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World Cup Buzzing Like a Swarm of Bees Courtesy of the Vuvuzelas

Elliot Silver
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2010 FIFA World CupIf you tune into the World Cup over the next month, you are likely to notice the loud buzz emitting from the crowd. Instead of hearing the cheers and boos that accompany most soccer/football/futbol matches, you will hear the din of the African horns known as vuvuzelas.

Are you interested in recreating your own World Cup atmosphere away from South America? You can now buy your very own vuvuzelas online at   Vuvuzelas.com or on a different website – Vuvuzela.com. Both sites rank pretty well in the search engines, which is a direct result of their keyword domain names. For the most part, they only seem to be outranked by Google News, images, Tweets, and very popular websites (like the NY Times) on searches for their keywords.

The World Cup announcers will continually mention the vuvuzela, and it can only help these two websites. During this year’s World Cup, I think the two companies that own these domain names will be very happy, although those of us watching World Cup matches from the comfort of our homes or neighborhood bars, we might not be so happy to hear them buzz.

2009 PostRank Domain Awards

Elliot Silver
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Mark Fulton at DotSauce wrote a post about PostRank a few weeks ago, and I thought his write up was very good. It’s an interesting website for sure, and it was neat to look around and explore. There is a category for domain name blogs, and it currently has 25 feeds included (I am not sure how to add feeds).

The rankings in the Domain Name category change weekly I believe, so there’s no real reason to post the current standings for domain blogs as they are fluid. However, at the beginning of 2010, PostRank doled out awards for 2009, and I thought I would share the results of their rankings:

Most Influential: Rick Schwartz’s Blog

Biggest Mover & Shaker: Domain Name Wire

Top 3 Blogs: The Domains, Domain Name Wire, Elliot’s Blog

I do think the results are a bit flawed because they didn’t include some of the best known and most widely read blogs such as DNJournal. I think the results for 2010 are going to be interesting because it seems there are many bloggers who are active social networkers, especially   Twitter and Facebook.

I don’t know who pays close attention to PostRank’s results, but if you rely on advertising revenue to support your website, it’s another way to show that your website is engaging to its readers and those people who visit. Advertisers like to have placements on websites where the readers are actively engaged.

The “Winner” Is…

Elliot Silver
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I want to thank everyone who took the time to post a comment in my blog post about trying to help someone buy a domain name to sell to an end user. I think that post had more comments than just about any other post I’ve written. I apologize for the delay in announcing this, but I’ve had a lot of emails that needed attention after my trip.

I don’t really want to say “winner” because it’s not a competition, but I can’t really think of a more appropriate term for the person who was randomly selected. I will hopefully be able to work with this person individually using our combined knowledge and experience to register a domain name that will be coveted by an end user buyer, and if things work out, the name(s) will sell for a few hundred dollars. At the very least, this person will learn how I research potential acquisitions and then find buyers for them.

Without further interruption, the person who was selected is Alan Patrick. I will be sending Alan an email tomorrow morning to let him know personally about this, and I look forward to begin working on this early next week.

e.CO Charity Auction Predictions

Elliot Silver
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As you are probably well aware, e.CO is currently in auction at Sedo, with the proceeds being donated to a charity of the winning bidder’s choice. The auction concludes on Thursday afternoon at 4pm EST, with online bidding as well as simultaneous live auctions in New York, Chicago, and Vancouver. This aspect of the auction is certainly going to be very interesting.

With a little over one day to go, the e.CO auction has reached a high bid of $32,000, but I predict the result will end much higher.   I think this could go well past $100,000 but if I was a betting person (which I am), my bet would be that it ends at $125,000.

I am curious to know what you think the final sales price will be. Please vote below:

COme to the e.CO Party in NYC

Elliot Silver
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As I mentioned here a couple of weeks ago, Sedo has teamed up with the .CO Registry and together they will be auctioning off the premium, one letter domain name e.CO, with the proceeds from this auction going to the charity of the winning bidder’s choice. The final live auction for this domain name will be held on June 10th at 4pm in New York City, at the conclusion of Internet Week.

To help celebrate the auction and encourage bidding, the .CO registry will be hosting a fun event, “COcktails & e.CO! LIVE Auction Finale” at the Soho Grand Hotel, Harbor Room in New York City (310 West Broadway) at 2pm on Thursday, June 10th. Of course, you can also bid for e.CO online.

If you live in the area and would like to attend, please register for the event online (you MUST register before). It’s free to attend, and I am sure there will be plenty of domain investors and other Internet entrepreneurs in the crowd. Have a drink, meet other people in the space, and introduce yourself to the representatives of the .CO Registry to ask any questions.

Police Department Domain Expires, Speeding Ticket Recipient Buys It

Elliot Silver
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The Bluff City, Tennessee Police Department has a bit of egg on its face as a result of the expired domain name it used for its website. According to a news report, the employee who handles domain renewals for the department was on sick leave, and the BluffCityPD.com domain name expired in the interim as a result of not paying the renewal fee.

After the domain name expired, it became available for anyone to purchase. Recent speeding ticket recipient Brian McCrary did just that, when he saw that the domain name was soon to expire. He launched a website focusing on speeding camera news and links, and it also has links to many articles written about this story, including an Associated Press article.

Some people might question whether this is legit, but it does not appear that he is profiting from his use of the domain registration, and it could be considered his First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech by expressing his feelings on this domain name.

For its part, the Police Department hasn’t mentioned whether it intends to try and get the domain name back from McCrary. It appears that the Bluff City website does not link to the domain name. The city could attempt to file a UDRP but that would be a bit expensive, and I don’t think they would have great odds. It might just be in everyone’s interest to work something out in private that is favorable to both parties.

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Thanks to James for sending me the article.

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