If someone wants a personal loan and they end up on PersonalLoans.com, I would imagine these visitors are good prospects for the advertisers whose links they click.

– I was really surprised when Rick Schwartz announced I had 3 TRAFFIC Award nominations.   Thank you to whomever nominated me for the awards. I personally believe Juan Calle is deserving of the Domainer of the Year award for his big successes so far this year with the .CO Registry, not to mention his other Internet companies that operate on great domain names. He knows this business well, and it’s been fun learning about Juan and what he has done.

– It is an honor to be nominated in the Developer of the Year category with several friends. Keith’s primary website, Vibrator.com, has done extraordinarily well, and he’s on the road to success with Rio.com. I’ve mentioned Fred’s projects several times, and we’re obviously close with his company building out Burbank.com for my company. Rob Grant’s portfolio of real estate and Adirondacks-related domain names and websites is unmatchable. Rob Monster’s Epik platform is helping domain investors earn money with their underperforming domain names, and his Epik conference is going to help a whole lot of domain investors. Finally, Shaun’s Kelowna.com design was an inspiration for two of my geodomain names, not to mention his recently launched TorontoJobs.com website. There are a lot of successful developers working in the domain space these days, and it is cool even to be considered.

– I continue to receive emails and blog comments offering names for sale that need to be sold “urgently.” I assure you that this isn’t the right way to go about things, unless you either have great domain names or I know you well. If you are urgently trying to sell domain names, you should either hire a broker, post on forums (not spamming blogs), or seek out end users rather than domain investors.

– I heard a horrible story this weekend. A fraternity brother of mine (two years older than me) was fishing with his father on Lake Oswego in New York a couple of weeks ago. They weren’t wearing life jackets and their boat capsized a couple miles from shore. My fraternity brother was able to hang on to the boat until help arrived but his father couldn’t and drowned. They were both experienced boaters and fishermen. Makes you realize the importance of life jackets when you’re on the water.

Picks from Epik’s Live Auction

Elliot Silver
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As you know by now, Epik will be holding a live auction in conjunction with its Development Conference in less than two weeks. I saw a list with many of the domain names that will be auctioned by Moniker/Snapnames, and I wanted to share some of them with you. One of the neat things is that each domain name will come with an Epik-built site.

You can see more information about the auction on the Snapnames website once the final sales list is announced.

  • WiFi.com
  • Maid.com
  • ETF.com
  • Poster.com
  • Slideshow.com
  • Collision.com
  • Haircare.com
  • HardDrives.com
  • EarMuffs.com
  • Saws.com
  • Spoons.com
  • GolfSet.com
  • BabyDecor.com

Visit the Epik Developers’ Conference website to get more details on the conference, auction, and bidding.

DomainFest Recap + CNN Coverage

Elliot Silver
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domainfest globalWhen Oversee.net announced the one-day DomainFest event in New York, I didn’t think I was going to attend due to previous travel obligations. After speaking with a few friends who were coming in to NY specifically to attend the conference, I made sure I would be back in time, hopping on a red eye flight and arriving a day before the conference.

I am very glad that I was able to make it. There was an announced crowd of about 200 people, and there was never much down time during the day and evening prior to the show (there were a couple of private parties and random get togethers). I don’t usually attend panels and speakers at conferences, and last week’s conference wasn’t much different. I spent the sessions just outside the ballroom catching up with friends and colleagues.

The Expert Networking session in which I participated was well done. It lasted for two hours, but it didn’t feel like it was that long. I had the chance to meet with several people whom I had never met, and also met with a few people who read my blog, which was very cool. I know others who were less interested in this were in private meetings or were talking outside of the ballroom.

The live auction is usually a highlight of a domain conference, and although CNN and the New York Post were in attendance to write articles, it wasn’t as exciting as usual. A couple of big sales I heard were going to be made never materialized, and it seemed like many of the names were far overpriced. The auction houses are keen on bringing new inventory to market, but many of these names are still priced unrealistically, probably a reason why they weren’t in auction previously. Knowing Monte and his team, I will not be surprised at all if a couple big deals are announced in the next few days or possibly weeks.

One thing that was most impressive to me was the diverse turnout. Many of my friends from outside the area didn’t attend, yet there were still 200 people who showed up. Not only were domain investors and service companies there, but others were there as well – many of whom are only somewhat involved with domain investments.

This morning, CNN posted a video article with auction coverage, so you might want to have a look when you have a chance.

All in all, this was a great conference.

Saturday Morning Snipets

Elliot Silver
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Looks like it’s going to be a super hot day in the City today, so I am getting out of town and going to sit by the pool and drink margaritas or beers or something cold. If you post comments or email me today (or tomorrow), I will probably be very slow to reply, so my apologies in advance.

I was in a bar room brawl last Saturday and ended up tearing ligaments and breaking my pinky, so it’s been a bit difficult to write this week.   If you think that’s bad, you should have seen the girl I beat up. Only kidding about the brawl. I did the finger damage when I dropped a football pass on the beach, but the bar fight makes for a better story.

Anyway, on to some updates:

– I finally had the chance to meet my web designer (Mike McAlister) in person in New York City yesterday after 3 years of working together. The ironic thing is that despite never meeting face to face before, it felt just like old times when we got together. It’s cool getting to meet someone you’ve known for years but haven’t met before.

– Snooki should have registered the .com domain name before announcing that she’s writing a “Snooktionary” to help “Jersey Shore” viewers understand what she is saying on the hit television show. A guy in Pennsylvania registered Snooktionary.com on August 6th, the day the book was publicly revealed.

– If you are thinking about going away on a last minute trip this summer, you might want to think about attending the Traffic conference in Dublin in a couple weeks. It can be written off as a business expense, Aer Lingus is offering summer travel deals, and Rick Latona has always said if money is an issue he would try to work something out.   There are also some cool domain investors who live in that area and will probably be at the conference.

– People always seem to be interested in learning what new names I’ve acquired recently, so here goes.   In the aftermarket in the last week or so, I bought NassauHotels.com, ChiliFest.com (to go along with TequilaFest.com and ChampagneFest.com), DrugAdvertising.com, FloatingStorage.com, and WarStrategy.com.

– Totally unrelated to business, but does anyone have a recommendation or two for wine tasting in the Napa Valley (not going to Sonoma this trip)? We’re going out to San Francisco next week and are making a trip to Napa on Saturday.   We plan to visit Stagg’s Leap, Qunitessa, and Artesa, but have time for one or two additional stops.   Any suggestions?

Rick Schwartz Floating TRAFFIC Without Sponsors Idea

Elliot Silver
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I received an email from Rick Schwartz this morning with the subject, “BIG News from T.R.A.F.F.I.C.” and I immediately read the email.   Rick and Howard are expecting a big show in Florida in October (I am not surprised about this), and they are already discussing the format of TRAFFIC in 2011.

According to Rick’s email.

“In 2011, T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is strongly considering the possibility of having a “Non Sponsored” event. That means NO SPONSORS! Domainers only. The purpose is to keep the advertising and commercial part out and the ideas in.”

First off, I dig the idea of the more relaxed conference. I’ve hosted a few get togethers in New York, and because the crowd is made up of from anywhere between 15-35 people, it’s very relaxed and cordial. We haven’t had many sponsors for the events and that is usually intentional.

I think there will be a few big issues with doing a non sponsored event and I hope it doesn’t happen.

Most companies will still send representatives to meet with clients who attend the show. Right there, the idea of a non-commercial event is kind of thrown out the window. Even if Rick and Howard would try to limit the event to domainers and exclude larger companies, that would prove to be a difficult challenge in and of itself since many domain investors have become providers of some sort.

If sponsors are let in without booths and/or event sponsorships, it’s still going to be commercial, except sponsorship revenue won’t be there. This brings me to my next point. TRAFFIC is already known as the most expensive domain conference. The current rate for South Beach is $1,295, which is double what DomainFest costs (Howard corrected this in the comments). Without sponsors to defray some of the costs, I can only imagine the price increasing. Nearly every company is either facing cutbacks or not spending more, and a price increase or a smaller conference would probably keep attendance very low, which in turn would dissuade fence sitters from attending.

One of the reasons I think DomainFest has been so successful is that domain investors want to meet with their account representatives face to face at least once a year. Oversee has very long tentacles when it comes to the domain space, and they have thousands of clients in their lines of business. Having a personal relationship with certain account representatives is very important in a business like this, and attending DomainFest is that opportunity to meet with account reps in addition to other domain investors. Without the commercial sponsorships, it’s one less reason to attend.

I realize that many people who have been in this business for a while remember DeanFest (the first real conference), and most would relish the opportunity to relive that experience. Unfortunately, this business has grown so much over the years that reclaiming the old days is as likely as going to a college reunion hoping to relive the college experience of staying out drinking until 4am. Unless you happen to be Gregg McNair, you probably won’t be doing that and will wake up the next morning with a massive hangover.

Times have changed. Domain investing has become a larger industry in and of itself. New people have entered the space, and it’s not as collegial as it once was. The growth of domain investing has made a lot of people very wealthy, and there are plenty of negatives that come along with this. I don’t think having an unsponsored TRAFFIC event will draw a big crowd, and I think it could hurt the TRAFFIC brand.

AOL Senior Vice President David Mason Will Keynote DOMAINfest NYC

Elliot Silver
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I just received a note from Oversee.net announcing that the keynote speaker for the one day DomainFest conference in New York City on August 18th will be David Mason, an AOL Senior Vice President. David Mason works with the AOL Content Platform, and he joined the company when AOL acquired StudioNow, which he co-founded in 2007 and developed into the world’s largest web-based video creation platform. In addition, Mason started the company that turned into Buy.com. You can read Mason’s Linkedin profile for more information.

There are going to be somewhere around 150 people (give or take) at the conference next month, which will be held at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan. The event is scheduled to run from 10:30am to 10:30pm.

To register for the event, visit DomainFest.com, where you can also see the full agenda and list of speakers and sessions. The cost of registration is just $175, and it includes a full lunch and a dinner networking party. If you live in the New York City area, you should consider attending this conference.

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