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One Reason to Use Godaddy: Free Hosting

Elliot Silver
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I primarily use Moniker for my domain registrations, but I have a few that are registered at Godaddy, and I just realized one advantage of using Godaddy. Domain names that are registered at Godaddy are given free hosting from the company, although they have the ugly banner across the top of the website.

For many people, this ugly banner is a deal breaker, but in reality it shouldn’t be one. I registered a few “throw away” domain names last year with the intention of building very small websites for SEO purposes (just as a test). I only got around to building one single page website that had information and several links to another website of mine I wanted to assist with SEO.

Lo and behold, I came back to the site close to a year after launching it, and I noticed that Google has it ranked PR3. I know that people often debate about the value of Google’s PageRank, but the “website” consists of 3 paragraphs, has no photographs, used a free CSS template, and took about 30 minutes to create.

I know PR3 isn’t exactly hugely impactful, but all things considered, it was a pretty simple back link with no downside.

Be Aware of a Domain Name’s Previous Business Activity

Elliot Silver
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One of the most favorable things I look for when acquiring a domain name is a note on the homepage that says the company is no longer in business – or a default hosting page after knowing there was previously a company’s website on it. Businesses go under all the time, but the underlying domain name could still be a valuable asset the former owners don’t even realize has significant value.

I was looking at a domain name that I would like to acquire this morning, and it has all of the signs that it could be available for the right price. There is a note that says the company, which had been in business for 75 years, had closed 6 months ago. The email addresses were bouncing, and the phone numbers weren’t working. This got me excited, as I love tracking down a domain owner. This is similar to how I was able to buy Customs.com a couple of years ago… good research to find a former partner in the firm.

While concurrently doing due diligence on the domain name of interest and doing some research to find contact information for the former President of the company, I came across a website that had consumer complaints about the company. Some of the complaints were pretty harsh:

  • “This place is a disaster”
  • “their behavior has been totally unprofessional”
  • “my advice is to stay away.”
  • “Won’t be visiting… or ordering from their website again”

Although the company was in business for 75 years and these comments may be accumulated over time, it’s still good to be aware of these comments that can easily be seen by anyone who does a Google search for the domain name. The domain name has a dual meaning, so it wouldn’t be used in the same way as it was before, but there are still a few websites with negative comments, and people might infer that they are about a new website that would be built down the road once the site launches.

Although most people would recognize the difference between what was there and what would be built there, some potential advertisers could see the complaints and simply pass on advertising. Domain investors need to keep in mind that comments about a business on a domain name could have a detrimental impact on the domain name’s value.

Chargers’ Ladainian Tomlinson LT Slide Electric Glide Website

Elliot Silver
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Ladanian Tomlinson dancing

Will the San Diego Chargers beat the New York Jets this weekend? I sure hope so, but I am also rooting for a small start-up that was spawned by a You Tube video of Ladainian Tomlinson. Apparently, Nike leaked a video of star running back Tomlinson doing the “LT Slide Electric Glide,” a 1980s themed music and dance video.

The video is kinda hilarious, and it caused a buzz on blogs, Twitter, and other websites. One San Diego Chargers fan built a LT Slide Electric Glide website, where he is offering an awesome 80’s style throwback t-shirt complete with Electric Glide logo. Get a shirt and show your support for LT’s dancing moves.

How long will this buzz last? Probably for as long as the Bolts are in the playoffs. Here’s hoping they handle the NY Jets and Mark Sanchez this weekend. If they have moves like LT, they should glide right through to the AFC Championship.

Domain Investor Interviews on Domainers Digest

Elliot Silver
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Based on feedback I have received from people regarding my “5 With…” series of interviews, I know people love to read about how others got started and found success in the domain investment business.

Steve Kaziyev recently launched a new website, Domainers Digest, and the purpose of the site is to give people an inside look at people from all parts of the domain industry.

Today, Steve has an interview with Frederick Schiwek of EuroDNS.com, the person who sold Voodoo.com for $300,000. Over the next few weeks and months, Steve has interviews lined up with people such as Parked.com’s Jazmin Carrillo, Bill Sweetman of Tucows, John Yeomans of Edge Capital, and many other people you may know but may not know much about.

I wish Steve lots of luck with his new venture.

Just as an aside, this isn’t a paid post nor am I being compensated for it in any way.

Vail Resorts Gets Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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Vail Ski ResortsVail Ski Resorts seems to be way ahead of the curve when it comes to owning great domain names that are important to their businesses. I was doing a bit of research, and I noticed that Vail owns 3 of the 5 .com names for their resorts, which are also syonymous with the names of the towns in which they are located.

Vail Resorts owns Breckenridge.com, Vail.com, and BeaverCreek.com. They do not own Heavenly.com (owned by Scott Day) or Keystone.com (owned by Keystone Software). In addition, they also own another great generic domain name – Snow.com, which is used by the company as a vacation and travel planning website.

Vail Resorts also owns quite a few longer tail keyword domain names such as ColoradoSummer.com, KeystoneDining.com, and ColoradoPass.com. They aren’t using the long tail keyword names for SEO though – all of them seem to redirect to the Snow.com website.

Vail Resorts has also been a bit aggressive in attempting to defend their virtual turf, filing a UDRP for BeaverCreekReservations.com and VailResortVacations.com. The UDRP was successfully defended by domain attorney John Berryhill. Vail also filed an unsuccessful UDRP for VailOnSale.com, while they were successful in winning the UDRP for RockResorts.com.

Apple Domain Owner Creates YouTube Response to UDRP Loss

Elliot Silver
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Apple UDRPAs you probably read on TechCrunch or the same article in the Washington Post, Apple recently won a UDRP filing for 16 domain names owned by Daniel Bijan.   The domain names that they were awarded include: blueipod.com, iphonecheap.com, iphonetoys.com, ipodaccessories.info, ipodkits.com, ipodsbaratos.com, macbookpro.biz, macbookpro.com, macbookpro.net, macbookpro.org, macfriend.com, and redipods.com. Clearly these domain names incorporated trademarks owned by Apple.

In a video posted today on YouTube (embedded below), Bijan doesn’t dispute the fact that Apple has rights to these domain names. In the video’s description, Bijan writes, “Apple hurts me, my wife and 3 kids. Not once did they contact me or send a cease and decist letter. I would have gladly gave them the names. Instead, they just start the arbitration process. This is what is wrong with corporations today. Just pick up the phone and call me.” Bijan continues, “What is wrong with this world. Did we forget to treat people like human beings? I will not buy any Apple products.”

Although I can empathize with Bijan a bit because I would be horrified to see my name in a similar article, I have to say that it comes with the territory when you buy domain names like this. Sure it sucks to be called out publicly, especially because anyone who searches for this guy’s name will probably forever see these two articles, however, one needs to be mindful of one’s domain registrations.

When I worked in the corporate world, there was always a saying that went something like “never send out an email that you would be embarrassed to see on the front page of the New York Times.” Likewise, I would advise people to be cautious about what domain names to which they may forever be linked.

Do you feel badly for the guy, or did he get what he deserved?

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