General Domain Information

I am almost back home, and here are a few updates for the weekend.

• Thanks to everyone who commented on my post the other day. I plan to select the winner at some point tomorrow afternoon and will let that person (and everyone else) know who was selected. Depending on the interest level and the time, I might do something like this in the future.

• If you’ve sent me an email in the last week, please excuse my belated reply. It’s going to take a few days to catch up on emails. If you don’t hear back from me for some reason, please re-send your email and I will be in touch.

• I read a couple of domain-related articles that people sent to me this past week, and it seems like there was quite a bit of interesting activity:
• >>> Regarding “pigeon shit” domain names – I agree with Rick in some ways although I don’t entirely understand the point behind the posts. Yes, there are plenty of people who register bad domain names. I’ve registered plenty of shit domain names. I assume many people read domain blogs to learn, and I hope I can flatten the learning curve to help people buy good domain names.
• >>> I also saw Rick’s post about the traffic/oil spill domain names, and although I won’t pass judgment on another person’s or company’s investment strategy, I will say that I don’t personally monetize tragedy-related domain names. It’s more of a personal thing for me, but it disappointing to see Rick publicly disclosing these investments. IMO, people look up to Rick for advice and knowledge and when people see the “Domain King” owns BP (trademark) names, others might follow suit thinking it’s okay, and some might be okay but others might be problematic. Of course names like these get some traffic and revenue, but in the whole scheme of things, is that $1k (maybe) in revenue worth it?
• >>> Mike Berkens’ post about the CamRoulette.com lawsuit was interesting and had some great responses. I don’t really feel badly for the 20 year old “kid” because I’ve been in the position of losing out on a name after a price was agreed upon. I don’t wish any ill-will on him, but I hope anyone who reads about this sees that backing out of a deal (even one consummated via email) is not only unprofessional but can lead to additional legal problems.
• >>> In that same vein, it seems that some potentially upcoming legal cases may make it more costly for a seller to back out of a deal. There’s the CamRoulette.com case, the 7 legal domain names sold on Sedo, the Women.com case, and the MobilePhones.co.uk case. If the buyers sue to get the domain name(s) and legal fees and win their cases, it could become known that’s very costly to back out of a deal. Right now, perception is that it’s simply a matter of a damaged reputation, but the reality could be that backing out of a deal is costly and not worth it.

• I put some names for sale on DN Forum as I said I would, using a sticky thread. So far, two of the better names have sold and I will begin to reduce some of the prices and add names like RingtoneSites.com.

Elliot, just out of curiosity, what is a typical day for you?

This question was posed to me by Ron in the comment section one of my recent articles, and I figured it might make an interesting post. Because I work full time for myself (from the comfort of my apartment), I think my schedule is fairly unique.

Monday through Thursday, I am almost always up before 8:00am either because of my dog or my Wife and I immediately begin my day. I scan through my emails, seeing if Google Alerts brought any interesting headlines – either for my blog or Lowell.com. If there’s nothing of immediate interest, I follow up with emails that were sent overnight.

If there is an interesting domain news article, I will analyze it, do some research, and think about the impact on my business or the industry, and write an article, usually set to publish in the early afternoon. If I find an article of interest related to Lowell, I will either post the full press release (using good SEO so it stands out), or I will post a synopsis of the news.

The difference between my blog and Lowell.com is that I believe I am a domain expert, and I am comfortable discussing the impact of a particular bit of news in the domain space. I am not a Lowell-expert, and I don’t want to write an editorial on Lowell.com that would be inaccurate and show my lack of awareness.

After this, it can be anywhere from 9:30-11:30 depending on the amount of news and emails I have. After this is done, I will spend some time reading a few domain blogs, a couple of domain forums, Yahoo Finance, NY Post, Techcrunch, CNN, ESPN, and a few other select websites. This is both for my enrichment and to see if there’s anything of particular interest for my blog. I don’t like simply writing about domain news here… I like writing articles that I would be interested in reading elsewhere related to domain names or the Internet, and I find that most of the more interesting articles are found simply by reading the news.

I usually have a quick (working) lunch and spend the afternoon making domain inquiries to buy names, contacting potential buyers for my domain names, speaking on the phone or emailing business colleagues and friends, or writing articles for Lowell.com or my blog. I spend quite a bit of time researching domain names, although the irony is that some of my better deals this year have been on names I bought within 2 hours of inquiring and flipped after a couple of emails within a couple days. It seems that I spend much more time writing articles, and in the whole scheme of my business, that is far less profitable – go figure.

Last year, I spent quite a bit of time building websites and managing the websites I already built. Although some of those sites are making money now, I decided that I would stick to my core business in 2010. As a result of that decision, I enjoy having the extra time to research acquisitions and find domain buyers. I am lucky that my domain sales have gone back to 2007-2008 levels, as there is far less pressure on me to generate revenue on my domain investments that did not quickly sell as I had hoped.

Last year I worked much more, and I found myself “spinning my wheels” quite a bit.   This year, I am usually able to wind down in the late afternoon and try to hit the gym for a run after 4pm, depending on the day. Unfortunately, I have high cholesterol due to genetics, so it’s urgent that I keep myself in decent shape and stay fit. When I had a full time job and was managing my business at night, I didn’t work out very much, and it was detrimental to my health. I worked a lot of 16-18 hour days, and I promised I wouldn’t do that this year unless absolutely necessary.

In the evenings after dinner, I usually watch tv with my computer on the coffee table, and I answer emails that come through. I am generally in bed and sleeping between 11-midnight from Monday to Thursday.

Throughout the day, I am always connected via Blackberry. Whether I am at the gym, running errands, or doing just about anything, I am almost always connected to my work. I love what I do, but despite being able to set my own hours, most of my focus is on my business.

I was driving along the Henry Hudson in New York City this afternoon and my mouth dropped when I saw this billboard. Firstly, it’s very cool, especially considering the drive is right next to the Hudson River where Captain Chesley Sullenberger safely landed US Airways flight 1549 in January of 2008.

The real reason my mouth dropped was seeing the domain name Values.com. You see I almost was the owner of Values.com back in June of 2007. I thought I had a deal to buy the domain name, and even had an attorney writing up the agreement when the owner emailed me to let me know a buyer in Germany had offered more money between the time I thought we struck a deal to the time when my attorney was writing up a domain sales agreement. I thought the owner may have been bluffing to raise the price, but surely enough, it was sold to that buyer.

It looks like another organization, The Foundation for a Better Life, is now the owner of the domain name (deal appears to have been done towards the end of January 2009).   The billboard and imagery is cool, but it would have been even cooler if I had sold them the domain name!