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Bid.com Up For Auction

Elliot Silver
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22

I just received an email from Oversee.net, and it looks like their already strong domain auction scheduled for Wednesday just got stronger. Bid.com will be up for auction at the Moniker Premium Live Auction at DOMAINfest Europe in Prague, although the reserve price wasn’t revealed.

The Moniker and SnapNames Live Auction will be held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Prague on Wednesday, October 6, from 10am – 1 pm Eastern time.     Including some of the names I previously mentioned here’s a list of some of the top domain names that will be up for sale in auction (full list and more information can be found on the Moniker website)

DayTrading.com
Digital.com
DVDrental.com
HouseInsurance.com
Journey.com
LawFirm.com
MX.com
Physicians.com
Plan.com
Restaurants.com
ShortSale.com
SlotMachine.com
Tools.com
Zip.com

Social Networking is Key Element of Building Your Website

Elliot Silver
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For my blog, I am somewhat active on Twitter, although I generally use it as a means to communicate outwardly rather than having a discussion with others. I’d say that about 60% of my posts are “Tweeted” by me shortly after posting, and I get a bit of traffic as a result. With so many balls in the air, I don’t really have enough time to check in with Twitter very often.

A while back, I set up Twitter accounts for Lowell.com, Newburyport.com, and Burbank.com, and I still update them occasionally using CoTweet. I didn’t bother to set them up for other websites of mine, figuring it wasn’t necessary. Well, that assumption was pretty wrong.

Today, I decided to open a Twitter account for DogWalker.com, and within an hour or so of setting it up, I had two new registrations and one paid listing. I don’t have a lot of followers yet, but I am now following quite a few people. It seems that when you start out, you end up following a lot more people than people who follow you, but with a bunch of people automatically following their followers, you can build up quite a number of followers.

Instead of having to laboriously search through Twitter to find related businesses to follow (dog walkers and pet sitters), I noticed that one company had a list of hundreds of pet care companies, so I just followed all of them. I don’t expect to “Tweet” much, but I might give special offers on Twitter – like donating $10 to local non profits of a new advertiser’s choice.

The total time it took to set up was under an hour, and I expect this to help generate business. Sometimes the most obvious things are missed, and I certainly missed it with some of my newer websites.

Yes, this idea is pretty obvious right now, but even smart people who know this sh*t need to be reminded every once in a while.

Sunday, Muddy Sunday

Elliot Silver
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4

I ran in my first “Mud Run” this morning. It was a 5k race in the Bronx sponsored by Merrell shoes company as part of their Down and Dirty National Mud Run Series. We ran through a series of obstacles, like wood hurdles, rope wall, ocean run, and of course two mud pits. Lots of fun!

Anyway, here are some updates:

September was a pretty solid month for my company. I made a few pretty decent sales, including NassauHotels.com, which had been listed for sale on my blog. I don’t know if the economy is turning a corner, but I do know if you are willing to sell solid domain names at good prices, there are buyers.

Rick Schwartz has been posting quite a bit on domain sales and acquisitions, and I think the articles are good reads. If you didn’t see the sponsored headlines on Domaining.com, you should check out Rick’s Blog when you have enough time to read a few articles. I agree with much of what he says, although I’ve made my living primarily by buying and selling quickly, which is something he doesn’t recommend. It’s something you should keep in mind because there are many different business models in this biz.

I am going to be at the Traffic conference in Miami for a day if you’d like to connect. I am extending a previously scheduled Florida vacation, and I’ll be traveling an hour or so south to Miami for the conference.   I already have a couple of meetings scheduled on Monday, but if you think there’s a reason we should meet, drop me a note and I will try to make some time.

Think Twice Before You Use a Domain Hack

Elliot Silver
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Domain hacks can be cutesy, and the more publicity some of the popular hacks receive, the more others want to emulate. The problem with domain hacks is that they can be confusing to consumers, especially when they don’t mention the “dot” in their branding.

Just the other day, I wrote an article about a new start up called Bump, which smartly operates on Bump.com. One of the people who read the article made a comment about another company called Bump, although that company operates on Bu.mp. Unfortunately for the Bu.mp guys, they are most likely going to lose traffic to the Bump.com start up, and not only is it their own fault, but there’s really nothing they can do about it since Bump.com is a venture backed company and the domain name wouldn’t be for sale.

Delicious and Bitly were two of the first startups that went mainstream to use domain hacks, and luckily for both, they were able to get the .com domain name to match (Delicious had to purchase Delicious from the registrant). Delicious probably paid a lot more for its .com domain name simply because it built up considerable traffic and brand recognition unintentionally. People, especially in the .com centric US, just assume it’s on a .com.

Just this past week, Google announced its new url shortener, which uses the domain hack Goo.gl for its own url. Smartly for them, they also own Googl.com in the event of typos, although it seems like they are differentiating it from the main search site by emphasizing the “dot.” On a side note, it will be interesting to track the traffic to GL.com, since there will probably be people who inadvertently type in Goo.gl.com in error.

My recommendation to start ups and to anyone who wants to use a domain hack is that they should only do it if they can secure the .com. If they can’t secure the .com but must use this hack for some reason, it’s critical to emphasize the “dot.”

Baron Funds Investment Conference

Elliot Silver
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1

Sorry that this post isn’t related to our business, but I think it might be of interest to some people who read my blog. Baron Capital Group (Baron investment funds) holds a one-day investment conference / shareholder’s meeting every year in New York City called the Baron Investment Conference. If you own stock in any Baron Fund, you are probably eligible to attend, and I recommend that you do attend if you can.

Last year’s conference was great for a few reasons. I had the chance to listen to several CEOs   speak about their companies, and this in and of itself was interesting. Additionally, Baron Fund managers took the stage to discuss their funds, and Ron Baron (the founder of the company) also spoke. Not only was Ron humorous, but he was also reassuring, something that was appreciated during the tough economic climate of last year.

Sound like the same old shareholder’s meeting held by every other company? Wrong. Last year’s conference featured a set of about 5-8 songs by The Eagles during lunch, and several songs from Rod Stewart in the afternoon, both oldies and some newer songs. In prior years, the crowd was entertained by Jerry Seinfeld, Elton John, The Beach Boys, and other top acts.

If you have invested in any Baron Funds (check your managed accounts and retirement accounts), you are probably eligible to attend. If you elected to not receive annual reports, voting ballots, and other reports in the mail, you may not have received the invitation, so check with your financial adviser.

This year’s conference will be held in New York City on October 22, 2010, and if you’re eligible to attend, I recommend it.

Boston Globe to Use BostonGlobe.com as Pay Site & Boston.com as Free Site

Elliot Silver
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3

Editors of the Boston Globe announced that they are moving towards the paid subscription model, and they intend to use BostonGlobe.com as the portal for the paid news site, which will contain all of the articles currently found in the print edition. They will keep Boston.com as the free website for visitors who choose not to pay for subscriptions.

From a geodomainer’s perspective, I think it’s nice to see that the Boston Globe is going to reinforce that BostonGlobe.com is one website with paid news and content, while their city.com site, Boston.com, will remain free and presumably the most widely read. Boston.com will have event listings and really be the go to site for information about Boston, notoriety which I believe it’s already achieved.

From a blogger’s perspective, it will be interesting to see how this experiment goes. Rupert Murdoch has been talking about putting up a pay wall as have others, which was previously tried by the NY Times (owners of the Boston Globe) with their Times Select version (no longer running).

If newspapers successfully adopt the paid subscriber model, perhaps bloggers and others will follow suit. In my opinion, it’s unlikely that the paid model will work since there are still plenty of blogs and websites that make enough money from advertisers that a pay wall isn’t necessary. I am an avid Boston Globe reader, but I won’t pay to read it since there are plenty of other sources of free information.

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