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Why I Like DomainQuestions.com

Elliot Silver
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11

This may come across as a bit self serving, and it probably is, but I want to give some feedback about why I like my site, DomainQuestions.com. I also think it’s good to remind people where they can get answers to some of their own domain questions.

It seems like every day that I receive a question related to domain names. Some questions are about domain monetization, some are about general domain investing, and others are related to domain acquisitions or sales. It’s humbling that people feel that they can ask me a question about domain names and get a good answer, and I appreciate that level of confidence in me.

However, I stopped doing private domain consulting over a year ago. I don’t have the time to give to others on a regular basis, and time away from my own business development is detrimental to my bottom line, even while earning a decent amount of money from consulting. Despite this, I still receive many questions about domain investing, and I want to give a good answer since people took the time to write to me.

Enter DomainQuestions.com, a site I launched several months ago. Instead of saying, “sorry, I don’t do domain consulting,” I can let the person know I will do my best to answer the question if they take the time to post it on DomainQuestions.com. Not only does this become a resource for people who have similar questions, but it also saves me time answering questions I’ve answered in the past when I simply need to email them a DQ thread with the same question and an answer.

If the person doesn’t want to spend the time or effort creating an account and posting a question, why would I ever want to spend my time answering the question?  If the question is private in nature, there are plenty of great domain consultants who will happily answer their questions for them.

In addition to the site being a resource for domain related questions, it has become a (slow growing) revenue stream. As traffic continues to grow, I’ve been fortunate to have a few advertisers on the site. It seems like a win/win.

If you haven’t checked out DomainQuestions.com, I urge you to do so the next time you have a question. I’d also recommend creating an account, adding your profile information, and helping to answer the questions that other people have. I appreciate it and they will appreciate it, too.

Memorial Day Weekend Update

Elliot Silver
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1

It’s Memorial Day Weekend this weekend in the United States, and it’s a time we pay tribute to the men and women who have lost their lives defending and protecting our country. I want to take a moment to thank the people who are serving our country, lost their lives during their service, and I also want to pay tribute to the families of these people as well.

Thank you for your service.

Hope you have a nice (and safe) holiday weekend.

BeerWeek.com Development Example

Elliot Silver
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6

Beer WeekA couple of months ago, I was negotiating to buy the domain name BeerWeek.com at Sedo, but I couldn’t agree on the price with the seller. I just noticed a new website on BeerWeek.com, and it appears that another company acquired the domain name.

The strategy of the new website on BeerWeek.com is similar to what I envisioned, and I want to discuss why I like it and think it’s a good idea. Perhaps it will give you some ideas for your own domain names, and as I am writing this and thinking about the site, I am also thinking about a couple names I own, BikeTours.com and BikeTour.com.

There are dozens of “Beer Week” events that take place in various US cities and in countries around the world. Most of the events are unrelated to each other, but they obviously focus on beer. The owner of BeerWeek.com has turned the site into a resource for people who want to learn about the different “Beer Weeks.”

It almost seems that BeerWeek.com is the primary brand for these individual “Beer Weeks,” despite the fact that they are likely unrelated. For instance, there is an informational page about American Craft Beer Week, and that event is managed by a different Colorado company.

Having the “more generic” term that encompasses these various events should help the site rank well in Google and Bing when people do long tail searches for the events covered in the site. For instance, I wouldn’t be surprised for BeerWeek.com to rank just after CraftBeer.com when people search for American Craft Beer Week because of its seemingly close relation with the event and the keyword match.

For monetization, the company can use Adsense (which it’s using), and as it grows, it can sell advertising space directly to the event organizers. It can also charge other Beer Week organizers for links on the site if it so chooses, and it could even sell tickets to different beer week events, or possibly use hotel affiliate links for people looking to travel to different Beer Weeks.

One next step could be offering advice/consulting on how to start and manage a beer week for people interested in doing their own event. Another next step could be to get in touch with brewers and see which companies are interested in participating in Beer Weeks and organize its own Beer Week. Finally, the company could opt to organize its own Beer Week(s), and use the revenue from that to expand and/or acquire other events.

In any case, it’s neat to see a domain name I almost purchased launched with a website model I thought would work. I am going to continue following the site’s progress, and perhaps some day, I will find the time to do something similar with BikeTours.com and/or BikeTour.com.

DataCenter.com Sold for $352,500

Elliot Silver
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23

As I mentioned a few days ago, Sedo’s Great Domains held its May auction, which ended this afternoon. DataCenter.com was acquired for $352,500. The bidding for this domain name went on for quite some time after the auction was scheduled to end. The reserve price range was $25,000 – $49,999.

The domain name was placed for sale by Next Navigation Pty Ltd, a domain investment company that owns a very nice portfolio of descriptive domain names.

Based on the final sales price, my guess is that an end user acquired this name. I will post an update in a few days once payment is made and the domain name is transferred, assuming the Whois data is public. Congrats to the seller and Sedo on a nice sale.

People of Walmart (Video): Using a Trademark in a Domain Name

Elliot Silver
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There are always questions when it comes to legitimately using other company’s trademarks and brand names in domain names. Companies don’t like it when unrelated entities own domain names with their marks, and they often resort to UDRP filings or litigation. It’s generally pretty expensive to defend and can cause far greater legal problems.

One website that seems to be doing just fine is PeopleOfWalmart.com. The site has drawn millions of visitors since it launched in 2009, and it receives a ton of submissions. There have been questions of privacy issues, but it seems that Wal-mart has left the site alone for the most part. In fact, they filed a UDRP for a typo of the domain name, PeapleOfWalmart.com, which the company won.

In any case, it appears that Wal-mart has left the site alone, and in filing a UDRP for the typo, it probably tacitly implies that they don’t think they can do much about the real website. In any case, this seems to be an example of a website where a trademark is being used without trouble. Incidentally, the folks at Break.com released a People of Walmart video, which you may enjoy if that’s your kind of humor.


People Of Walmart Song – Watch more Funny Videos

Prediction: Internet Traffic Will Help Lift the Domain Sales Aftermarket

Elliot Silver
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I’ve heard about a lot of top producing domain names being moved to InternetTraffic.com in the last couple of weeks, and I’ve read reports and heard from others who say  that the revenue increase is pretty astounding. I’ve also heard from others that believe there’s a good chance smart pricing will lower some of those initial great results.

Should the revenue stay steady for those who are parking their names there, and even if they see a slight drop in revenue, I predict we are going to see a nice uptick in the domain aftermarket in the second half of 2011.

My business first blossomed back in 2006-07. That’s when I started focusing on buying and selling higher end domain names, and while I sold mostly to domain investors, the sales were solid. PPC was strong, and people used the proceeds from their earnings to re-invest in quality domain names. The PPC bubble started bursting in 2008 and bottomed out in 2009, and the domain aftermarket deflated along with much of the economy.

If InternetTraffic.com continues to produce higher revenues, domain investors will likely start looking for good quality investments in the domain space. Physical real estate can be a pain in the ass to deal with, and that market is still reeling. I am sure many are going to build up a solid cash reserve because they know its importance, but once that is done, I think people will begin reinvesting in domain name assets, as they did before.

I think NameJet is going to be one of the primary beneficiaries of this new income, since many of these names produce revenue right off the bat. I predict we’ll begin seeing a trend of higher sales and greater sales volume as people at the top of the chain begin taking chances on names they weren’t willing to touch in the past 18-24 months.

I also believe we are going to see higher end user sales. One of the main reasons we began to see a concerted effort to sell top quality domain names owned by the most successful domain investors was that they were using it as a steady revenue stream. Some great names don’t make much PPC revenue, so it makes sense to sell them if the price was right at the time, and it could help offset PPC losses. With PPC gains, there’s less motivation to sell, and consequently, higher asking prices.

It’s very difficult to predict future behavior of domain investors. I could be way off base, and these investors will simply keep the extra cash as a security blanket in the event of another PPC crash. Smart pricing could hurt the revenue these names are generating and the excitement could be deflated.  I really don’t know for sure.

I am inclined to believe that if revenue is returning to where it once was, we will begin to see some nice acquisitions and a general lift in the domain aftermarket.

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