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Sex.com: What Do You Do With It?

Elliot Silver
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14

As you’re no doubt aware by now, Sex.com was recently sold by Sedo for a record breaking all-cash deal of $13,000,000. The domain name has an interesting history and there have been various things on the site.

If you owned Sex.com, how would you develop the domain name? We all know the saying that “sex sells,” but the real question would be how to make money from Sex.com.

IMO, I don’t think people are actually looking to get laid via Sex.com, although they might be looking to get off so to say. To satiate these customers, sex videos would seem to be the answer. However, if visitors are looking for porn, there are many free sites that would directly compete with a porn offering, and monetizing the traffic could be difficult.

Of course it could be a site about sex – tips and toys, perhaps. However, it would seem that would be a difficult way to earn a return on the $13 million investment. There would probably be more targeted domain names that could be bought for much less.

Sex.com has received considerable press coverage, and perhaps that alone would be worth millions of dollars in brand equity. It’s a cornerstone property for sure, but making money seems to have been difficult.

So the $13,000,000 questions is what would you do with Sex.com if you owned it?

Guest Post: Why Domain Names with Hyphens Are (Possibly) Undervalued

Elliot Silver
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54

This is a guest post written by a reader of my blog who would prefer to remain anonymous. What are your thoughts?

Most likely you have shyed away from investing in domain names with hyphens in, they have traditionally been seen as barely worth the reg fee. Im finding this may be grossly undervaluing what is essentially a slightly different class of domain asset. Of course many domains with – in are indeed worthless, just like their big brother non hyphen names.

Take the case of a product/service type ‘does what it says on the tin’ exact match domain name – eg UsefulWidgets .com

This domain name is almost certainly not available for casual sale, if at all. Useful-Widgets.com may well be for sale at reg fee, in lots of cases Im finding – it is.

Your’e probably saying yes, its available to hand reg because its *worthless*. Perhaps not, it all comes down to the competition. If the owner of nonhyphen usefulwidgets.com simply has the page parked, or worse – badly forwarded with url masking on amazon type affiliate links, then its game on!

Most often this domain IS NOT EVEN INDEXED IN GOOGLE! ‘beating’ it,  to top spot in G’s index will be a pushover, especially for the owner of hand reg  useful-widgets.com. If they do it right they will have first dibs on world online sales of useful widgets, at least the ones who googled ‘useful widgets’.

Of course its probably only a matter of time until the nonhypen domain is developed, but in the meantime  the way is clear. Theres no telling when this may happen 1, 2, 5, 10+ years – some domains have asking prices that dramatically lower their chances of imminent development. By that time, you may well have a thriving business on Useful-Widgets.com that the new nonhyphen owners have no choice but to fight or buy,  for probably a lot more than reg fee and your time/outlay in development.

When Selling Domain Names to End User, Use the Whois Email Address

Elliot Silver
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5

I’ve written extensively about selling domain names to end users, and one thing I want to recommend is that you use the registrant email (or phone number) found in a Whois lookup as a means of getting in touch with the proper person.

Oftentimes, a business website only offers a contact form to contact them. If the company is larger or if it’s a company that would need a customer service contact (ie an ecommerce company where most people are writing to check on orders), your email may be lost in the process or reviewed by someone who doesn’t know how to handle your request.

Instead of taking a chance and sending the email via form that may not be read by a decision maker (or calling the wrong department), use a Whois service like Domaintools and find the email address on record. Chances are good that it’s a person in the executive offices or possibly the actual business owner.

I’ve also found the History tool to be helpful, since many companies change the Registrant email once they grow sufficiently enough that the owner/founder is more hands off. The History tool costs $15/month as part of the Silver membership, and if you are serious about buying domain names and need to check on a domain name’s history, it’s an essential tool.

Long Domain Transfer Process

Elliot Silver
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21

I almost feel like I participated in a miraculous situation last week when I was transferring a domain name. I bought a domain name that was registered at Godaddy, and it was pushed to my account  instantly. I then flipped the domain name the next day to another domain investor. The reps at Godaddy helped to unlock the name within a couple of hours (they lock it for security measures), and it was ready to transfer.

I sent the domain name’s authorization code to the buyer, and within 10 minutes of his requesting a transfer to his registrar, I received an email asking me to confirm. I confirmed that this was legit, and under an hour later I received an email from Godaddy asking me if the transfer was legitimate, which I immediately accepted within my Domain Manger at Godaddy account.

Under 30 minutes later, I  received  an email from Godaddy confirming that the domain name was successfully transferred.

I don’t understand why it takes so long (up to 5 days) from other domain registrars. Are their systems antiquated and they can’t quickly process transactions as fast as Godaddy? Or is it a stall tactic in the hopes that the transferrer changes his mind?

Whatever the case, I appreciate the quick transfer speed of Godaddy.

Estibot Begins Listing Domains for Sale

Elliot Silver
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18

I am not a fan of domain appraisals. I don’t believe in them at all, especially automated domain appraisals that really can’t have a “gut feel” about the value, which is often the most important thing for me when considering a domain name.

In fact, I actually have a template I use when I am trying to buy a domain name and the owner mentions or suggests an appraisal.

Ok, now that this caveat is out of the way, I will admit that I checked out an appraisal on Estibot the other day, and I noticed they now seem to list domain names that are for sale in a manner similar to DomainTools.

The name in the graphic above is owned by iReit, and is currently listed for sale at DomainMarketplace.com.  I am not sure what sales platforms are integrated with Estibot, but I checked a Buy Domains-owned name and it had a sales link, but a Sedo listed name did not have the for sale listing.

Marketing Aside, Behind the Scenes of DomainQuestions.com

Elliot Silver
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2

Let’s put the marketing of DomainQuestions.com aside for a second. Like I’ve shared with my other web development projects, I want to give you a behind the scenes look at DomainQuestions.com to help you with your own projects.

The reason I felt that a site like this is needed is because of the amount of questions I get on a daily and weekly basis related to domain names. Most people aren’t domain investors and their questions can be answered in a number of ways. I felt that I could help more than just the one person asking the question, but others who might be looking for the same answer. I also hope that friends and colleagues in the business will contribute knowledge as well.

In terms of monetization, I have gone direct to the advertisers in lieu of affiliate banners or Adsense. I will be committing my time to answering questions, and the site’s traffic will grow. As a result, advertising on the site is not expensive now and it should be a very good bargain a few months from now, especially for those companies who lock in longer term deals at today’s rates.

I chose to build DomainQuestions.com on a different website than my blog for a couple of reasons.

I want others to answer questions, and I felt that people might be reluctant to do so on my blog. I didn’t want people to feel that this was an extension of Elliot’s Blog, which although it’s a domain blog, is a personal blog. I felt that the branding of the site gives it more of a community feel than my blog might give.

Secondly, from a business perspective, it’s better to have it on its own website. If I decide that I don’t have the time to run the site in a couple of years, it’s more saleable than my blog. I think my blog’s value is tied in with my personal association with it, and while the content may be valuable to someone, Elliot’s Blog isn’t Elliot’s Blog if Joe Shmoe is running it. DomainQuestions.com could be managed by other domain experts and will still be a community site with many different perspectives.

I chose to advertise on domain blogs because I believe they are a very cost effective way to reach my target audience. Not only will I want other domain investors who read the blogs to answer questions, but it would be great if some of the blog owners refer questions they can’t or don’t want to answer to DomainQuestions.com. The more domain knowledge that contributes to the site, the more beneficial it is to the people seeking answers.

You know me well enough to know that I am generally happy to answer questions and respond to most comments, so feel free to do so. If you’re wondering how it was built or the platform, you can check out a question that was asked.

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