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Why Publishing an Acquisition May Be a Good Idea

Elliot Silver
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21

I have a couple of colleagues who buy great domain names in specific verticals. We’ve done business before, and it seems that whenever I bring them a great domain name, they always balk at the price at first and refer me to a report about a great purchase the company made within the past two years.

That purchase was a steal of a deal in my opinion, and they now use it as a comparable when someone brings them a name to purchase or when they are in the midst of negotiations.

Recent comps are a great tool to use when negotiating. Without a MLS system, there are few ways to really value a particular domain name, and a comp shows actual market data. If you can show a buyer or seller a comparable sale, that person might be more inclined to negotiate in your favor, and it’s a great way to say, “your asking price isn’t in touch with reality.”

When you buy a specific type of domain name and are continuing to buy without plans to sell, it might behoove you to report your lower priced acquisitions to an outlet like DNJournal. If you snag a steal of a deal, you can direct future negotiations to that sales report in the hopes that they will see it as a comparable sale. The seller may do his or her own research to find other comps, but if there aren’t many out there, it could be a great way to get a domain name you want at a terrific price.

Personally, I haven’t done this before because as a domain seller, I don’t want my purchase price disclosed. I do think someone who has no sales plans but wants to buy more names in a particular vertical could benefit from having “beneficial” comps reported.

What TV Shows Use Keyword Domain Names?

Elliot Silver
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11

In my opinion, the entertainment business is not always on top of things when it comes to domain names. You can have a look at movie posters and commercials to see what I mean: hyphens, names with movie in them, .nets…etc.

Television shows, it would seem, would have more of a reason to own their exact match domain name. They’re usually on television for multiple seasons, people purchase box sets, and fans like to communicate and discuss weekly or daily episodes. In addition, many have unique names, so it’s likely the exact match name will be unregistered before filming.

Companies spend millions of dollars on marketing, so it’s peculiar they wouldn’t either register the domain name when the name is determined. In my opinion, there’s likely a decent amount of error traffic with these types of names since people assume they will find a website on the exact match .com.

Posted below is a list of popular television shows (in no particular order) and a note about whether the exact match .com name is owned by an entity associated with the respective tv show:

  • Modern Family – No
  • How I Met Your Mother – YES (strangely, not used)
  • Entourage  – No
  • Grey’s Anatomy  – No
  • No Reservations  – No
  • Chopped  – No
  • Gold Rush  – No
  • Bering Sea Gold  – No
  • Alaska State Troopers  – No
  • Weed Wars  – No
  • Storage Wars  – No
  • Chuck  – No
  • American Idol – YES
  • Private Practice – No
  • Jersey Shore  – No
  • Real World  – No
  • Top Chef – No
  • NCIS  – No
  • Big Bang Theory  – No
  • American Pickers  – YES
  • Man Vs. Food – No
  • Judge Judy – YES
  • Desperate Housewives – YES
  • Jeopardy – YES
  • Wheel of Fortune – YES
  • Price is Right – YES
  • 60 Minutes – YES
  • 20/20 – No
  • The Mentalist    – No
  • Survivor  – No
  • Biggest Loser – YES
Why do you think so many of these exact match domain names aren’t owned by the respective television studios or production companies?

Unique Marketing from NewOrleans.com

Elliot Silver
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8

I was running on the treadmill at the gym yesterday evening when I saw something pretty cool on television that I wanted to share with you. The Wheel of Fortune “prize puzzle” revealed the phrase, “tubas, trumpets, and trombones,” and the prize had something to do with the puzzle.

My immediate thought was jazz music and my second thought was that the winner would win a trip to my favorite US city, New Orleans. Not only was I correct, but I almost fell off the treadmill when I saw that it was sponsored by my friends at NewOrleans.com. I later learned that NewOrleans.com also sponsored a prize on The Price is Right (video above).

I spoke with Don Jones, co-owner of NewOrleans.com, and he offered some information about the sponsorship and its effect on traffic. “We get a great deal of lift from these national programs with exposure to many millions of folks that watch regularly. With a great, branded top-level Geodomain it works even better. The basic sponsorship is reasonable and the company also has to pay for airfare, hotel, and dining.”

I think this is a great opportunity for companies with descriptive domain names, especially geographic domain names in tourist-friendly cities. Not only does it help build the brand in the United States, but it also tells local businesses the company is intent on promoting the city of New Orleans. Seems like a win/win.

The caveat is this isn’t a short-term or one-off deal. The company, together with its Vegas.com partner, has a long-term deal to offer vacation packages on these game shows.

Don offered to provide more details, including analytics when he has them. It’s a unique marketing and branding opportunity that might be interesting to explore.

Yoga.com Goes on Sale at Domain Advisors

Elliot Silver
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23

DomainAdvisorsDomain consulting and brokerage firm Domain Advisors scored a nice exclusive brokerage listing today, Yoga.com, which was announced in a press release. The company didn’t announce the asking price in the release. I would assume it’s a six figure price tag though.

I don’t know how popular yoga is where you live, but here in New York, it seems that there is at least one yoga studio on every street offering a full schedule of daily classes. People also spend a considerable amount of money on yoga clothing, mats, and other related gear. I think the name has a lot going for it.

It appears that Yoga.com is somewhat developed, although the 2005 copyright at the bottom of the site may be indicative of the last time it was updated. It does appear on the first page of Google for “yoga” for me though.

The press release is below

Read More

Information About “Repossessed by Go Daddy” Registrant

Elliot Silver
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20

I read an article on DomainGang.com about a domain name that appeared to have been repossessed by its registrar, Go Daddy. The registrant showed up as  “Repossessed by Go Daddy,” and according to a DomainTools email search, just under 50,000 domain names are registered to the email address associated with this particular account.

I reached out to GoDaddy to ask four questions about the repossessed account maintained by the company, and I received a reply from Go Daddy’s Chief Financial Officer Michael Zimmerman (the questions and answers weren’t specific to the domain name in the DomainGang article). Learn about how domain names go into the “Repossessed by GoDaddy” account.

Why would a domain name be repossessed?

“Go Daddy’s Payment Verification Office reviews every transaction through our system using either an automated or manual review process.

Products and services can be repossessed during this process if a payment is suspected to be fraudulent. In addition, domain names are repossessed when a chargeback is processed on a payment.

If a payment is fradulent or charged back within the first five days after a domain name is purchased, the domain name is returned to the registry.”

How can a domain owner get a name out of that account?

“If a product or service is repossessed due to suspected payment fraud or chargeback, the account holder can work with the Payment Verification Office to resolve the matter.”

When did Go Daddy institute this account/policy?

“Go Daddy has always implemented payment verification and chargeback policies, with minimal changes to the procedures over the years.”

How many names are repossessed?

“While specific numbers of repossessed domain names cannot be discussed, it is around one-tenth of a percent of our entire portfolio.

Go Daddy has a 24/7 team available to work with any customer to resolve a repossession.”

Where Is Moniker Support?

Elliot Silver
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47

Over the weekend, I received an email from Moniker that said four domain renewals could not be processed for me. I later figured out that these are names that are currently pending transfer to another registrar, but at the time of the email message, I didn’t realize that was the problem.

Below the error message in the email I was sent, there were three options listed. One was to manually renew the domain names and the second was to update an expired credit card. Since my credit card doesn’t expire for a few years, I knew this wasn’t the problem. The third option was “Please contact support if you have questions or comments” and support hyperlinked to the email address, support@moniker.com.

I sent an email inquiring about the problem, and almost instantly received an auto-generated reply: “IMPORTANT: THIS E-MAIL BOX IS NO LONGER BEING MANNED BY MONIKER SUPPORT STAFF.” Why give an email address that isn’t being monitored?

Below this message, there is a notice telling customers they need to log into their account and follow the customer support links. “Log into your account” is hyperlinked, but when clicked in Macmail, there’s an error that says “Error No associated application could be found.” Same thing happened when I clicked the hyperlinked “Log in now to request service on your Moniker account or ask a question.”

When I pasted the code into my blog, it read:  <a href=”blocked::http://support.oversee.net/”>. When I visited support.moniker.com, it forwarded me to help.moniker.com, which unfortunately, is a dead page. Because of the forward, I assume there was something there at one time, but that is no longer an option. When I clicked the support button in my control panel, I was taken to  https://support.oversee.net/index.php. Since Oversee no longer owns Moniker, I have no idea if this is even an option any longer.

Anyway, customer service and support are two of the most important aspects to a domain registrar for me, going hand in hand with my number 1 priority which is security. I know Moniker was purchased recently and announced about 3+ weeks ago, but I would have hoped this type of important issue would have already been addressed.

For years, Moniker was known for its extraordinary customer service and support, as I wrote about before when discussing Bari Meyerson. Hopefully, this and related issues will be looked at and rectified ASAP.

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