DomainFest Archives - Page 7 of 11

Oversee Announces DomainFest Prague

DomainFest

-

March 2, 2010

DomainFest Global is set become a fully “global” conference. For a couple of weeks now, I have heard rumors that Oversee was thinking about – or planning to have a DomainFest conference in Prague, Czech Republic, and this information has just been confirmed by the company. DomainFest will be held in Prague for two days, from October 6 – 7, 2010 at the Intercontinental Hotel.

I have been planning to attend the Traffic conferences in Vancouver in June and Hong Kong in November, and I may add this one to the list. Prague is a city that I’ve wanted to visit for quite some time, and now I should be able to make a “business case” to attend.

Full details can be read in the Oversee press release:

DomainSponsor ®, the domain monetization business unit of Oversee.net ® and organizer of the DOMAINfest ® series of conferences, said today that it will expand the highly regarded franchise into Europe with a conference in Prague, Czech Republic.

The two-day event will be held Wednesday and Thursday, October 6 and 7, 2010 at the landmark Hotel Intercontinental located in the heart of one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. Building on the success of last month’s event in Santa Monica, California, the October meeting will continue DOMAINfest’s focus on increasing the value of Internet real estate and will offer a rich setting for extensive networking involving topics relevant not only to domain investors from Europe, but also from around the world.

Subject-matter experts will be invited to facilitate the networking sessions on Wednesday, October 6th. The first day will also include a Moniker ® Premium Domain Name Auction powered by SnapNames LiveTM technology. Day 2 will be focused on social activities in and around Prague designed to provide the kind of shared experiences that can contribute to the building of long-term relationships between DOMAINfest Europe attendees. Conference details, including the agenda and speakers, will be released in June, 2010.

“DOMAINfest Europe is an excellent opportunity for European publishers, online marketers, and domain-related service providers to meet and discuss ways to increase the value of domain names, which we like to refer to as Internet real estate, ” said Peter Celeste, Senior Vice President of Oversee.net and General Manger, Monetization Services. “The DomainSponsor team looks forward to becoming more engaged with the European domain investor community, and this forum is the perfect venue to exchange ideas and build relationships. As with all DOMAINfest events, we will be offering affordable registration rates to encourage maximum participation from a wide range of talented professionals from both inside and outside our industry.”

In January, 2010, DomainSponsor hosted a highly successful DOMAINfest Global ® conference in Santa Monica, California that attracted more than 600 professionals from a variety of internet-related industries. The conference included a variety of sessions over a three day period, including a keynote fireside chat with Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. This recent DOMAINfest conference also featured a first-ever PITCHfest contest, structured networking sessions, and moderated general sessions with experts from the world of investment, advertising, and marketing. Videos of each session, including the keynote fireside chat, can be viewed at http://www.domainfest.com.

In November 2009, DomainSponsor announced the establishment of its European head office in Frankfurt, Germany with Joerg Schnermann as General Manager.

Picks for Moniker’s DomainFest Auction

Elliot Silver

-

January 25, 2010

5

Moniker announced the inventory with reserve prices for the Domain Fest live domain auction that will take place in Santa Monica on Thursday, January 28, 2010 from 2:00 – 6:00 pm PST. Bidding can also be done online at Snapnames. Below are my top 10 domain names (along with the reserve prices) that are included in the auction. You can see the full list on the Moniker website.

CardCollection.com $2501 – $5000
ElectricFences.com $2501 – $5000
FigureSkaters.com $2501 – $5000
FiveStarHotel.com $1001-$2500
Paper.com $500,001 – $750,000
Performances.com $10,001 – $25,000
Spoilers.com $50,001 – $100,000
TaxPreparers.com $25,001 – $50,000
Watchmaker.com $10,001 – $25,000
WoodCabinets.com $25,001 – $50,000

I didn’t check the Whois info on the names, so I don’t know if I know the owners or not.

What are your favorites in the auction?

Sunday Afternoon Update

Elliot Silver

-

January 24, 2010

0

Here are a few small updates.

I think Rick made the right move by halting the live auction yesterday and re-scheduling the remaining domain names for yesterday. This makes me even more appreciative of Oversee.net and their Snapnames platform which works in conjunction with Moniker on live auctions. The only down side is that they still don’t have a version for Macs.

Domain owners frequently receive emails from auction companies asking them to lower reserve prices. In light of technical and timing issues that sometimes impact live domain auctions, one should consider whether lowering a reserve price is a good idea. Yes, there are plenty of names that have reserve prices way above where the should be. However, if you aren’t comfortable lowering a reserve price, then don’t do it. It’s your own fault if you heed the advice of an auctioneer whose goals may be different than yours.

I’ve been excited with the results of Dog Walker.com. So far in the 2.5 months it’s been live, there has been just shy of $3,000 worth of listings on the site. Although I am sure the pace of sign ups won’t be as strong as it has been the last month, I predict break even by March of year 2 (domain acquisition + development + marketing costs).

After a couple of weeks worth of work, I launched CatSitter.com this week, a directory of cat sitters and cat boarding companies in the US. Just about everything on this new site is the same, and I expect to have many sign-ups from existing advertisers. I paid much less for the domain name and development since the platform was already built and customized.

I want to thank Michael Sumner of DN Media and MiniSites.com for his help with coding/programming on both of these sites. I needed a WordPress expert on short notice during the holidays, and every time something different came up, Michael was there to help. It was especially appreciated because it wasn’t his project, but he was willing to lend a hand and make important (complicated) adjustments to the functionality of the sites.

January has been my best domain sales month in over a year. This really isn’t related to quantity (less than 15 domains sold), but rather the quality of names I’ve been selling. I’ve made some solid acquisitions along with quick, private turn around flips in the last few weeks. There is still money to be made in this business after all.

I made a last minute decision, and I will be flying out to Los Angeles for DomainFest tomorrow. I have a couple of pending deals that will be finalized in California this week, and it doesn’t look like I will be going to Atlanta as previously anticipated. I wish I could have attended the TRAFFIC show, but I will be at TRAFFIC Vancouver. Safe travels to everyone.

DomainFest Global Ditches LAUNCHFest & PITCHFest Info Released

Elliot Silver

-

January 22, 2010

5

Back in November, I wrote about PITCHFest and LAUNCHFest, two new sessions that were scheduled for the Domain Fest conference happening next week in LA. I just received word that there will be two PITCHFest sessions in lieu of LAUNCHFest, and I think this is a smart idea.

PITCHFest was billed as an opportunity to present a five minute summary of a business idea that will “enhance the value of parked or developed domain names by driving increased traffic and/or revenue.” LAUNCHFest was billed as an opportunity for applicants to choose from a small group of Portfolio Brains (an Oversee.net company) domain names and the applicants would present a business plan to judges describing how they will build a business on that domain name.

I was critical of LAUNCHFest, as I felt it would benefit Oversee.net much more so than the applicants. I felt that the domain names that were being offered up for applicants to develop were overvalued by the company, and there really wasn’t anything rewarding about the deal for the applicant who wins.

The format for PITCHFEST will be as follows (adapted from an email I just received):

Four finalists will present in the first PITCHfest session on Tuesday, and another four on Thursday. The finalists will be given five minutes each to present their product/service concepts.

Immediately after each five minute presentation, judges will be prompted for their opinion on the merits of the product/service presented. A total of ten minutes will be allocated to the comments from all judges combined after each presentation—times are intentionally kept tight to maintain a candid, hard-hitting session.

Judges will rate each concept, assigning a score of up to 25 points in each of the following dimensions:

Creativity
Viability
Originality
Revenue potential

They will announce a winner at the end of each round. After the second round, the audience can vote for the “People’s Choice” winner from both rounds. Winners get a nice trophy, but more importantly highly visible jump start toward success for their new product/service. And the audience will learn about new ways to improve their revenue.

Judges for the first contest include Frank Schilling (Name Administration, Inc.), Adam Rioux (Octane360), Eric Liaw (Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), and Ron Sheridan.

The judges who were originally scheduled to participate in judging the LAUNCHfest will now judge the second PITCHfest. They include David Liu (Jefferies and Company, Inc.) Douglas McPherson (IdeaLab), Richard Morganstern (Tech Coast Angels), and Ron Sheridan.

Why You Should Attend a Domain Conference

Elliot Silver

-

January 2, 2010

0

Although networking with other domain investors is high up on the list of reasons to attend a domain conference, in my opinion, there is one primary reason. Attending a domain conference gives you the opportunity to meet your sales representatives and managers for the companies with whom you do your domain business.

Whether your business primarily relies on domain investing, parking, or other monetization, you can meet the people who can help you when you are in need.

For my domain registrations, I primarily register my names with Moniker. No matter who is running the conference or where it is, I almost always see my account manager Bari Meyerson at the shows. Monte Cahn is frequently there as are other Moniker representatives, but it’s always good to connect with Bari. I also register some names with Godaddy, and my representative, Brad Larson is frequently in attendance.

The same thing goes for domain parking, although you already know by now that I don’t rely on parking for much revenue (under $1,000 per year). However, just about all of the companies are there and have company representatives available to answer questions and address complaints.

I know that if I ever have a problem, I am comfortable calling or emailing Bari and Brad day or night, and I know my issue will be addressed almost immediately. When you establish a personal relationship with the services companies with whom you do business, you are more easily able to reach your sales managers in times of need.

In addition, if your business relies on advertising from companies who exhibit and attend domain tradeshows, this is an opportunity to tell them about your website. If you own DomainInvesting.com and plan to develop a website on it, your best bet is to connect with the right people at the domain show to let them know about your plans and advertising opportunities.

Likewise, attending an industry tradeshow can also be smart when you are developing other domain names in different verticals. Most tradeshows offer free exhibit hall passes, allowing you to meet with vendors who may want to advertise on your website. This is a topic for another post.

Upcoming domain conferences where most domain companies will be in attendance include:

Targeted TRAFFIC – January 21-23 in Las Vegas, Nevada
DomainFest – January 26-28 in Santa Monica, California
Domainer Mardi Gras – February 11-13 in New Orleans, Louisiana

PitchFest is Good and LaunchFest Needs Work

DomainFest

Elliot Silver

-

November 20, 2009

8

This morning, Domain Sponsor announced the details for PitchFest and LaunchFest, two new features of the DomainFest Global conference which will be held in January.

PITCHFest: Five hand-picked applicants will present a five minute summary of their business idea that will “enhance the value of parked or developed domain names by driving increased traffic and/or revenue.” Presenters will speak to a panel of judges, as well as the DomainFest audience. The winner will receive a trophy.

LAUNCHFest: Prior to the conference, applicants can choose one of ten domain names (owned by sister company Portfolio Brains, LLC), and five selected applicants will present a business plan to judges describing how they will build a business on that domain name. The judges will select a winner based on the following: creativity, viability, originality, and revenue potential.

The winner will have the opportunity to develop their business on the domain name “subject to a pre-determined lease arrangement.” Oversee.net will waive the first year of lease payments and the winner will have the right to lease the domain name for five years, after which the winner can buy it.

I like how PitchFest is structured. It’s a five minute pitch for five newly launched (I assume) companies, and hopefully there will be some innovative presenters. However, I think LaunchFest is a fantastic idea – for Oversee. Firstly, while Planners.com is a very good domain name that sold for $12,000 in 2004, I think the others are mostly average domain names and don’t see a home run in the list. Below are the list of names they are allowing applicants to choose from, along with the purchase price:

Planners.com $125,000
AdvertiseHere.com $125,000
StartABusiness.com $75,000
GoOut.com $75,000
RealEstateNetwork.com $50,000
BoostSales.com $50,000
SiteFinder.com $25,000
WebIncentives.com $25,000
AnythingForSale.com $10,000
DailyPicks.com $10,000

Not only is Oversee.net going to get an annual lease deal (after the first year free), which will presumably generate more revenue than the parked name makes now, but they are going to have someone build these brands for them. If the brand fails and the site goes out of business, it will end up driving more revenue back to the parked page from the previous development (and Oversee wins). If the site is a success and the owner wants to buy it, Oversee will earn money on the lease and/or get their desired sales price in 5 years or less (and Oversee wins again).

If we were talking about out of the park home run names that wouldn’t be for sale under normal circumstances (like RealEstate.com or GiftBaskets.com), then it’s a great opportunity. However, I don’t think these names are that special. In the end, the winner is Oversee.net rather than the applicants, in my opinion. Perhaps a cash reward for development, scrapping the annual lease agreement, or adding better domain names from which to choose would make this a winning idea.

What do you think?

DomainFest

Oversee Announces DomainFest Prague

Picks for Moniker’s DomainFest Auction

Sunday Afternoon Update

DomainFest Global Ditches LAUNCHFest & PITCHFest Info Released

Why You Should Attend a Domain Conference

PitchFest is Good and LaunchFest Needs Work

Recent Posts

Darpan Munjal Comments About Sales on Atom

Change / Test BIN Pricing Regularly

Rick Asks on X ‘Accept or Counter?’

2 Major LTO Changes at Afternic

Escrow.com Q1 Report Shows Growth