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Recent Domain Acquisitions

Elliot Silver
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51

Every now and then, I like to share some of the domain names I recently acquired. Below are a handful of domain names I bought in the aftermarket, which includes private purchases and auctions. Feel free to submit your recent acquisitions in the comment section if you’d like.

Unfortunately, all of my purchase prices are private. I am on vacation in Florida, so comment approval may be slow. Perhaps I will see you at TRAFFIC next week?

DogPark.com – Bought the website and domain name, which sees around 12,000 visitors a month right now.

Nightlights.com – My Dad owns a retail store, and when I went to the New York International Gift Fair in August, the one thing he wanted me to look for was a line of nightlights in the $20-30 range. These make popular gifts and retail anywhere from $5 – $100, depending on the nightlight. Probably will re-sell instead of develop.

WeddingEntertainment.com – I owned this name back in 2008, and I was able to re-purchase it this week. There are a lot of bands, djs, and other wedding entertainment companies out there, and I may either develop one of my directory sites on it or re-sell it.

LinkwheelService.com – Link wheels seem to be popular SEO tools, and there are a lot of companies offering link wheel services. I will probably re-sell it.

CallCenterOperations.com – When I worked at AIG, my team worked with a number of call centers. On large campaigns, we hired call center operations companies to help manage the programs. It’s a fairly small niche, but there’s a lot of money.

SciaticaTreatment.com – At 27,100, “sciatica treatment” has pretty significant exact match results according to the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. There are also several extensions developed and a number of affiliate programs.

MemoryBoxes.com – Companies sell these so people can put important items into to save them for the future.

Quickly Transfer a Name from Go Daddy

Elliot Silver
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28

I have an account at GoDaddy, specifically because of the company’s high level of customer service. The one thing that irritates the heck out of me is when I buy a Godaddy-registered domain name in the aftermarket, have it pushed to my account, and then have it locked for 60 days. This is one of my biggest pet peeves in the domain business.

As a result of this policy, I will almost never have a simple domain push done when buying a name from someone who uses GoDaddy, unless I plan to develop it. When I am buying to re-sell it, which is more often than not, I will transfer the domain name out instead of doing an account push. I sacrifice simplicity, speed, and ease, to not have to deal with the transfer lock.

For those of you who are like me, I want to share a method to have your transfers out of Godaddy completed more expeditiously. This will take a 5 day transfer from Go Daddy to Moniker, Enom, Register.com, Network Solutions, or other domain registrar, and make it a 2 day process.

Here are the steps to quickly transfer a domain name out of Godaddy:

  • Domain owner needs to unlock the domain name.
  • Domain owner should then request authorization code and forward it to buyer.
  • Buyer should initiate a transfer at his or her registrar.
  • Domain owner should forward any security email that is received after the previous step to the buyer, and the buyer should proceed as directed.
  • Wait until the following business day.
  • Domain owner should log in to the domain control panel, under Domain Manager, there’s a tab  that says “Domains.” In this drop down menu, there’s a link for pending  transfers. Assuming the domain name is listed in there, he should check off the box and  then click the “authorize” button on the upper right section.
  • The domain name should be transferred the following business day.

I just did it yesterday and the transfer was completed this morning.

Blackberry or iPhone?

Elliot Silver
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13

Will Blackberry usage suffer with RIM service outage?

I think almost everyone I know has either a Blackberry, iPhone, or some other Android device that works as a phone and sends email. I’ve used a Blackberry for years, and although I love the iPhone functionality, I have become use to the Blackberry’s tactile keypad.

As you are probably aware, especially if you have a Blackberry, RIM’s service has basically been non-existant today. I have not received a single message on my Blackberry since 6:23am. I am getting Twitter updates, text messages, and phone calls, but my email is down.

Because I frequently work “on the go,” this Blackberry outage has been annoying and disruptive. Today has been one of the few days I’ve ever wished to own an Apple iPhone. I am curious if you own a Blackberry, iPhone, or other Android device.

Barrons Report: “Google Has Been Able to Increase Prices Per Click All Year”

Elliot Silver
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8

I found an article on Barrons’ blog that I thought might interest you. In announcing and discussing a stock analyst’s (BGC’s Colin Gillis) share price target increase for Google, the article discusses how Google may be generating more revenue from pay per click advertising.

Some interesting points from the  Barrons article  that domain investors will care about:

  • “Google has been able to increase prices per click all year“
  • “the company knows how to “capture the economics associated with improving conversions.'”
  • “Gillis expects 12% growth in click pricing in Q3, the same as Q2, and thinks it will continue above 10% this quarter.“

I wonder how much (or if) Frank Schilling’s popular new parking service utilizing a Google feed, InternetTraffic.com, has played into this increase. Whether it has or has not, I have heard that clients are continuing to see higher revenue numbers.

I am not surprised that a competitor is about to emerge, which will ultimately drive even more domain traffic to Google.

As Usual, Traffic to Cowboys.com Increases

Elliot Silver
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6

It’s been almost four years since Cowboys.com was acquired by a group of domain investors for $370,000 after a reported bidding error by an official from the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. As Rick Schwartz wrote at the time, “the “Attorney” for the Dallas Football team said days later that he thought the price was $275 and not $275,000.”

Unfortunately for the people involved in the acquisition, the development project that some envisioned seems to have petered out and there isn’t much residing on the domain name. Despite this, visitors still type in Cowboys.com by the thousands.

I don’t think Compete is a good source of data for parked domain names like this, but it shows nearly 20,000 visitors in August as NFL training camps opened, and well over 30,000 during the season last year. I am sure there were thousands of visits on Monday night when the Cowboys played the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football.

I understand that 25,000 +/- monthly visitors is really just a drop in the bucket when compared to the nearly 2 million +/-  visitors its DallasCowboys.com website receives each month during the season, but the cost to acquire Cowboys.com would also likely be a similar drop in the bucket.

Cowboys.com is still listed for sale at Sedo, and I think the Cowboys would be wise to purchase it, perhaps via the broker representing the domain name, Dave Evanson (dave.evanson @ sedo.com). Knowing that domain investors own Cowboys.com, I would think the Cowboys would want to make more of an effort to own the name.

How Hipster Acquired Hipster.com

Elliot Silver
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7

Hipster is a fairly well-funded start up company that has received quite a bit of good publicity in tech circles. Until recently, the company was operating on the domain name, UseHipster.com, since Hipster.com was owned by another company.

In May of 2011, Hipster announced  funding of $1 million, and I recommended that the company use some of this money to purchase the Hipster.com domain name. My belief was that as the company continues to grow and increase brand awareness, the price to acquire Hipster.com would grow as well.

Not surprisingly, the company had been trying to acquire the domain name for quite some time, and the effort finally paid off, as Hipster now owns Hipster.com.

According to  company founder, Doug Ludlow, acquiring the domain name took quite some time. “Obtaining the domain was a 7 month process of going back and forth with the original owner.  Lots of negotiation and discussion.  In the end, we reached a combination of cash and stock that worked for both parties,” said Ludlow in an email to me. “Also, a little Pabst Blue Ribbon was thrown in for good measure :)”

The price and terms of the deal remain confidential.

The company is now forwarding UseHipster.com to Hipster.com. In addition, the company already uses the @hipster Twitter account. Congratulations are in order for Ludlow and his Hipster team. I think the acquisition of the domain name now will pay big dividends.

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