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Don’t Let Emotion Get in The Way of a Business Decision

Elliot Silver
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Godaddy LogoI had quite a few comments in response to my article about Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons’ vacation to Zimbabwe where he shot and killed a “problem” elephant. I wrote much of the post below last week, but I opted to post it at a later date since feelings were still very raw, and I wanted to make a point while keeping the elephant situation on the sideline.

On mainstream websites as well as on domain-related websites and blogs, many people have posted comments in reply to Bob Parsons’ video of him shooting a “problem” elephant in Zimbabwe. The vast majority of comments were highly critical of his actions, which I of course don’t condone and don’t wish to comment on in this blog post.

A number of people, both domain industry professionals as well as regular domain name owners, have said they plan to transfer their domain names from Go Daddy as a result of the actions of the company CEO. In fact, a poll on my blog indicated more than 50 people said they moved or will move domain names from Go Daddy because of the video.  In my opinion, this may be a bad business decision.

GoDaddy is the largest domain registrar in the world, and the company has 24/7 US-based customer support. The company employs thousands of people in a few states, and you don’t usually hear bad things about its technical support. Many individuals and small businesses rely on the company’s call centers for small and large domain name and website issues, and another registrar may not be able to provide the support (both in terms of expertise and round the clock care) that Go Daddy offers.

Moving to a new registrar may cause problems for a business, including business continuity issues. Companies may have to re-load websites for hosting, change url forwarding, re-set up and configure email accounts, create/move databases, pay for new privacy services, and work with a new account representative who might not be familiar with the person or business.  This could lead to problems that aren’t really worth making a point about your dislike of Parsons’ actions.

There are some great domain registrars that are as good or better than Go Daddy. For instance Name.com and Dynadot are two companies I’ve only really heard good things about. However, a domain registrar change can be problematic for a business.

I understand the emotional issue with the hunt. I have a dog and don’t like to see or hear about animals being killed pointlessly or for someone else’s pleasure. In fact, it really pisses me off when people do bad things to innocent animals. However, it might not make sense from a business perspective just because you’re angry with the CEO of a company. Think about the ramifications before making an important business decision like this.

Why I Don’t Report My Domain Purchases or Domain Sales

Elliot Silver
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76

It’s been said that high value domain sales help improve the domain aftermarket, and I don’t disagree. This has led to the question about why I don’t report my domain sales if it can help other domain investors. I want to share a few reasons about why I don’t generally report the dollar amounts for my sales and/or acquisitions.

Let’s start with the easier question of why I don’t report my domain acquisitions. When I purchase domain names, I usually have a plan to re-sell them, and quickly. If I emailed Ron Jackson or had the seller email Ron to let him know my purchase price, it makes it much more difficult to make a nice profit margin on the sale side of things. Who wants to pay $25,000 for a domain name they know I bought last week for $15,000?

The more difficult question to answer is why I don’t report my domain sales. It could be a “feather in my cap” as they say to report high dollar sales, and it could also help the industry. For instance, if I were to sell a travel domain name for $xxx,xxx, I am sure that would give a comp for someone else to use for their domain sale prices and it might also seem neat to see my name in the DNJournal sales report.

There are a few reasons why I keep my sales quiet. First and foremost, my buyers generally want to keep their acquisitions private or they wouldn’t even know about the DN Journal sales report. They either don’t want people to know what they paid and what they’re buying, or they don’t really care about reporting a domain purchase.

Secondly, since I make my living selling domain names, I don’t want to report sales and have others start buying names in the same areas I am buying/selling. Similarly, if people see me selling high value names in a certain vertical, it will increase my acquisition costs for other similar names that are on the market. To that point, I still don’t understand why those high value long tail insurance domain sales were reported last year because it likely made them all the more expensive for the buyer.

Thirdly, I don’t want a seller to know I just flipped a domain name I bought from him or her for a significant profit. It’s no fun knowing you could have sold a name for more, and I don’t want to cause someone to feel that way. I also don’t want my future acquisition cost to go up if we do business together in the future.

Finally, I don’t want people to know how much money I earn.  That’s for my wife and accountant to know. No offense, but my income isn’t your business, much like you wouldn’t expect to speak with your co-workers or boss about their salary. The only thing I have said and will say is that I make my living off of domain sales, and there was no “family money” involved with my business.

I apologize if this doesn’t help the domain industry as a whole, but I can’t compromise my own business. I do list some of the domain names I have owned and sold, but that’s pretty much it. I trust you understand.

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

Elliot Silver
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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
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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
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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
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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.

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