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I think it’s about time we have another domain investor get together in New York City. One of my favorite places to go with a large party in the summer time is The Boat Basin, a restaurant/bar in the city that has outdoor and indoor accommodations for parties of all sizes. I think this will be a great place to hold an informal get together.

Details:

Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 TBD due to DomainRoundtable

Time: 7:00pm

Location: Boat Basin – West 79th Street & the Hudson River

Please RSVP in this email so I can reserve a space that’s large enough. I will be in Amsterdam beginning Tuesday, but I should have wifi to approve comments. If not, I will approve them later on so others can see whose coming.

***UPDATE***

As Larry pointed out, Domain Roundtable is happening on the 16th, so this is going to be rescheduled to either the last few days in June or early July. I will re=publish this when a date has been firmed up.

I’d like to sell a few domain names which are registered at either Godaddy or Moniker. These are posted in a few spots, and the first person to tell me he wants to buy them will get them.

CounselingJobs.com – Job related domain names are in high demand and difficult to acquire because so many are developed. There are millions of counseling jobs in the US alone – from drug counseling to marriage counseling…etc. Similar domain names have been selling for over $10k. CounselingJobs.com has a 2001 registration. BIN $9,000

SoccerGoalies.com – Soccer goalies are required to wear a lot of expensive equipment, including goalie shirts, gloves, and frequently pants. Goalies pay extra for this equipment, and since this niche is somewhat small for a bricks and mortar set up, this would be the perfect place for a soccer shop – either drop ship or custom inventory.   SoccerGoalies.com has a 2000 registration.   BIN $1,250

AbsintheWorld.com – This was previously a developed website that I picked up on a drop. Absinthe was recently legalized in the US and this spirit is growing in popularity in the US and is popular around the world. I like names that end in “shop, store, world”…etc because they are multi-functional. AbsintheWorld.com has a 2000 registration.   BIN $900

2750.com
3235.com
4022.com
6850.com
7150.com
SOLD on DNForum.

NewRochelleAttorney.com (New Rochelle, New York)
PawtucketAttorney.com (Pawtucket, Rhode Island)
LynnAttorney.com (Lynn, Massachusetts)
ChinoAttorney.com (Chino, California)

Buy these geo-industry defining domain names that would be great to pitch to local attorneys. BIN $400 each or $1,000 for all 4

First person to post “SOLD” will get the names they specify.

It seems pretty silly, but a few weeks ago I noticed that I had around 950 posts on my blog dating to its inception.   Since then, in the back of my mind, I’ve been thinking about what to write for my 1,000th post. I know it’s silly, but I wanted to come up with something fun for the occasion of post #1,000. A few days ago while running on the treadmill, I determined what I wanted to post here for this special post.

Several years ago, I was a “struggling domain investor,” buying and selling inexpensive domain names (which I still do on occasion). While I sold primarily on Ebay and on DN Forum, I also sold quite a bit in private to clients of mine. Most of the domain names I owned were “brandable” domain names, and their sales prices ranged from $20 – $200/each with $200 being the anomaly.

One of my better clients when I began was a lady named Tasha Kidd. Aside from buying domain names from me, Tasha and I also chatted via email and instant messenger about marketing strategy and domain names. Tasha was the first person who introduced me to keyword generic domain names, and she emphasized their value over brandable domain names. In terms of domain acquisitions, that has been my focus since then. Tasha also designed the first iteration of my company logo and website a few years ago.

Later on in early 2006, I acquired a past tense domain name, for a booming industry. Tasha mentioned that she was a member of Rick Schwartz’s exclusive domain forum, and she suggested that I meet with one of the best domain brokers in the business who was a member in order to sell this domain name. Tasha introduced me to Kevin Leto and she also recommended me for admission onto Rick’s Board, which was approved. Before posting on Rick’s Board, Tasha taught me the protocol that she learned, some of which is only learned by making mistakes – helping me to avoid many landmines that may have gone off had I done or said something wrong.

I can’t even tell you how many friends I made and colleagues I met after joining Rick’s Board. Kevin also   been instrumental in private deals I’ve made as well as answering countless technical questions about my blog, website security, and other technical questions I can’t answer. I ended up selling that domain name for 5 figures, which was my largest sale at the time. For all of this that came as a result of Tasha’s help and advice, I want to say thank you x 1,000 to Tasha.

I also would like to thank readers of my blog who have offered their opinions, support, commentary, criticism, friendship, and everything in between. Without your continued visits, this blog wouldn’t exist and without your commentary, it wouldn’t have any life or be nearly as interesting. Being a blogger has its ups and downs, but fortunately there are many more ups than downs. Thank you for all of your support!

Andrew posted some commentary on Monday from ABCsearch CEO Daniel Yomtobian on why the company went out and acquired Advertise.com. According to Yomtobian, Advertise.com “is the perfect brand name to attract new customers and make them feel comfortable if they had not heard of us—which translates into a much higher customer acquisition rate.”

TRUST is a huge aspect of a category defining domain name. People might not have heard of a particular company operating on a category defining domain name, but they generally trust that company until the trust is broken simply because of the domain name. As the saying goes, “perception is reality,” and people automatically think that with a category defining domain name, the company must be trustworthy. Yomtobian knows this, and his results should reflect this.

One thing that is not frequently discussed in the purchase of a domain name is a small thing called “goodwill.” According to Finance-Glossary.com, goodwill is defined as “The value of a business to a purchaser over and above its net asset value. It reflects the value of intangible assets such as reputation, brand name, good customer relations, high employee morale and other factors that improve the company’s business.” A category defining domain name has a considerable amount of good will associated with it, and that alone can help catapult a brand like ABCSearch onto the radar screens of their target clients.

People may not have visited a particular website in the past, but because the name rings a bell, they might think they have. Trust and goodwill are not things that can be very accurately quantified, but they have considerable value to a company.

First off, congrats to Rick Latona on his great personal accomplishment – he quit smoking and hasn’t had a cigarette in 3 weeks. Three weeks might not seem like a long time, but it is forever for a smoker, especially considering all the stress that comes with managing businesses. The first few weeks after quitting smoking are generally the most difficult when the body craves nicotine, and once over the initial hurdle, the rest is just mind over matter, and we know Rick is a determined person.

From a domain perspective though, Rick’s decision to launch a website on KickTheHabit.com is also equally good. When you build a website on a topic of interest, it makes it much easier to write articles and provide insight, which is something people will surely find interesting. Rick will be able to parlay advice from his quest to quit smoking, and others will be able to learn from this.

Soon enough, with a strong (and growing) user base, Rick may be able to sell products like books, patches and other products to help others kick their habits. This will further motivate him to continue not smoking, as people will look to his success to create their own success stories (not as if he needs added motivation though).

Double congrats to Rick, and all the best to him in both efforts.

Despite it’s short time on the market, an alternative to .Tel is already available (and is just $.99 at Godaddy!). I know some people are predicting that business cards will go the way of postal mail and printer paper when the computer was introduced… err… I mean, I know that some people think that business cards may become obsolete because of .tel, but anyway, enough chit chat. Let me present you an alternative to .tel that’s cheaper.

Drumroll please…

I present to you…   DOT INFO

Check this.   Not everyone has a “tel” and not everyone knows what a “tel” even is. Sure, it’s probably the root for some Latin word, but isn’t Latin dead? Universally, “info” is known by all. “Info,” of course is short for “information,” a word in the English language that is alive and healthy (unless you listen to the naysayers who think English will disappear like the dollar in favor of a universal world language or some other BS the negative Nancies are spewing these days). Anyhow, if you visit a site with the .info extension, you expect… information.

BEHOLD: ElliotSilver.info… voila – a virtual business card! I know you can’t “click to call” but all you need to do is look at the number and press those buttons on your mobile phone. Sure, it’s cumbersome, but isn’t these days? I sure h8 reading posts by ppl tryin to keep em to 140 charactrs or < on Twit – that’s cumbersome too, no?

Now I know the information isn’t stored in the center of the Internetical universe or wherever the .tel information is locked down, but for Pete’s sake, you can save a boat load of money, which can be reinvested into other great up and coming extensions like .mobi and .eu.

Happy hunting on this fine April 1 day.

***POST EDIT***

This was an April Fools Day post.