General Domain Information

Everybody’s Doing It

It seems that everyone wants to get into the domain investment business. All it takes is internet access, a good idea and around $8.00 and you can buy yourself a great domain name! Shoot – you don’t even need a great idea to register a domain name. Come on, everyone has a few of those alcohol-induced purchases, right?

The point is that it’s very easy for people to register domain names and become involved in the domain business. One thing I’ve noticed is the diverse backgrounds of people I know in the domain industry. There are marketers, lawyers, doctors, techies, professors, salesmen…etc. The list of professions is deep, to say the least. This is because the domain industry spans every single profession and industry, allowing those with a strong background in a particular field to have an advantage over others.

Take my friend Ben for example. He’s a finance guy who knows that business well. After many discussions about the domain industry, my friend decided to get his feet wet and register a few domain names that jive with his finance background. Although he won’t be able to retire on most of the names he purchased, he did acquire some pretty good names in YuanInvestment.com (Yuan is the Chinese currency), MarginInvesting.com, and YenInvestment.com (BTW, if you are interested in acquiring these, drop me a line!).

Although he may not even realize it until reading this post, I think the most valuable domain name that he owns is his own first/last name in the .com. He is now in control of his name on the Internet, which will be important once he really makes a name for himself. Ben is a smart guy. When the domain industry really comes from under the radar, Ben will probably be managing billions of dollars, and he will have a leg up on everyone else. Shoot, maybe Ben will be the financier that helps propel the domain business forward.

I ♥ Domains

While running on the treadmill last night, I was wearing my TrafficZ shirt with the “I ♥ Domains” graphic on it. I hate running, so I like to think about various things to get my mind off of running to shorten my workout. I looked in the mirror, saw the shirt, and thought about why I ♥ Domains, and I wanted to share a list of some of the reasons:

1) Opportunities to find success no matter what the focus
2) Global industry allows networking with folks throughout the world
3) Develop, Park, Blog, Arbitrage, Hybrid…etc… You name it, you can do it
4) Fun and interactive investment vehicle
5) Industry is under the radar
6) Doesn’t matter how large or small you are
7) Personal background doesn’t matter
8.) Unexplored ideas are waiting to be found
9) No matter the location, you can impact the world
10) Hundreds of ways to prosper

I ♥ that there are so many opportunities in this industry for everyone who is willing to work hard. Whether you are a large or small entity, you can educate yourself about a niche and become successful. You can do so many creative things with domain names, and whether anyone says you are right or wrong, the bottom line is your bottom line.

There aren’t many shortcuts to take, but if you work hard, listen to advice, be creative and think outside the box, you too will ♥ Domains.

Industry Veterans Launch TheDomains.com Blog

MostWantedDomains.com, a closely held company founded by domain industry veterans Michael and Judi Berkens, just launched launched their blog, TheDomains.com. One of the features they created is the “Domain Parking Stock Index,” a weighted average which tracks all public companies which either own large domain portfolio’s and/or make a significant income from parked domains or PPC revenue.

The initial DPSI index includes Google, Yahoo, Baidu.com, Dark Blue Sea, Marchex, and Banks.com. It will be interesting to see if the DPSI becomes a barometer for the health of the domain investment business.

I wish Mike and Judi all the best with their new blog, and I look forward to reading their insight.

Hecta Media Goes Public on AIM

Hecta Media LogoI received an email from Clark Landry, a person who I had a nice conversation with at Ad:Tech. Clark is the CEO of Hecta Media, which just went public on the London AIM exchange. Hecta Media is a company whose purpose is to acquire and make investments in profitable niche content websites and domain portfolios.

According to Landry, the founders, (Clark Landry and Fred Krueger), are serial entrepreneurs who have founded or provided seed investment for a variety of internet content companies and advertising networks including TagWorld, Adconion, Traffic Marketplace, and iwin.com, among others. Said Landry, “Hecta Media is interested in acquiring premium domain portfolios and niche developed content websites.”

From the press release following their first day of trading provided via email:

“The directors of Hecta Media Inc (AIM: HCTA), a web consolidator, are pleased to announce that all of the Company’s 162,266,456 Ordinary Shares have today been admitted for trading on AIM valuing the Company at £6.5 million.

Hecta Media is a British Virgin Islands (”BVI”) registered company whose purpose is to make broadly distributed investments in niche content web sites and vertically targeted, branded domains. Using a combination of Ordinary Shares and cash to make targeted acquisitions, the Company intends to build a portfolio of high-traffic websites monetized through search and display advertising. Hecta Media will focus its efforts on active investment in websites and domains established in the UK, continental Europe, and the United States. The websites in which Hecta Media intends to invest will typically be simple, profitable businesses with few employees and positive cash flow. Hecta Media aims to consolidate a number of such websites across a few specific verticals, with the purpose of creating advantages of scale in each vertical market. The Directors intend that Hecta Media will acquire sites by offering a combination of cash and Ordinary Shares to the owners of the sites, providing fungible assets to owners looking for a suitable exit strategy by which to realize the value of the businesses they have created. The Directors consider that current market conditions provide good opportunities for investment in a wide variety of suitable websites which can meet Hecta Media’s strategic objectives – the Company having recently raised GBP4.67 mill ion.”

Congratulations to Clark and the rest of his management team. The domain industry is full of opportunity!

More information about Hecta Media can be found in an article in The Independent.

“Brandable” vs. Generic Domain Names

I frequently see people trying to sell “brandable” domain names. To most experienced domain investors, brandable suggests that you need to explain what the name means and why you think it is valuable, which usually means a difficult time selling it. In most cases, brandable names aren’t good buys, especially as a short term investment.

By nature, copywriters, art directors and others involved in the creative process are very attached to their ideas. Deep down, almost every creative person wants to win a Cannes Lion, Clio or an Echo, and they want to win because of their idea. They want to be inspired from deep within themselves rather than developing someone else’s idea. I don’t think it makes sense that some domain investors think that a cool/hip sounding domain name will help inspire a marketing campaign or product name, which would seem to be the reason to register it.

On the other side, some people register these names hoping that a company will use that particular term or phrase in a new product and then seek them out to buy it. While I know of a couple people who did have success with this, there are many more brandable domain names registered than companies willing to buy them. It’s like buying a lottery ticket. Sure, once in a while it may be a good idea or even pay off, but more often than not, you will end up wasting your money.

In my opinion, if you can’t afford to buy a high value keyword name and choose to register new names instead, I recommend sticking with generic keyword phrases. Put two or three related keywords together to try and create strong sounding names. Use “quoted Google searches” to see how many references that term has in Google. Generally, the more references, the more interest in that particular topic. State specific keywords can be good, too.

Registering new names can be a thrill. Knowing what to register is what can save you hundreds of dollars.

.Mobi Madness = .Mobi Sickness

Wow…. I just spent the last half hour of my life reading Frank’s, Jay’s, Rick’s and Sahar’s blogs along with posts on a couple of forums about .mobi domain names and my head is spinning. I don’t understand why <some> people who have invested in .mobi feel the need to defend it like they are defending their children or family. Well, I guess I know why they feel the need, but it’s painful to watch.

It’s a freaking extension. If marketers promote it, investors will probably make money. If not, investors better hope they aren’t holding the bag like many of the speculators who bought names in other little used extensions. I don’t want to hear any more about bofa, disney, skype….etc. None of that means squat for 99.5% of the .mobi names that were registered based on speculation.

In my opinion, at best, some mobile-savvy marketers will buy .mobi names for THEIR brand, and some lucky .mobi speculators will make money (not just flipping to other speculators as it seems most of the successful investors are doing). At worst, .mobi is just another choice of extension that is owned by speculators and barely used by anyone.

Bottom line is that you can’t even have a rational conversation with most .mobi investors any more. It’s madness, and its making me sick!

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