I think it would be fun to run a contest or maybe a few before the year’s out. If you have any suggestions for a fun contest related to the domain industry, let me know in the comment section, and I will give it some thought.

In addition, if you have a suggestion for fun domain industry-related prizes, let me know that, too. Obviously cash is king, but I’d rather do something that will benefit your business more than just sending money. Some ideas I’ve had in the past include consulting, appraisals, gift certificates to various companies, and advertising space.

I know you guys like the idea of contests and giveaways, so why not share some ideas for something fun!

BlackFriday.com is arguably the most successful website created and managed by domain investor Kevin Ham’s Reinvent, Inc. The website offers information about “Black Friday” deals as well as coupons and special offers for over 1,000 retail stores.

As the weather gets colder and the holiday season approaches, the folks at BlackFriday.com ramp things up in anticipation of “Black Friday,” the famous shopping day that occurs on the Friday after Thanksgiving. From what I understand, it’s highly  competitive  to get top search engine rankings for Black Friday and shopping related keywords, and driving traffic is critical, especially for a seasonal website.

It looks like things have been going well for Reinvent, and the BlackFriday.com iPhone app is currently rated #1 in the chart for Top Free iPhone Lifestyle Apps, and in the top 20 in free apps throughout the entire apps store on iTunes. Although they aren’t making money from downloads, I assume they are earning revenue when people make purchases based off of suggestions from the app.

In addition to its success in the iTunes store, it appears that BlackFriday.com is also doing well in Google. The website currently ranks #1 for the exact match “Black Friday” search term.

I reached out to Kevin Ham for comment on his team’s successes, and as usual, he was modest about his company’s accomplishments so far. “We are humbled and pleased with how things are going,” Kevin told me.

Congrats to the team at Reinvent on this success. It’s another example of an exact match domain name becoming a brand with solid search rankings.

According to EvanCarmichael.com, domain investor Sharon Hayes is one of the top 100 entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. If you don’t know Sharon (I believe I met her briefly at DomainFest), she is a Co-Founder and CEO at Domainate, a privately held domain investment company. Her Twitter handle is @sharonhayes.

For November, Sharon is currently ranked #86 on the list,  which is updated  monthly by Evan Carmichael. Martha Stewart is the #1 entrepreneur to follow on the list. Other well known entrepreneurs on the list include Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg, and business mogul Ivanka Trump.

Sharon has been involved in the domain industry since the late 1990’s, and according to her corporate profile, she “has personally sold over 12,000 domain names excluding bulk sales.” She co-founded Domainate with Steve Jones, and the duo also founded a two day intensive introduction to domain investing called Domain Bootcamp.

Congratulations to Sharon!

Thanks to Donna Mahony for sharing the link with me.

The other day when I posted a few names for sale, Donna Mahony offered her DomainQueen.com up for sale, with all proceeds being donated by the winning bidder to Ronald McDonald House.

The winning bidder of the 10 year old domain name is Brian Gilbert, who I recently wrote about because of the adventure he and his wife Charlotte are undertaking.

Although Charlie is also a domain investor (and developer), I am not sure if Brian plans to keep the domain name for himself or if Charlie will be the new Domain Queen. Whatever the case is, it was very generous of Donna Mahony and Brian Gilbert to help the Ronald McDonald House.

Now I need to know which trailer park to send Brian’s crown.