Combating Content Theft

Elliot Silver
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One of the things I’ve learned about search engine optimization is that search engines such as Yahoo and Google really like unique content. The more unique content you write, the more the search engines will reward you with better placement in their rankings, obviously driving more traffic to your site. Sometimes when unique content is written, others steal it, either trying to pass it off as their own or because they are lazy and want to put up information but don’t feel like writing their own content.
Lately, I’ve noticed an increase in the later. There are people stealing (or borrowing) from various domain blogs and posting either full posts or posting partial posts without adding their own commentary and without seeking permission. While I don’t mind if someone quotes me for the sake of writing an informative blog post, I do mind when people just take my content without even asking.
When I notice this, I do my best to contact the domain owner via Whois lookup to let them know I have an issue. I don’t want them to gain rankings in Google at my blog’s peril. More often than not, the offending person apologizes and takes down my content. However, there are times when the offender has Whois privacy on their domain name and doesn’t have their contact information readily available. This is annoying, and through a hosting company, I found out a way to stop it.
If a website steals content and you either can’t get in touch with the owner or the owner refuses to take down the material, you can file a Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaint with the host, and the host legally has to take action within 24 hours of receiving the complaint. The one caveat is that you need to file an official complaint. It’s not difficult though, and you don’t need an attorney to do it for you, as there are several DMCA complaint templates available online at no cost. Simply find out the web host and email them your complaint.   The issue should be resolved fairly quickly.

Responding to Geodomain Discussion

Elliot Silver
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I was going to write this response to Sahar on his blog, but I decided to just post it here since it encompasses more than one post. I have a great deal of respect for Sahar and some of the things he has done in the domain industry. Seeing Sahar build some of his domain names into business has helped spark my interest in development, and I believe he has been instrumental in getting domain investors to begin to develop their valuable domain names. However, I disagree and am a bit confused by some of the things he has recently said.
Before I begin, I want to define what I am referencing when I speak of geodomains that are worth a considerable amount of money, and what I blog about (unless previously specified).

1) .com only
2) City with 100,000 population, a large tourism industry, a center of business activity, or a US state
3) Domain name must be the exact spelling of the city

There are plenty of other geodomains, but these are generally what I consider geodomains when I talk about the industry in general.A few weeks ago, Sahar provocatively wrote a blog post entitled “Are Geo Domains Overrated?” He evaluated his thoughts on what to do with geodomains other than PPC, and the answer is either development or resale. The gist of the discussion on development is that it is very difficult (and I agree), and regarding resale, Sahar said, “To me looking for end users is an extremely tough proposition. I would not consider that a viable option.” Ultimately, Sahar’s concludes, “It is my personal opinion that while today Geo domains aren’t an attractive proposition (and we do own a few), in the near future, possibly 2-5 years, they may be.”
To address this topic, I agree that geodomains should be developed to yield their full value. They are expensive to acquire, and if the owner wants to generate revenue, development is the way to go. I do disagree that looking to sell the domain name is difficult, as I have received significant offers on Burbank.com – which I have rejected in favor of development. I know it wouldn’t be difficult to sell this name or Lowell.com, based on the response I’ve received in the Lowell area when speaking about the domain name and website.
A few days ago, Sahar wrote another post about geodomains titled, “The Other Side of Geo.” Sahar cites my blog and Rick Latona’s newsletter as sources of geodomain discussion, in addition to Associated Cities and Castello Cities press. Sahar believes, “majority of the people who promote Geo domains are doing so not because Geo is doing great but because they are invested in Geo.”
I am a bit insulted by this in respect to the reference to my blog. I talk about geodomains because I happen to be developing two of them, not because I need to increase their value or increase recognition. If anything, I would like the value to decrease so I can buy more of them – as I have tried with my $100k offer for a large east coast city .com domain name. I paid what I was comfortable with paying, and I would pay the same price in a heartbeat without so much as a second to contemplate it – as I am sure many others would agree. Also, geodomains are hot and in demand because supply is very limited for decent ones – because most good geo domain owners won’t sell it.
Additionally, Sahar wrote what most people would agree, “In terms of cashflow performance, in comparison to other domain categories, Geo domains are extremely over rated.” Yes, I agree that Lowell.com would only make $2-3/day in Adsense revenue, but I am making more in hotel/job revenue, and the traffic and revenues continues to grow. When I finish with Burbank.com, that will make even more money in hotel revenue, as that is more of a business/tourist center than Lowell, Massachusetts.
Today, Sahar followed all of this up by concluding, “Truth is, after thinking more about it, Geo domains, in term of Domaining, are extremely overrated.” Although I don’t own any parked geodomains to offer a factual assessment, I do agree that geodomains aren’t a great investment vehicle if you plan to only use a PPC model on them. However, saying   that they are overrated in terms of domaining is like saying that undeveloped oceanfront property on A1A in Palm Beach, Florida is overrated.
For those who know the area, this is some of the most exclusive property in the country, and there is barely any undeveloped property on A1A in Palm Beach. The property that is undeveloped is generally not for sale or may be for sale at astronomical prices.   This property is also some of the most resilient property in all of Palm Beach county, and it hasn’t taken much of a hit when other areas of Palm Beach County has.
So in terms of domaining and simply buying a geodomain name for PPC, yes, they may be overrated, but I think most domain sales would be considered overrated if you just looked at them based on the PPC value (numerics, LLL.com, .mobi….etc). However, I would certainly be willing to pay overrated prices for geodomains.   Hopefully when Bido launches, they will be able to offer some great geodomains for sale 🙂

How I Determine Whether to Develop or Flip

Elliot Silver
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When I buy a domain name, the most significant quality I evaluate is the likelihood of it being used commercially. Using common sense, my marketing background and my consumer-savvy mind, I analyze whether a company would be willing to spend money building, marketing and branding a particular domain name as an online business. If I believe the answer is “yes,” and the price is right, I will usually buy the domain name. Since is not a tangible quality, I think this is where a huge disparity lies between people who have been financially successful and people who haven’t been as successful.
Once I purchase a domain name, I determine whether I will develop the domain name into a commercially viable business or sell it to someone else with that inclination. My first step after purchase is to try and determine the value of the domain name on the market – both to other domain investors and to an end user. If the value is worth considerably more than I paid and it’s not a project I’ve dreamed about working on, I will usually sell it. When I can quickly profit and/or upgrade easily by selling, it’s usually a no-brainer.
If the profit margin would be somewhat slim, I think about how I can develop the website on my own (with my developer) to increase the value and generate a passive revenue. Determining the type of site it would be best as is important, as there can be considerably more work depending whether it’s an informational website, offers a service or a commercial endeavor offering products for sale. I need to then figure out if I have the ability, capacity, and drive to operate and manage such a site. Additionally, I need to determine how long it would take to be profitable.
If I don’t particularly have an interest in the industry but I can build an easily manageable informational site, I might develop it with the intention of selling down the road. I have been doing this with some mini-sites, and I hope to share the results in a few weeks/months.. If I have little interest in the industry, and the site would take time and a considerable amount of money to develop, I will look to sell – even at a slim profit margin.
For me, development is equal parts enjoyment and equal parts profit. I am a history buff, and I like direct marketing (I was a History & Business major in college and have a Master’s Degree in Direct Marketing). This is just one reason why geodomains (such as Lowell.com and Burbank.com) are perfect for my business. My goal is to make a comfortable living – to enjoy life without many worries about money. I earn hotel and job revenue, and I am going to begin soliciting local businesses very soon. In fact, I received this nice submission on Lowell.com while in New Orleans:

subject : Lowell Form Submission
redirect : thanks.html
Name : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Company : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Email : xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
Phone : please email
Website : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Comments : Could you please send me a rate package to advertise on your website, it would be a small 125/125 button preferably on your main page for a small business I own
submit1 : Submit

Personally, I would prefer a solid geodomain over almost any other type of domain name for several reasons.

  • The branding is already accomplished (assuming it’s the exact name of the city/town)
  • Many people type-in the domain name directly (57% for Lowell.com)
  • Can be informational or service oriented with ad sales depending on how much involvement owner wants to have
  • Huge opportunity to grow via search engine optimization
  • Almost all large US city .com names are currently developed (largest 250 cities in the US), so they don’t come on the market often I would still pay up to $100,000 for an east coast US city .com (I didn’t receive a single offer meeting my requirements.

It’s important to note that I am still generating most of my revenue by selling domain names. I am a “one man show” here and it wouldn’t make sense to overwhelm myself with development projects as there aren’t enough hours in the day.   I love my fiancee and my friends enough not to become a slave to this business, although they all know how much I love this business. I will slowly develop some of my domain names into revenue-producing websites while I continue to sell other domain names. As my websites continue to grow and generate more revenue, I will be able to scale down my selling to develop other websites.
This is the first business I have run entirely on my own, and it’s a learning process. Just like learning which domain names to buy is important, it’s equally important to learn which domain names to keep and develop and which names to sell.

Mining the Long Tail

Elliot Silver
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I am in the process of developing a debt-related mini-site. I am writing the articles for it and would like some keyword research related to debt so I can mine the long tail and dominate the long (but high paying) keywords. I want to target some low hanging fruit keywords that others may not notice. The competition will be less, and my site will hopefully rank higher.
Can anyone recommend a place to get a large list of keywords for a good price?

Developing Mini Informational Sites

Elliot Silver
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In the past, I discussed developing mini-sites on good domain names to generate revenue using Adsense instead of parking the name. The logic was that the traffic to the mini-website would grow as it begins to rank in search engines, whereas parked domain names won’t typically see an increase in traffic unless it’s related to a specific event or hot trend. Domain owners could quickly develop some of their domain names and increase the revenue generated.
I was reading Morgan’s Blog today, and he gives a great example of why development can exponentially increase the value of a domain name. He registered StimulusChecks.info at the end of April, and he built a relevant website with valuable information. Because he is providing value in the form of good unique content, Google has rewarded the site and it is ranking well for related terms. As a result, the name is making about $10/day in revenue and receiving around 200 visits/day.
Because of the nature of this topic, I would venture that the big traffic spike might flatten out in the next few weeks, but without a doubt, Morgan will make a great profit from this project. If he does this on other decent domain names focusing on relevant topics, he could generate a strong passive revenue stream that will continue to grow as he builds his network of websites and links to all of them.
Another great mini site was set-up by Aaron Kuroiwa, owner of FlipSquare.com, a new domain sales venue. Aaron registered AlcoholTreatmentClinics.com after seeing it in my list of domain registration suggestions for charity. Aaron wrote articles and built a the website that ranks highly in several search terms. The site averages about $3/day in revenue and is growing – not bad from a new registration to a mini-site that probably took a day to build.
These are just two examples of thousands that are out there. I will be rolling a few out in the near future (when I get some free time from developing Lowell.com and Burbank.com). While this certainly isn’t meant for every domain name, it might be a good option for strong keyword domain names that aren’t earning strong revenues. The ability to scale is important, and domain owners can scale with this. One recommendation I can make is that a person should link all of their sites in order to boost each of the sites’ rankings. As they continue to grow individually, the entire network will grow as a result. A final suggestion is to develop sites in which you have an interest. Since writing articles and finding information can be boring, I think it’s important to build sites about things of interest to you.

Is There Money in .Mobi Development?

Elliot Silver
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I know many people who make money from developed or parked domain names in the .com, .net, and .org extensions (myself included in the .com and soon .net). I haven’t spoken with anyone who has made money with .mobi names – other than a couple people who were very happy when they flipped a name to a speculator for a profit. Maybe I am just not networking with people who are doing big things with their .mobi names – a distinct possibility.
That said, I am wondering if any domain developer/investor has a financial success story around the development of a .mobi website (either generating revenue from direct to advertiser sales or even PPC). I don’t want to turn this into any type of pissing contest, but I am interested in knowing if there is money to be made in developing or parking .mobi domain names.
I am sure there is some traffic on the great one-word names like news.mobi or traffic.mobi or directions.mobi, but I am wondering what type of return people are seeing on these names. I am looking for independent investors and developers (like myself) rather than on large companies whose mobile websites can be reached using .com or .mobi (like BOA).
I paid a considerable amount of money for Lowell.com and Burbank.com knowing how I would develop these names and knowing the approximate amount of time it would take to earn a return on my investment, but I have no clue about .mobi. It’s been over a year and a half since the launch of .mobi names, and I would like to know if money has been made with development.

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