New to Domain Investing in 2009

Elliot Silver
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5

I think a whole lot has changed in the domain investment industry since I started a few years ago. I would love to hear from domain investors who recently started out in the industry about how things have been going for them. If you are new to the business, I would love to hear about some of these things:

1) How did you get started?
2) What types of domain names are you buying?
3) Where are you buying and selling most of your domain names?
4) Are you buying in the aftermarket or new registrations?
5) What are your domaining goals?

Thanks for taking the time to respond – and of course for reading my blog.

Estibot Tool Reviews

Elliot Silver
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8

I see people posting about Estibot appraisals in a variety of places, but I haven’t used the appraisal service much. Personally, I don’t think there is a way to appraise a domain name accurately in an automated fashion. I’ve seen that there are other tools offered by Estibot, but I don’t believe I have ever used any of them in the past.

Today, Jamie from DotWeekly said that he is beginning a new series to review several of the tools Estibot offers, and I look forward to seeing what he has to say about them. Every once in a while I learn about a new domain tool, and it’s good to know about helpful tools that are at our disposal.

Quick Hits for the Weekend

Elliot Silver
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7

Seems like even more companies than usual are filing UDRPs for generic domain names. Wonder how many companies have been successful in “acquiring” similar names using scare tactics like C&D letters or letters threatening litigation without even having to file a UDRP.

I’ve done some reading in the past few days about .Tel. As much as I “fooled” on April Fools Day, I do think there is a good reason for some people to buy a .Tel. From what I understand, it’s very easy to set up a site and takes no development knowledge. I sometimes take the development skills I’ve learned in the last year and a half for granted because I still consider myself to be a rookie, but I couldn’t have set elliotsilver.info up without this knowledge. Not needing coding/programming skills is a big plus.

Domain investors really need to learn a little bit of programming language like HTML or have someone on staff (or a reliable family member) that can assist. I’m no genius when it comes to web development, but learning the basics isn’t too painful. It makes us much more self reliant, and it would be similar to a homeowner learning basic things like changing a fuse or using a plunger if the toilet overflows instead of paying a repair guy for a simple fix.

It’s pretty neat to see President Obama on his European trip being embraced and welcomed by foreign leaders. I despise politics and political discussions, but thought it was cool to see during the past few days.

I really hope other people don’t begin using Twitter as a call for help. It’s so easy to miss a message/reply.

If you are trying to complete a domain deal and the price seems too good to be true, use Google to search for the person’s email address, full name (in quotes), and the domain name itself. See if anything sets off any alarm bells before you move forward with any kind of deal. Just because the economy is bad, doesn’t mean people are willing to give away great domain names at well below market value.

Canadian Sex Acts

Elliot Silver
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14

I was watching the show How I Met Your Mother on CBS last night, and the characters discussed a website that they visit, which is all abo0ot (pun intended) Canadian Sex Acts – CanadianSexActs.org.   The site lists the made-up names of a whole bunch of comedic “Canadian Sex Acts,” and clicking on each link opens a pop-up page with a photo of Canadian actor Alan Thicke and an error message.

Oftentimes production companies mention domain names/websites in television shows and movies, but they fail to register them (or they’re already owned by someone else), and the result is interested traffic to someone else’s website.

In the case of CBS’ How I Met Your Mother, the characters mentioned the website, CanadianSexActs.org, and the domain name had been purchased a couple of weeks ago – although it has a private registration so I can’t confirm that CBS does own it. The site doesn’t mention the show, nor does it mention the production company or network. In any case, it’s a fun parody website, and it was smart to register it beforehand.

“Forced Entrepreneurship” and Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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11

There’s an interesting article in the New York Times today discussing how difficult economic conditions and a tough job market are forcing people to think about how they can make their own work. “Forced Entrepreneurship,” as it is referred to by Mark V. Cannice, (ED of the entrepreneurship program at the University of San Francisco), is where people figure out a way to make money from their own work.

One of the easiest ways for a person to do this is setting up a website and complementing it by using online social media venues like Twitter and Facebook. I’ve seen an uptick in domain offers, although they are mostly for brandable domain names owned by friends and colleagues.   I believe this is a sign that many forced entrepreneurs are looking to build their unique brand online, and when they find their idea domain name is already registered, they are trying to buy it in the aftermarket.

I personally don’t really care to invest in brandable domain names, as I liken them to lottery tickets, but I think there is growing interest. With the job situation poor for several months and getting worse, many people are going to give up on their job searches, and some will try to build a business on a dream they may have had for years. I think this is going to lead to more domain sales and registrations.

Teaching About the Value of Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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7

I got together with some of my former colleagues a couple nights ago at a memorial party for a colleague who died suddenly last week. We were discussing the progress of my former group, and we started discussing the Internet strategy they have and where it’s headed.

They are in the process of launching a new stand alone product website (their first stand alone site), although they were only able to acquire domain names that are variations of the product’s name (for example MyProduct.com, ProductOnline.com, MyProductOnline.com…etc). I asked why they didn’t go out and buy the straight up Product name from its current owner, and they didn’t really have an answer other than the fact that it’s owned by someone else.

This got my mind turning.   Here is a group at a huge company that has seen tremendous growth, are about to launch a serious Internet campaign/website, yet they don’t really understand the value of domain names and what it would mean to own the Product.com domain name.   I assume many companies are in a similar position, and educating them is difficult.

I would imagine a numbers argument would be the way to educate them, showing that the Product.com domain gets a % of traffic (intended visitors) which could be lost if they don’t search to find the correct website.   Figuring out the lost business as a result of not owning the domain name should be the amount of money they could/would pay to acquire it.   However, once the site is launched, it’s unlikely that the owner would sell it, especially if he is fearful of a litigious response.

How do you educate people about the value of domain names?

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