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How Fast Do Hot Chicks & Dogs Go Viral

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By now, many of you have probably seen PeopleOfWalmart.com, a viral website with photographs from interesting folks doing their shopping at Walmart. After being live for a short period of time, a number of news organizations wrote articles about the site, and it took off from there. Millions of visits later, and it was another viral phenomenon.

When I first heard about the site, I didn’t bother to check out the registration date to see just how quickly the word was spreading, and it was something I wished I had done just out of curiosity. This morning, a couple of friends sent me links to a new viral site as well as its sister sites. Some of the links might be inappropriately suggestive for some, although there isn’t any nudity in them:

  • HotChicksWithHotDogsInTheirMouths.com
  • HotChicksPickingUpDogShit.com
  • HotChicksWithDogsWithBoners.com

The links are for websites that have stupid funny sophomoric photos, which is probably why I found them amusing. The domain names were all registered between September 15 and today (September 24th). I don’t know just how viral they’ve gone, but I am sure it’s spreading pretty quickly.

It would be interesting to have followed the route it took to get to me. I bet there are people studying how quickly something on the Internet goes viral. If not, I think it’s something that should be studied by big brands and marketers.

Perhaps this is actually a case study in the making, since the registrant’s email address is associated with Mekanism.com, a NYC and San Francisco-based production company.

Rick is Right About Development

When it comes to development, Rick made a good point yesterday. One of my biggest obstacles when it comes to development is myself. With domain sales down for me, I have been spreading myself thinly in an effort to build revenue generating businesses on my domain names.

  • In the last two years, my company has built Lowell.com, Burbank.com, and Newburyport.com into full-fledged businesses, which require frequent updates, client meetings, sales calls, and time devoted to city research.
  • I have my domain blog, which I update every day with news, advice, and commentary. This takes a considerable amount of time, but it’s a good outlet to share and learn.
  • I am in the process of building out Torah.com into a fully operational website, which will have a whole host of features that one would expect to find on a website of this nature.
  • I have a bunch of mini sites, which don’t take a whole lot of time to manage, but they do take some time adding content, testing layouts, researching topics…etc.
  • I spend time acquiring good domain names and looking to make deals to sell other domain names.

I find myself going in circles sometimes because it’s not easy to manage all of this. Building businesses takes time and effort, and I am finding myself having less time to do the things I enjoy. There is a fine balance between spending the right amount of time building a solid business and spending too much time getting few things done.

I completely disagree with Rick about his belief regarding search engine traffic, and I can’t understand how his domain names would lose traffic with mini-sites, because one would imagine the type-in traffic would at least stay consistent, however, that’s a topic for another day.

If you are a domain investor, you need to figure out what you want to do with your domain names before you do it, especially if they may be difficult to re-sell quickly. If you are planning to develop them into a business, it might be best to focus on one and make it into the best business possible before you start another project. Staying focused on one project is difficult, especially when you are working alone.

Take it from me, buying and selling great domain names isn’t difficult. Building a business on a domain name is a completely different story, and while I don’t regret any decisions I’ve made, I am finding it much more difficult to gain traction with some of my projects, since I can’t always focus on one project at a time.

Reminder: NY Domain Get Together

I want to remind you that we are getting together on Thursday, September 24th at 6:30pm at the 79th Street Boat Basin. This is a casual restaurant and more of a happy hour than dinner, although there will be appetizers sponsored by WhyPark (thanks!).

Since the Boat Basin is sort of outdoors (fully covered restaurant, but open on two sides), it might be a good idea to wear something a bit warm, although I think the temperatures will be in the high 60s.

Directions to the Boat Basin:

Walk as far west as you can on 79th St. and cross Riverside Dr. Walk under the highway overpass bridge, and on both sides of the street, there are staircases that will lead you down to the restaurant.   You can also take the   1 train to the 79th St stop and walk west.

Who’s Getting Your Research Secrets?

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A few months ago, an acquaintance of mine shared a link with me to a private research tool he was offering,   which I was told that very few other people had access. The information this tool provided was valuable, and I thought it was great. That is, until I realized the primary purpose for this tool – it was something that allowed the tool’s owner to learn about what searchers were searching, giving him an inside peak at what other domain investors were researching in real time.

Every domain investor has his “secrets,” whether it’s a specific type of domain name that’s earning strong revenues, knowledge of a new client buying domain names, tool that can provide traffic numbers for expiring domain names, method for contacting end users…etc. It’s also inevitable that we need to use other companies’ products to do specialized research, such as Whois lookups and traffic tools such as Alexa or Compete.

However, there are plenty of companies out there who offer a host of products and services that can also be competitors of domain investors. These companies could potentially use the information gleaned from your research to help advance their own domain investment strategies. There may not even be a way to tell for certain if a company is using your information for their own domain investment advancement.

Next time you are doing some research, completing a transaction, or using someone else’s tools for your domain investments, keep in mind that it might be a competitor in disguise, and you should do what you can to mitigate your exposure.

Eat Healthy & Get Exercise

Ever since my Dad had a heart attack a few years ago, I have been even more vigilant about my health. Fortunately for my family, my Dad fully recovered from his heart attack, but it served as a valuable lesson for me, and it’s something I urge you to take to heart.

As a domain investor, I sit behind my computer for much of the day – drinking coffee of course. Running a business can be stressful, and with the tough economy, things can be even more stressful. Working on a computer for 10+ hours a day can lead to bad posture, poor eyesight and carpal tunnel. I really don’t think there is anything physically good about working on a computer all day – except the fact that I am not spending my day lifting heavy objects. Coupled with added stress, this can lead to bad health and physical conditioning.

Anyhow, it’s important the we realize how much we need to take care of ourselves. I do my best to eat healthy meals and get enough exercise. Since my wife is a great runner who encourages me to run and work out, it’s not too difficult to stay in shape. However, if she wasn’t pushing me to do so, I would probably never get any exercise, while drinking and eating too much.

This is just a friendly reminder that you need to take some time to look after yourself and stay healthy. Get an annual check up and cholesterol test, and make sure you listen to your doctor’s advice.   Working alone can be somewhat isolating but it’s important to do what you can to maintain your good health.

I am now training for a biathlon, so it’s now time to go for a run at the gym and then take a 12 mile bike ride in the park. I challenge you to challenge yourself physically. It will stimulate you mentally and gives you time away from your computer to de-stress.

Could Sedo Parking Page Put Jets.com at Risk?

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Jets logoWhile watching the New England Patriots play the New York Jets today at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, I have been catching up on some domain news from the past week, including an article about the Jets.com domain sale.

I read that Jets.com was sold by Sedo for $375,000 last week. According to the Whois information, the registrant is currently “Sedo  LLC Domain  Transfer  Escrow  Service” which is standard for domain names that are undergoing an ownership change with Sedo acting as the intermediary.

I also saw that the nameservers are currently set to Sedo’s DNS, ns1.sedoparking.com ns2.sedoparking.com, although I am not sure when those nameservers were changed. Previously, the domain name was owned by a private jet charter service, and the website was a jet airplane booking engine.

At the moment though, it appears that the domain name has advertising related to the NFL’s New York Jets (see screenshot below). There are PPC ads for the following football-related offers:

HSN.com: “New York Jets Shop for Jet’s Gear at HSN Low Prices On NFL Team Merchandise!”

NFLnewsline.com: “Patriots vs Jets Matchup Our NFL Game of the Week! Get the Latest Info & Week 2 predictions.”

Justbuytickets.com/Jets: “NY Jets Tickets Just Buy New York Jets Tickets New York Jets Tickets All Games”

I am not an attorney and have very limited legal knowledge, but I am wondering whether this usage could put the domain name at risk. If there is any risk, I am wondering who has responsibility for this risk, since the domain name is technically registered to Sedo right now pending transfer to the buyer.

This would certainly be a moot point if the NY Jets purchased this domain name, but if they didn’t, I sure hope the new owner will take steps to mitigate the risk ASAP. This is somewhat similar to the Dolphins.com UDRP (domain now owned by the NFL), although the Dolphins still aren’t using Dolphins.com. Incidentally, there was a UDRP filed for Dolphins.com and Jets.com back in 2000, but it was terminated.

Jets.com Screenshot

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