Home Blog Page 1369

AOL Just Protecting Its Brand

Elliot Silver
-
20

Ad.com

Last month at an engagement party, I met a friend of a friend who works for Advertising.com. After brief introductions and small talk, he mentioned that he works for Ad.com. Knowing that Ad.com had just sold at Moniker’s auction for 7 figures, I inquired further, and he mentioned that his company is actually Advertising.com, but everyone calls it Ad.com. Therein lies the problem.

In most cases, when a company or famous person has become known by a nickname, and that nickname or moniker becomes just as famous as the person (and clearly associated with the company or person), that company or person may be able to legally claim common law rights to that nickname or term.

Michael Jordan was known as “Air Jordan” because of his leaping and dunking ability. During his playing days, Nike introduced the Air Jordan brand, and I believe it is still one of their most famous brands. Had Michael Jordan not been known as “Air Jordan,” the term “air jordan” would probably be worthless unless someone else used that term famously. Like Jordan, Advertising.com became known as Ad.com internally and externally, and many people associate the term Ad.com with Advertising.com. However, unlike the term “air jordan,” the term and domain name “Ad.com” has significant value besides its usage by Advertising.com.

As an entrepreneur and marketer, I can commiserate with all parties involved in the situation. The current Ad.com domain owner just wants the sale completed as expected, Moniker/Oversee.net wants the commission they are rightfully owed, Skenzo is worried that they are going to have to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in addition to the purchase price to protect their new investment, and AOL wants to protect the brand they believe is rightfully theirs.

As a domain investor on the other hand, I am very concerned by this move by AOL, and it will make me more vigilant about researching the domain names I buy and develop.

Why a Generic Domain is Important

Elliot Silver
-
4

Earlier, I discussed in detail why I think generic domain names are so important, and I would now like to provide a real world example of the importance.

My wife and I are looking to re-do our kitchen and bathroom floors. Black slate looks cool, but it’s difficult to clean and we want to give our kitchen a fresh look. While at dinner with friends on Friday, we saw that they had black granite flooring that my wife and I both liked. We decided that we were going to look into new flooring options, and our first to stops were HomeDepot.com and Lowes.com, both of which did not have the type of flooring that we want.

Since we haven’t done much renovation other than wood floors from Home Depot, we don’t really know many home improvement or renovation stores in New York, and I haven’t owned or needed a phone book in about 8 years. That said, my first step in searching for granite floor tile were Google searches for “granite floor tiles,” “granite floor tile,” and “granite flooring.”

Had any of these domain names been owned by a flooring company, it’s likely they would have ranked fairly high in Google, since the term isn’t ultra competitive. Fortunately for the existing companies (well, the 5 highest ranking companies anyway), the keyword domain names, GraniteFloorTiles.com, GraniteFloorTile.com, and GraniteFlooring.com aren’t developed.

People often look at generic domain names for their type-in visitor value. Although this is important, it isn’t the primary reason why I like generic domain names. Based on my development experiences, I have found   that keyword domain names generally rank very well in the search engines (Bing moreso than Google), while their competitors with more brandable domain names don’t rank nearly as well.

I may or may not have bought my granite tiles from GraniteFlooring.com, but when all things considered are equal and I don’t have any brand loyalty to a local store, it makes things easier for the company to rank well organically and not have to consistently pay for visitors through SEM, which can be useful but requires continued investment. Generic domain names aren’t the answer, but they make finding the answer much easier.

Why a Generic Domain Name is Important

Elliot Silver
-
9

Most companies and their brand managers prefer their brand name over a generic domain name, after all, they are called BRAND MANAGERS!   The brand helps them stand out from their competitors, and they know (well, hope) their customers will remember the brand name when walking the aisles at Walmart or searching the shelves at Best Buy, or some other retail shop.

Many of the world’s large brands can afford to spend billions or millions on marketing to ensure everyone remembers their company name. They buy television commercials, sponsor the biggest sporting and other televised events, pay for stadium and building naming rights, send billions of direct mail pieces, rent billboards along the highway, have extensive Internet marketing campaigns, and do a whole host of other things to make sure customers and potential customers know who they are – maybe even more than what they actually do.

When a company chooses a unique brand name over a generic domain name, they are missing a big piece of the puzzle – Google/Bing/Yahoo/Ask searches. Sure, a company can pay for search engine marketing campaigns, but organic search results are much less expensive, and they don’t require the same amount of money for constant upkeep, although a great website is costly. SEM costs a lot of money, and if you stop, the traffic will stop coming as well.

Keyword domain names generally perform better than non-keyword domain names when it comes to search engine results for the searched keyword, especially with Bing. When people search for a specific product, and they either don’t know the brand they want or simply want a comparison of brands, they would probably type the product name in Google or search engine of choice.

In fact, have a look at some Google search comparisons of brands names vs the generic name (Global Monthly Search Volume, exact match). You’ll see that although the brands sometimes to get more search volume, there is still a significant number of people that don’t look for brands – they look for products.

Candy: 1,220,000
Hershey: 90,500

Cell Phones: 1,500,000
Verizon Wireless: 3,350,000

Mountain Bikes: 301,000
Trek: 368,000

Vodka: 368,000
Grey Goose: 74,000

This isn’t scientific at all, but it shows that many people either aren’t satisfied with a particular brand or they would like to see some sort of comparison, to get an idea of their options (ie Bing is “the decision engine”). If a generic domain name is well-developed, it will rank right up there organically, allowing the company to capture a significant amount of that search traffic (at no incremental cost). They can compete with the big brands at much less ongoing cost, aside from website upkeep.

With Lowell.com, about 20% of my traffic is type-in traffic. I am sure this percentage is much higher on an established brand like Verizon or Apple. However, there will always be a significant percentage of people who find the website via Google, and many of them are searching for generic search terms, as witnessed above. If a company owns top rankings for a well-searched generic term, they might not need to spend millions on brand marketing, since the consumer might find what they want simply by seeing the meta tags and trusting the generic brand.

If a company owns the generic term, they can build a site on that domain name ala Toys.com, and either brand the generic domain name or make sure there is easy access to get to the main brand. Doing this can help both websites rank for the generic term, rather than just taking one out of commission by forwarding the type in traffic, since a forward rather than a stand alone website will probably remove it from Google and other search engines.

In my opinion, when it comes to Internet marketing, a generic domain name can handily beat a known brand at a fraction of the cost.

6 Ways to Identify a Potential Domain Buyer

Elliot Silver
-
11

Yesterday afternoon, I posted an article stating why it is important to know who is inquiring about your domain names. Today, I would like to share five methods I use to find out what person or company is inquiring about a particular domain name, both to maximize any potential sale and to prevent any legal issues from arising. As with everything, if you are particularly concerned that a response could put your domain name in jeopardy, you should consult with an attorney who is familiar with IP law and domain names.

6 Ways to Identify a Potential Domain Name Buyer:

1) Google search of the person’s name (in quotes), email address (in quotes) and/or a Whois look up of the domain name he used to communicate with you if it isn’t a free or pay email service. Using Google, you may be able to track his contact information through social networking sites (liked LinkedIn), industry publications, Forbes C-Suite listings, SEC filings, or other public listing. If the person’s name is Edward, Jonathan, or some other commonly abbreviated name, make sure you check all variations in your search.

2) If you’ve been able to get the phone number, either because it’s listed in the email or was provided in a subsequent follow up, do a Reverse Phone Number Lookup to see what company owns the phone number. Follow that up with a quoted search of the phone number in Google if the first way didn’t yield a result.

3) USPTO search to see if anyone recently filed a trademark with the US Patent & Trademark Office. If you see a pending application or recently approved trademark, it is possible that the company is attempting to acquire the domain name. If this is the case, be extra cautious, even if you owned the domain name for many years. If this happens and your name has significant value (more than a UDRP defense would cost as a baseline), I would contact an attorney and have him negotiate on your behalf. There’s no point in risking your domain name simply because it would be a business decision to file a UDRP rather than buy the domain name.

4) If your domain name is developed, you should be able to track the IP addresses of recent visits to your site. Use the Arin Whois Database to do a reverse IP search to see where the visitor originated. It makes things even easier if the person contacted you using a contact form on your developed website, so you can know for certain where the person’s IP address originated.

5) Copy and paste some of the generic offer email in to Google to see if others have posted a similar email, which could mean that its domain inquire spam or possibly a domain name appraisal scam. Often time appraisal scammers will recycle the same or a similar email, and if you find a specific phrase that has been used by a scammer, it can send up a red flag.   Perhaps it’s obvious, but you should only use the generic sentences rather than anything specific about your particular domain name.

6) If the email address is really unique – like LuvThemStones@yahoo.com, do a search for “LuvThemStones” in Google. If someone uses a unique handle in an email address, perhaps they use the same handle in online forums. If this is the case, you can possible learn more about this person.

With all of this info, you need to keep in mind that there may be many people who have the same name – and on some occasions, you will find that two people with the same name work in the same industry as well, making it a bit complicated. However, the more information you can find out about a potential buyer, the better.

NameMedia Partners with FreshDrop

Elliot Silver
-
2

NameMedia today announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with www.freshdrop.net to provide premium domains for purchase through FreshDrop’s Domain Marketplace.

“This is truly a breakthrough in the domain industry. By combining NameMedia’s domain inventory with FreshDrop’s innovative search technology we are now able to empower domain investors, web entities, and online marketers with the ability search cross-marketplace with access to millions of additional premium domain names. NameMedia is a market leader in the domain aftermarket and we are proud to have them as a marketplace partner.” said Tan Tran, President and CEO of FreshDrop.net.

Visitors to the FreshDrop homepage will have the ability to search for NameMedia’s inventory within the BuyDomains tab and the AfternicDLS tab. The BuyDomains tab will include NameMedia’s managed premium domains available for sale while the AfternicDLS tab will include listed domains available for sale through NameMedia’s Domain Listing Service (DLS) platform found at Afternic.com.

AfternicDLS provides domain sellers with the opportunity to list registered domains for sale through its global distribution network, which also includes BuyDomains and a network of leading Registrars and international marketing partners. AfternicDLS has a saleable inventory of more than two million names.

“NameMedia is pleased to partner with FreshDrop. FreshDrop’s innovative approach to domain sales further benefits AfternicDLS members looking to sell names, as well as benefiting FreshDrop’s customer’s base through expanded quality inventory.” said Pete Lamson, senior vice-president and general manager of NameMedia’s domain marketplace.

Individuals interested is purchasing a domain should visit http://www.freshdrop.net. Individuals interested in selling their domains via the FreshDrop Marketplace should visit http://www.AfternicDLS.com.

About NameMedia

NameMedia is a leader in the acquisition, development, and trading of digital real estate through a network of highly targeted Web sites and a marketplace for premium domain names. The company’s Web site development focuses on creating compelling online communities in niche categories. NameMedia’s marketplace allows owners of premium domain names to list their domain properties for sale, and for domain buyers to review the largest available inventory.

Through its ownership of one of the largest domain portfolios in the world, its innovative Web site development platform, and its broad distribution, NameMedia now serves more than 60 million visitors to its network of Web sites and sells domains to customers in more than 100 countries.

NameMedia is headquartered outside Boston, in Waltham, Massachusetts. For more information, visit http://www.namemedia.com.

About FreshDrop.net

FreshDrop is a leader in the Domain Search arena. The company provides a state of the art platform to help domain purchasers make informed and efficient acquisition decisions.

FreshDrop aggregates domain inventories across major domain aftermarkets and auction houses and provides research analytics on millions of domain names.

FreshDrop is headquartered in Burbank, CA. For more information, please visit http://www.freshdrop.net.

Huge Web Design Template Sale

Elliot Silver
-
3

If you’re in the market for a template for a new website you’re interested in building, you may be in luck right now. Envato, the parent brand of Graphic River, Theme Forest, Audio Jungle, Flash Den, and Video Hive is having a very special sale to mark the company’s 3rd birthday.

From August 19 – 21, you can buy $300 worth of files for just $20. This is a significant savings, and it will allow you to experiment with different types of templates, themes, and designs for a website or even a mini-site, as I have used in the past. Included in the deal are 37 popular themes from Envato’s websites.

The deal includes themes in many formats, including some of the following: WordPress, HTML, Flash, Animation, Icons, Banner Designs, Music…etc. There are $300 worth of themes, and the cost is $20 for all.

This is a short-term offer and will be taken down after August 21, so think about it and act quickly if it interests you. It’s a great way to find cheap web templates – well, I should say discount web templates, since these look anything   but cheap.

1...1,3681,3691,370...1,562Page 1,369 of 1,562