Updates

I love living in the Boston area, but there’s something to be said about enjoying 80 degree weather in the middle of winter in south Florida. We just returned from Florida to find 12″ of snow on the ground and frigid temperature. Ugh. Looking forward to traveling to Las Vegas in a week!

Here are some weekly updates and thoughts.

• I love the holiday season, but I am glad it’s over. it is time to get back to business. There are a couple of deals that weren’t completed before the year end, and I am going to try and close them out this week.

• Congratulations to the NamesCon organizers for selling out the event. Whether you love the new gTLDs, hate the new gTLDs, or are indifferent about the whole thing, there is something for everyone at this conference.

• On the flight back to Boston, I was holding Hailey in the back of the plane and ended up spending time chatting with one of the flight attendants whose son works for Staples. Turns out, he worked on the new digital campaign for the company, with a big Times Square billboard, and we spent some time discussing the rebranding. I have to give credit where it’s due – I learned about the new staples logo courtesy of the Frager Factor.

• It’s become something of a tradition for my wife and me to have dinner and/or drinks at The Breakers while we are in Florida for the holidays. We’ve met up with Mike & Judi Berkens in the past and David Castello a couple of times. As soon as we got to the HMF bar, we ran into David and his fiancee Bree, and we spent the next hour in the courtyard drinking and talking business. It’s always great to see them and to get David’s perspective on domain names.

• Thank you to Lucius of Domain Gang who sent me a mini Brazuca‎ World Cup soccer ball. It’s the perfect size for Hailey, and I think she is going to love playing the sport I grew up playing. She’s been breaking the ball in, getting ready for the Spring.

• In case you missed it yesterday, a phishing campaign began yesterday targeting GoDaddy customers under the guise of a Whois verification requirement. Be careful with your emails, especially if you need to click on any links.

• In case you missed it last week, I shared the name of a keyword tool I have found helpful in searching for great domain names. You might want to check it out when you have a chance.

As I wrote last year around this time, the new year brings on some anxiety as my business income resets to $0 today. Although most of us seem to have made the most of 2013, it wasn’t necessarily smooth sailing. The lessons learned in the past should help strengthen all of our businesses as we move forward.

I believe there are going to be more changes in the business of domain investing in 2014 than there have been in many years. There will be new services, products, and of course, new domain names available. There will be great opportunities and probably many pitfalls. I think 2014 is going to be a great year for domain investors.

Read all you can and invest wisely. Remember that just about everyone who offers advice and guidance

As part of DomainInvesting.com’s rebranding and slight redesign, a responsive theme was pushed live this morning. This will allow people on a variety of browsers and resolutions to read the blog with more ease.

If you notice anything funky with the website, both on the desktop and mobile versions, please share it via comment. You may have to refresh your browser on your first visit because of caching, but if that doesn’t resolve the issue, I would really appreciate it if you could let me know.

As always, thank you so much for your feedback.

Most companies strive to make improvements and additions to their products and services. Many of them reach out to customers via surveys, private meetings, and feedback forms to seek out feedback directly from the people who use the company’s  products and services.

With the new year approaching, I thought it would be interesting to see what you’d like from domain industry companies.  Your suggestions and feedback can be related to a specific company / service (ie improved search functionality at X) or it can be a general request that any company might wish to implement (ie a lead generation tool that offers very targeted lead information).

I’ll kick it off and share a four new products, services and upgrades I’d like to see, and I welcome your comments as well:

If your company is interested in discussing potential opportunities for banner advertising on DomainInvesting.com next year, please contact me to discuss.  As of right now, I am not sure that DomainInvesting.com is going to have any advertising opportunities at the beginning of 2014, but I should know within the next couple of weeks.

There is currently a short waiting list, although two of the companies on the list are interested in specific spots on the website, so if something else opens up before, there might be an opportunity for another company. I am not interested in affiliate offers, paid posting opportunities, sponsored posts, or short term banner runs. Advertisers can choose either a 6 or 12 month run.

Although banner spots on DomainInvesting.com aren’t inexpensive, they seem to work for the companies who have been advertising. I am very fortunate to have low turnover with my banner spots, and I appreciate the support advertisers continue to give.

DomainInvesting.com receives a considerable amount of targeted traffic, and a banner on the website is good for brand recognition. Contact me  if you are interested in discussing, as this will be a first come, first served opportunity should something open up.

The holiday season is here. I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving if you’re in the US and a nice weekend if you live elsewhere. If you are in the US and are heading home today after the long holiday weekend, I hope you have safe travels.

Here are some updates. As always, your thoughts and comments will be appreciated: