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Get a Gravatar!

Elliot Silver
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6

Yesterday, Josh wrote a comment on my blog directed at another commenter who used the initials “JP” in his comment, “Curious who you are, I see a lot of comments on boards by ” jp ” and since I am known by JP myself I have people getting us confused so I switched to just my name. Who are you ?”

It’s a good point from Josh, but I can’t blame JP from using his initials, as he has done for quite some time when commenting on my blog. It gets confusing when people respond with just a name, moniker or initials. People may assume one person is responding when it’s someone else.

This is the primary reason for why you should sign up and get a Gravatar. Connected to your email address, a Gravatar is a small logo graphic that appears next to your name in a comment on many WordPress blogs. Gravatars are free to use and quick to make.

Take 5 minutes sometime soon and get yourself a Gravatar.

Collusion on Drop Auction Bidding

Elliot Silver
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26

During the past year, a few people have mentioned that they received emails from other bidders competing on domain auctions, although primarily involving drop auctions. The competing bidders reached out in an attempt to thwart their bidding, to keep their own acquisition cost down. Judging by the fact that I was told about this, it’s obviously not something that’s appreciated.

There are a number of reasons people reach out, most of which seem to BS. Sometimes it may be to ask the other bidder(s) to stop bidding since it’s a domain name they really want for “personal” reasons. Others may threaten that they are prepared to bid very high, so they may offer their competitor a cut to step aside – or consideration on a future auction. Some may even ask to stop competing and make a joint bid – to be partners in the domain name (a humorous idea considering the situation).

Whether these actions are illegal or just unethical aren’t for me to decide since it probably differs in each jurisdiction and to each person’s values, but there is one thing I can say for certain. It makes some people very uncomfortable to receive emails with requests such as these. Although some recipients may be too polite or politically correct to call someone out in public, it bothered a couple of people enough to mention it to me.

So… if you are involved in an auction, don’t reach out to other bidders. You may think the other guy doesn’t mind or won’t care, but I bet you are probably wrong.

Expedited Fax # at Network Solutions

Elliot Silver
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5

I recently bought a domain name from a company who hadn’t touched its domain name since the late 1990s. At the time, they were using Earthlink for Internet service, and the Registrant Contact was listed as Earthlink, while the Administrative Contact was their company contact information. The domain name was registered at Network Solutions, and although they had some control over the domain name, they didn’t have full control.

As a result of this, the owner was unable to push the domain name to my Net Sol account, and he was also unable to send me the transfer authorization code so I could transfer it to Moniker. Network Solutions required that he would have to fill out a Primary Contact Replacement form and fax it back to them to verify domain ownership.

Long story short, they said it would take either a couple or a few days to review the form and approve the change. In the life of a domain reseller – and/or anyone who has five or six figures sitting in an escrow account awaiting a domain transfer – two or three days is a long time, especially when the contact information is the only thing holding up a transaction.

After a couple of phone calls with Network Solutions, I was informed about an expedited fax number that Network Solutions has, and some type of forms are generally approved within a couple of hours instead of days. In case you ever need it, the expedited fax # I used was (570) 708-0171.

Definition of a Category Killer Domain

Elliot Silver
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15

In an article I wrote about Vino.com yesterday, I mentioned that it was a category killer domain name and a couple of people commented that it wasn’t. Just like in the National Football League, I am doing an instant replay review, and the call is overturned. Vino.com doesn’t really meet the definition of a category killer domain name, although I do think it’s a brandable and memorable wine domain name.

So… what do I think defines a category killer domain name? Well, Wikipedia says the term “category killer” is a marketing term used “to describe a product, service, brand, or company that has such a distinct sustainable competitive advantage that competing firms find it almost impossible to operate profitably in that industry.”

Similarly, in my opinion, a “category killer domain name is a domain name that creates a distinct competitive advantage for a company that is in, or that wishes to enter a specific industry, where that term defines the industry or a specific sector within the industry.” A category killer domain name gives a company a consumer marketing advantage as well as a search engine optimization edge.

Some category killer domain names discussed on my blog in the past include Bobbleheads.com, Candy.com, AmericanFlags.com, Bodybuilding.com, Cars.com, and Apartments.com.

Raise Money to Help The Water School as Domainers Climb Kilimanjaro

Elliot Silver
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0

I just received an email from Rick Latona announcing that he is raising money for his climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro in March. The money he and his group are raising will be donated to The Water School to support simple, safe, strategic, and sustainable clean water solutions to the developing world. Through their programs, TWS provides clean drinkable water using extremely inexpensive and locally available materials.

There is a fairly large group of people from the domain community who will be making the trip, and the complete list can be found on the Kili2010 website. Rick’s fundraising goal is $19,340, which amounts to $1.00 per foot that he and his group will be climbing.

You can make a donation directly on Rick’s pledge page or you can donate to one of the other climbers. My company just made a pledge to help Rick achieve his goal, and I hope you will think about doing the same.

Follow Along as a Category Killer Domain is Built from the Ground Up

Elliot Silver
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12

I’m not writing this post because Rick sent me bottles of wine.   I am writing this post because I think we all have a great opportunity to observe the launch of a new brand on a generic domain name – Vino.com. By following the progress of this company from its infancy, I think we can all learn quite a bit for our own projects.

Over the coming weeks and months, keep your eye on site changes.   Do Google searches to see how rapidly pages get indexed by searching site:vino.com. See how the pages rank for competitive terms like “wine of the month club,” “wine club,” “vino,” and other related search terms.   See how Rick and his team go about building and getting back links for the site by searching for link:vino.com in Yahoo Site Explorer.

You might even consider signing up for the service. For $69/month, you will get some unique wines, but more importantly, you can see what offline marketing efforts Rick and his company are making to promote their brand. As a wine of the month club, the hope is that people won’t cancel their subscriptions, so you can see what they are doing to keep membership active.

It’s not often that we have the chance to follow a start-up, but Rick has given us this opportunity.   As much as its important to follow the success of Vino.com, it will also be great to learn insight about how an entrepreneur builds a business on a great generic domain name. Rick announced that Latona’s has launched a consumer products division, and that is going to be interesting to follow as well.

I recommend these things to follow along as Vino.com grows:

  • Join the newsletter
  • Test the customer service
  • Navigate the site
  • See SEM efforts in Google and Bing
  • Sign up for the club

My hope is that Rick will share some insight into the site’s growth. It would probably be in his auction company’s best interest to show how an entrepreneur can take a generic domain name and build a business on it.

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