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Newsletter Ideas and Thoughts

Elliot Silver
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My first newsletter will be coming out tomorrow (sign up if interested) and I started to put it together.   While doing so, I was thinking about features that would be of interest to me if I were to sign up, and I would like to hear back from you, too. Here are some things I plan to add into the newsletter, and I am open to more suggestions.

Domain registration coupons – I will reach out to some of the registrars to see if anyone is willing to provide special coupon codes for discounts to newsletter readers. If any registrars are reading this and are interested, drop me a note and I will be in touch.

News & notes – With so much information out there, I don’t always have time to read everything, and there are times when I do read something that I think is very important.   I will list my 3 most read/commented articles from the week, and I will also send one or two outside reads that I believe are important.

Tips and tricks – I’ve given lots of tips in a variety of posts on my blog, but I will add a tip about domaining or development each week.   Some might be obvious and some might be things I’ve learned along the way, but I am not a rocket scientist inventing a new patentable product, so I am happy to share.

Dropping domains – I like searching for good dropping names, some of which are available to buy right away, some are going to auction, and some are on auction.   If I had a larger staff, endless money, and/or more time to develop, I wouldn’t give these away, but I can’t buy them all.   I actually don’t buy very many at all, but enjoy the search, so I might as well share what I find.

Domains for sale – This is the biggest conflict I have.   I don’t want to open up and accept domain listings from others, and I don’t want this to be a self serving newsletter.   From time to time I might show a domain name I have for sale or I might provide a link to a good domain name I saw for sale.   I will try to limit this because I think there are enough sales outlets available.

Upcoming events – There’s a ton of conferences, auctions, get togethers…etc that it’s hard to keep up.   If I hear about an event, I will post a link to more information.

So… after reading the above features, what else would you like to see that’s not already included on my blog?

As I said before, I am not going to allow sponsors yet because I want to see how things go for a few weeks.   I appreciate the inqueries, but at this time, I am going to keep it private label without a sponsor.

Foreign Companies Using .US Extension

Elliot Silver
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I noticed something interesting during my travels and don’t know if it’s isolated or more widespread. In several advertisements, I’ve seen foreign companies who do business in the US using the .US extension for their primary American website or in addition to their primary .com site.

Although I haven’t really seen many American-based companies using the .US extension as a primary website, I know that country code extensions are very popular in places throughout the world – especially in some European countries.

IcelandAir uses IcelandAir.us, BMW sometimes uses BMW.us,  ClubMed has used ClubMed.us, Volvo uses VolvoCars.us (forwards to .com) and there are many other examples. It seems to be more of a European way of thinking as many EU people and businesses use their country codes far more regularly than we use the .US extension here in the States.

It’s just interesting to notice, as I have seen the above examples used to target US customers, and all of these companies own their respective .com – they just choose not to use them.

So what is it?   Foreign companies’ marketing departments not thinking like American consumers? A domain extension test?   Something else?   What do you think?

Are Numeric Domain Names an “Emerging Trend”?

Elliot Silver
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I had my first debate/discussion via Twitter (albeit a short one) yesterday about whether numeric domain names can be considered an emerging trend. I read Inside Domaining’s tweet about the topic, and I disagree because values are stagnant and down for most numeric names (as they are just about across the board). I cited my experience selling 887.com late last year as evidence of a difficult market, and I also have experience selling 4 number .com domain names and 3 number .net domain names in the past.

Inside Domaining countered back that 2 and 3 number .com domain names were selling great last year, which is something I do not dispute. However, they sold well last year because TJ Demas bought many of the big ones for huge prices for a special project. IMO, this doesn’t make for an “emerging trend” simply because one buyer bought some names and had to pay a huge sum to get them   (ala Rick selling iReport.com for $750,000).

Just as when the 4 letter .com domain names sold out last year, the perceived values went through the roof and they were selling for great sums. Now that people are realizing most are useless, prices are bottoming out. The buyers are disappearing and people are realizing that rarity does not equate to value at all times, and some domain investors lost a lot of money.

I believe if someone pays a considerable sum for a numeric domain simply because TJ bought several last year for his project, the buyer will probably lose money. IMO, this is like a person owning toy-related domain names claiming that toy names are an emerging trend simply because Toys R Us paid $5.1 million for Toys.com (which I am sure will happen).

This industry isn’t like real estate where you can look in the MLS for neighborhood comps.   All domain names have unique values.

So… what do you think… Are numeric domain names an emerging trend or not?

February Traffic – Highest Ever

Elliot Silver
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I want to take a moment to thank everyone for visiting my blog.   I saw the highest amount of traffic ever in February and I really appreciate your taking the time out of your day to visit.   With all the other domain blogs and news outlets available, I know there are plenty of places to read about the domain industry.

I thank you for your continued patronage and support.

DNJournal’s Ron Jackson Interviewed by ABC News

Elliot Silver
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DNJournal’s Ron Jackson made the mainstream press again, this time in an interview with ABC News regarding the Toys.com sale to Toys R Us in last week’s bankruptcy auction.   It’s good to see mainstream coverage of the domain business, and I am glad news outlets continue to seek out Ron Jackson for his expert opinion.

FMA Launches Jackass.com & Jogging.com

Elliot Silver
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This morning, Future Media Architects announced the launch of Jackass.com and Jogging.com, two of its hundreds of generic domain names.   As you may recall, Jackass.com was involved in a UDRP dispute last month, and FMA prevailed over the complainant, Viacom, parent company of MTV.

Jackass.com has been developed into a resource site about donkeys.   In addition, there is a search functionality on the site allowing visitors to search the web for information about donkeys, mules and other jackass-related topics.

Personally, I am most eagerly looking forward to FMA’s launch of Ibiza.com, which is expected to happen later this year.

I’ve seen several Internet blogs, articles, and forums where people refer to my friend Thunayan as a “cybersquatter.”   From my own personal experience in launching several websites, each one takes a lot of time, effort, and energy, and it’s no easy task.   I know Thunayan is involved with many projects other than domain investing, so it’s not fair to label him simply because his company owns so many great domain names and is taking its time in launching websites.

It’s always easy to criticize others from a far, but timing is everything when it comes to web development.

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