I know many people who make money from developed or parked domain names in the .com, .net, and .org extensions (myself included in the .com and soon .net). I haven’t spoken with anyone who has made money with .mobi names – other than a couple people who were very happy when they flipped a name to a speculator for a profit. Maybe I am just not networking with people who are doing big things with their .mobi names – a distinct possibility.
That said, I am wondering if any domain developer/investor has a financial success story around the development of a .mobi website (either generating revenue from direct to advertiser sales or even PPC). I don’t want to turn this into any type of pissing contest, but I am interested in knowing if there is money to be made in developing or parking .mobi domain names.
I am sure there is some traffic on the great one-word names like news.mobi or traffic.mobi or directions.mobi, but I am wondering what type of return people are seeing on these names. I am looking for independent investors and developers (like myself) rather than on large companies whose mobile websites can be reached using .com or .mobi (like BOA).
I paid a considerable amount of money for Lowell.com and Burbank.com knowing how I would develop these names and knowing the approximate amount of time it would take to earn a return on my investment, but I have no clue about .mobi. It’s been over a year and a half since the launch of .mobi names, and I would like to know if money has been made with development.
Is There Money in .Mobi Development?
Reseda.com – Geodomain for Sale – Great BIN Price
An acquaintance of mine is brokering the domain name Reseda.com, a great west-coast Geodomain. I would buy this name at this price, but am looking to invest in an east-coast city domain name. Reseda is a suburb/district of Los Angeles in an area called the San Fernando Valley. The BIN price for Reseda.com is just $25,000! To buy this great domain name, post “sold” in the comments section or send an email to Sally, who is brokering the name for her friend.
As reported in DNJournal a couple weeks ago, SimiValley.com recently sold for $90,000. Below is a comparison of key figures between Simi Valley and Reseda:
—-Comparison of Reseda, California to Simi Valley, California (courtesy of Sally)——
Population:
Reseda – 99,000 (Year 2008, Source: LA Times – 68,000 in 2000 according to Wikipedia)
Simi Valley – 118,687 (Year 2005, Source: Wikipedia)
Average Home Value:
Reseda- $550,000 (Year 2007, Source: BestPlaces.net)
Simi Valley – $545,000 (Year 2006, Source: CNN Money.com)
Median Household Income:
Reseda- $45,996 (Year 2007, Source: BestPlaces.net)
Simi Valley – $85,175 (Year 2006, Source: CNN Money.com)
Floyd Mayweather Files Cybersquatting Suit
TMZ is reporting that Floyd “Money” Mayweather has filed a lawsuit against Atlanta Sports & Entertainment Marketing for publishing an unauthorized fan website on FloydMayweather.net. According to the legal documents filed in the State of Nevada, Mayweather is suing for damages related to cybersquatting, as they used his name and fight footage in order to generate revenue. Mayweather is seeking unspecified damages in this lawsuit.
Interestingly, FloydMayweather.com was just transferred to the Greenberg Traurig law firm on or around May 17, 2008. This is the law firm that is representing Mayweather in the case against Atlanta Sports & Entertainment Marketing.
As foes like Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton know, you don’t mess with “Money” Mayweather!
Results of TRAFFIC East No/Low Reserve Auction
Moniker’s Low and No Reserve Auction at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East was held Tuesday evening, and the results of the auction are here:
daycare.org – $16,500.00
refinancing.net – $8,000.00
SpaceForRent.com – $8,000.00
DietChocolate.com – $7,500.00
TreatmentProgram.com – $4,000.00
but.net – $2,900.00
period.net – $2,750.00
15yearloan.com – $2,750.00
licensedrealestatebroker.com & licensedrealestatebrokers.com – $2,200.00
semisweetchocolate.com – $2,000.00
BroadwayShows.info – $1,750.00
INVESTMENTFUNDMANAGERS.COM – $1,500.00
encyclopedias.net – $1,000.00
ForexTradingTools.com – $800.00
any.biz – $800.00
XXX.SC – $300.00
Highlights:
Total sales: $62,750
Top sale: $16,500 for DayCare.org
Percentage of names sold: 53%
The highly anticipated Moniker Live Auction will take place this Friday beginning at 2pm. If you are interested in bidding online, make sure you sign up ASAP and download the auction software.
GeoDomain Expo Announced
The date and location of the 2008 GeoDomain Expo has been finalized and announced. For those of you who are in the GeoDomain space (or are looking to get into it), this is a fantastic opportunity to network with, and learn from the best of the best. The event is co-sponsored by The Kelsey Group and Associated Cities.
The event details are as follows:
When: July 10th – 12th, 2008
Where: W Chicago – City Center
Sponsors: The Kelsey Group & Associated Cities
Tickets: Purchase at AssociatedCities.com (Early Bird Special is only $595 until May 31st)
A sponsorship by the Kelsey Group shows just how important GeoDomains are to so many different companies. From what I’ve been told, the conference will be geared towards GeoDomains of all TLDs.
I am going to be there, and I look forward to meeting other people in the Geodomain space. Let me know if you can make it as well.
***This is an unconfirmed rumor, but I’ve heard through the grapevine that there might be a comeback performance from the 1980’s hit rock band, Michael Seven during the GeoDomain Expo. Stay tuned for more details…
Forwarding Traffic to an End User to Sell a Domain Name
I haven’t done this before, so it’s purely speculation, but if I wanted to sell a high-traffic category killer domain name to a large company, I might voluntarily forward the traffic to the company’s main website for a month to prove its worth. If I owned (and wanted to sell) a name like Tools.com, I might consider forwarding the traffic from that name to Craftsman.com (toolmaker owned by Sears). Assuming traffic to the name was strong, I wouldn’t even have to tell them I was doing it, as they would see a spike in their traffic, and their web analytics would tell them it was coming from Tools.com. Since they are a manufacturer and distributor (via forward to Sears.com), they would have the highest profit margin on tools, and a converted lead would be worth the most to them.
After seeing the Craftsman website and their redirect to Sears to make a purchase, I can tell the web marketing team at Sears must be fairly strong. Knowing this, I would imagine that they would be very intrigued if they saw a large unexpected spike in sales, and they would attempt to track why this spike occurred. I am sure they would be happily surprised to see Tools.com forwarding to them (at no cost), and they would then be disappointed when the test was abruptly ended. Armed with the data from the test, they might be willing to make a strong offer for Tools.com, since they would certainly have the data to justify a purchase.
Oftentimes, buying a category killer domain name means making a huge purchase without any hard data on the domain name. A buyer may be able to determine approximate traffic details, but they wouldn’t be able to get a great sense of who is visiting a domain name without actually having the data from the site, and they certainly wouldn’t be able to give a fair estimate on the traffic conversion. This makes it difficult for companies to spend hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars on category killer domain names. If they had the data, they may be more inclined to make an offer – or perhaps the domain name isn’t worth as much as we think it’s worth.
Boiled down, the value of a domain name is determined by the value it can bring to a company. Most companies doing business online use ROI (return on investment) calculations to determine how much to spend on a marketing campaign or expense. If we give these companies the opportunity to see what they are missing by not owning a category killer domain name, they might actually realize just how important a domain name is to their brand, and how valuable it could be in a competitor’s hand.
Again, I have no experience with this, but I would imagine it would be worth foregoing a month of PPC to do this test. Also it would be important to consult with a domain attorney (like Brett Lewis or John Berryhill) to ensure you are not putting your name at risk by potentially confusing consumers with the forward – obviously should be done before you start your campaign.