Home Blog Page 1199

Have You Transferred Names From GoDaddy in Light of Elephant Video?

Elliot Silver
-
27

I read an article on CNBC today that discussed NameCheap’s special promotion allowing domain owners to transfer domain names from Go Daddy for just $4.99. This was in response to Go Daddy CEO / founder Bob Parsons’ now infamous elephant hunting video.

According to the article, “GoDaddy users have switched some 20,000 domains to Namecheap, generating $80,000 in revenue in just a few days, and raising $20,000 for the charity.”

For curiosity’s sake, I am wondering if you transferred your domain names away from GoDaddy in response to the video. If not, do you plan to transfer your domain names away, specifically as a result of the video. I have a reason for asking, and my insight will be posted tomorrow or Friday.


Rick Latona Pulls Plug on Auction Business; Endorses Sedo’s Auction Platform

Elliot Silver
-
11

LatonasAs you may have heard, Rick Latona threw in the towel on domain auctions and has endorsed Sedo’s auction services. According to Rick, “Sedo dominates the online domain auction space and they do it well.” In fact, Rick has his own no reserve auction on Sedo ending in about an hour (ISU.com, KansasCity.net, DayTraders.net…etc).

I think it’s a very smart move to withdraw from a venture that isn’t working, even one as high profile as his auctions. As the old saying goes, there’s no sense in throwing good money after bad, and I think it got to that point that the auctions were becoming money losing efforts.

Rick was in a tough spot because the auctions he was running weren’t all doing well. I am sure he felt pressure auctioning other people’s domain names for lower amounts than he hoped, and he was also auctioning his company’s inventory as well. Not only was it damaging his reputation, but it was hurting his bottom line.

I admire Rick for his audacity in the domain space. He doesn’t do anything half-assed, and he puts a big effort into all of the challenges he undertakes. Although some might say his TRAFFIC conference partnership didn’t end successfully, I had a great time at the Amsterdam conference, and I was planning on attending the Hong Kong conference. This is a tribute to his efforts, as I generally wouldn’t travel to another continent for a conference unless it was for something special.

When you are trying new things, there are going to be some that fail. In a small industry like this one, those failures are usually amplified. Rick spent a lot of money on his auction venture, made some waves in the industry with very good results, but he ultimately realized it wasn’t going to work out for his company, and he pulled the plug.

I think it’s great to see people trying new things to better the industry and drive more revenue for domain investors, and I look forward to his next audacious endeavor.

Last Call on Lowest Rate TRAFFIC Tickets

Elliot Silver
-
1

Targeted TRAFFICTickets for the TRAFFIC conference in October went on sale a couple of months ago, and as they always do, the price will be raised slowly as we get closer to the event. I just received an email that Thursday will be the last day for the $1,295 price, and on Friday the price will go up to $1,495. There’s even a special offer for purchasing your ticket before Friday.

Here’s what today’s note said:

“This is just a quick note to advise everyone that ticket prices for T.R.A.F.F.I.C. will be going up on Friday to $1495. We have limited numbers of tickets available at each price level. So don’t delay. Sign up before Friday and pay only $1295! But the offer gets even better. Sign up by 5PM tomorrow and get a $100 Ritz Carlton Room Credit.”

The TRAFFIC conference will be held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida October 16-19, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton. I believe there is going to be a very large crowd since this will be the only TRAFFIC conference of the year, and I think it’s the final domain conference of the year as well.

I bought my ticket in January, and I’ll see you there.

Don’t Ask Domain Investors – Ask An Expert

Elliot Silver
-
4

I was out of town this weekend, and as a result, I didn’t really get a chance to go through my emails from Friday through Sunday until late last night. In this big batch of emails, there were three emails asking for my advice on issues that aren’t really in my wheelhouse. There was a technical question, a SEO question, and a legal question.

As much as it’s easier to ask a domain investor who has a public presence, you are far more likely to get an accurate answer by emailing an expert, instead of someone who might not have the expertise. For legal questions, you should always email a domain lawyer. Even if you believe I have a good idea of an answer, it really makes not sense to ask me because I am not a lawyer nor do I have any legal training.

Just as I am a domain investor with some level of expertise in this business, there are others who are experts in their particular fields, and it would  behoove  you to ask them industry-specific questions. It might cost you a bit of money to get an answer from an expert, but if you’re going to spend thousands of dollars on a website, or if you have a legal issue, wouldn’t it be better to spend a small amount of money getting an expert answer than asking a non-expert and getting a free answer? In other words, my “free” answer to a SEO question may end up costing you more if I happen to give advice that isn’t correct 🙂

BTW, for domain-related questions, you are far more likely to get an in-depth answer on DomainQuestions.com than by emailing me.  I no longer offer private domain consulting, and I am more likely to post an answer that others can read and see on DomainQuestions.com.

Aerin.com: From Name Administration to Fashion Empire?

Elliot Silver
-
1

I read an article discussing Aerin  Lauder’s aspirations of building a successful fashion empire similar to that of Tori Burch’s company. Of course, I was most interested in speculating how the granddaughter of the legendary Estée Lauder  would potentially market her brand online.

A couple of quick historical whois searches likely produced the answer. Aerin.com is currently owned by Aerin, LLC on Fifth Avenue in New York City. While I could go and search business records for the state of New York to see who owns this LLC, I think a historical Whois search may be even more accurate, since it’s possible that a manager would be listed on the LLC instead of Lauder.

A historical whois search from January 2011 shows the name has been registered to a person with the same email address as the current registrant, but the physical address was listed as 767 Fifth Avenue Suite 4200. This physical address happens to be the same as the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, and of course, Ron Lauder is Aerin’s father.

Even more interesting to me is the provenance of the domain name. In 2010, the domain name was owned by Frank Schilling’s Name Administration. Whoever bought it likely paid a handsome sum for the domain name. According to the NY Post, Aerin Lauder is the third largest shareholder in the billion dollar company founded by her grandmother.

Although Aerin.com doesn’t currently resolve, it would seem likely that the domain name will be used by Lauder, and it could become home to the next fashion empire.

Saturday Update

Elliot Silver
-
8

Well, it’s Saturday and I’m up in Boston again for another wedding. It seems like I’m in a never ending cycle of weddings. I think buying a tuxedo a few years back was the best clothing “investment” I ever made!

Here are a few updates:

  • If you couldn’t tell already,  yesterday’s post was an April Fools’ Day gag. I used every domain name listed in Rick Schwartz’ inquiry article on his blog to weave a story together. I seem to have offended my parents with the post – sorry! That story was probably way cooler than how I got started.
  • Yesterday afternoon, I had a video interview with Mike Cyger of  DomainSherpa.com. We talked for close to an hour and a half, and I hope that it will provide some insight for you. There were a few topics I discussed that I want to write articles about, but I will let you wait to see the video first.  I like what Mike’s doing, and it’s an honor that he asked me to do an interview.
    • I just acquired another large city Hotels.com domain name. It’s a city in Europe with over 500,000 residents and more than 5 million people living in the metropolitan area. I still like this type of domain name if you have them.
    • You know what’s really annoying? Discussing a great domain name with two end user buyers, learning of their significant interest, waiting a few days for the necessary approvals to make an offer, and then receiving two really low offers. It’s part of the nature of this business of course, but it’s frustrating.
    • If Go Daddy ever goes public, it will be interesting to learn whether the elephant hunting video had an impact on the company’s bottom line. From what they are saying, it appears that all the negativity hasn’t impacted business, but I don’t think they have an obligation to anyone to give a real assessment of the situation. If they were to go public, we might be able to see the potential impact.
    • IMO, the people who likely have the biggest moral dilemma with this are the company employees. I know that it shouldn’t be anybody’s business what the president or any other person at a company does in his spare time, but by posting the video, Parsons seems to have opened a can of worms for all of his employees. I would imagine the call center reps are taking a beating on the phones and at home, and it’s gotta be a difficult situation. The silver lining is that I am sure Parsons will reward them this Christmas, as he does every year.
    1...1,1981,1991,200...1,558Page 1,199 of 1,558