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Need Something Done? Get An Executive’s Email Address via Whois

Elliot Silver
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12

The other day, I was putting something together and it scratched because the fit of the brackets were too tight. I looked up the product on the website where we bought it, and I saw that someone recently posted a review with the same comment.

Instead of going through customer service to complain about the problem, I did what every smart domain investor should do when having issues with a product or service: I did a Whois search, found an executive’s email address, and got in touch via email to let him know about the issue. Less than 2 hours later, the issue was in the process of being resolved.

When a company is started, the founder is often the primary registrant of the domain name, unless privacy is used. As companies grow, many will change the registrant information to a domain administrator, but some will keep the CMO or CEO as the registrant. For those who initially had the CEO’s email address listed, I can find it using the Whois history tool.

I am not a big fan of waiting for customer service to respond or dealing with people who don’t really care much about customer service. CEOs and other executives have more skin in the game and are often far more willing to go above and beyond to satisfy a customer’s requests or complaints. Sending an email to a company CEO or executive is a good way to get an issue resolved quickly.

This is also a very good way to make new contacts with executives. You can use a Whois lookup to email an executive to praise the company or make a suggestion.

NY State is Domain Savvy

Elliot Silver
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2

The State of New York launched a new website to help state residents connect with government officials. Dubbed Citizens Connects, the website aims to  be an “online town hall where you can find everything you need to communicate with New York State Government.”

Although the website sites on a state government url,  http://governor.ny.gov/citizenconnects, the State of NY smartly purchased the matching .com domain name to forward to the website. If you visit CitizenConnects.com, you are forwarded directly to the correct website.

The government is also promoting  CitizenConnects.com instead of the bulky url, making it easier for residents to access the website. I often see organizations and government agencies pushing hard to remember website addresses, but this is one instance where the government agency has done a good job with its domain name selection.

To be honest, I don’t particularly like the “Citizen Connects” branding because it sounds a bit strange. IMO, Citizens Connect sounds like a better option, but that domain name was registered.

At What Price Will Movies.XXX Sell?

Elliot Silver
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13

Just learned that Movies.XXX will be one of the premium .XXX domain names up for auction at the TRAFFIC show. We’ve heard that Frank Schilling and Mike Berkens have both invested in .XXX domain names in private, so we don’t really have an idea of their values.

What do you think Movies.XXX will sell for at auction? Keep in mind, there will be no online bidding, so bidders will have to place their bids in person or over the phone. I am not sure if there is a reserve price on the auction.


Can Parking Companies Send Out Auto Response Emails on Your Domain Names?

Elliot Silver
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12

There is an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today that I think anyone who parks domain names should read. Apparently, it appears that it’s possible for a parking company to send out auto response emails for domain names that are parked, and those emails may contain spammy links in them.

Here’s an excerpt from the article discussing how this was set up:

“An Associated Press reporter accidentally sent a message to a “verizonwireless.co” address instead of the proper “.com” and got this response, ostensibly from his contact “tom”:

“I am out of office right now on a my (sic) dream vacation and will get back to you when I return. If you don’t hear from me, my assistant should contact you shortly. You should check this site to see how I scored the best travel deal for my trip.”

That’s followed by a link to a site that advertises luxury resorts. Presumably, the owner of verizonwireless.co makes money when someone clicks through to any of the resort sites.”

I sent a test email to info @ one of my parked domain names at Parked.com and I did not receive any type of response (no delivery failure notice either), so it appears that this is not something Parked.com is doing. I don’t do much parking elsewhere, so I can’t say if others are or aren’t doing this.

I recommend that you check out the WSJ article when you have a chance.

Value of a Domain Appraisal

Elliot Silver
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8

On Labor Day, I wrote a blog post offering a free domain appraisal for anyone that was interested in getting one. As you might imagine from the number of replies, I was overwhelmed fairly quickly.  Of course, my apologies to those who didn’t get a response due to time contraints.

Although I don’t believe domain appraisals are completely worthless, I don’t think they hold much value, other than being more of a guideline. I am a domain investor and I certainly don’t value domain names at the same levels end users might, unless I am going to be the end user. As the saying goes, a domain name is worth what someone will pay for it.

I don’t have experience or expertise in such a wide variety of businesses that I could give accurate insight to niche domain names. The same can likely be said about the companies that sell domain appraisals. They may be able to give an analysis of market conditions and how similar names sold, but with domain names being a unique entity, even comps aren’t all that accurate.

Some people are willing to spend more money on a domain name because a particular name gives them more authority. Others will spend more because they know the domain name will drive more business to them. There are many reasons why people pay more or less for a domain name, and every situation and domain name is different, making it impossible to give a precise valuation.

After I posted my offer, a couple business colleagues told me I shouldn’t have done it because it would be a no win situation. People tend to think their domain names are worth more than they will ever receive for them (count me in that same boat). Realistically though, a domain name is hard to put a value on, unless you are buying it for a reason and can put a value on what the domain name will bring to your business.

Mike Berkens Invests in .XXX Domains

Elliot Silver
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28

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Frank Schilling’s 7 figure investment in .XXX domain names as part of the ICM Registry’s Founders Program. I learned that another domain investor has also made a large investment in .XXX domain names, via the Founders Program.

Mike Berkens paid “into the six figures” for three .XXX domain names. His company acquired FreePorn.xxx, BlowJobs.xxx, and AnalSex.xxx. The actual purchase price isn’t being disclosed by Berkens or the ICM Registry.

The people behind the ICM Registry and their plans for the extension are big reasons for Berkens’ investment. According to Berkens:

“I think when you invest in a new extension your investing the registry as well, the people behind it and their vision and plan.

ICM has some very smart, determined people who also have the budget and desire to make a turn .XXX into one of the better known extensions throughout the world to compete with .com for adult material.

I also think their forthcoming micropayment system will have a big impact on the space.

Moreover I don’t think another adult oriented domain will be approved by ICANN in the new gTLD process and therefore I think .XXX will own the adult domain space.”

Websites on these domain names (not safe for work or those under the age of 18) went live this past week. Berkens used the web development services of DDC to launch these three websites.

It’s likely that FreePorn.xxx is one of the ten most valuable .XXX domain names. It’s a risky investment, but it could certainly pay off down the road, assuming .XXX takes off. In fact, Frank Schilling is hoping for a ten bagger when it comes to his investment (watch the video on Danno’s Blog  3:00 mark).

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