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Much to be Thankful For

Elliot Silver
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Subscribe to Elliot's BlogI don’t like to write sappy posts, but I have much to be thankful for this year. On the personal side of things, I married a great girl a few months ago and things have been going very well. We are both happy and healthy, and have a lot of good friends and family who are close with us. Our puggle Lucy has stopped peeing on the floor, although she has more energy than a work-from-home guy can take sometimes!
While the economy has been in a tailspin of late, I really can’t complain about business. I launched Burbank.com, TropicalBirds.com, Lowell.com, several mini sites, and I own a few other pretty strong domain names that will be developed in the coming months. I also had a pretty strong year in terms of domain sales. I’ve made a number of new friends in the domain industry, and I have established many new business relationships with quality companies and people.
For me, 2008 was a year of change (personal and business), and I think the focus in 2009 will be to strengthen the core business and emerge stronger. Outside investment has been shaky lately with many added risks (markets down, companies facing liquidity problems, buyers not buying as much…etc). Right now, I would rather spend money investing in my websites and technology for my websites than buying new domain names. Sure, I will buy if the price is right and/or I want to develop, but I (and many others) are buying to hold less often than before.
I tend to always think ahead (almost to a fault), and I rarely look back at what’s been accomplished. 2008 has really been a good year for me (with a few exceptions), and I am very thankful for it. I know the predictions for 2009 haven’t been great, but I will keep myself focused on growing and strengthening my companies.

Planning for DomainFest Global

Elliot Silver
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Subscribe to Elliot's BlogIt’s time to start making plans to attend DomainFest in Hollywood January 27-30th at the Renaissance Hotel. Last year’s conference was one of the top industry conferences I attended, and I had to miss the first day. This is a great opportunity to network, and the price is only $895 until the end of December.
You do have some time, but I am recommending that you order your flight tickets (or at least price them out and follow) ASAP. I’ve heard prices may actually go down as a result of the dropping price of oil, but I wouldn’t be so sure of that.The Renaissance Hotel is offering discounts for conference attendees, so start your hotel search by calling them.
As you might imagine, I am taking a direct flight in to Burbank Airport on Jet Blue from New York’s JFK.   According to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Burbank Airport was the second least expensive airport in the country in Q2 of 2008.   I paid under $325 round trip… not so bad.   I will also spend a few days in Burbank visiting some businesses.
With the economy in the shitter, this is a good year to attend DomainFest to network with others and see how the leaders are weathering this storm.

New York Domainer Get Together

Elliot Silver
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Subscribe to Elliot's BlogI am putting together another domain investor get together in New York, which will be held on Tuesday, December 9, 2008. The location is still TBD, but it is going to be either a cash bar or a small cover charge to reserve a room at a bar/restaurant.   It will probably be somewhere on the Upper West Side (figure somewhere between 60 – 86th St between Central Park West and Amsterdam) because I can more easily meet with managers to get the best deal depending on the turnout.
There were around 30 people at the last New York get together I helped organize, so it should be a well-attended event.   If you think/know you can make it, please drop me a note or leave a comment so I can plan accordingly.   It’s much easier holding this event at a bar in a private room because it’s tough to communicate at a large dinner.
I will post more details once this is confirmed.

Cambridge Soundworks Understands the Internet

Elliot Silver
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Subscribe to Elliot's BlogCambridge Soundworks is a smart Internet-based company. Several years ago, Cambridge Soundworks had several bricks and mortar stores and a smaller online presence. Each shop always had two or three knowledgeable sales representatives on the floor at all times, with more available during their peak season. They carried high end television and speaker products, and they weren’t necessarily located in the most expensive malls or retail locations.
A few years ago, Cambridge Soundworks ditched the bricks and mortar business model and went completely online. They cut overhead, cut real estate and shop rent fees, and cut their shipping costs among other cuts. They realized that consumers typically try out products before they buy (see televisions in stores and listen to stereos in sound rooms), but most consumers will check products out in the store and return home to find better prices online. They figured that they can let consumers check out products at Circuit City or local specialty stores and then buy online at Cambridge Soundworks. It’s a strategy that’s done them well for a few years.
Cambridge Soundworks also understands domain names. Of course they built their own brand name a while back (at least in New England), so they own their own dot com domain. They also own some other strong domain names related to their business.   Among others that I didn’t notice, they own HiFi.com and SurroundSound.com (strangely undeveloped).
Now, if they would only go after Stereos.com, which currently redirects to Google, they would be in the Hall of Fame!

Opt Out of ISP Landing Pages

Elliot Silver
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Subscribe to Elliot's BlogHave you ever typed in a domain name, and when the name doesn’t resolve, you land on a landing page provided “courteously” by your ISP? In my case, Road Runner graciously provides a landing page with Sponsored Results and Web Results for the sites I type in that don’t resolve. If I click on a Sponsored Result, they (and Yahoo) get paid by the advertiser.
That said, if I accidentally type in MircosoftWidnows.com in my browser, Time Warner Cable, the parent company of Road Runner, would get paid if I click on the Sponsored advertisement that says “Low Prices on Microsoft Windows XP Save Now on All Windows XP Software. $1.99 Same Day Shipping, Buy Now. www.TigerDirect.com.”
Anyhow, I was looking at the error page today, and I saw a link for “Why Am I Here” referring to the landing page. When I clicked on that, I received this message:

“Why am I here?
You entered an unknown web address that was used to present site suggestions that you may find useful. Clicking any of these suggestions provides you with search results, which may include relevant sponsored links.
If this service is not right for you, please visit your Preferences page to opt out. At any point in time, you can opt back in to the service by visiting your Preferences page.
If you have other questions about this service, please visit our FAQ.
For further assistance, please go to http://help.rr.com. “

This service is definitely not right for me, and I opted out of it. Also, I found out they offer a Typo Correction Service.” According to the note on the Preference Page, “This preference allows you to opt in or out of the Typo Correction Service. This service will automatically fix many common typos in web addresses (for example: ww to www and .cmo to .com). If you enter a non-existent web address, and this service is able to typo-correct your domain to a valid web address, you will be taken there automatically.”
Thanks, but no thanks!

Change Google Search Results

Elliot Silver
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Subscribe to Elliot's BlogI just read on Big Ticket Domains that Google is now letting people edit their own search results if they have a Google account. This new feature is called “Search Wiki” and it allows users “to customize search by re-ranking, deleting, adding, and commenting on search results.” Interestingly enough, users will be able to see comments made by other system users.
Although changes that are made will only effect the search results for that person, it will be interesting to see if they decide to give any weight to this in their algorithm. The power of public opinion is great, and it would be a good way to determine if a website has valuable infomation or not. The problem would be that competitors would have the opportunity to alter results.
The official release can be found on the Google blog.

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