Perfect Domain Auction Email Marketing Tactic

The best direct marketing tactic for a live domain auction I’ve seen didn’t come from an auction house. Nope – it wasn’t from one of the major companies actually hosting the auction. Today I received an email from someone who has a domain name listed for sale in the upcoming DomainFest Snapnames Live Auction.

To Whom It May Concern:
Wu.net will attend the Domainfest auction (in person and also online) from Jan. 22, with reserved price of only US$ 10,000.
If you are interested, please visit their website as soon as possible, and make all the necessary preparations:
https://www.snapnames.com/liveAuctions.do
Thank you and good luck!
Meken”

I’ve seen many complaints from people who have names in various live auctions, and many of them are related to the auction house not doing a good enough job of bringing potential buyers to the auction. This seller isn’t going to simply rely on the auction house to bring a buyer for his name. He is going through his past emails, finding people who have inquired about this name in the past, and encouraging them to sign up and bid. I had sent him an email in October of 2006 when I was in the market for a 2 letter .net domain name.
I applaud Meken for not relying on Snapnames to bring potential bidders to the auction for WU.net (although with their fantastic auction inventory, I don’t think it will be a problem). I also happen to think he has a reasonable reserve price of just $10,000 for this nice domain name. I would bet that WU.net will have a new owner in a couple of weeks.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
  1. Another step smart auction sellers take is googling their base term/s and pitching via e-mail & phone those companies who either use the word/s in their web addresses and/or sell that/those particular product/s & service/s.

    ***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
    I did that once for a Moniker auction, and it paid dividends. I don’t know if those buyers showed up because a domain investor won the name, but there were multiple bidders in the live auction. That name was my second big domain sale.

  2. I did one step farther .. I had a bunch of PRWeb credits left so I did a press release about TheaterTickets.com and a couple of other domains in the auction that will be out later tonite.
    Also included a quip about DomainFest and a few other names in the list as examples of the selection. ( Just quick picks there were allot to choose from but I hope it helps their owners sell the names.)
    Will probably add a note to the site as well if I get a free minute before I leave for LA. ( Thanks Adam )
    http://www.emediawire.com/releases/Domain_Name/Auctions/prweb636381.htm
    btw Elliot, your blog is coming along very nicely. Great Job.

  3. ThANKs
    v’r also doing some direct marketting
    for our VRtv and Conf
    which may b in ‘the auction ,
    there’s 1 thing
    which may b very important
    for any potential buyer to pay attention instantly : :::::
    https://www.snapnames.com/liveAuctionsFaqs.jsp#howDoIBid
    >>>> We recommend that
    >>>> you visit the Live Auctions page at snapnames.com
    >>>> a minimum of three days prior to the auctions
    >>>> to download the Live Auctions software.

  4. Help Needed!
    Elliot,
    I also plan on taking the iniative with PR matters regarding any auction that my domains are in. I want to target companies that advertise as sponsored links for that keyword or keyword phrase in the cases where my domain shows up in the 1-5 position on the first page.
    I am trying to get a handle on how I can best present the case to these companies for purchasing my domain that ranks as high or higher than their own sites which they have paid dearly for that position.
    My challenge is to get an idea how much it may be costing them to be there. I am looking at Google AdWords Traffic estimator to see what a word like “affiliate” and other variations might cost an advertiser a day for “x” clicks. I am assuming if the the same advertiser shows up as a paid sposored link under every search variation of “affiliate(s)” -and I have ran tons of searches- than that sponsored link, according to AdWords costs $5,000 a day for 2,000 clicks. That is $1,825,000 a year!!
    Let’s just say that one of the big affiliate firms pays half that budget, and I own 150 “affiliate” domains that rank on the first page, top 1-7 positions naturally. In theory, how much money could that advertiser save over 5-10 years by purchasing one or more of my domains?
    I am sure that there is no easy answer, but do you have any idea how I could devise a formula so that I could present a proposition to these advertisers?
    I would appreciate any input that you have. I am trying to get ready for Moniker’s Affiliate Auction in February.
    Thanks!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Recent Posts

Squadhelp Adds Escrow.com as a Payment Option

1
Squadhelp has added Escrow.com as a payment option for buyers. The addition of the Escrow.com option was shared by ARIYAS on X this morning: 👍...

Some Thoughts on .AI Domain Names

19
There is no question that .AI domain names have become a hot topic of late. With considerable amounts of venture funding flowing into AI...

Handoff to Dan on Imported Leads Can be Confusing

0
I've been using the lead import option at Dan.com more regularly. Although the 5% commission is not ideal, transactions tend to move more quickly...

ArtificialIntelligence.com Goes Up for Sale

11
I tried to buy the ArtificialIntelligence.com domain name multiple times over the last 10 years. The emails I sent to the registrant went unanswered,...

EU Gives More IP Protection to Food & Drink Producers

0
Did you know that some well-known food and drink varieties are protected intellectual property regulations? Popular types of drinks and foods that are protected...