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No Hurray for "Hoorray"

Elliot Silver
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I understand the whole web 2.0ish theme of creating a cool sounding company name, but that becomes a problem when it confuses visitors who accidentally type-in the domain name phonetically. This type of thing seems to happen all the time when people opt to spend money on marketing efforts rather than ponying up to buy a good domain name. It’s almost like building a beautiful home high up in the mountains of New Hampshire. Sure, the house is beautiful, huge, and there is plenty of cheap land to build a sprawling estate, but when it comes time to invite your friends, you better hope it doesn’t snow, because they aren’t making it if there’s snow.
I was reading through my emails this morning, and I received a press release with the headline “Hoorray.com Acquires “Hooray” Domain Name.” Apparently, the company thought buying the correct spelling Hooray.com was press-release worthy. According to a representative of the company,

“This is a significant step as we prepare to relaunch the 2.0 version of Hoorray later this summer,” said Robin Zieme, Director of New Ventures for Hoorray. “While the spelling of Hoorray with two r’s was not a hindrance, it will ensure that all traffic intended for our site comes our way.”

Maybe I am not their target audience, but whether the name has one “r” or two, if someone suggests that I visit Hoorray, I am probably going to type in Hurray.com, another proper spelling of that word. Yes, having a cool and unique company name makes for a less expensive domain name, but losing a considerable amount of traffic to the proper/alternate spelling of the domain name can be an expensive mistake – especially since the correctly spelled domain name will increase in value once the incorrectly spelled domain name starts driving traffic to it.
I’m old school. If I am going to confidently build an online company that will rely on web traffic for revenue, I am going to bank on its success and buy a non-confusing domain name. At least if the company fails, the domain name will still have value!

Cool SEO on Dating Website, but is it Invasive?

Elliot Silver
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I did a Google search using a friend’s name today, and I saw a great search engine optimization concept. In the meta description on one of the first results for this person’s name, I saw a JLove.com link, with a meta description of “Meeting Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxxx and an assortment of other fantastic Jewish singles is easy, it takes but a moment to upload your very own profile to get involved in Jewish dating!”
I think this is a cool approach to SEO in case a person is looking up someone they just met and perhaps want to get to know a little better. However, if I was performing a Google search of a potential job candidate, this could be perceived as being invasive. While many people aren’t shy about admitting they are involved in Internet dating (I have 2 married friends who met on Jdate), it seems inappropriate to use people’s names as search bait.
While I’ve noticed social networking companies like Friendster and MySpace using this cool technique, I question whether this invades users’ privacy, especially if they don’t even know the site is doing this.

TropicalBirds.com – Mini Site Launched

Elliot Silver
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I went a bit overboard with the launch of my latest mini-site, TropicalBirds.com. Instead of a small site, as the “mini-site” moniker would seem to indicate, I decided to build a fairly large website filled with tropical bird information, videos, shopping affiliate links, and resources. As I was building the plan for the site, I decided that since it is an informational site, I needed information – the more the better.   With hundreds of types of tropical birds, I figured I would build a site about some of the most common birds.
The website isn’t completed yet, as many of the bird articles are still being written. While some people might not like the strategy of launching a site with several unfinished pages, I don’t think this is much of a problem since the name isn’t in the Google algorithm yet, and the 404 errors shouldn’t harm the non-existent ranking. While 404 errors may look bad to some visitors, the type-in traffic is fairly small, so I am not losing out much here. I anticipate a “full” launch in about a week and a half.
So what’s the end-game with this site? As time permits, I will continue to add new pages, videos, and pictures to the site, growing the reach of it. I will be in touch with other bird sites offering reciprocal links in an effort to improve the search engine optimization of the site, and I will also be selling advertising space and links. Ultimately, my plan is to grow this into a revenue producing website with the Adsense and affiliate links. My 6 month goal is to earn a modest $10-15/day, which would make this a $36-50,000 website based on a 10 year revenue multiple.   Ordinarily $10/day in 6 months would seem small, but the RPC for is fairly small.
If I have a dozen sites like this built, it will generate some passive revenue while increasing the liquidation value of my domain portfolio. Additionally, sites like these can be a fantastic test bed to try new things with Adsense placement, image placement, links and other things.

Patrick Carleton Interview

Elliot Silver
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I’ve been out of town the last couple of days, but I just read Patrick Carleton’s interview about the 2008 Geo Domain Expo. A number of people have asked me about the Expo, and I think this interview will shed more light onto why I am attending. If you are considering whether or not to attend, I think you should take a couple of minutes and read the interview.

SchoolVacations.com – Travel Related Domain Name

Elliot Silver
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Up for sale is SchoolVacations.com with a low Buy It Now price of just $3,000. This domain name would be perfect for a student travel, spring break, or family tour company website looking to capitalize on school vacation travel opportunities. Every school has at least a few vacations, and families tend to do their travel during school vacations.
A Google search of “school vacations” shows over 130,000 listings, and there are also advertisers. There are even more listings and advertisers when you do a search without the quotations, which is how many people search. The BIN price is cheap, and the first person to post “sold” will get this great domain name at a fantastic price.

Associated Cities Membership & GeoDomain Expo Growth

Elliot Silver
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What a great day today! Not only did I book my flight to Chicago for next month’s GeoDomain Expo, I also just heard from Patrick Carlton (Executive Director of Associated Cities), and Lowell.com was approved to become a member of Associated Cities. This is exciting news, and I look forward to contributing to that organization and learning from the members who have experience in developing and making money from their geodomain names.
I also had a conversation with David Castello who informed me that ticket sales for the 2008 GeoDomain Expo are 200% higher than last year. This is also great news because it means I can learn from and share with more likeminded people. I don’t know the exact number of people who are attending, but I hope they don’t run out of space! Knowing the Castello Brothers, Dan Pulcrano, Jess Bookstaff and many others in the geo space, I don’t think I am going to get much sleep during the conference.
If you haven’t had a chance to register for the GeoDomain Expo, I recommend that you do it ASAP. The cost of flying to Chicago is rising, so it’s in your best interest to book soon.   The cost of attending the show is $695, which is less than most domain conferences, and the convention hotel is less than $250.

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