Selling to end users is the goal of most domain investors who sell their names. Oftentimes, we have great domain names, but the end user isn
Domain Names for Charity
Below are a few unregistered domain names I believe have good potential. Although I am not charging anything for researching these names, I am requesting that the person who registers each makes a donation to a non-profit charity.
AngerManagementCounselors.com
AngerManagementCounselor.com
AlcoholTreatmentClinic.com
AlcoholTreatmentClinics.com
NarcoticsTreatment.com
NarcoticsRehabilitation.com
A few charities I recommend (with the link to make a donation):
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
ALS Association
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Doe Fund
Meir Panim
**EDIT**
I received word from the person who registered the 6 domain names that a donation was made to http://www.kiva.org to help with this project:
Overcoming the Cybersquatting Label
http://www.ricksblog.com/my_weblog/2007/07/the-c-word-expo.html
No matter what you personally think of Rick Schwartz, he is on spot with this recent blog post. Domain owners and investors hold valuable pieces of virtual property, and some people who didn’t have the foresight to buy domain names while they were relatively cheap have been attempting to tarnish the image of generic domain owners by publicly labeling this group as “cybersquatters.” What has caused domain names to increase in value has also caused domain owners to be the target of what Rick refers to as “cyber bullies.” Fortunately, I believe domain owners are better equipped to protect our domain names than those who lost large land claims out west, but we need to be vigilant and support organizations such as the Internet Commerce Association. I have pledged to become a member as soon as they take Paypal or AmEx!
According to the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, a law amended to the Lanham Act in 1999, cybersquatting
“is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad-faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.”
The term “cybersquatting” is clearly derived from the word “squatting,” which is loosely defined as people living in a property in which they have no right to live, frequently without the owner’s knowledge, and certainly without his approval. The owner in the case of cybersquatting is the trademark owner. When people refer to generic domain owners as cybersquatters, they are either slandering this group or they are ignorant about the topic they are addressing. Generic domain name owners pay for the right to use their domain name in any way they choose. If they want to develop their domain name into a huge brand like Hotels.com, they have every right to do so. If they wish to place relevant advertising links on their page, they have the right to do that, too! Just because a domain name isn’t developed, doesn’t mean someone else should have the rights to the name. It doesn’t work in the case of physical property, and it doesn’t work for cyber property either.
Domain names such as Devices.com are considered generic because a company can’t claim ownership of that particular word as there are far too many people who would conceivably have the rights to that term as well. Assuming the domain name is generic, nobody has the right to decide whether one particular company or person deserves to own that domain name over somebody with equal rights. “Cyber bullies” attempt to sully the image of generic domain name holders in a slanderous way, and whether it is intentional or just uninformed writing, ignorance is never a valid defense.
Kudos to Rick for writing his post, and kudos to Ron Jackson of DNJournal for including this in The Lowdown section of DNJournal.com.
Domain Roundtable Live Auction
http://blog.domaintools.com/2007/07/domain-roundtable-auction-process/
Looks like another player has entered the live domain name auction arena, and I think this should be good for the domain investment business. Of course I like the lower commission, free bidding without mandatory attendance, and other features that will make this a smooth auction. It seems like an auction with 450 names will take quite some time though. Also of interest is that they will only permit 20 names to have reserve prices of $100k or higher. I am looking forward to watching this live online and possibly participating!
DNJournal TRAFFIC NY Recap
http://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2007/july.htm
Kudos to Ron Jackson for another great TRAFFIC recap. If you couldn’t make it to the show in New York, this is probably the next best thing. I’m glad I had the chance to meet and speak with Ron and look forward to reading more of his articles.
Educating & Selling to End Users
The goal of the Domain Distribution Network created and managed by Fabulous is to encourage end-users to purchase higher value domain names than they ordinarily would have considered. When a potential domain buyer searches for an unregistered domain name (at Godaddy for example), a list of Premium Domains appears, giving the searcher an opportunity to buy a better domain name than what they intended to find with their search. According to the DDN site:
There are approximately 6 million domains available for resale in the general market. Initially the DDN feed will offer over 500,000 of the highest quality domains available for resale. The average resale price of these domains is over 100 times the price of a new registration, and registrars typically average over $150 net revenue per domain sale.
Although this is a great opportunity to upsell an interested and presumably educated buyer, I think much more can be done to inform and educate end users about, and encourage end users to purchase generic domain names.
I think it would be in the best interest of the domain investment community and a company like Fabulous, BuyDomains.com, or an otherwise motivated company to sponsor workshops or seminars focused on teaching end users about domain names at industry specific tradeshows. I frequently see advertising agencies and consultants sponsoring lunch seminars at tradeshows to show how their particular company can help maximize advertising dollars. I believe if a company like Fabulous sent Dan Warner to teach a group of entrepreneurial business people how a generic domain name can help their business, it would be beneficial to the company and to the domain business at large. Let’s take the New York International Gift Fair as an example. If there was a Domain Distribution Network sponsored luncheon showing the advantages of owning a name like CheapPresents.com over SallysBirthdayPresents.com, the end users would “get it.”. Heck, this luncheon/seminar could be followed with a sale of targeted, well-priced domain names that could offset the cost of sponsorship and attendance. I bet there would be a residual impact as well when attendees return home after the conference to see what other names they can find using the DDN.
Small business owners are accustomed to dealing face-to-face with account representatives from the companies with whom they do business. Much of their business is done with a handshake in person at a tradeshow – especially when opening a new account with a supplier. For the most part, this is impossible to do on the Internet. To many small businesses, learning how to successfully operate with the help of the Internet is a daunting challenge. Why not meet with these business owners in person, make them feel comfortable and win their business? All of this can be accomplished by attending industry specific tradeshows.
A second idea I have to sell domain names to small business end users is to advertise industry specific domain names in industry specific publications. Kevin of BigTicketDomains.com did this on a broader scale in the Wall Street Journal. While this was a good idea and a nice starting point, I believe more success could be had if we target specific publications. If a group of domain owners with names in a specific industry got together and paid for a quarter page listing in that industry’s trade publication, I believe the results could be much different. I have been compiling a list of publications in various industries. I would be willing to share this with any interested parties – just drop me a line.
Ultimately, the more domain names that are developed into brands and websites, the better for the entire domain investment business. A few months ago, I noticed a Hermes store was opening on Wall Street across from the New York Stock Exchange. A few weeks later, I noticed a Tiffany’s was opening down the block, and two weeks ago I saw a Thomas Pink shop was opening very close as well. These were all preceded by the development of upscale condominiums in the Financial District. The point is that the more small businesses that develop generic domain names, the more others will want to emulate them and do the same. This will certainly increase the value of our premium generic domain names.
Small business owners are much more likely to develop domain names if they understand more about how a domain name works. I believe if we educate them, they will be much more inclined to buy our names. The platform has been created – now we must reach out and let the end users know where and why they need to be looking.