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Not a Smart Start for Yahoo’s Kickstart

Elliot Silver
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2

Yahoo recently announced the launch of Kickstart, a new social networking site.    I wanted to check it out, so I navigated to Kickstart.com, and I found a Network Solutions “Coming Soon” landing page.    Curious, I did a Whois search for Kickstart.com, and I learned that Yahoo doesn’t own this name.    It’s owned by a company called Toe-Food Chocolates, and has been owned by them since at least February of 2003.    Yahoo’s Kickstart website is actually located at kickstart.yahoo.com.    

Although this is in line with Yahoo’s other brands (http://finance.yahoo.com as an example), I think this is very shortsighted.    Perhaps Yahoo is looking in to acquiring this great generic name, but wouldn’t it have made more sense to acquire the name before launching the brand?    I can’t even imagine the amount of traffic that has been lost in the last few days. It would probably be better if Kickstart.com was a developed website so visitors would know to look elsewhere. Because of the landing page that is currently on the website, visitors may just assume the site hasn’t launched yet.

Search Bar – “What Can I Serve You?”

Elliot Silver
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2

There have been plenty of times where I walked into a bar and asked for a beer that the bar doesn’t stock.    Of course, I ordered a different beer, but for the sake of this post, let’s say that I really wanted a particular kind of beer, and when the bartender informed me that he doesn’t have it, I walked out and went to the bar down the street.

If this scenario happens just once or twice, the lost business probably won’t cost the bar much money.    However, if this is a recurring situation, it would be in the bar’s best interest to begin carrying the requested beers to satisfy the needs of its customers and not miss out on a revenue generating idea.

Likewise on a website, the owner should do his best to provide content that is of interest to his visitors.    Oftentimes if a visitor doesn’t find what he needs, he will use the search bar to locate it.    A savvy website/domain owner will use the search log information to see what his visitors are looking for but can’t seem to find.    He will then make adjustments to his product/content selection to ensure the needs of his visitors are met.    

The lost revenue from one or two visitors may be small, but if you can learn about what your customers want and offer it to them, you are sure to satiate your visitors’ thirst for information.

(Special thanks to Jonathan for reminding me about how important the search bar can be to a domain owner!)

Barry Diller’s IAC Split into Five Units

Elliot Silver
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1

This morning, Barry Diller’s Internet conglomerate IAC announced they will split into five separate publicly traded companies.   The break down is as follows:

IAC
Ask.com, Citysearch, IAC Advertising Solutions, Evite, iWon, My Way, Match.com, CollegeHumor, GarageGames, and  Gifts.com

HSN
HSN TV, hsn.com, and  Cornerstone Brands

Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster

Interval International
Interval International

LendingTree
LendingTree

By breaking IAC up into smaller operating units, investors will be able to focus on the individual businesses in each unit, and one poor performing website will have less of an impact on the value of the entire company. Personally, I like the unit that will retain the IAC brand.   More information about this can be found on Yahoo Finance.

Online Impact of Writers Guild Strike

Elliot Silver
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0

When the Writers Guild of America held their first labor strike in 1988, television viewers turned to cable as an alternative to the regular shows they were missing, and they clearly embraced the programming.    That first strike lasted 22 weeks, and the impact of  it can still be seen today in America’s television viewing habits, which continue to rely on cable television as its main source of entertainment.

How will the Writers Guild strike of 2007 impact us in this day and age of the Internet?    If the first strike was indicative of what will happen,  people  will probably  spend more time entertaining themselves online rather than watching reruns on television.    User generated content, which is always  well stocked,  should be in high demand.   Sites such as YouTube will certainly benefit from the strike.

Unique content will be key to turning eyeballs into dollars.  People will be looking to satiate their viewing needs, and if they can get their fix on the Internet, they will certainly be back for more.  This could be a great opportunity for some websites to become more mainstream and capture a new audience of Internet savvy viewers.

I think  Doug Aamoth said it best on Crunch Gear,

“To those of you in the Writers Guild; whether or not I agree with the reason you’re striking, I wish you the best of luck and I hope you consider creating content for the web. And if you do, I hope you’ll realize that you don’t need the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to get that content onto the Internet.” — Source: Crunch Gear

Pick a Name… Any Name… Administration

Elliot Silver
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8

I was looking at Frank Schilling’s NameAdministration.com website and just spent the last couple minutes drooling on my computer. Now that the keyboard is dry and the screen is clean, I am able to pose this question: If you could have one of the names listed on the Name Administration website, which would it be?

I would probably choose eShopping.com and build it out as a virtual shopping center. I would find as many shopping affiliates as possible and sell as much stuff as I could, doing my best to optimize each page for Google search.

What would you choose?

WeddingChannel.com – Smart Interactive Marketers

Elliot Silver
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4

WeddingChannel.com is a company that uses generic domain names to its advantage. When you take the term “Wedding Channel” at face value, it doesn’t really mean much in terms an interactive company. My first thought would be that “Wedding Channel” is a television channel with shows focusing on the planning and execution of a wedding. Well, WeddingChannel.com is actually one of the largest online wedding resources.

In my opinion, the bread and butter of WeddingChannel.com is its wedding registry. Couples are able to sign up on WeddingChannel.com and link wedding registries from stores such as Bloomingdales, Tiffany’s, Macy’s, Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn….etc. Guests are able to learn more about the couple, sign a guest book, see event details, and of course, they can purchase wedding presents from various registries all online. Because couples know that most guests will search for them on WeddingChannel.com, they sign up.

One reason for the success of WeddingChannel.com is that they own a ton of awesome generic domain names that all forward to the WeddingChannel.com website. If a person enters one of the company’s names, they will automatically land on WeddingChannel.com, where they are able to find what they need. Some examples of fantastic domain names owned by WeddingChannel.com include:

WeddingRegistry.com
BridalRegistry.com
BridalGowns.com
WeddingPlanner.com
Weding.com (They even own a high value typo!)

This shows that WeddingChannel.com “gets” domain names and uses them to promote their business. Some people don’t get this. They choose not to buy a generic name because they claim it will water down their brand. I think that’s crazy, because as long as they forward the traffic to their main site, the visitor will hardly notice.

Anyone who types in WeddingRegistry.com is looking to find (or create) a wedding registry. Instead of having to pay per click on someone else’s domain name, WeddingChannel.com OWNS ALL OF THIS TRAFFIC! If a person is searching for a wedding registry and they directly navigate to WeddingRegistry.com, Voila – they will find what they need at WeddingChannel.com.

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