Home Blog Page 1137

Domain Hole Featured on Shoemoney.com

Elliot Silver
-
2

I still don’t like the name of the company, but I have to give props to DomainHole.com for some smart marketing that I saw a few days ago.

Jeremy Shoemaker runs a popular blog at Shoemoney.com. I am sure many of you who read this from within the domain industry have heard of Shoemaker and Shoemoney.com, but for those who haven’t, it’s a great site that discusses ways to make money online.

Every Friday, Shoemaker has a promotion called “Free Shirt Friday,” where he wears a t-shirt from a company and briefly discusses what the company does. For no cost (aside from the t-shirt), Shoemaker will blog about different companies each week. It seems like a very good way for companies to get information about themselves to an Internet savvy audience.

This past Friday, Domain Hole was the featured  Free Shirt Friday  company, and Shoemaker wrote a post about what the company does. I’ve never seen a domain investment company featured on Free Shirt Friday (granted, I don’t visit all that often), and it was a smart marketing move. There’s very little cost involved, and it’s a great chance to introduce the company.

If you have a company that you’d like Internet marketers to know about, you might think about sending Shoemaker a company t-shirt. It would be interesting to know how long ago Domain Hole submitted its shirt.

Report: Canadian Starts Company After AppleiMac.com Settlement

Elliot Silver
-
11

There was a report in today’s Calgary Herald that I found interesting and somewhat surprising, and I want to share it with you.

According to the article, a 17 year old Canadian high school student named  Abdul Traya registered the AppleiMac.com domain name in 1998. It was just before Apple launched its new computer line, and apparently the company wanted the domain name but didn’t register it.

After a legal letter from Apple, Traya was able to settle with the company for a significant amount of money.  Traya reported that he received an “undisclosed sum – an amount, he admitted, that was almost enough to retire on.”

Perhaps Traya’s age worked in his favor, and Apple didn’t want to spend time filing legal papers, especially since Traya was a minor. Also, perhaps the company felt it was important to use the domain name ASAP and thought it was worth the money to settle immediately rather than using the court system. The quicker UDRP system didn’t come into existence until December of 1999.

Whatever the case, I think Traya got somewhat lucky because there are hefty penalties in the US for cybersquatting (up to $100,000 per domain name), and the UDRP system isn’t expensive and doesn’t take very long. It was nice to see that he used the settlement to help start his company though.

Aside from this interesting information, I take issue with one part of the article:

“Still, there are those who do set out to make money from domains, said University of Calgary professor Tom Keenan.

“It’s called ‘cybersquatting,’ ” said Keenan.”

Of course that is only true when you consider trademark infringing domain names. There is a multi-billion dollar, completely legal, domain investment business built on descriptive/generic domain names that cannot be trademarked.

There aren’t a whole lot of people and companies that legally make money from domain names, but I believe publicly traded companies like Marchex, Tucows, and Demand Media (to name a few) would disagree with the definition of cybersquatting as making money from domains.

Occupy Protests Moving Smartly Online

Elliot Silver
-
10

Although the “Occupy Wall St.” protestors’ messages may not be cohesive, their domain name strategy seems to be.

I was curious to see if those in the “Occupy” city protests have been buying related domain names, and it appears that many are. Domain names like OccupyWallStreet.com and similar names are registered by the Occupy Wall Street group, and they forward to the primary OccupyWallSt.org website. Other geodomain names have been registered as well.

In addition to dozens of others not listed, the following “Occupy” city domain names have been registered, as the protests continue to spread across cities throughout the United States:

  • OccupyNewYork.com
  • OccupyBoston.com
  • OccupySeattle.com
  • OccupySanFrancisco.com
  • OccupyPhiladelphia.com
  • OccupyMiami.com
  • OccupyChicago.com
  • OccupySanDiego.com
  • OccupyPortland.com

Smartly, many of these domain names have been registered simply to forward to each local movements’ website. For instance, OccupyPortland.com forwards to the website at OccupyPortland.org, and OccupySanDiego.com forwards to OccupySD.org.

One thing I also find interesting is that many of the websites are different from each other, but they have similar themes. In addition, it appears that many of the domain names are registered to different registrants.

From an observer’s perspective, it’s interesting to watch how these protests have been spreading. I won’t opine on the actual protests because it’s not related to the topic of my blog, but from a domain name and branding perspective, the group seems cohesive.

Saturday Afternoon Updates: Several Large Sales Reported This Week

Elliot Silver
-
21

Hope you’re having a nice weekend. As much as the death of Apple’s Steve Jobs was somewhat expected, it was still really sad to hear about. In looking around at the devices I use on a daily basis, almost everything important to me is from Apple (with the exception of my Blackberry). The guy was an innovator and his presence will be missed. Anyway, I want to share some updates with you.

– For my Jewish readers currently observing Yom Kippur, I hope you have an easy fast. It’s during the Jewish holidays that I wish I would be doing more with Torah.com. I am sure I will eventually be able to turn it into a meaningful website.

– Shaun Pilfold’s company sold two great domain names last week, although the sales prices are subject to a non-disclosure agreement. Pilfold sold Campgrounds.com and RVParks.com. Pilfold originally picked up Campgrounds.com for a reported $175,000in 2007, and  I believe a company had been leasing the names for a few years. I am quite certain this was a lucrative sale and I congratulate Shaun.

– I read a press release announcing that Gay.XXX sold for half a million dollars this past week. Wow. I am pretty floored about the sale price. It sure does make Frank Schilling and Michael Berkens look pretty savvy after their .XXX investments/purchases.

– Just because Gay.XXX sold for $500k, it doesn’t mean that RandomGayDomain.XXX will be worth anything. I think the biggest issue with some domain investors buying gTLD domain names is that they buy crappy names and then get pissed at the Registry and everyone but themselves. If you stick to good domain names, you’ll probably make money.

– I’m very happy the Yankees and Devil Rays lost each of there ALDS series and the Philies lost the NLDS. I’m a Red Sox fan, and if the Sox don’t win, I thoroughly enjoy rooting against the Yankees.

– Some recent domain purchases I’ve made: SciaticaTreatment.com, LinkwheelService.com, MemoryBoxes.com, AftermarketPrices.com, RosslynRealEstate.com, and CallCenterOperations.com. Feel free to share yours in the comment section.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Using .CO & .ME Locally

Elliot Silver
-
12

I saw this newspaper dispenser in Portland, Maine this morning and thought of you so I snapped a photo and want to share it. A number of companies in Maine (state abbreviation is ME) are using .ME as if it were its own local ccTLD.

This afternoon, I saw the Name.com video I embedded below, and it makes a similar point, but with a focus on Colorado (state abbreviation is CO).

Because Google allows domain owners who own .CO and .ME domain names to target visitors in the US, it makes sense to some companies in Maine and Colorado to use their states’ respective abbreviations. I won’t be surprised to see New York City businesses using .NYC in the near future.

BTW, one of the things I like about Name.com is their videos. It’s a small company and their weekly videos are great for building the brand and allowing customers to get to know the company. I feel like I know many of the people, even though I haven’t met all of them.

Guest Post with Ned O’Meara: Aussie Domain Market News

Elliot Silver
-
4

Firstly, thank you to Elliot for inviting me to do a guest article. I was delighted to be asked.

I’m pleased to say that little by little the Aussie market is opening up at last. For those of you that thought there were just too many rules and regulations, it may well be time to have another look. Perhaps even consider putting a few eggs in other baskets?

The biggest and best change has just been officially announced in the last 24 hours by our regulator auDA. The 6 month prohibition on selling new domain names (or domains bought on the drop auctions) is being abolished come the 10th November. All I and other domainers can say is “hallelujah”! Official announcement here: http://www.auda.org.au/news-archive/auda-06102011/

Yes, we do have a few other rules and a bit of red tape, but compared to a few years back it is paradise. For those that make the effort now to become registered to buy Aussie domains, then I believe this will pay off big time in the future. Imho!

Our ccTLD is .com.au / .net.au etc. Currently there are just over 2,230,000 domains registered. So we’re still a baby compared to other markets. And therein lies the opportunity imo.

The beauty of our fledgling market (compared to .com) is that there are some absolute bargains to be picked up on both the drops and the secondary market. But the other exciting factor – particularly for domainers – are that there are some excellent “enduser” sales starting to happen as well.

The most recent blockbuster sale was investmentproperty.com.au. It cracked $125,001 on the drop auctions at Netfleet.com.au (plus had a similar bid at Drop.com.au)! This was way above what even seasoned domainers thought it would be worth! Have a read about it here in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Two other worthy sales this year were Poker.com.au and Deals.com.au – both went for $100,000. Top Aussie sales this year are listed here on DN Trade. I’m a partner in this forum, and would invite anyone keen on learning a bit more about Aussie domains to please join up. Adam Dicker of DNForum.com was very kind to give us an introduction on DNF as well.

If I can help anyone with information on how to easily set up an Aussie account, or if you have any further questions on the Aussie market, please email me.

Best wishes, Ned

Ned O’Meara is a full-time domainer who lives in Queensland, Australia. Aussie domains are his passion – and he also is the administrator at DN Trade – a domain forum for Aussie domain owners. He was also a panel member on the recent auDA Secondary Market Working Group (that recommended the abolishment of the 6 month rule). He can be contacted at ned at dntrade dot com.au (don’t forget the.au!)

1...1,1361,1371,138...1,559Page 1,137 of 1,559