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Tucows Sells Their Domains via YummyNames

Elliot Silver
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Subscribe to Elliot's BlogTucows, a publicly traded company, recently launched a new domain sales/leasing/consulting platform that allows companies to obtain domain names from within the Tucows portfolio. Some of the names that are in the YummyNames showcase include Aerodynamic.com, BikeRiders.com, Back.com, DietFood.com, FootballFan.com, PoliceOfficer.com, Punchlines.com, and many other premium domain names.
YummyNames is offering domain sales, domain leasing, and domain consulting for business and private clients. Some of YummyNames’ listed clients include Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Nestle, and RBC Royal Bank. While the site offers a search feature on their site, it might be more effective to have a list of domain names in various categories for people to look through. Also, it might behoove them to place a link on their pages letting businesses know the domain may be available for lease or sale. I know many non-domain investors type in the domain name to see if it’s available and wouldn’t find YummyNames.
I am a bit perplexed at the selection of YummyNames for their corporate branding though given the quality and quantity of the Tucows’ portfolio.

Eliot's Story on Oprah: 99 Balloons | 99 Days

Elliot Silver
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I really like Google for many reasons. Not only do they have some fantastic applications that I use on a regular basis, they also help people find my blog. There are many search phrases where I rank pretty high in Google, including “Elliot’s Blog” and I’d like to think most people who search for Elliot’s Blog are looking for me.
Today, I noticed a large spike in traffic from Google, with many people looking for search variations including “baby elliot’s blog,” “elliot on oprah,” “baby elliot’s journal,” and others that were similar. Curious, I went to find out what people wanted, since Google was clearly sending people to the wrong site. I found that people were looking for something featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show today, “99 Days with Eliot.”
I found the Baby Eliot “99 Balloons” video, so instead of sending people on a wild goose chase to find it on Google, I embedded it above. It’s a tearjerker and quite a story.
If you are interested in learning more about Trisomy 18, or if you’d like to make a donation to help with researching this disease, please visit the Trisomy 18 Foundation’s website.

Christian Science Monitor Ditches Print for Web

Elliot Silver
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Subscribe to Elliot's BlogAccording to a breaking news story in the Boston Globe this afternoon, the Christian Science Monitor has opted to eliminate its [update] weekly print edition to focus on its core business, CSMonitor.com, its website. The article quotes CS Monitor editor John Yemma,

“We are getting out of the daily print business,” Yemma said. “By harnessing (our staff) to ‘Web first’ we will be putting the best of our content on the Web when it happens. It will be much more energetic. Much more a go-to place.”

With the cost of print increasingly becoming more expensive, it’s no surprise that a longtime print publication would opt to move online. Advertising is trackable, which appeals to advertisers, and it’s much more economical to publish online.   Smart move by the Christian Science Monitor, that I expect will be followed by many other print publishers.
This is very big news for domain owners who have names that might be coveted by publishers – geodomains, for example 🙂 .

Managing Your Domain Business

Elliot Silver
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Subscribe to Elliot's BlogIn order to weather this economic storm, I have been spending most of my time and some of my money on developing and re-developing my websites. I believe it’s become very risky to invest in some lower to mid-priced domain names with the hopes of quickly flipping them, so instead of buying a $3,000 name with the hopes of selling it for $5,000, I am now spending that money on developing my sites (such as Burbank, Lowell, Secaucus and TropicalBirds). Yes it most certainly can still be done obviously, but it is more difficult.
I believe businesses will always need to advertise, and Internet advertising is a trackable way to advertise. Advertisers can determine campaign ROIs and adjust   advertising expenses based on this. My sites will offer affordable advertising opportunities, that will be more economical than Google Adwords campaigns in most cases – or at least that’s the idea. The more advertisers that sign up and create custom landing pages within Burbank.com, the greater the traffic will grow and more value all advertisers will receive.
At this time, especially given the tax burden faced by most domain owners who consider their domain assets inventory, it isn’t wise to spend a ton of money on domain names that may or may not sell quickly. I am fortunate to not have registered a considerable amount of new domain names, so I don’t have to make the renew or drop decision, but I know there are plenty of people out there who are doing that right now. While it might not feel good to have to do this, I believe it will lead to a trimmer and more agile company.
It’s tough out there right now, and every decision you make could have a major impact on your company’s bottom line and/or its ability to survive. For me, developing strong advertising venues via development is hopefully a way that will allow my business to survive and ultimately thrive once the economy is more stable. Perhaps you need to look at your domain assets to see how you can better stay afloat.

5 With… Don Ham, Introducing Reinvent Index

Elliot Silver
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Subscribe to Elliot's BlogReinvent, the leading domain company at the forefront of the industry, recently announced that they will be rolling out the Reinvent Index, an index created to allow domainers to track the parking performance of 20 domain verticals. The Index will be operated in conjunction with Hitfarm, Reinvent’s parking company.
The Reinvent Index is made up of 200 domain names in 20 industry verticals, allowing people to see and track revenue and traffic trends in particular niches. Verticals that are covered in the Reinvent Index include automotive, business, education, fashion, health, music, shopping, technology, and many others. The Index was created to bring transparency and knowledge to the domain space, and it will allow you to follow the performance of domain names, which is going to be very interesting given the current economic situation.
To help introduce the Reinvent Index and acquaint you with Hitfarm, I had the opportunity to interview Don Ham, the operating director of Hitfarm.
EJS: 1) Are there specific requirements that people need to meet to sign up?
DH: Hitfarm will cater to accounts that have quality traffic so there will be some restrictions. Each new account will be evaluated on a case by case scenario. All accounts must maintain a good TQS (Traffic Quality Score) and and be void of any Adult or Gambling names. We also require applicants earn a minimum of $1,000 USD/month*. Whether you have one high quality domain or hundreds of thousands in your portfolio, if you meet these criteria, we’d love to partner with you.
(*) Subject to change
EJS: 2) How can domainers who don’t have huge portfolios use the Reinvent Index to benefit their portfolio?
DH: Reinvent Index may actually benefit smaller portfolio owners more so than bigger portfolio owners. Large portfolio owners generally have many of the stats and/or trends at their disposal via their own portfolio. The 20 verticals give domainers insight into each of the available categories they might be interested in. By studying a particular vertical and it’s performance, a domainer may find that they want to invest in a particular vertical which may be new to his portfolio. It is also useful if a domainer has a small portfolio heavy in a single vertical. He can use the index to benchmark the industry as a whole and compare the trends to his own portfolio’s fluctuations. For instance, if he notices a steep decline/increase in CTR, he can refer to the Reinvent Index and compare the CTR trend for that vertical and find out if it is an anomaly or industry trend.
EJS: 3) What added information about the Index will people who sign up receive?
DH: Reinvent Index is available to the public, there is no need to sign up for this. Hitfarm Index, on the other hand, will be restricted to Hitfarm clients only. This tool, which is still under development, will enable all Hitfarm clients to compare how their portfolio is performing against all other domains on our platform and look for quick answers to trends/anomalies. Hitfarm Index will be of most value to Hitfarm clients in this way. Between the Reinvent and Hitfarm Index, we are making it easier for domainers to evaluate their portfolio performance. Furthermore, with upcoming Hitfarm 2.0 implementation, all Hitfarm clients will have the functionality to create and manage their own custom Indexes.
EJS: 4) Which new initiatives add the most value to Hitfarm partners?
DH: I feel it’s our commitment to transparency and integrity as well as our new Portfolio Management initiatives. Transparency and integrity because we let our clients remove any doubt about revenue skimming with the option to audit their revenue numbers by a qualified auditor of their choice. Portfolio Management is a new initiative that we are rolling out to clients engaged in a Hitfarm Exclusive Agreement.   For these clients we dedicate an experienced and knowledgeable Portfolio Manager who is backed by technical and editorial staff to cater to our client’s specific needs. The Portfolio Manager liaises with the client and they work together to implement a plan that best to utilizes the dedicated staffs’ resources and optimizes the portfolio’s performance. Ultimately, our goal is to have each of our Portfolio Managers know his/her client’s portfolio better than the domainer himself. Once this is reached, we give back the most valuable asset to our clients, his time.
EJS: 5) Does Reinvent have plans to expand into other domain areas such as sales and auctions?
DH: Domains are our core business. Domain Marketplace and Auctions have always interested us but we have other priorities at this time. I think there are many marketplace and auction platforms that serve the industry well. If at a later date we feel we can add value to our industry by expanding into these areas we’ll certainly give it a serious consideration.

Creating a Succession Plan

Elliot Silver
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Subscribe to Elliot's BlogI spent much of yesterday afternoon at a chemotherapy center with my Aunt, which made me think about a few things, including my own mortality. While I am thankful to be healthy, life changing events can happen at almost any time. Being a domain investor/developer puts me in a position that is different from many others, and I think we need to think about a succession plan should unexpected something happen.
The most important thing is to make sure a loved one (wife, child, brother, parent…etc) or other trusted person knows about your business. They should know details such as registrars, domain holdings, passwords, email accounts, forums, parking companies, partners, clients, bank accounts and other details. If something happens to you, it’s important that someone trusted knows what to do with your business. Here are some things I recommend:
Let your trusted person know which registrars you use, the account numbers, and the passwords (kept in a safe and secure location). If you have an Account Manager at the registrar, the trusted person should have your AM’s email address to make sure domains are paid up and accessible if liquidation is necessary.
For those of you who develop your domain names, a trusted person should know what agreements you have in place with advertisers – or at least know where to find your agreements. While advertisers and partners will be understanding if something happens, money is money, and they will eventually expect to have their agreements honored or their payments refunded.
For those of you who rely mostly on PPC, a trusted person should know the contacts at your parking company. You will want to make sure your revenue continues to be paid regularly.
Your important domain contacts, clients, forum login names, and other industry accounts should be known to your trusted person. If liquidation is necessary, you’d want the names to sell for the most money possible, so it’s important that the trusted person know where to sell them.
Your sales and tax records are important things that your trusted person will need to know where to find. The government will still expect to be paid based on your sales from that year no matter what happens to you.
I am sure you will want your trusted person to take over your business or to liquidate your domain names, and they will need to know how to do so. For those of you who have full fledged businesses with strong PPC earnings or developed website earnings, the business should probably be maintained or sold – rather than just the domain names being liquidated. When deciding, you should take your trusted person’s interest in the business into consideration. If you would want your domain names to be sold, you should let your trusted person know what names you own, which are most valuable, and how to sell them.
While your business isn’t the most important thing that someone will be thinking about if something should happen to you, it is important that someone know what to do in the event of an unexpected life changing event.

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