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Google: “Our Algorithms Have Gotten Pretty Good at Recognizing Similar Content”

There was an interesting new blog post on the Google Webmaster Tools blog yesterday discussing the issue of duplicate content and how Google doesn’t really look fondly upon websites that have the same information as other websites because of a poor user experience.

I hate taking large quotes from an article, but I think it’s important to know. Read the full post to get more information, but according to the blog post,

“Some less creative webmasters, or those short on time but with substantial resources on their hands, might be tempted to create a multitude of similar sites without necessarily adding unique information to any of these. From a user’s perspective, these sorts of repetitive sites can constitute a poor user experience when visible in search results. Luckily, over time our algorithms have gotten pretty good at recognizing similar content so as to serve users with a diverse range of information. We don’t recommend creating similar sites like that; it’s not a good use of your time and resources.”

This isn’t really new information, and it’s not surprising, but it’s something that domain owners need to take into consideration when developing their domain names. A lot of people have been asking about the issue of duplicate content lately, so this is certainly a good read.

Fred Mercaldo Resigns as President of Associated Cities

I just received word that Fred Mercaldo has announced his resignation as President of Associated Cities, an organization made up of city .com domain names that produces the annual GeoDomain Expo.

Mercaldo issued a brief statement to me when I asked him about his resignation:

“I thought I could have a positive impact on the culture of the organization, and successfully mediate the legal disputes that continue between the founding members.  My goal was to reestablish AC as an asset to its great membership base.  While I thought I was making progress these last 5 months, I really wasn’t, and the time commitment that the position required was beginning to impact my responsibilities at our growing network of 65 City.com sites, and I could not allow that.”

I know Fred was an Associated Cities Board Member for a few years prior to taking on this role, and he spent much time representing the geodomain industry. As far as I am aware, this was an unpaid position, as was the board position.

Logo.com Acquired by Well Known Domain Investor / Entrepreneur

As you’ve probably seen already last week, the domain name Logo.com was brokered by Sedo and sold for half a million US dollars to a buyer who has yet to be disclosed. According to an earlier version of the website on Logo.com (which has now changed),

Logo.com will provide graphic design and other services to small businesses and entrepenuers including logo design, website design, stationery design, printing and much more. Our website is launching in Q1 2011. We’re looking forward to serving you!

Adam & Alan, Co-Founders of Logo.com

If you’re wondering who Adam and Alan are, I can give you some insight. Once the DNS changed to IdealHosting.com, I was able to instantly recognize the buyer, a friend of mine.

Adam is Adam Strong, a well-known and widely respected domain investor who was a co-founder of domain name news website, DNN. Alan is Alan Townsend, who was head of eCommerce at Personal Creations, which was acquired by Provide Commerce, Inc., the parent company of ProFlowers, RedEnvelope, Cherry Moon Farms and Shari’s Berries.

The new company will offer logo and design services to small businesses and entrepreneurs. You can’t get much of a better domain name for this type of service than Logo.com – that’s for sure.  According to Adam,  “we’re in full-fledged development mode right now building out the platform and lining up patnerships. We’ve got some great designers already lined up but we’re always going to be looking for more.”

He indicated that some recent large sales to domain investors helped spur this investment. Adam notes, “with my good friends Richard Kirkendal and Richard Lau buying up category killer domains like DomainName.com and launching successful sites on Resume.com ,  I figured I had to ‘keep up with the Jones’ a bit .  . . haha.”

These two internet entrepreneurs have worked together in the past, which should help them work well together on Logo.com. According to Strong, “Alan and I have worked together on several large domain brokering deals over the years and we’ve always talked about doing something together on a killer domain. This domain came up, time and again. It was one we always thought would be a home run. ”

Congrats to Adam and Alan, and I wish them both all the best with this key domain name.

IDN Event Recap

The first IDN Event was held last night in New York City, and the turnout was impressive. Around 40 domain investors attended the sushi dinner organized by Gary and Aaron, two prominent IDN investors and the duo behind  IDNTools.com and related websites.

Obviously, the networking aspect was one of the most important elements of the Event. Attendees came from as far as Israel, the UK, and Hong Kong, to as close as Manhattan, and there were a number of people from various cities throughout the US. It was a good mix of people, and I felt completely comfortable, despite not owning any IDN domain names yet.

I appreciated the fact that the Event was partly treated as an educational opportunity. Although I would guesstimate that 85% of the crowd was made up of people already investing in IDN domain names, there was time devoted to teaching attendees about IDNs and how they are used. The fact that it was educational and not a sales pitch made it all the more interesting to me.

Edmon Chung, the CEO of .Asia prepared an interesting presentation as did Patrick Carleton of Wyvern, LLC. Personally, I felt that the candid remarks of IDN investors Andrew Snow and Moshe Schneider (who recently bought Москва.com (Moscow in Russian Cyrillic)  for $216,000 were the most interesting. When you’re able to hear directly from people who have spent 7 figures in US dollars on a particular investment, it’s generally a good source of information.

I really believe IDN domain names are going to become more mainstream domain investments in the next couple of years. I have been doing my research and due diligence, and there some domain names in the coordinating Snapnames IDN auction that I am following. The auction ends on November 3 at 3:15pm EST.

I appreciate the effort that went into making this a success, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it turn into an annual occurrence. Congrats to IDN Tools on this achievement.

Halloween Sunday Updates – IDN Event + Epik + More

Happy Halloween to everyone! We had a smallish Halloween party on Friday night, although I can’t share the costume I wore – apparently it’s not blog-appropriate.  Here are some weekend updates from the domain business.

  • I had a great time at the IDN Event in the city last night. I plan to post a full recap about the event tomorrow, but Gary Males and Aaron Krawitz deserve a big ovation for putting the event together with so many people in attendance.
  • For those of you who are concerned about your Epik websites, I want to remind you about a post Rob Monster wrote on the Epik blog back in March.  According to Rob, “The price for the Epik product portals is a one-time setup fee of $249 which includes custom graphics, custom copy, backlinks, and product sourcing.   Epik shares 50/50 in the net revenues and covers all operating costs. There is no lock-in and if after 1 year on the platform, if you have not sold your domain or the site has not yielded at least $249 in gross revenue, we’ll refund you your setup fee, no questions asked.”
  • I am still trying to figure out the next move for BumperProtectors.com. I think I will probably keep the site as is and hope that Rob is able to work things out with Google. I have faith that they will make some changes to make things better.
  • If you’re going to AdTech in New York this week, let me know. I don’t have firm plans yet, but I will be stopping by the Javitz Center to check out the exhibit hall at some point on Monday or Tuesday.

Advertise to Domain Investors

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I get a lot of inquiries about advertising on my blog, and I’ve been very lucky when it comes to advertiser renewals. As a result, I don’t often have openings on my blog for advertisers. I wish I could add more space for advertising, but I don’t think that would be fair to readers or other advertisers.

With that being said, I want to make a recommendation to domain companies who are looking to advertise to domain investors and others who are interested in Internet business, entrepreneurship, ecommerce, and other related types of articles.

Advertising space looks to be available on two blogs I read whenever they are updated – DotWeekly.com and DomainShane.com.  Both Jamie and Shane have been writing very insightful articles, which take a considerable amount of time. They are able to offer a different perspective on things, and the information they share is invaluable.

As anyone who has built a website or who writes frequently knows, it isn’t easy to write for a living. Not only is it time consuming, but it can be frustrating and/or draining when people post rude commentary that is critical for the sake of making themselves feel better or simply to put someone else down.

To those of you who have emailed me in the past to advertise your services or products but I wasn’t able to accommodate you, I ask you to consider advertising on sites like Jamie’s and/or Shane’s. They put a considerable amount of effort into their articles, and I bet you’ll see a good return on your advertising investment.

Have a great weekend.

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