Domain Investing News, Strategy & Tips

Report: Internet Brands Acquired for $640 Million

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September 20, 2010

TechCrunch is reporting that publicly traded Internet Brands has been acquired by a private equity company for well over a half a billion dollars. The reason this is significant is that Internet Brands is a company that operates a number of websites on great generic domain names.

Some of Internet Brands’ websites include:

Autos.com
Gardens.com
KidsCamps.com
Loan.com
VacationHomes.com

I am not sure if there is a relationship with NameMedia, but as you can see by the page title on the Advertise page of Gardens.com, there appears to be a relationship between Internet Brands and Namemedia: “Advertising with the NameMedia Gardening Network.” I’ve reached out to NameMedia for more information on this relationship. However, according to the Whois database, Gardens.com is registered to Internet Brands, so perhaps NameMedia sold it (along with DavesGarden.com) and the Advertise page is outdated.

Internet Brands was founded in 1998 as CarsDirect.com, and as a result of the success with that brand, the company transitioned “from a single vertical to a diversified, platform company that would scale much larger.” You can learn more about the company on its about us page.

Brownie.com Should Forward to Brownies.com

Elliot Silver

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September 19, 2010

11

I’ll be honest with you right now. I have somewhat of an ulterior motive for writing this Sunday blog post. I want some fresh brownies… hint hint…

I like brownies. I also like generic domain names. It was nice to see a great generic domain name like Brownies.com being used by a company that makes and ships brownies. Fairytale Brownies is brownie company founded by friends, David Kravetz and Eileen Spitalny, who started it in 1992. The company has 30 year-round employees and 100 employees during the peak season.

The primary reason I found this company is that they own Brownies.com, which is where the company operates its business. In addition, and the impetus for my post, the company owns Brownie.com, but it does nothing with the domain name. There’s no 301 or 302 redirect, nor is there even a forward to Brownies.com.

If you visit Brownie.com by mistake, you may either end up on a dead page or quite possibly a ISP error page loaded with pay per click links. To make matters worse, since Fairytale Brownies is an Adwords advertiser, they could actually be paying Google to send what should already be their visitors to Brownies.com!

The company was smart enough to register both great generic domain names Brownies.com and Brownie.com to prevent another company from operating on the alternate, but they should be doing something with Brownie.com instead of having it error out.

PS: I love brownies 🙂

Domain Spam Using Fear of Domain Investors as Scare Tactic

Advice

Elliot Silver

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September 18, 2010

9

I get a lot of spammy emails from people who are trying to sell me things I don’t need. One particular email I get often is from companies who claim that someone is trying to register domain names in Asian ccTLDs that could infringe upon my “trademark” since the registrations are for a domain name I own in .com.

Today’s email is funny because there’s a bit of a twist. This company claims it wants to help me prevent someone from registering similar domain names to a .com I own, specifically because they suspect the person who is supposedly trying to register these domain name is… gasp… a domain investor.

If this was legit, I would probably be happy if someone bought and built a website in an alternate TLD to my .COM.

Dear Sir/ Madam

I’m sorry to disturb you so abrupt. We are a domain name registration service company in Asia,

On 15th September. we received a formal application submitted by Mr. John Zhang who wanted to use the keyword “independencemortgages” to register the Internet Brand and with suffix such as .cn /.com.cn /.net.cn /.hk /.asia / domain names.
After our initial examination, we found that these domain names to be applied for registration are same as your domain name and trademark. We aren’t sure whether you have any relation with him. Because these domain names would produce possible dispute, now we have hold down his registration, but if we do not get your company’s an reply in the next 5 working days, we will approve his application

As authorized anti-cybersquatting organization we hereby suspect Mr. John Zhang is a domain investor. so we need you to attach importance to this issue.

In order to handle this issue better, Please contact us by Fax ,Telephone or Email as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely ã€€ã€€ã€€ã€€ã€€ ã€€ã€€ã€€2010-9-16
Rachel
Oversea Marketing Manager
——————————————-
Room 1008,
International Building,
No.38 YueLong road,NanTong City
Tel:+86(513)85330968
Fax:+86(513)68099585
Email:Rachel@ntchinanet.com
Website: www.ntchinanet.com

Sales Suggestion for Fabulous & Others

Elliot Silver

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September 17, 2010

5

When I am looking to purchase a domain name in the aftermarket, one thing I try to research is whether the domain name was on the market before, and if so, the price listed on other websites. When I want to flip a name for $25,000, there’s nothing worse than a potential buyer telling me he saw it listed for sale for $15,000 on another website – even though it may have been a very old listing.

One piece of advice I have to Fabulous / Dark Blue Sea – as well as other domain investors who may do the same thing – is to NOT list the asking price in the Whois information. When a company like DomainTools archives Whois lookups, it archives this information forever, and I can see what Fabulous or Protopixel (a DBS subsidiary) had it listed for at one point when I am doing my due diligence on previous ownership.

Although many buyers don’t really care about a previous sales price when they want a particular domain name, it can never help in a negotiation (unless of course you got a significantly better price). When selling to other domain investors, this can be used as a negotiation point for a lower sales price.

Viacom Buys RallytoRestoreSanity.com to Support Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity

Brand Marketing

Elliot Silver

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September 17, 2010

34

Will Jon Stewart of The Daily Show really hold a “Rally to Restore Sanity” event on the Washington Mall at the end of October? Will Stephen Colbert follow suit with his “March to Keep Fear Alive?” These two comedic talk show hosts announced plans for their respective rallies, and if the domain registrations are any indication, Stewart’s Rally may actually happen.

According to the Whois record for RallytoRestoreSanity.com, Viacom registered this domain name on September 9, 2010. It’s a smart move, because many companies these days seem content to rely on Twitter and/or Facebook urls for marketing and promotions. Stewart does have both Twitter and Facebook pages locked down, but this domain name with a single page website will be the third prong in a marketing campaign.

On the other hand, it does not appear to me that Viacom secured the MarchtoKeepFearAlive.com domain name. In fact, it appears to be registered to someone named Vinh Pham, and the domain name was just registered on September 16, 2010, the day the show aired. One would think if they would have purchased both domain names at the same time.

On the MarchtoKeepFearAlive.com one page website, there is a link to the “Restoring Truthiness” campaign fundraiser that is hosted on the DonorsChoose.org website. It is a bit confusing and misleading though, especially if the registrant is unrelated to Viacom.

You can see more CNN coverage of the announcements in the video below”

Dave Evanson Hired by Sedo

Sedo

Elliot Silver

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September 16, 2010

9

I was happy to receive a press release from Sedo today announcing that a friend was recently hired as a Senior Sales and Brokerage Consultant for the company. I’ve known Dave Evanson for a few years, and he’s been a go to guy for marketing, business, and domain sales advice. Dave has significant experience in financial product marketing, and I know he will be an asset to the company.

It’s very good to see a domain company hiring a seasoned domain professional instead of a sales expert who has limited domain name experience. Having someone that thinks like a domain investor will be invaluable to his clients at Sedo.

Congrats the Sedo and Dave, and I wish them the best.

Press Release:

Our Sedo team is excited to welcome Dave Evanson as our newest Senior Sales and Brokerage Consultant. Evanson has an extensive background in strategic planning, marketing, consultative selling and executive management. As president of the global marketing consultancy he founded in 1991, his clients ranged from Fortune 500 to small companies and included American Express, VISA, Dun & Bradstreet, and General Electric. Prior to 1991, he held senior sales and marketing positions with Bank of America, Citicorp and Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing.

Evanson has over ten years experience with domain name investment strategies and web marketing. This experience has led Evanson to be featured on the Domain Masters Radio Show in 2006 for his unique ability to acquire and sell domains. Evanson was a speaker at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. in 2008 offering tips on how to succeed as a domain investor.

Sedo COO Jeremiah Johnston remarked, “With Dave’s domain industry expertise and overall background, we’re excited for the contributions he can provide our growing business. We’re thrilled to welcome him aboard.”

If you’d like to introduce yourself, he can be reached via email at dave.evanson@sedo.com.

DomainInvesting.com

Report: Internet Brands Acquired for $640 Million

Brownie.com Should Forward to Brownies.com

Domain Spam Using Fear of Domain Investors as Scare Tactic

Sales Suggestion for Fabulous & Others

Viacom Buys RallytoRestoreSanity.com to Support Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity

Dave Evanson Hired by Sedo

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