In an effort to promote transparency, the Internet Commerce Association has revealed its membership directory. The membership is beginning to take shape as a “Who’s Who” in the domain investment and developer community. As the Internet Commerce Association is able to continue to spread their message, I think the membership will continue to expand. I still believe the ICA is the only trade group that is looking after the rights of domain registrants.
Internet Commerce Association Membership
Low Reserve Domain Portfolio Auction
I am selling the entire set of names below for the highest offer that I receive by 12pm EST (noon) on Thursday. I am not selling the names individually, so please don’t ask. This is a multi-venue post, but I will update the thread when offers are received. Feel free to start the bidding at $10 with $10 increments. All names are registered at Moniker for an easy free push to your Moniker account.
ApplePickers.com
ArkansasSite.com
CheapToiletries.com
ChristianityExpert.com
ChristianityExperts.com
ChristianityTeacher.com
ChristianityTeachers.com
ChristianityWebsites.com
CommoditiesInvestors.com
DelawareBusinessLoans.com
DelawareInsurer.com
FloridaSubprimeMortgages.com
HaveBeens.com
HealthcareBargain.com
HiTechFund.com
HMOCompanies.com
ImmediateAlerts.com
ImmediateCreditScores.com
MerlotWorld.com
NevadaForeclosureAuctions.com
NewJerseyBusinessLoans.com
NewJerseyForeclosureAuctions.com
NewJerseyInsurer.com
NewJerseyInsurers.com
NewJerseyShoppingCenters.com
NewYorkInsurer.com
NewYorkInsurers.com
OhioInsurer.com
OhioInsurers.com
OregonTeacher.com
PortableComputerMemory.com
PortableMemoryCards.com
PortableVideoDevice.com
ReusableMemory.com
RhodeIslandLender.com
SubprimeHomeLending.com
SubprimeHomeRefinancing.com
SubprimeMortgageProblems.com
TelemarketingSite.com
TexasInsurers.com
TexasSubprimeMortgages.com
TruckDrivingInsurance.com
WirelessHandheldComputer.com
WirelessHandheldComputers.com
WorkersClothing.com
Lowell Project: Technical Setback
I ran into a technical problem with the Lowell.com website hat has caused a minor setback and will hopefully cause just a short delay. Throughout the development and review process, I have always viewed the site on my Macbook using Firefox, Safari, and the most updated Internet Explorer browser. The few people that have also reviewed the site have used similar browsers and computers as well. Unfortunately, after asking a friend to review the site, we determined it not only looked distorted using Internet Explorer 6, but it was unusable. Additionally, the site looked distorted at 800 pixels.
My developer is working on a fix for this as we speak, but it is causing a delay at the moment. While this is something that I will catch well in advance the next time, it wasn’t something I spent much time considering. We all make assumption when doing things, but you know what they say about people who assume things!
You can read more about this minor setback as well as the progress of the Lowell.com website on the Lowell.com blog. I am still hoping to launch it in a couple of weeks. Please keep in mind that the site is being built offline, so the current Lowell.com website looks nothing like how the new website will look.
Re-Contacting Domain Owners
Now might be a great time to re-contact domain owners if they were previously reluctant to sell a domain name. With the credit crunch, rising unemployment rate, depressed real estate values, and the dropping Dow (aside from the past few days), people may wish to cash in their virtual domain assets. This might make it easier for you to convince someone to sell a domain name they have been holding out on selling.
While most domain investors archive their mail messages, allowing them to contact buyers who made offers in the past, many passive domain owners may not. Recontacting these people may be the only way to get back in touch. As long as a respectful email is sent, I don’t think you will have any problems in terms of annoying someone or having them think you are spamming them. In fact, some might welcome the fact that you are checking in with them. I have found that being persistent (but not in an annoying way) works wonders. I prefer saying something to the effect of:
“We haven’t spoken in a while, and I am still interested in buying xxxxxxxxx.com. Would you consider selling it at this point? If not now, please let me know if you change your mind in the future. I am willing to buy it for $x,xxx.”
While I don’t like to capitalize on someone else’s loss, your offer may come at a good time for them, and they may have decided to sell their domain name.
Lowell Update: Change in Execution Strategy
I apologize for not updating the Lowell.com development blog in a while. For the last few weeks, I have been busily trying to finish, revise and edit the Lowell.com website, and I think we are getting very close to launch now. Basically all of the pages are done and set, but it’s just a matter of going through to make sure there aren’t typos, ensuring that all of the links work and take people to the proper places, and just cleaning everything up. There will be many tweaks made after launch, but I want a presentable website launched before I begin soliciting advertisers.
Since the last update, I made a major change in the execution strategy of Lowell.com. Previously, I intended to use phpMyDirectory to allow me to include a full directory site that would be easy for businesses to update and enhance their listings. After spending quite a bit of time thinking about this – and even starting the work on this, I decided to change course and not use a full directory. There were several reasons for this decision, and I expounded on them on the Lowell.com blog.
I plan to write a couple more updates in the next few days, and hopefully the Lowell.com beta site will be launched by the end of March or first week in April! We are only a couple of weeks behind, but I think that’s pretty good!
Props to Domaining.com
Although I don’t always agree with Francois’ industry viewpoints, I think he started a great website with Domaining.com. The site makes it very easy to see when domain blogs/news outlets have updated, and it’s very easy to navigate to those sources. I have a few industry resources in my RSS feeder, but Domaining.com makes it much easier for me to get domain industry news quickly from sources that I don’t necessarily read daily. Thank you to Francois!