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5 With… Rick London, National A-1 Advertising

Elliot Silver
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Rick London is the owner/operator of National A-1 Advertising based in Philadelphia.   National A-1 owns some of the best domain names, including Free.com, Girls.com, Boys.com, Babies.com, Antiques.com, Fun.com, Teens.com, Divorce.com and many other great domain names. Additionally, National A-1 was the company who purchased Pizza.com after an auction involving another company fell through on Sedo.

The closely held company is very private, and I appreciate them granting an interview.   I look forward to a future conversation with Rick about the current market situation and how his company is coping.


ES: What was the first domain name you ever purchased, do you still own it, and what is your most recent acquisition?

RL: Do not recall.   Most recent better domain   Pillows.com

ES: When did you first realize the value of domain names, and when you began to purchase high value domains, how did you finance your expensive purchases?

RL: We have been in the business of marketing vanity telephone numbers for over fifteen years.   The business model for vanity telephone numbers and domains is the same. We have the funds from our many past and current business endeavors.


ES: How is your company coping with the decline of pay per click revenue?

RL: Revenue and business of all types does not always increase or stay the same.   We earn less money on our traffic domains but almost all of the better domains are not purchased based on their revenue.


ES: Do you regret ever buying or selling a domain name and why?

RL: Of course,   but in the general course of any business this happens. The less mistakes one makes the more successful they are.

ES: Is there anything you would trade your entire domain portfolio for?

RL: We would sell anything or everything for the right price.

ES: What is your end game with your domain investments?

RL: There is no exact “end game”. You never know what the future holds.   We would sell any domain to someone who needs it for a specific business and who would pay substantially more than the revenue dictates.   We are developing certain domains into what we hope are key sites that will generate substantial income for years to come.

Castello Brothers on Successful Site Development

Elliot Silver
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59

The Castello Brothers Top 10 Suggestions For Successful Site Development

My brother Michael and I have done well financially (is there any other way?) developing our sites. Nevertheless, we’re both on a lifelong learning curve and after 10+ years in this wonderful business we still feel like we’ve just begun. Here are ten suggestions we’d like to share with you so you can unpark your names and start making some real money.

1) Choose a domain name that reflects a topic you’re madly passionate about. Don’t do this and your site will become the worst thing it can be – work.

2) Stick with dotCom or the ccTLD of your country. If you don’t agree, please visit our portfolio, choose one of our names and develop the dotNet.dotOrg or dotInfo version into a huge site. You’ll quickly become our best friend and we’ll buy you a bottle of 1995 Dom as we toast the direct nav traffic you’ll be giving us.

3) Don’t build a site, build a brand. There’s a difference. Anyone can build a site.

4) Write at least a page of original content a day (in a year you’ll have 365 pages). What would motivate you to do this? See suggestion #1.

5) The content you write must turn your site into an authority or “reference site” about its topic. This is important for site credibility, SEO, return traffic and selling to advertisers. Remember, the last thing you want is someone having to go somewhere else for info about your site’s topic.

6) Do not put Adsense on your site. Why would you send valuable visitors away for pennies on the dollar? Who thought of this? Google (and that’s why they’re rich and you’re not). Furthermore, you need these people to tell you why they’re on your site so you can continue to build the user experience and discover their expectations (and you’ll also meet somebody else – potential advertisers). This will not happen when you keep sending them away. On a developed site, Adsense is the equivalent of opening a store on Madison Avenue and guiding customers from the front door straight out the back door as they hand you a quarter along the way.

7) Add a forum and blog that is monitored daily. Forums and blogs instantly turn an inorganic site into a living, breathing thing with a heartbeat. They add excitement, personality and lots of loyal, returning visitors. Also, add a Calendar of Events that is relevant to your topic.

8.) After you’ve developed the traffic and SEO rankings start selling static advertising to people who would profit from being on your site. Who are these people? By the time you’ve developed the site and achieved high SEO rankings they’ll be right in front of your face. For example, we’ve met many who were giving us listings to be on our Calendar of Events and didn’t know they could be on the front page for a fee.

9) Never, ever email a potential advertiser. This is Sales 101, but most people don’t know this. Get them on the phone or, if possible, meet them in person. If you won’t do this get someone who will and share the revenue with them. Don’t ever try to sell someone something you wouldn’t buy. You’ll come across as disingenuous and nothing will kill your reputation and credibility faster. On the other hand, if you believe in the power of your site that passion will be instantly communicated and selling is a cinch.

10) During this whole process, make the site an extension of your personality. It’s got to have your creative fingerprints all over it. Your site is your baby and never hand the reins over to someone else unless you’re selling it.

Top Search Result for “Jackass:” Viacom

Elliot Silver
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2

Late last year, Viacom, the parent company of MTV, filed a UDRP for the domain name Jackass.com, one of thousands of generic domain names owned by Future Media Architects. Since FMA doesn’t sell their domain assets, the UDRP would seem to be the only “cost effective” way to acquire the domain name. In a fairly lengthy decision dated January 30, 2009, the single panelist ruled in favor of Future Media Architects.

One of the most convincing factors that led to FMA’s prevailing in this decision was that they held a US trademark for “JACKASS” in relation to computer services.   The trademark was registered by the USPTO in September 2005 after a full standard review of the trademark application.   Although FMA planned to use Jackass.com for adult services, they changed their business model in favor of a search engine.

According to the sole panelist in this decision, the trademark tipped the scales in FMA’s favor:

“Thus, here the evidence suggests that the domain name was acquired by the Respondent because of its descriptive value, but has been used on a pay-per-click website in a way that is not clearly related to that descriptive value but also not clearly related to the Complainant’s trademark. In some circumstances, these facts may not be sufficient for the Respondent to show that use of the disputed domain name is bona fide. Here, the Respondent has an additional factor in its favour a United States trademark registration covering search engines. In these particular circumstances, the Respondent could be said to be providing, or at least to have taken some demonstrable steps towards providing, a search engine under the Jackass brand. That, in this Panel’s view, is enough to tip the finely balanced scales in the Respondent’s favour on the provided record in this particular case.”

It’s unfortunate that FMA needed to hold a trademark in order to keep their generic domain name, but a win is a win.   If Thunayan Khalid AL-Ghanim chooses to forego the search engine route and needs some material for his site, I know where he can find it.

Turning to Twitter to Recover Domains

Elliot Silver
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4

An interesting thing is happening at Twitter, which I have been following via the Domaining.com feed. Apparently two domain names were stolen from the GoDaddy account of Twitter commentator cvander (Maestrosdelweb.com and forosdelweb.com). Since many of this person’s posts are in Spanish, I cannot understand everything that has been going on, but it would seem that the domain owner posted updates about how his names were stolen and how he lost control of his Gmail account.

In response to the news, friends of cvander have been sending messages to Godaddy’s representative on Twitter, GoDaddyGuy. These messages, which can be seen by all, are verifying that these people know cvander and that his names have, in fact, been stolen.   Godaddy would seem to be working on the issue, as the latest message is “To all those concerned about @cvander, please know we’re aware of the issue and working to find a resolution.”

It’s neat to see how Twitter is being used by domain owners in a variety of ways, and kudos to Godaddy for having a customer facing representative working on Twitter.

Richard Douglas Begins Geo Domain Development Series

Elliot Silver
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10

My friend Richard Douglas posted part one of his geo domain development series today. Although Richard is being a bit secretive about the domain/website at the outset of the series, he will be revealing it later on down the road. I’ve been chatting with Richard about this project for the last several months, and the site is legit, as his success with it.

I am looking forward to more informative posts by Richard, as I know he has a lot of good information to share.

Two New Features I like About Domaining.com

Elliot Silver
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1

There are two new features I really like about Domaining.com. The first is that I can now filter the blogs and domain news sources I want to read from those that I don’t. There seems to be data overload in the domain space, and it’s annoying when I miss a good article from someone I respect because it got pushed down by articles I avoid.

The second feature I like and could probably create on my own (but don’t) is the Twitter feed with “domain” as the keyword. Any time someone posts a Twitter update and it contains the word “domain,” it is featured on Domaining.com.

There have been a few times where people ask simple domain related questions that can be answered by an industry pro. This can open new doors and lead to new introductions. There have also been plenty of times where people are critical of domain owners, calling them squatters and other uninformed comments. This creates a good opportunity to educate.

As far as Twitter goes, I am just a rookie but am quickly learning about the power it has. People across every walk of life use Twitter, and it gives unparalleled access into places you might never have imagined going.

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