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Pre-Register for Sedo’s Premium .CO Auction

Elliot Silver
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81

I think Go Daddy’s Super Bowl commercial is going to be big for .CO domain names. It’s still speculation at this point, but I imagine it will inform a massive amount of American consumers about what .CO is, and it could help increase the value of .CO domain names.

In addition, the .CO Registry has begun a major campaign for .CO on a wide variety of websites. In addition to a continuing Adwords campaign, consumers will see .CO banners on many websites, including this one. All of this should be good for domain investors who own .CO domain investments.

I just learned that  Sedo will be having its first official auction for .CO premium generic/descriptive domains coming up February 10th – 17th, following the much Go Daddy .CO Super Bowl commercial. There are some of the best available .CO domain names for sale in this auction. All  prospective bidders much pre-register for the auction online at Sedo in order to be eligible to bid.

Some of the .CO domain names that will be up for auction include:

  • LasVegas.CO
  • Antiques.CO
  • Luggage.CO
  • Finance.CO
  • Pizza.CO
  • Shoes.CO
  • Pawn.CO
  • Plants.CO
  • Recipes.CO
  • Gas.CO
  • Oil.CO
  • Shop.CO
  • Art.CO
  • Health.CO
  • Money.CO
  • …. Many other top names

You can see the full list of domain names for sale by visiting the Sedo live auction website. In my opinion, this is a huge auction and the results will be  indicative  of the state of the .CO aftermarket.

Don’t forget – you need to preregister to bid.

Even a Mini, Mini Site Can Out-Earn a Parked Page

Elliot Silver
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20

Last week, I took one of my parked domain names and built a very small website, monetized with Adsense. The domain name had received a fair amount of direct navigation traffic, but it wasn’t making much money as a parked page. I figured it couldn’t really make any less with Adsense, so I would see how it does.

I was surprised at how much more revenue was generated during the past few days, granted we’re not talking about a lot of money. While it had a PPC page up for a full month, the domain name generated 42 clicks and made just a couple of dollars. In the few days since I’ve had my “mini site,” the domain name has received just 8 clicks, but more than double the revenue.

Time will tell how the site does during the year, but right now it’s only making money from direct navigation traffic. If and when it gets indexed, it will hopefully generate some search engine traffic and potentially drive more revenue.

Of course, we need to take the time of building it into account. I purchased an article from TextBroker.com for $5.00 and paid about $125 for the logo (I intend to build the site out further, hence the logo expense).  I also used a free template for the base of the website, and it was fairly easy to modify on my own, even with my limited experience.

All in all, if it makes $500 this year, it will pay for itself and my time.

I am not going to mention the domain name because I don’t want to draw attention to what the site looks like or where it was previously parked.

Why I Think Groupon Needs Its Domain Names NOW

Elliot Silver
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6

GrouponYou may have read that Groupon is fighting to get its Australian ccTLD domain name. It had offered to pay over a quarter of a million dollars for the domain name and a similar trademark filing. It seems a bit odd that a company would seemingly reward an alleged cybersquatter for this much money, but Groupon needs this (and similar) domain names ASAP.

Groupon is a rapidly growing company in a vertical that has very few barriers to entry. Local companies with the manpower and desire to pound the pavement can work with local businesses and start their own entities. As businesses go, this one is not too difficult to duplicate, although it isn’t easy to scale.

Groupon is in the phase where they are quickly growing around the world, be it with acquisitions of large enough competitors that they can enter markets rapidly, or by entering the market and becoming the dominant presence. Groupon is fast becoming known throughout the world as THE company that offers group deals.

In addition to using a universal .com domain name (Groupon.com), the company is embracing local ccTLDs. The company operates sites like Groupon.ca, Groupon.de, Groupon.com.mx, Groupon.co.uk, Groupon.es, Groupon.fr, Groupon.co.il, Groupon.jp, Groupon.cn, and many others, which are highly targeted.

With its rapid growth, the company probably doesn’t have the time to wait for the settlement of lawsuits or determination of UDRPs to get the domain names it wants to operate. Instead, the money is less important to this well funded company than the time it will take to get the domain name via UDRP and/or lawsuit.

It’s interesting to watch Groupon seemingly reward others for grabbing Groupon ccTLDs, but domain investors should note that this is an isolated situation, and doing so with other trademarks can be very risky and expensive to defend.

Why I Am a Verizon Wireless Customer: An Example of Excellent Customer Service

Elliot Silver
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10

VZWI’ve been a longtime Verizon Wireless customer, and I am very excited to hear the iPhone news because I will almost certainly upgrade when I have the opportunity. I got my first Verizon cell phone back in 1994 or 1995 when I was a sophomore in high school.

Over the years, I’ve had small issues with various phones and plans, but they were generally worked out in store or over the phone. In July of 2002, I had an issue with a LG flip phone. The store wasn’t very helpful, nor was the customer service phone line. It would have cost roughly around the same amount of money to cancel my contract than to buy a new phone, and I was ready to switch carriers out of frustration.

It was late at night, and I was home from grad school for the summer break. I figured I would try and find a senior executive marketing contact at Verizon and hope for the best. I figured a marketer could relate to a marketing student and possible take pity. I did a bunch of email guessing and sent an email to the then Chief Marketing Officer, John Stratton at half past midnight:

“Dear Mr. Stratton,
I am terribly sorry to bother you, and I know this does not pertain to your field, but I am at my witts end with VZ and I need some help. Because I am attending graduate school for marketing, I felt that you might best be able to relate to my current situation.”

…….etc….. situation explained….. etc.

“I am terribly sorry to have bothered you with this issue that has nothing to do with marketing, but as I have said I am completely exasperated with the lack of support that I have received. Please inform me of what I should do, as I would like to remain a loyal customer of VZ.“

By 7:30 the next morning, I had this email in my inbox from Mr. Stratton, which resulted in my receiving a new mobile phone later that day:

“Thanks for taking the time to write me re: your frustrations with your phone. Let me assure you that your lack of satisfaction is my business, whether it’s a marketing issue or not. Your allowing us the chance to make it right is fully appreciated.

I’ve copied Rich Meigh, our VP of Wireless Devices, on this message. I’ve asked have someone contact you directly to resolve this problem as soon as possible. You’ll hear from us within 24 hours.

Thanks again for your message. I hope we can rapidly restore your confidence in Verizon Wireless.”

As mentioned earlier, it is now around 8.5 years after this email exchange. This is approximately 102 months, and if you figure I’ve paid in the vicinity of $70/month for that period of time, that email has generated somewhere north of $7,000 in revenue for Verizon Wireless, not including the cost of devices and that my wife also switched to VZW a few years ago from AT&T.

This really has nothing to do with domain names or domain investing, but it’s a testiment to the value of great customer service and going above and beyond a job description. Mr. Stratton could have easily not responded or simply apologized, but he didn’t, and his company has benefited from my continued loyalty.

Today, it is no surprise that Mr. Stratton is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Verizon Wireless, and I am a happy Verizon Wireless customer.

i.CO Auction: Bidder Deadline January 21

Elliot Silver
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6

Snapnames/Moniker will be auctioning off the single letter domain name, i.CO at the beginning of February. In order to bid, entities must be pre-approved by January 21, 2011 – less than 10 days away. If you want to bid but aren’t approved, it looks like you’ll be SOL.

The private auction  will open online on Thursday, February 3, 2011 and conclude at 3:15 pm (US) Eastern time on Thursday, February 10, 2011. Bidding can be done online at Snapnames.

i.CO, or by contacting Moniker:  sales@moniker.com or (800) 688-6311.

According to the press release,

“I.CO is one of the shortest and most memorable URLs in existence,” said Juan Diego Calle, CEO and founder of .CO Internet S.A.S.   “This is an exceptionally valuable piece of Internet real estate, and the teams at SnapNames and Moniker have set up an outstanding auction process to alert and engage the right buyers.”

The .CO Registry has allocated only a few single-letter domain names to date, several of which have enjoyed high-profile success, including Twitter’s t.CO and GoDaddy’s x.CO, both used as branded URL shorteners, and Overstock’s o.CO, which is replacing Overstock.com as the company’s primary brand for all of its international websites.

e.CO was sold by Sedo last year for $81,000, and the domain name is currently up for sale. Interested buyers can visit e.CO to contact the domain owner. I understand the owner is considering offers of $350,000 or higher at the present time.

Afternic Sells SoulMate.com for $100k

Elliot Silver
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9

Last week, Afternic sold over $565,000 worth of publicly reported domain names. This amount only includes .com domain sales over $2,000 and .net/.org domain sales at $1,000 and higher.

Leading the way last week was the sale of SoulMate.com for $100,000. The previous registrant of the domain name was a company called Ultimate Choice Travel, and from the About Us page, it looks like a company called World Dating Partners is behind SoulMate.com. IMO, SoulMate.com is a great brand name.

Here are the Afternic publicly reported sales from the last week:

Domain Price
soulmate.com $100,000.00
adss.com $61,600.00
websitebuilders.com $15,000.00
plasticprinting.com $13,500.00
hopspot.com $11,250.00
vigilis.com $10,588.00
psalms.org $9,000.00
notfunny.com $8,000.00
leadmachine.com $6,500.00
philanthropist.net $5,760.00
gnom.com $5,400.00
goregames.com $5,000.00
destinationsolutions.com $5,000.00
destinationsolutions.com $5,000.00
upeople.com $4,788.00
game-room.com $4,588.00
BenchJeweler.com $4,500.00
Localy.com $4,400.00
newzik.com $4,050.00
coachingcertification.com $4,030.00
smartapartments.com $4,000.00
dominicanhotels.com $4,000.00
RateClip.com $3,995.00
tmon.com $3,900.00
professionalstudies.com $3,688.00
experthair.com $3,688.00
therapygroup.com $3,688.00
bcsolutions.com $3,645.00
stomachexercise.com $3,588.00
eisblume.com $3,588.00
fitnessleader.com $3,588.00
smallmoments.com $3,488.00
benchjewelers.com $3,420.00
planethop.com $3,410.44
thenationalobserver.com $3,400.00
absolutewhite.com $3,400.00
kwny.com $3,345.00
lasttry.com $3,288.00
wholeparenting.com $3,229.00
fastfresh.com $3,200.00
mecity.com $3,200.00
refereeweb.com $3,188.00
bluehabitat.com $3,088.00
spare-parts.com $3,088.00
ccmc.net $3,088.00
sportsventure.com $3,050.00
sasea.com $3,000.00
iqdb.com $3,000.00
foxvox.com $3,000.00
mbyh.com $2,967.00
workingonit.com $2,900.00
answerstreet.com $2,888.00
plannedgiving.org $2,888.00
pureprotection.com $2,800.00
beyondgraduation.com $2,788.00
17seconds.com $2,788.00
digitaldepartment.com $2,788.00
sctrading.com $2,788.00
taurean.net $2,788.00
wolfhounds.org $2,788.00
sven.org $2,788.00
superiorwork.com $2,688.00
scoops.net $2,650.00
princetonwatch.com $2,612.00
sourcingstrategies.com $2,600.00
digitalfreedoms.com $2,588.00
onestopweb.com $2,588.00
guyfood.com $2,500.00
tamilpages.com $2,500.00
wineoftheworld.com $2,500.00
rakedeals.com $2,500.00
cascades.org $2,500.00
rakedeals.com $2,500.00
u-buy.com $2,400.00
raymonde.com $2,400.00
vbps.com $2,400.00
flixdirect.com $2,388.00
sturen.com $2,388.00
tigerbomb.com $2,364.31
imaginativesolutions.com $2,288.00
mesotheliomaohio.com $2,250.00
ercc.com $2,250.00
ipont.com $2,200.00
webimpress.com $2,200.00
pickuplines.net $2,200.00
maxmillions.com $2,188.00
condensa.com $2,143.00
pixelsense.com $2,100.00
geocommerce.com $2,100.00
laserworld.net $2,092.00
coachhub.com $2,088.00
globaltutoring.com $2,088.00
tamasu.com $2,088.00
totallocal.com $2,088.00
globalrecoveryservice.com $2,088.00
teleborsa.com $2,088.00
xpressmarketing.com $2,088.00
bperfect.com $2,088.00
thisring.com $2,000.00
netshout.com $2,000.00
allianceit.com $2,000.00
beable.com $2,000.00
tcgr.com $2,000.00
imperialcommunications.com $2,000.00
trustedpeer.com $2,000.00
isatv.com $2,000.00
mobileclassroom.com $2,000.00
beach24.com $2,000.00
ronic.com $2,000.00
SheerRibbons.com $2,000.00
highlandsmortgage.com $2,000.00
highlandsmortgage.com $2,000.00
ezride.net $1,888.00
blackhistorymonth.org $1,850.00
otec.net $1,761.00
muslimyouth.org $1,650.00
ethernet.biz $1,600.00
animalcontrol.net $1,500.00
internationalcenter.org $1,500.00
mobli.net $1,488.00
healmyself.com $1,408.00
manman.net $1,400.00
oldtowne.net $1,400.00
paving.org $1,400.00
microloans.net $1,388.00
yogafest.net $1,288.00
locallinks.net $1,188.00
kidi.net $1,152.00
motorcycleforums.net $1,115.00
cnca.org $1,100.00
ucollect.net $1,088.00
somm.org $1,088.00
waterfiltrationsystem.net $1,000.00
isolation.org $1,000.00
poele.net $1,000.00

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