Domain Holdings Going The Extra Mile(s)

I received s press release that reminded me about an article I wrote a couple of years ago. In the article, I said “I think it might be a smart idea to attend an industry tradeshow in a vertical where you are selling a domain name to try and close a deal.

It looks like Domain Holdings had the same idea, and it’s going to take them across the world to connect with potential domain name buyers. According to the release, someone from Domain Holdings “will be presenting five premium domains to the world stage at two of the longest running United Arab Emirates tradeshows from November 4-14, The Big 5 International Building and Construction Show and ADIPEC. The premium domain names include: Gas.com, Oil.com, Energy.com, AbuDhabi.com and Dubai.com.

One thing vie learned in this business is that emails and phone calls often go unanswered, even if you have the perfect domain name for sale. Executives are busy, and assistants who screen calls and emails often filter out sales pitch contacts, even if the product would be desired.

When you meet people in person, you can usually have a better conversation while answering any questions directly. You can get direct contact information to avoid having to go through intermediaries in order to reach the decision maker. In addition, it’s always helpful if you can remind the contact about your meeting and get through an admin by saying that his or her boss told you to call.

Attending a tradeshow will give Domain Holdings the opportunity to meet with many prospects at once, which also gives the impression that the opportunity may be jumped on by s competitor. There are a couple of other reasons attending a tradeshow to sell a domain name is a good idea, which I previously wrote about in one of my first blog posts from back in 2007:

Small business owners are accustomed to dealing face-to-face with account representatives from the companies with whom they do business. Much of their business is done with a handshake in person at a tradeshow – especially when opening a new account with a supplier. For the most part, this is impossible to do on the Internet. To many small businesses, learning how to successfully operate with the help of the Internet is a daunting challenge. Why not meet with these business owners in person, make them feel comfortable and win their business? All of this can be accomplished by attending industry specific tradeshows.”

It seems that some domain brokers prefer the “low hanging fruit,” which is fine, but Domain Holdings is going the extra mile to close a deal on these names. Should these high value domain names sell as a result of this effort, the company has certainly earned its commission.

Press release follows:

Domain Holdings Group, a world-class leader in domain lifecycle management and premium domain name brokerage, announced Monday that it will be presenting five premium domains to the world stage at two of the longest running United Arab Emirates tradeshows from November 4-14, The Big 5 International Building and Construction Show and ADIPEC. The premium domain names include: Gas.com, Oil.com, Energy.com, AbuDhabi.com and Dubai.com.

The separate four-day tradeshows will be held in Dubai (The Big 5) and Abu Dhabi (ADIPEC). Domain Holdings will select a meeting site once at the respective venues. Interested parties are encouraged to contact Niko Younts, Global Domain Asset Consultant & Broker, for more information – Niko(at)domainholdings(dot)com, or call 1.513.225.4757.

The U.A.E. is one of the Middle East’s most technologically advanced nations and also one of the world’s strongest economies with USD $1 trillion in foreign invested assets. Its growth is driven by its natural resource exports as well as its investment in infrastructure. Premium domains like Gas.com, Oil.com, Energy.com, AbuDhabi.com and Dubai.com fit the region’s high profile as a world economic leader.
“There is no question that the U.A.E. is iconic on the global scale for its unprecedented growth, innovation and expansion. Naturally, that expansion has precipitated a crossover into global business opportunities – and at the global level domain names can be the catalyst for exposure to either the country or businesses operating in it to the global business community,” Domain Holdings co-founder John Ferber said. Ferber was the co-founder of Advertising.com – which sold to AOL in 2006 for nearly USD $500 million and eventually became cornerstone for America Online’s AOL Advertising business. “There is only one Dubai and there is also only one Dubai.com.”
Premium Generic Domain Facts:
-Three-letter .COM Domains see an increased demand because of their limited supply. All possible three-letter .Com and .NET names are registered.
Single-word industry specific domain names have accounted for more than 80% of the 73 reported USD $1M or greater sales dating back to 1999. Examples include: Call.com USD $1.1M, Invest.com USD $1.015M)
Energy, from renewable, clean and alternative, is a trillion dollar industry according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance
The premium domain name aftermarket has seen a double-digit increase in median sale prices over the course of the last year and sales in more than 160 countries worldwide.
Premium Geo Domain Facts and Figures:
Britain.com sold for USD $1M in 2000
Korea.com sold for USD $5M in 2000
International tourism has seen 4% year-over-year growth and is a USD $1B-plus industry as many Geo city and country names are used in some capacity to attract visitors.
The largest known geo .COM sale in 2012 was Denver.com for an undisclosed mid seven-figure price
The Big 5 International Building and Construction Show opens on Monday November 5 and lasts for four days. The event will take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The United Arab Emirates accounts for nearly USD $7 billion of the USD $4.2 trillion in ongoing construction projects in the region, and is a fitting locale for the show, which offers attendees access to panels and discussions with the world’s foremost authorities in the building and construction sector.
Domain Holdings will also be represented at ADIPEC from November 11-14, ADIPEC is the largest oil and gas exhibition in the Middle East. Organized by the Energy Group and the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the four-day event offers conference attendees presentations, panel discussions and plenary sessions from some of the top oil and gas companies in the world. The event draws more than 1,500 applicants in 58 different countries. The focus of ADIPEC 2012 is “Sustainable Energy Growth: People, Responsibility and Innovation” and will take place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center.

About Domain Holdings
Domain Holdings is a world-class service provider in the buying, selling and monetizing of domain names. The company was co-founded by Chad Folkening, a longtime domain industry veteran, and John Ferber, co-founder of Advertising.com which was acquired by AOL for approximately USD $500 million in 2004, and whose collective online products and services have grossed more than USD $3 billion since 1996. DomainPower is an award-winning domain monetization platform and marketplace. Like us on Facebook and Follow Us on Twitter .

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

8 COMMENTS

  1. I remember reading about a similar approach some time ago. Can’t recall where though. But another approach is to advertise in Trade/Industry Journals.

    • I know a few people who have done this but I can’t recall if they were successful. I wouldn’t hesitate to try this, especially something like an email blast to a trade group’s members.

    • I agree. An email blast is great. If you can get to the conferences and are good face to face with sales, you will find the right people…but those industry shows tend to be very expensive. If you can grab the list of emails/phone contacts, great! Disclaimer, I just attended an industry trade show for “beverages” and I met all the CEO’s of major companies like Nestle, Pepsi, Coco Cola, Sam Adams Beer, Voss Water and more…it works!! But like I said, it’s pricey!!

    • Hi Elliot,
      I know it’s very late But still a good idea.
      I’ve been in China/Asia Trade for last 25 years and a Domainer for last 15 years. I’ve a huge database of almost a MILLION Trade/Suppliers/Buyers/Business contacts (As I’m working on a B2B Suppliers-Buyers Portal) which can be a great tool for email blast to sell China/Asia/Trade/Suppliers related Domains.

      I’ve sold quite a few and still holding a large portfolio of China related Domains.

      Please contact me to discuss the possibilities. Thanks

  2. Very smart move. In Dubai they do everything in excess and there is money to burn. AbuDhabi.com and Dubai.com will sell for multi millions and it will probably be between 2 princes that want to show who has the bigger dick. LOL

    and for Gas.com, Oil.com and Energy.com, 3 of the biggest talked about things on the planet all being sold by the same brokers. What a trio of names that these guys are fortunate enough to be part of. History in the making right there.

  3. Definitely a smart move to do this. Even if there isn’t an immediate payoff for them, this is a good move because in the long run, they need to have relationships with people in the key industries that match the key domain names.

  4. Hi Elliot – thanks for picking this up. In the time the release went out and when you picked this up we’ve actually added four new names to our list of premium names we are presenting in the region – SaudiArabia.com, Qatar.com, Riyadh.com and Brunei.com.

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