Hope you’re having a nice weekend. Here are some updates and notes that may be of interest to you.
There was a neat article about Go Daddy founder, Bob Parsons, on Investor’s Business Daily yesterday. Much of the article covered topics I already knew, but it’s an interesting look at Parsons and his company. Check it out if you get a chance.
I am in the process of migrating my blog to its own server sometime in the next few days. I put in the ticket request to have the migration done ASAP, but it may not happen for a couple of days. I don’t expect any downtime, but things happen so I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some downtime.
I sold DelrayBeachRealEstate.com and BoyntonBeachRealEstate.com to an end user in south Florida last week. I still own PompanoBeachRealEstate.com and would like to sell it. If you have an interest in buying it, get in touch.
Despite the stock market’s roller coaster ride last week, Demand Media stock performed pretty well. The stock hit an all time low of $7.65 very recently, but it has since climbed to a Friday close of $9.15/share. I don’t own any DMD stock, but it’s been an interesting company to watch.
As the election season heats up, especially the presidential election, it seems that people try to cash in by speculating in domain names. In my opinion, this is a serious waste of money, as it’s unlikely any new registrations are going to be worth anything. Even if you do manage to buy a meaningful name, will you really want to be associated with it when news outlets pick up on it and call you a cybersquatter while commenters call you slime and scum? Not such a nice thing for people to find when they Google your name. Save your money and stay away from any potential legal troubles.
Later this week, my wife, two of our friends and I are throwing an ice cream sundae party for everyone at the Ronald McDonald House. I’m super excited to do this. If you have the time and/or funds to help an organization like RMH, please do so. It feels really good to help others.
Congratulations to Mike and Krissy St. John on the birth of their son, Silas. Both mom and baby are doing well.
I saw the list of domain names and prices for Stephen Douglas’ Future Trend Domain Auctionâ„¢ which will be held on Snapnames from August 24, 2011 at noon through August 30, 2011 at 3:15pm EST. I am not a big fan of buying or registering any type of “trend” domain names, but I believe many people do buy these names with the hopes of striking it rich.
The list of domain names and reserve prices are listed below, and further below is a poll question asking how you think this auction will perform. I understand Stephen and the domain owners will be heavily marketing and advertising these domain names to companies that may be interested in making a purchase, so perhaps end user participation will help propel this auction.
You can learn more about the auction at Snapnames.
This isn’t related to domain names in any way, but I want to pass along some advice to you based on a recent experience.
The other day, our dog Lucy got really sick. She was throwing up and had other stomach ailments. I will spare you the gory details, but it wasn’t fun for us, nor was it fun for her. When it got really bad, I brought her to the emergency vet, and we thought that she had some sort of stomach bug.
After $2,000 worth of tests, the vet saw that there was something in her stomach and said they would need to do an endoscopy to hopefully get whatever it was out. If that didn’t help, she would need surgery to remove whatever was there. We went with the endoscopy, and luckily they were able to remove the latex glove that she had somehow eaten.
Long story short, we just picked her up and she’s doing much better, but the bill was over $5,000. Luckily, we have pet insurance and they will cover somewhere around $2,500 of the total bill. We pay about $300/year for the insurance, and as you can see, it’s a great deal for us.
The other day, I was just thinking how little Lucy has cost us this past year. Of course, once you start thinking about that, something is bound to happen. I use to think pet insurance was similar to dental insurance – nice to have but it never covers your major dental work, and that’s frustrating. Although our vet bill is still high, we’re lucky to have saved $2,500 of the total bill.
If you have a pet, especially if it’s a curious dog, you should get pet insurance!
I am frequently asked how I know what names to buy so I can quickly re-sell them. The quick answer is that I do quite a bit of research and market intelligence. Unfortunately, it seems that many people love quick answers, but they don’t actually enjoy (or just don’t have the time/desire) to put the work into doing the research.
I spend quite a bit of time researching who is buying what names. I do my homework to try and find out approximately how much they are paying for these domain names. I review sales reports, past sales, and sales listings to try and find the prices paid. I pay close attention to patterns and when I see a pattern forming, I try to get ahead and search for similar domain names to buy at better prices. If I know someone is buying Car related names and is paying $10,000/each, I try to find similar names for much less.
One of the keys to this is knowing what is similar to names a company is buying and what is rubbish. UsedCars.com is great, CarsUsed.com does not make sense to me. Similarly, UsedAutomobiles.com may be good, but not even close to UsedCars.com. To know what’s good, I research search volume, the number of results in Google, but I also use my brain. Does CarsUsed.com or UsedAutomobiles.com really sound nearly as good as UsedCars.com? No. For all the tools I use, I think my brain and the gut feel I have is superior.
When I am buying domain names, I am taking on all the risk. I could just ask the owner to broker a similar name I think a buyer will like, but that will net me 10%. Taking on all the risk can net me a lot more than that. The downside is that I could get stuck with the name. That’s where the gut feel comes in to the equation. If I buy a name for $5,000 with the hopes of selling it for a lot more, my gut tells me that even if I have to cut bait, the loss will be none or small. I know enough about good names to know that if buyer A doesn’t want it for my price, I can find 10 other buyers that will want it, although my sales price may not be what I first thought.
For a few hours each day, I scan drop lists, read sales newsletters, scour aftermarket sites, and do Whois lookups to see who owns what and who is buying what names. Selling great names is not difficult at all. Knowing what names to buy and at what prices is the hard part. If you have and own truly great names, you will have no problem selling them. The only issue is determining a price that makes sense for you.
I received a press release this morning announcing the dates of DomainFest 2012. The conference will once again be held at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica, California from Tuesday, January 31 – Thursday, February 2, 2012. Registration for attendees opens in a few weeks on September 1, 2011, and the early bird discount rate is $995.
I looked over the agenda, and there is no more Playboy Mansion party scheduled. DomainFest held a party at the Playboy Mansion for the last three years. A number of conference attendees became sick upon the conclusion of the conference, and there were reports that alleged that the Playboy Mansion may have been the culprit. In any case, after considerable mainstream press reports from around the world, it’s no surprise that there won’t be another conference party there this year.
The full press release from Oversee is below, and you can visit the DomainFest website to see the agenda and get other important event details.
Do you think attendance will be up, down, or the same?
Press Release:
DOMAINSPONSOR ANNOUNCES 2012 DATE FOR DOMAINFEST GLOBAL CONFERENCE
The largest and most respected conference designed specifically for domain name investors and online publishers returns to Santa Monica
LOS ANGELES, California and FRANKFURT, Germany (August 11, 2011) — DomainSponsor ®, the domain name monetization unit of Oversee.net ® and organizer of the critically acclaimed DOMAINfest ® series of conferences, has announced it will host its annual DOMAINfest Global ® event from January 31 to February 2, 2012, at the luxurious Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, Calif.
As in past years, the entire Fairmont Miramar Hotel has been reserved exclusively for DOMAINfest Global in order to provide attendees with an intimate, distraction-free environment that maximizes networking opportunities.
Speakers, Agenda and Evening Entertainment
Domain investors, publishers and online marketers attending DOMAINfest Global can once again expect an agenda filled with highly relevant learning and networking opportunities. Expert speakers and panelists will offer insights and tips that can immediately improve business performance and results. First-class evening dinner parties promise to provide unique, fun backdrops for the formation of long-lasting business partnerships and friendships.
Highlights from the February 2011 conference included a standing-room-only keynote address from legendary Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons, plus an entertaining fireside chat with Ben Mezrich, author of The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook. More than 700 domain name investors, online marketing professionals, and service providers from 30 countries attended the conference.
Registration Opens September 1
An early bird registration fee of $995, which includes all sessions, meals and official evening parties, will apply from September 1 through September 30. From October 1 through December 31 the standard discounted rate will be $1,195 per attendee. Beginning on January 1, the regular pre-conference rate of $1,295 will apply.
DOMAINfest has arranged for discounted hotel room rates at the Fairmont Miramar hotel. For reservation details, please visit: http://domainfest.com/hotel.
Sponsorship Opportunities Available
A record number of 37 sponsors and exhibitors successfully promoted their brands to the event’s high profile audience in February 2011. Information about 2012 sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities is available at http://domainfest.com/sponsorship-options. Inquiries can be sent to sales@domainfest.com.
New York Meet-Up
For the first time ever, DOMAINfest is hosting a New York meet-up event on August 23 from 7:00-10:00 p.m. US Eastern time at the Mad46 Rooftop Lounge, on the 19th floor of the Roosevelt Hotel at Madison Avenue and 46th Street. Attendees will enjoy speed networking, dinner and cocktails. Registration is $150 and is available online: http://www.domainfest.com/NewYork2011/register.
About DOMAINfest
Founded and hosted by DomainSponsor ®, the direct navigation traffic monetization division of Oversee.net, DOMAINfest ® is a conference series that brings domain industry and Internet professionals together to learn, network, and do business. Attendees include online advertising experts, domain publishers, domain monetization experts, SEO and SEM specialists, website developers, online marketers, ad or affiliate network suppliers, search advertising providers, venture capitalists, bankers and trademark/legal advisors. For more information, visit
http://www.domainfest.com.
About Oversee.net Oversee.net ® is a leader in Internet performance advertising. Its businesses are driven by a robust technology platform that processes over 40 million revenue events a month. With a portfolio of more than one million domain names, Oversee’s Domain Business is a top pay-per-click advertising network, delivering highly targeted ads to 300 million unique users worldwide per month. Vertical Markets, Oversee’s rapidly growing lead generation business, utilizes highly scalable SEO, SEM and CMS tools to attract customers to the company’s own travel, shopping, and financial services web sites, providing end users with the information they need to make smart purchase decisions. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Oversee has offices in Portland, Ore., Pompano Beach, Fla., New York City and Frankfurt, Germany.
Czech Republic’s English-language newspaper, The Prague Post, posted an interview with “Tech Tycoon” and domain investor, Jan Barta. As you may recall, Barta’s company owns Elephant Orchestra, which owns and monetizes domain names. The company is a frequent sponsor of and exhibitor at various domain industry events, as well as other more mainstream conferences like AdTech.
The interview discusses “where digital business has been, where it’s going and whether there is another tech bubble on the horizon.” The interview covers everything from Barta’s domain monetization to his insight on whether there is currently a tech bubble.
Barta has done quite well investing in domain names and monetizing domain names, and this is an article you may want to check out when you have a chance.
I received a press release this morning announcing the dates of DomainFest 2012. The conference will once again be held at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica, California from Tuesday, January 31 – Thursday, February 2, 2012. Registration for attendees opens in a few weeks on September 1, 2011, and the early bird discount rate is $995.