Updates

Hope you’re having a nice weekend. Here are some updates and notes that may be of interest to you.

• There was a neat article about Go Daddy founder, Bob Parsons, on Investor’s Business Daily yesterday. Much of the article covered topics I already knew, but it’s an interesting look at Parsons and his company. Check it out if you get a chance.

• I am in the process of migrating my blog to its own server sometime in the next few days. I put in the ticket request to have the migration done ASAP, but it may not happen for a couple of days. I don’t expect any downtime, but things happen so I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some downtime.

• I sold DelrayBeachRealEstate.com and BoyntonBeachRealEstate.com to an end user in south Florida last week. I still own PompanoBeachRealEstate.com and would like to sell it. If you have an interest in buying it, get in touch.

• Despite the stock market’s roller coaster ride last week, Demand Media stock performed pretty well. The stock hit an all time low of $7.65 very recently, but it has since climbed to a Friday close of $9.15/share. I don’t own any DMD stock, but it’s been an interesting company to watch.

• As the election season heats up, especially the presidential election, it seems that people try to cash in by speculating in domain names. In my opinion, this is a serious waste of money, as it’s unlikely any new registrations are going to be worth anything. Even if you do manage to buy a meaningful name, will you really want to be associated with it when news outlets pick up on it and call you a cybersquatter while commenters call you slime and scum? Not such a nice thing for people to find when they Google your name. Save your money and stay away from any potential legal troubles.

• Later this week, my wife, two of our friends and I are throwing an ice cream sundae party for everyone at the Ronald McDonald House. I’m super excited to do this. If you have the time and/or funds to help an organization like RMH, please do so. It feels really good to help others.

• Congratulations to Mike and Krissy St. John on the birth of their son, Silas. Both mom and baby are doing well.

I’ve been on vacation since the beginning of July, and I just returned home. One of the best things about being a domain investor is that I can work just about anywhere with an Internet connection, so this has been a working vacation. I guess one of the bad things about being a domain investor is that there are always things to do, so it’s nearly impossible for me to take a “real” vacation. All in all, I really don’t mind, but I won’t tell you what my wife thinks 🙂

If you’ve emailed or called me during the last 3+ weeks, it will take me a few days to get back to everyone, so my apologies in advance for anything.  Here are some things I learned while on my vacation:

– South Florida seems to be a relaxing place for me to work. I love living in New York City, but I haven’t felt more relaxed in a long time. I suppose being on the ocean, sitting by the pool, and playing tennis helped to keep me relaxed.

– John Ferber and Chad Folkening have quite the setup in Domain Holdings. The company seems to have some smart people working for them (including Brian “Teen Domainer” Diener for the summer). I had lunch and dinner with John, and I am planning to work with them when I get some things in order.

– If you live in South Florida and have a dog, you should check out the Delray Dogtacular event John’s girlfriend Jenna  has been organizing in Delray Beach on July 31.

– The South Florida domain investors group puts on some fun events with quite a large number of regular attendees. I wasn’t able to attend the cruise because friends of ours came to town for a few days, but I heard it was a fun event. If you are visiting Florida (or live there) you should see if there’s an event planned.

– Mike and Judi Berkens have a beautiful home in North Carolina, and their mountain views are pretty much unmatchable in the area. I spent a few days in the North Carolina mountains and got to spend some time with Mike and Judi while there.

– Take my Craigslist tip with a grain of salt. It’s possible that what I recommended may lead to a website TOS violation if you post too frequently.

– In thinking about .CO drops and sales, I do think there will be a whole lot of drops, but I also think there will be plenty of people buying these drops hoping to strike gold. IMO, many people (even I) think their domain names are worth more than they probably are, and when we see a name that we think is worth something, it’s likely we’ll try to grab it and buy it even though someone else dropped it. I guess it’s a part of the domain lifecycle.

– Apparently a baby’s heart starts beating 18 days after conception. At least that’s what the dozens of anti-abortion billboards in Florida would have you think. There are also a ton of places to buy fireworks, see strippers, and visit a spa. On this trip, I didn’t do any of the above. It’s such a different lifestyle in the south.

– If you pass a Waffle House on your travels, I highly recommend stopping for some breakfast. I think that and Tudor’s Biscuit World (in West Virginia) are two of my favorite

One of the best things about being a domain investor is that I can work from virtually anywhere. As long as my location has an Internet connection, I am able to get my work done. I also have a Blackberry, allowing me to work even when I don’t have access to an Internet connection.

This isn’t always a good thing, though. Even when I am suppose to be on vacation, I am generally working. I respond to emails, monitor auctions, approve directory listings, negotiate purchases and sales…etc. I guess it’s the biggest downside to being a domain investor, since the business doesn’t stop when I need a break.

That being said, I am going away for an extended “vacation” until almost the end of July. I will still be working, but will probably be slower to answer emails and approve blog comments. I will still be blogging pretty much as usual since I will continue to run my business, but I may not be as engaging as usual and I probably won’t respond to emails nearly as quickly.

If you’re in the US, I wish you a happy Independence Day weekend… enjoy it and stay safe.

Hope you all had a nice week. Karen and I are doing a 70 mile bike “Ride to Montauk” today, so comments might not be approved until later tonight or tomorrow, assuming I survive. Here are some weekend updates.

• I was a bit taken aback when I first heard the Oversee news yesterday at the end of the business day, but it does seem to make sense. I am sure the company’s performance has suffered greatly in the last year or few, and a shakeup was likely necessary especially because of the outside investment. I don’t know what impact this will have on the domain industry at large, but we’ll likely learn more in the coming days. As I told a friend yesterday, domain names are worth the same today as they were worth yesterday.

• I wonder how much of an impact Frank Schilling’s Internet Traffic has had on Oversee’s revenue in the last month and revenue projections going forward. I really don’t think this is going to be the last big shakeup in the domain industry this year.

• I read a ShoeMoney newsletter about a SEO company called SEO Link Wheelers (affiliate), and I am thinking about using them  for a couple of websites to improve long tail search rankings. Has anyone here had experience with the company’s services? It seems a bit pricey but certainly well worth the investment if it works.

• A few people emailed me in private telling me they donated to Craig Rowe’s Make A Wish fundraising effort, and that’s greatly appreciated. I am not sure if Craig raised $500 yesterday, but I am going to give him the full match amount anyway. It’s a great organization and I am happy to support it.

• For those of you who like .TV domain names, Name.com is offering a Father’s Day deal on new registrations ($9.99/year). Enter coupon code DADDIO when you check out.

• Interesting to read the mainstream press’ view on gTLD domain names. There was an article on the front page of the Yahoo Finance website today: Internet braces for ‘.Vegas’ and other not-coms. It really seems like ICANN is going to move forward in Singapore this time, although I wouldn’t bet on it even though I am a betting person.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, New Orleans is my favorite city in the US (aside from where I live). There are a ton of great restaurants, an awesome music scene, unique art galleries, upscale shops, nice hotels, and of course, great bars and night life.  I’ve been in New Orleans with my wife for the past few days, and it’s been a nice little vacation.

Here are some New Orleans Sunday updates.

• I had a good meeting with Don Jones at NewOrleans.com. He showed us some southern hospitality, and we had a nice time discussing geodomain names and the new direction of NewOrleans.com. A few years back, I made him a 6 figure offer for the domain name when they were first developing it, and of course, the offer was turned down. In seeing what they are doing with the site and hearing about its exciting future plans, I am very glad its in their hands and not mine.

• I learned more about the new non-profit GeoPublishers organization from Don, and I am planning to attend the Expo in October 2011 in Chicago.

• My favorite restaurants this trip were Herbsaint, GW Fins, Dooky Chase’s, and Arnaud’s. Come to think of it, we really didn’t have a bad meal at all.

• We went to a new bar on Bourbon St. called Bourbon Live featuring a live band every night. When we walked to the bar to order, a guy came up to us and asked if he could buy us a drink. He was one of the investor owners (the bar has been opened a week). He introduced us to the young guy who primarily owns/runs the place. Turns out, he’s working with the NewOrleans.com team on building his website and marketing the bar.

• Only at the W Hotel in New Orleans would the Fiji water ($6.00) be more expensive than the Abita beer ($3.00) at our mini bar.

• Domain Boardroom has had some technical issues for a couple of days, but I am told these are being fixed as we speak. It should be back up and running soon.

• I really need to find a way to be able to place last minute bids at NameJet automatically without having to be on the computer. I am not a technical person and haven’t had a script or something built, so my backordering is all done by hand. It’s not that easy on the weekends, especially when I’m out of town. How do you manage?

It’s Memorial Day Weekend this weekend in the United States, and it’s a time we pay tribute to the men and women who have lost their lives defending and protecting our country. I want to take a moment to thank the people who are serving our country, lost their lives during their service, and I also want to pay tribute to the families of these people as well.

Thank you for your service.

Hope you have a nice (and safe) holiday weekend.