Internet Companies

Francois Carrillo Launches DomainHacks.com

One of the more popular web 2.0ish website branding ideas from startups is to use domain hacks. Many companies do this in lieu of the standard “web 2.0” creative names that reside on .com, most likely because even these domain names aren’t available to hand register.

In case you aren’t aware, a “domain hack” is a domain name that uses the ccTLD extension as part of the branding instead of .com.  For example. the url shortening company known as Bitly operates primarily on Bit.LY, using the .LY extension, which is overseen by the government of Libya.  Smartly, the company also owns Bitly.com in the event of consumer confusion.

Francois Carrillo, the owner of Domaining.com, has recently launched DomainHacks.com as a marketplace to buy and sell domain hack domain names.  This comes on the heels of other marketplace and website launches, including NumericDomains.com, CAX.com, and Flipping.CO, which have both launched in the last several months.

Carrillo’s network of domain investing investing websites is impressive, and it wouldn’t surprise me if one of the larger domain companies makes a play to acquire it because of the traffic and eyeballs it commands.

If you are interested in looking to buy domain hacks, Name.com offers some competitive pricing on many ccTLD extensions. I personally don’t own any domain hacks, but it’s an opportunity some people might be interested in researching.

Successful Website Launched by Domain Investor Receives Lots of Press

I was reading a news aggregation website this morning, and it linked to an article in the BBC about a friend rental website (yes, you can rent “friends.” It looked like an interesting lead-in, so I checked out the article about RentAFriend.com, and I recognized the name of the founder.

A few years back, I had sold a number of domain names to Scott Rosenbaum. I don’t think we did a great deal of business, but it was enough that I recognized his name when I read it, and I confirmed that it’s his website by comparing the Whois on my previously owned domain names to his company name in the website’s T&C.

RentAFriend.com has received quite a bit of good publicity recently. In addition to today’s BBC article, other articles and news stories have been written on or appeared in MSNBC, Fox News, CBS, CNN, USA Today, CW, and other media outlets.

It’s an interesting concept that’s getting some great press. Congrats to Scott and his marketing/PR team.

Trusted Name in Domain Industry Launches Third Party Stats Verification

As the founder and editor of Domain Name Wire, Andrew Allemann is known as one of the two most respected domain industry journalists. Andrew has a no-BS attitude, and he really digs into issues more than most other people would. When I learn about something important that needs to be investigated and reported on involving the domain business, Andrew is generally the person with whom I speak because I know he will look into the issue and provide excellent coverage.

Earlier this week, Andrew launched a new service to help domain owners verify traffic stats on domain names they intend to sell. DNW Certified Stats is a brand new third party statistics verification service that allows domain owners to share verified traffic and revenue stats with potential buyers. Instead of buying a domain name based on a potentially altered screen shot, or purchasing a name with traffic based on a person’s word, domain name buyers can rest assured knowing the reported numbers are accurate and confirmed.

The service is very easy to use and is completely transparent. The domain owner submits the domain names that need to have certified statistics, DNW Certified Stats receives the traffic and revenue report directly from the parking company, and a certified report is issued to the domain owner. It’s very similar to how a sports card grading company operates (this is one example Andrew effectively used to market the new service to potential users). Potential buyers can enter the confirmation code on the site and see the traffic statistics.

At the present time, Domain Sponsor, Sedo, Skenzo, and Name Drive are the four parking companies that are working with DNW Certified Stats. I would expect this list to grow as more domain owners use the service.

Throughout his years of reporting (for as long as I’ve been in the business I believe), Andrew has been unbiased and fair in his reporting, and I think this is an important consideration people should make when deciding whether to use the company’s services. Trust is of utmost importance when buying domain names based on traffic and revenue, and having a trusted source like DNW Stats is critical.

One of the best parts of this is that the service is currently free to use. Sign up and check it out.

Chat Roulette: Everybody’s Doing It

Apparently, ChatRoulette.com has become an Internet sensation, visited by millions of people in the last few weeks. There have been plenty of stories in the mainstream media covering it, and one of the funniest was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (clip embedded below).

One way to know a website is a hit is to see all the typos that have been recently registered:

  • ChatRoullette.com
  • CatRoulette.com
  • CatRoullette.com
  • ChaRoulette.com
  • ChatRulet.com
  • ChatRoulet.com
  • ChatRowlette.com

There are hundreds of other typos that are registered, too. The real reason for this post is to share the funny video. Enjoy.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Tech-Talch – Chatroulette
www.thedailyshow.com

Johns Wu, Founder of Bankaholic, Interviewed on MO.com

Johns Wu is most famous for building a website on Bankaholic.com and eventually selling it to BankRate for a reported $15,000,000. Wu is a well-known Internet entrepreneur, and he is knowledgeable about generic domain names. This afternoon, I read an interview with Johns Wu on MO.com, with considerable focus on domain names. In fact, there was one very interesting answer about an upcoming project:

“I’ve been working on getting a GRAND SLAM in the works. My idea of a grand slam is: category killer domain + SEO [Search Engine Optimization] traffic + monetization. In the next couple years, I’m hoping to build a web property in the same league as Hotels.com and Wine.com. I’ve been in talks with domainers who own valuable portfolios, so hopefully this will happen sooner rather than later ;)”

The interview offers a great looking into the entrepreneurial mind of Wu, and I recommend that you head over to MO.com to read it.

MO.com is a website that interviews entrepreneurs from across all industries around the world. The website focuses on the habits and methods of entrepreneurs, learning what makes them tick. MO.com is becoming a great resource for entrepreneurs to learn from each other, share what works and what doesn’t, and connect with other entrepreneurs in a mutually beneficial way.

Brian Null, the founder of MO.com is familiar with the entrepreneurial mind because he is a successful Internet entrepreneur and domain investor. Brian has owned, operated, monetized, helped broker, or sold domain names like OfficeSupply.com, GolfCourses.com, Dance.com, Hockey.com, Saws.com, and RestaurantReviews.com.

Elephant Traffic Unveils Interface for Advertisers to Capture Direct Nav Traffic

One of the few new companies I learned about at Traffic New York was Elephant Traffic, and I just saw the press release below announcing the launch of their platform. The company has a large presence at Ad:Tech New York this week, and I think it’s good to see domain portfolio holding company reaching out at a mainstream event. The company is officially launching this week, and they’re holding a launch party tonight in the City.

Here’s the press release:

Elephant Traffic announced today the official U.S. launch of its new web-based interface to drive targeted search traffic to users’ domains. The service is designed to help advertisers optimize online spend by offering a steady traffic stream that is 50% more likely to convert and 40% cheaper than that of pay-per-click ads. Elephant Traffic provides real-time reporting and unprecedented transparency.

Elephant Traffic and its partners have a vast portfolio of domains with high traffic that results from direct navigation searches, which entails searching by URL such as laptops.com or mexicovacations.com as opposed to using search terms in a search engine. That traffic, which can be grouped by vertical and geography, can be directed to the buyer’s site of preference using the Elephant Traffic’s web-based interface found at http://Elephant-Traffic.com. Advertisers select streams of traffic from available domains and redirects can be set-up with a few clicks of the mouse with real-time monitoring. Elephant Traffic is the only provider of transparent direct navigation traffic, which allows you to choose the exact domains from which you would like to receive traffic.

Wei-Hai Chu, Elephant Traffic’s CEO, explains, “Not many people are aware direct navigation search amounts to 14% of all online searches and that only 11.5% of this traffic is being captured by traditional online advertising. Elephant Traffic gives advertisers the ability to capture this highly targeted yet untapped traffic quickly and easily using a streamlined interface.”

Discussing the direct benefits for advertisers, Commercial Director Daniel Goris says, “We’re able to give advertisers direct access to consumers who are twice as likely to complete an online purchase. Direct navigation search traffic has been neglected till now but our research has shown that it delivers up to 50% higher conversions rates than standard PPC advertising. What we’ve put together offers advertisers a great tool to diversify their online budgets and boost conversion rates.”

Elephant Traffic is pleased to launch in the U.S. at ad:tech New York and will host an official launch party on Nov. 4th at 1OAK on W. 17th St. between 9th and 10th Avenue from 7-11pm. The event is by invitation only but to register for more information, please visit http://Elephant-Traffic.com/adtech.

Elephant Traffic specializes in providing advertisers with high-quality targeted redirects originating from direct navigation search traffic. Elephant Traffic is part of Elephant Orchestra, a Prague-based company dedicated to innovation within the world of domains and traffic monetization. For more information please contact Jeremy Lopez at +420 725 060 188 or email jlopez@elephant-traffic.com or visit http://www.elephant-traffic.com.

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