Congratulations to fellow domain investor and fellow New Yorker Arlo Gilbert whose company iCall made news with their software, which allows users to reroute ongoing calls on their iPhone to their free VoIP service. This service has the potential to save users a ton of calling minutes. While the application is still being beta tested, it should be made available in the iPhone Apps store.
BTW, If you are looking for a job, iCall is hiring!
One of the things I’ve learned about search engine optimization is that search engines such as Yahoo and Google really like unique content. The more unique content you write, the more the search engines will reward you with better placement in their rankings, obviously driving more traffic to your site. Sometimes when unique content is written, others steal it, either trying to pass it off as their own or because they are lazy and want to put up information but don’t feel like writing their own content.
Lately, I’ve noticed an increase in the later. There are people stealing (or borrowing) from various domain blogs and posting either full posts or posting partial posts without adding their own commentary and without seeking permission. While I don’t mind if someone quotes me for the sake of writing an informative blog post, I do mind when people just take my content without even asking.
When I notice this, I do my best to contact the domain owner via Whois lookup to let them know I have an issue. I don’t want them to gain rankings in Google at my blog’s peril. More often than not, the offending person apologizes and takes down my content. However, there are times when the offender has Whois privacy on their domain name and doesn’t have their contact information readily available. This is annoying, and through a hosting company, I found out a way to stop it.
If a website steals content and you either can’t get in touch with the owner or the owner refuses to take down the material, you can file a Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaint with the host, and the host legally has to take action within 24 hours of receiving the complaint. The one caveat is that you need to file an official complaint. It’s not difficult though, and you don’t need an attorney to do it for you, as there are several DMCA complaint templates available online at no cost. Simply find out the web host and email them your complaint. The issue should be resolved fairly quickly.
When I had to write reports in high school and college, I was usually required to cite many sources rather than a single source. This was to ensure that the information was accurate and factual instead of simply one person’s opinion. Sometimes a person’s opinion is accurate and factual, but it is important to see what others say to make sure of it. The same goes when you are looking for advice in the domain industry.
Whether you are looking for advice on whether to buy, sell, develop, park…etc or anything at all in this industry, you should try to get as many opinions as possible and make the best determination yourself. Before Frank Schilling started his famous blog and before the domain forums became as popular as they are now, most industry pioneers had to go out on a limb and go solo for many of the things we openly discuss today. They didn’t have (many wouldn’t want) the luxury of openly discussing strategy. Today, it is an important part of the domain industry.
Just like anything else, it is important to know about who is giving the advice and their motivation. I was reading one of the popular forums the other day, and someone was asking how they should reply to an offer/solicitation. Some of the answers were not only unhelpful, but they probably would have been harmful. There are plenty of sources of information out there, so the best advice I can give is to use all of your trusted sources carefully.
Free advice is cheap, but it can be very expensive.
A couple months ago, I sold a single Australian beach domain name for just under $10,000. Today, I am looking to sell WhaleBeach.com, CoogeeBeach.com and BalmoralBeach.com for $8,500 total for all three! Why am I selling these great names so cheaply? I want to be in a strong cash position, and since I won’t get to developing these names with all of my current commitments, I might as well sell them and sell them cheap. I haven’t visited either of these vacation hotspots, but here is some information about each location:
Coogee Beach:
According to the Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach:
“Coogee Beach is what life by the ocean is all about. Its culture is urban and cosmopolitan, yet relaxed. Street cafes put the scent of coffee on the sea breeze. Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach is directly opposite Coogee Beach with panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean.Known affectionately as ‘Sydney’s Seaside Village’, Coogee Beach is a tranquil environment. Surrounded by one of the East Coast’s most breathtaking beaches and headlands, it embraces a relaxed, casual setting and is only a short drive to the city. Its location makes it convenient to catch a round of golf at the nearby green, do a little shopping, take in a film at The Entertainment Quarter or place a bet on the ‘sport of kings’ with the world-famous Randwick racecourse.
Opposite Coogee Beach, 6 kilometers to the airport and 8 kilometers to the Sydney central business district.“
From Science and Technology Conference:
Another photo:
Balmoral Beach:
From Wikipedia:
“Balmoral Beach is arguably one of the most picturesque beaches in Sydney. It is a harbour beach facing East by North-East and is sheltered from direct ocean waves by Middle Head. Balmoral has four separate beaches along a crescent of white sand, with a large horseshoe-shaped swimming area within a shark net. The usually placid waves make it appealing to a wide age range for swimming. The area has a laid-back vibe, with pleasant parkland, cafes, fish and chips, and two top restaurants (also serving brunch). Activities include a walk North along the rocks to Chinaman’s beach (not advisable if the tide is coming in) or South up the hill to Georges Heights.Deservedly one the most-loved “secrets” in Sydney.
Balmoral has views to North Head, Manly, and Clontarf and is situated at the mouth of Middle Harbour.
The famous Balmoral Rotunda is the home of Shakespeare By The Sea a summer outdoor event held at Balmoral Beach. Other notable events include the annual Mudgee Wine Festival.
The Rotunda and Rocky Point Island are also popular for wedding ceremonies and photographs.
Between 1924 and 1951 Balmoral Beach was the location of the Star Amphitheatre.”
From Sydney100.com:
From the The Wedding Decorator
Whale Beach:
“Whale Beach is a northern beachside suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Palm Beach is located 40 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Pittwater Council, in the Northern Beaches region.
Whale Beach is home of ‘The Wedge’, a famous left hand surfing break.“
From Wide Screen Water:
I thought I could sell Exhibitionists.com for $45,000. Well, I was wrong. I’ve reduced the price and still no buyers. I am now going to liquidate this bad boy and sell Exhibitionists.com for the drop dead low price of just $17,800. First to post “sold” gets a helluva deal on this industry-defining domain name.
Of course I am referring to the size of your domain portfolio. Some people may think that because they have 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 or 20,000 domain names, they are better off than others. I really couldn’t disagree any more, unless you happen to have an unbelievable portfolio (meaning you spent many sleepless nights over the past several years researching and cashing in on money making domain names).
I saw a post where people were asked how many domain names they own, and I was pretty surprised at the amount of people who owned hundreds of domain names. Additionally, I’ve received emails from many people who have asked me to appraise their domain names, and they’ve sent a list of hundreds of mediocre domain names to evaluate. I really believe a person can go broke quickly by registering hundreds of new domain names. Technology and data mining scripts have gotten to the point where it is nearly impossible to hand register domain names that will pay for themselves in PPC revenue, unless a trend or event happens that makes the names relevant. I would like to suggest that people focus on quality and not quantity.
One trend I’ve noticed is that some people believe that because they have an entire portfolio of hundreds of similar names, the set has more value. For example, if someone owns 12345Golf.com, 12345Shopping.com, 12345Travel.com, 12345Sex.com…etc, the names aren’t more valuable simply because almost every 12345 domain name is owned by them. Unless someone else wants to build a huge network of websites using that idea (doubtful), the set is a $7.50 X x,xxx annual drain. One thing to think about is why would someone pay your premium, when they could come up with an idea that is similar and hand register the set (123456 for example).
There is nothing wrong with owning a large portfolio of domain names if you are generating enough revenue to support it, or if you are making enough profit in sales that you can incur the renewal costs with no problem. However, I have seen people become overwhelmed with renewal fees, and it can be difficult to watch some domain names drop because of it.
My advice is to keep your portfolio as trim as your budget will allow. Instead of buying dozens of new registrations, it might make more sense to buy one quality name.
