Home Blog Page 1296

The Flaw in My Business Model

Elliot Silver
-
34

People often comment that domain investors live the easy life. There is a stereotype that we make a lot of money for doing just about nothing but owning good domain names and making money via pay per click advertising. While some businesses may essentially be on auto-pilot, mine is not.

It’s no secret that I make a living primarily by selling domain names in the aftermarket. A very quick look at my records shows just under 77% of my overall revenue comes from the sale of domain names. Another decent chunk is from selling advertising on my websites, which includes this Blog.

Therein lies the problem. If I am not selling domain names, writing content, or selling advertising, I make very little money. I don’t live the stereotypical domain investor lifestyle. This is the primary reason for my development activities.

Websites like DogWalker.com, CatSitter.com, and (hopefully Burbank.com) need very little day-to-day management. They generate revenue just about every day because they were built on solid foundations. Some of my mini sites are the same way, while others aren’t. Those are basically crapshoots, but they would have made nothing and not been indexed in Google had I simply parked them.

The point of this post is to encourage domain investors to come up with other ways to generate revenue and to help dispel the myth that domain investors do nothing but sit on their asses and get rich. I work more now than I did at AIG. I can set my own hours, work from wherever I want, and I can basically do whatever I want, but it’s not as easy as some people make it out to be.

If you have a solid strategy, some decent financial backing, and you are willing to put in some time and effort, you can certainly get rich if you become a domain investor – even today. You just can’t really expect to make a lot of money quickly.

Domain Apps From WhyPark Now Live

Elliot Silver
-
33

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Domain Apps from WhyPark that were coming soon. I just received word that the new apps are now live on site, and people with accounts at WhyPark can begin adding them to their existing websites or use them on new websites. Visit the WhyPark Domain Apps page for more information and to get started.

Domain owners can even integrate these onto content rich websites they have built on the WhyPark platform, which is similar to what I’ve done with TropicalBirds.com and plan to do with others as soon as I have time. I look forward to testing out the directory application very soon, and I will update you with my results in a couple of months.

In the last few months of integrating my content-rich TropicalBirds.com onto WhyPark, the revenue has gone up considerably.

Press Release from Parked.com, Ltd. is below:

=====

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands — WhyPark, the scalable domain development division of Parked.com, Ltd., announced today the launch of “Domain Apps By WhyPark”.   The new release to the WhyPark platform allows customers to add depth, relevant engaging content and functionality, through the use of one-click installs, to domain names hosted at WhyPark.

“The next evolution of WhyPark has arrived and I am excited to make Domain Apps By WhyPark available to our customers”, said Craig Rowe, founder of WhyPark.   “Customers have been demanding new engaging applications that will attract and retain visitors to their sites.   Domain Apps By WhyPark offers just that through relevant search engine friendly text as well as video, photos and data.   I am pleased with the launch of our new Domain Apps service and look forward to building upon it in the future.”

The following Domain Apps are now available to WhyPark customers:

Comparison Shopping
Hotel Directory
Local Business Listings
Online Flash Games
Twitter Stream
Weather
Web Directory
YouTube Videos

Several Domain Apps also provide new revenue streams including the Web Directory and Comparison Shopping Domain Apps. WhyPark is already developing new Domain Apps and will continue to enhance the service to meet customers’ needs.

“I am very excited about WhyPark’s new domain apps,” stated Elliot Silver, founder of Silver Internet Ventures, LLC. “Domain Apps will allow me to add unique features and functionality to some of my geo-domain and niche industry websites, which I know will increase stickiness and revenue.”

To learn more about Domain Apps by WhyPark, visit http://www.whypark.com/domainapps/

About WhyPark – www.whypark.com

WhyPark’s innovative scalable domain development platform allows customers to build relevant, engaging websites in minutes. Whether managing a few hundred or several thousand domains, WhyPark gives customers the freedom and flexibility to easily develop domain portfolios to generate traffic and increase revenue.

About Parked.com, Ltd. – www.parked.com

Founded in 2006, Parked.com, Ltd. offers domain parking solutions for domain name owners. Parked.com leverages technology for dynamic domain name optimization providing leading edge parked pages that are relevant to what internet users are looking for and ensuring targeted traffic for advertisers. With clients worldwide who combined own 6,500,000 domain names, Parked.com has aggressively become a leader in the domain parking space.

Domain Websites I Visit Daily

Elliot Silver
-
21

There are a number of domain-related websites I frequently visit, but I don’t visit every site on a daily basis because I don’t have the time. In thinking about it, there are only really just a handful of sites I visit just about every day of the week.

Here are the domain investing sites I visit every day:

What domain related websites do you visit every day?

Sunday Update – July 4th Edition

Elliot Silver
-
17

Hope my American friends are having a nice Fourth of July holiday weekend and that if you live elsewhere you are also enjoying your weekend. Stay safe and enjoy the weekend!   Here are a few updates from the domain business as well as my company.

  • Does anyone else find it amusing when someone inquires about a domain name you own and then proceeds to tell you how “bad” the analytics are when you start discussing price? Just had it happen again, so I told the lady she should find a better name. Does anyone have a good reply to inquiries like this?
  • I am very excited that Burbank.com has been relaunched with the help of the Scottsdale.com team, using the City in the Box platform. The team (led by company Executive Director, Becky Kelley) took the articles and content I had previously created, added many more articles and events, and also added many more features to their platform. Not only does it look great (in my opinion) but there have been over 50 registrations on site so far in the last few days. In fact, about 5 minutes ago another company added a listing and asked for a paid upgrade.
  • The sales staff has already begun closing local deals, one of which is directly with the city to help promote their summer concert series. Not only is this something I couldn’t do before, but the signed deals are for greater revenue than what I was able to previously do with the site.   This is just the tip of the iceberg, as they are soon going to start contacting the 100+/- companies who asked for advertising information in the past year. To say Burbank.com is off to a strong start is an understatement.
  • One more Burbank-related bit, but also something that can be helpful to you, is that in the last year, over 5,600 have become fans of Burbank on Facebook. This has been a great tool in getting people to help with the site, including photos for the headers, articles, events…etc. It was nice to get a lot “Likes” after asking people what they think of the site, and we also received some suggestions. Having an engaged and interactive audience is important to me, and I think it’s one reason why this blog is so enjoyable to me.
  • I am excited to announce the relaunch of Newburyport.com this past week, a domain name I bought a couple of years ago, which now resembles Lowell.com. If I can get this new site to earn as much as Lowell.com, the ROI will be less than 2 years. My team will be managing the sales, and I will be spending next weekend in Newburyport, a great summer vacation spot on the Massachusetts North Shore.
  • One quick update that you’ve probably seen but is important to say nonetheless. Frank Schilling is blogging again.
  • Finally, Alan Dunn has an article you should read on his blog when you have an opportunity. You don’t hear a whole lot from Alan, but he’s the real deal and offers some sound advice.

Domain Investor Connection to Alleged Russian Spy via NYCRentals.com

Elliot Silver
-
4

Anna ChapmanI read a Tech Crunch article about Anna Chapman, a woman who was recently arrested for allegedly being a Russian spy in the United States. The Tech Crunch article writes that Chapman is the founder of the New York real estate search engine website, NYCRentals.com. She is shown in the embedded video discussing her company, and TC reports that the video was filmed during New York Entrepreneur Week, which was held April 12th-16th, 2010.

When I saw this domain name mentioned, my eyes grew bigger because I recognized the name. According to a Whois history search, the domain name was transferred to Moniker Privacy Service sometime around June 22, 2010. I don’t want to mention who the previous owner was because it’s very likely he had nothing to do with the buyer.

Perhaps a telling line from the video was when Chapman mentioned, “we are trying to do NYCRentals.com” in response to the interviewer’s mention of her corporate entity known as Property Finder. When the video was filmed in April, the domain name had not yet changed hands.

Interestingly, the domain name was just listed in Ron Jackson’s recent domain sales report, which was published a couple of weeks ago. The domain name sold through Moniker for a reported $25,350, good enough to place #11 on the weekly sales list, and probably good enough to rank as one of the highest yearly domain sales.

It appears that this business hadn’t been around very long, and Chapman certainly didn’t own the domain name until recently.

Use Facebook to Buy Domain Names

Elliot Silver
-
16

Facebook.I send out a lot of domain inquiries for domain names I’d like to purchase. Unfortunately, my inquires don’t always yield responses, despite the fact that I try to make fair value offers for these domain names. I am certain that I it’s not always because the owner doesn’t want to sell that I don’t receive a reply though.

There are many reasons why you may never hear from a domain owner when you make a genuine inquiry:

  • Email gets marked as spam/junk
  • Owner gets too many emails
  • Email address not active
  • Domain owner is out of town for an extended period

With social networking sites becoming popular for people of all ages, it’s much easier to get in touch with a domain owner on Facebook, and I have almost completed my first acquisition using the site.

When sending an inquiry via Facebook, I recommend a brief introduction, since sending a message on Facebook is more personal than a simple blind email. In the first message, after you introduce yourself, you should confirm that the person is the owner of the domain name. It helps to know where the Whois registrant lives and match it up with the Facebook profile.   Let the person know you’re interested in buying the domain name and would like to discuss a potential sale.

I’ve received a number of replies using Facebook to connect, and it’s a really good way to get in touch with someone, as many people rely on Facebook for their connections.

1...1,2951,2961,297...1,573Page 1,296 of 1,573