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Sunday Afternoon Update

Elliot Silver
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27

Hope you are having a nice weekend. I’m exhausted, having just completed the 44 mile 5 Boro Bike Tour this morning. My muscles are sore, but it feels great to have done this for such a great organization.

Here are some of my thoughts this weekend:

  • I am very surprised that Boston.net didn’t meet it’s reserve (somewhere under $25,000) at Sedo last week. I was almost positive the domain name was going to sell, although I personally don’t invest in .net domain names.
  • I am strongly thinking about re-developing TropicalBirds.com using my DogWalker.com business model (while keeping all the content). The site receives over 10,000 visits a month, and many of those people are looking for breeders. The only thing that scares me a bit is that I don’t have many inquiries about advertising. I am conflicted – what do you think I should do?
  • People always seem to be interested in learning what names I am buying. Here are a few recent aftermarket acquisitions: XXD.com, InsuranceInvestigations.com, NoBarkDogCollar.com, InternetResearchers.com, HousekeepingService.com, HomeImprovementForum.com, IndiaOutsourcing.com, CollegeInterview.com, and NetworkingForum.com. How about you?
  • The other day, someone commented that my blog was a bit less “sticky” since I am rarely discussing my development projects. I have not been starting new projects lately because I have enough work with my current projects. Additionally, sales have been picking up, so I am focusing more on acquisitions and sales rather than development. When times are tough, development can help build new revenue streams, but when my sales are great, there’s far less of a need to build these new streams, although I continue to focus on my current projects.
  • I’ve said this several times, but people continue to email me questions about domain investing. I don’t offer private consulting services, but I will do my best to give you a thorough answer if you post your question on DomainQuestions.com.

.CO: “New Way to Go”

Elliot Silver
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80

Two friends of mine from Arizona submitted an interesting newspaper advertisement they saw from Chapman Ford in Scottsdale. The ad crosses out the m in .com, and states, “Arizona’s New Way to Go” which is used as a clear reminder that the dealership’s website is a .CO domain name rather than .com.

As you can see in the ad, Chapman Ford of Scottsdale uses ChapmanFord.CO, likely because Chapman Ford in Marysville, Ohio uses ChapmanFord.com for its website.  Interesting, ChapmanFord.US currently sits unregistered, while the .net and .org are registered and used by dealerships.

In my opinion, this usage illustrates why .CO is beneficial and why I believe .CO domain names are going to be much more commonly used in the next few years. When the .com is unavailable, the .CO makes sense, although you can see the company is certain to emphasize that they are .CO and not .com, which is important at this point in time.

I think this happens to be a smart move by Chapman Ford, and you can make a note on your calendar to check back in a year to see if they’re still using it. I recall that Bank of America used and promoted .mobi at one point, but that marketing seems to have disappeared.

Again, despite having a long term positive outlook for .CO, I am not currently buying additional .CO domain names for my portfolio.

Also, I am riding in a 44 mile bike ride today, so if your comment isn’t approved immediately, it will be posted upon my return.

Alabama Domain Investor Gregg Ostrick Survives Tornados (See Photos)

Elliot Silver
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9

When I heard about the devastating tornados and storms that tore through Birmingham, Alabama earlier this week, I was particularly concerned about domain investor Gregg Ostrick, who resides in Birmingham. When I called him to check in the day after, the phone lines weren’t working.

Gregg was able to get online later on in the day, and he responded to my email to let me know he is okay. According to Gregg, “the storms hit very close, but no major damage to our property.” He was one of the fortunate people, and I am very glad to hear that he made it through with limited damage.

I guess this type of disaster is another reason why intangible domain assets can be better investments than physical investments.

Gregg sent me a link to some photos he took of the aftermath, and I wanted to share them with you to show you an example of how bad the storms were. There are organizations like the American Red Cross that are helping people with the recovery, and I am sure they could use donations if you are able to help.



Did Apple Buy Other Cloud Names from Xcerion, Too?

Elliot Silver
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37

It appears that Apple’s reported purchase of iCloud.com for $4,500,000 from Xcerion  has been confirmed by All Things Digital in a report today. Assuming it’s confirmed by the company, possibly in a SEC notification, it will likely be ranked the #1 domain sale of 2011… unless there is more to the reported sale than just iCloud.com.

Reading about the sale made me interested in seeing if Xcerion owns other cloud-related domain names, aside from CloudMe.com, which is what the company intends to rebrand itself as. If Xcerion  does own other cloud names, perhaps Apple bought those, too., If Apple did buy more than just iCloud.com, it probably won’t be reported as a single domain sale.

From my research, it appears that Xcerion also owns these domain names:

I don’t know if Apple purchased any of these additional names, but it would seem that iCloudApps.com might be a name they would want, too. Additionally, iCloud.org and iCloud.us would make nice throw-ins as well if they were available. iCloudMusic.com would certainly seem to be a name of interest, as would iCloudNews.com. All of these names appear to still be owned by Xcerion, as does iCloud.com.

Does Apple need any of these extra domain names? I can’t speculate without knowing what iCloud.com will be, but it would seem unlikely that Xcerion would need them in light of rebranding, and it would seem silly that Apple wouldn’t try to get all of these domain names as part of the main deal. There are likely additional iCloud domain names owned by Xcerion that I didn’t notice.

I guess we’ll find out soon enough exactly what Apple bought.

99Designs Gets $35M, Should Spend Some Of It and Buy Logo.com

Elliot Silver
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16

99 DesignsA friend of a friend emailed me a press release announcing that 99Designs, a popular  logo and web design company, just received a $35 million investment from Accel Partners and other angel investment firms. Wow… that’s a lot of money, especially when it didn’t seem to me like they had funding needs.

So what will 99Designs do with this very large investment? I would imagine they will spend some of the money on marketing the brand. Another suggestion from the TechCrunch article covering the news was that the company might be interested in acquiring a smaller competitor. The logo design space is crowded, and acquiring another company might be a smart way to grow.

My personal suggestion would be to reach out to the team at Logo.com and see if there’s any chance of an acquisition. Since this is a very recently launched website that will likely become a thorn in the side of 99Designs, the revenue is probably light and it will be cheaper now than if the site is a big success. Not only would this type of acquisition eliminate a potential competitor, but it would also allow them to grab a great domain name that is memorable and likely good for SEO.

Of course 99Designs doesn’t need to buy Logo.com, but now is the time that this company is obtainable at its cheapest (in my opinion).

I have no idea what it would take to buy Logo.com, and I can’t speculate on whether Logo.com would be interested in selling at this early stage in their history, but now seems like a good time to get a deal done.

** Disclaimer: One of the principals of Logo.com is a good friend, although I don’t know if the company would be for sale. However, if the company is anything like mine, everything is for sale for a price.

Discussion is What Makes a Successful Blog

Elliot Silver
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11

In my opinion, there are a number of factors that make a blog successful, but I think the most important thing is the amount of discussion in the comment section of each post. Some might argue that this is a sign of the health of a blog (I agree), but I also believe it’s what keeps a blog successful and popular.

I primarily buy and sell domain names for a living, in addition to managing a few of my company’s websites. Even with that being said, there are a lot of things I don’t know and/or are not doing as best as I could be doing. My knowledge on many topics is limited. When I write a blog post, it’s the comments and dialog that often add more to the topic than the original blog post.

I appreciate the contributions of those who comment on my blog. Your insights and ideas enhance what I write, and those thoughts are beneficial to me and to others who read this blog.

When you start a blog – or you start a website that has a blog-like feel/concept, it’s important to keep this in mind. The more you encourage discussion and participate in the discussion, the more successful your website will be. It’s one reason why I don’t recommend building a website on a random domain name that covers a topic you have no personal interest in covering.

When a website owner is engaged with its readers, it will increase the “stickiness” and help make a blog successful. Keep this in mind when you are working on your next site. Encourage discussion and sharing, and be willing to participate. Sure, it’s not as easy as a one way communication stream, but it will pay dividends.

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