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I’ll Take the Bait

Elliot Silver
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33

I’ve been in firefighter mode the past few days, especially today with Newburyport.com, so I haven’t had a chance to post anything substantial. I’ve been busting my hump for the past several weeks meeting with people for advertising on Lowell.com & Burbank.com, which has been difficult.   Ironically enough, after launching a foundation of a site on Newburyport.com just over a week ago, I already have an advertiser lined up for when I fully launch.   Needless to say, I am working overtime to get the site launched and generating revenue…

Anyhow, I just saw a post from Mike Cohen, and I will take the bait on it. I know Mike can have an abrasive personality when he posts on blogs and forums, but he has privately given me some good advice over the past couple of months related to my developed websites. Granted some of the advice hasn’t been adopted by me yet due to time constraints, it has been helpful to me and has generated new ideas. Mike says that he is going to share something that will help you, and I am going to take him at his word.

Sure Mike is also an advertiser, but I am not being paid to write this or post a link.   I am very interested in learning what he has to say about development – and am interested in seeing what he has to share with others.

Researching Source of Offer

Elliot Silver
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1

It’s important that you do as much research on the source of your domain offers for a variety of reasons to see why the person wants to buy your domain name.   I think most of the reasons are obvious, but as ccTLDs continue to increase in popularity, there is one more thing to check before replying to the offer or inquiry.

If your .com domain name ends in a popular ccTLD extension, you should look to see if the ccTLD is developed, as many domain owners realize the importance of owning the corresponding .com domain name. Bit.ly is a very popular URL shortening service. Not only do they own the Liberian ccTLD (.LY), but they also own Bitly.com for protective purposes.

While many entrepreneurs on a shoestring budget will be happy to launch on a ccTLD that is more vanity than anything to do with the ccTLD, most will realize that they are losing traffic. In Bit.ly’s case, people continued to refer to the company as “Bitly” so visitors who think in .com as a default simply visited Bitly.com, which they are fortunate to own.

If your company owns a name like XXXXXXXXin.com or something like that, and you receive an inquiry, don’t just check USPTO, Google and other common places. You should also check the Whois for XXXXXXXX.in as well.

Another Mini Site Developed & Launched

Elliot Silver
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49

For a couple of hours this morning and a couple hours this afternoon, I built a mini site on my own: BullRidingHelmet.com. Knowing some html and having a VPS hosting package made it much easier for me to do this, but I think it’s something that most people with a few hours of time to spare can do on their own.

Mini site companies are great resources for people without the time or html knowledge, but for those who have the time and html coding knowledge, building a mini site isn’t too difficult. For those who have the time but not the html knowledge, it could be worth it to buy a book or read about html online. I am no genius when it comes to coding, so if I can do it, you can, too.

In my weekly newsletter which will be mailed late tonight, I outlined the steps I took to create my website. Hopefully this will be helpful to those who are interested.

Impact of a Federal Newspaper Bailout

Elliot Silver
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2

Conor Neu brought up an interesting discussion about what could possibly happen to the geodomain industry should the federal government offer a bailout. I do my best not to follow political news these days because it’s distracting, but I do know that newspapers are very important to politicians. It’s the local newspapers who provide the most in depth local coverage, allowing an unknown politician to become known and relevant in his district. Newspaper journalists – especially local papers – are politically important, and I don’t think it would be a far stretch to see the government send some financial aid their way.

That said, I can’t ever imagine the US government taking geodomain businesses away from hard working entrepreneurs and giving them to the failing newspapers whose lack of foresight led them to where they are today. Nearly every major .com geodomain name is developed or under development, and almost all of those are either owned by private entrepreneurial companies (or newspapers), and I can’t fathom that the government would step in and take possession of one company’s assets and give them to another company – especially in a failing industry.

That said, I do think it’s possible that we will see newspaper companies receiving federal financial assistance, which could be used to buy geodomain names. One thing which newspapers should note is that geodomains generally have much, much less overhead than the newspaper, yet they receive just about the same (or more traffic) than the competing paper. I am a one man show, and in my local markets, I am most certainly competing online with the local papers’ websites.

I am very happy with my geodomain growth, and I think Conor’s article offers some good insight into the state of the industry and where it’s headed.

Quick Hits for the Weekend

Elliot Silver
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6

Time for some random thoughts and notes for the week.

I think some gTLDs like .NYC are going to be very successful. Businesses are going to want to buy them to distinguish themselves as New York companies, much like many European businesses buy ccTLD domain names. I think there will be trouble selling some gTLD extensions, but it really depends on the audience and marketing, and I have a feeling .NYC will be a winner.

After spending a few days in Lowell, I realize how important a city .com domain name is. People who hadn’t visited Lowell.com were very interested in learning more about it and how they can be on it. Getting a sales person on the ground in the area will be key to really generating revenue.

Aftermarket.com is now accepting domain submissions for the Domain Roundtable show in June.

Every day, I seem to find out something new about Google and how it can be used to increase awareness on my developed websites. Take some time to look at the main Google accounts page and check out all of the links. Almost all of the applications can be beneficial to a small company doing business online.

General domain sales may be down across the board for most domain investors, but there are still a lot of companies buying ultra premium domain names. Many companies realize there is little overhead required when buying a category defining domain name, and it can pay major dividends to do so in terms of traffic and trust. Buying a domain name in these tough times can be much better than acquiring a business, which comes with significant overhead.

Have a happy Easter, Passover, or weekend.

Million Dollar Domain Sale Going Down

Elliot Silver
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6

I just confirmed with Rick Latona that the $1,000,000 bid on WebCam.com at his domain auction is legitimate, and it will be sold to the highest bidder. The seller agreed to lower his reserve on the domain name, so it will be one of the first million dollar sales of 2009.

The auction doesn’t close until Sunday at 2pm, so if you have been thinking about bidding on this ultra premium domain name, now is the time to do so. To bid on WebCam.com or one of the other 600 great adult domain names, visit Rick Latona’s auction page before Sunday at 2pm.

I know Rick and his team have been working tirelessly to bring great domain names at great prices, together with buyers to make this auction successful, and their efforts are going to pay off. Congratulations in advance to all parties in this deal in the making.

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