Weekend Updates and Thoughts

One thing I think about when deciding to invest in a domain name is to see if there is commercial value to the domain name. There are many excellent domain names that have meaning, but if nobody is going to use it commercially, it will be difficult to sell. That should be an important consideration to make when buying a domain name, and I think it’s often overlooked.

  • Great rebranding and redesign from Ray Hackney. I like the new TLD Investors brand better than the previous brand, and that is probably attributed to the fact that I dislike the term “domainer.” I think Ray is most likely the busiest writer in the domain space, and I enjoy reading his insights. I hope he has a smooth transition to the new url and he gets some Google love!
  • People often ask me my opinion on ccTLD investments and foreign language .com investments. I think there is a market for ccTLD domain names (obviously), but I don’t think I own very many, aside from the repurposed TLDs that are generic. I own a few non-English ccTLDs, but I haven’t made much money from them. I stick to what I know, and that would be English keyword .com domain names, but I do think there’s probably money to be made in those verticals. Not for me though.
  • As you can see on the right sidebar, Dots.com is coming up for auction. It was previously a clothing company, and Hilco Streambank is auctioning it.  Bids are due May 6 with an auction scheduled for May 8.  Assets include trademarks, domain names and customer list. If this is of interest to you, check out the bid sheet and/or contact Jack Hazan at Hilco Streambank.
  • I got the new Twitter profile late last week, and I just updated my account with the new profile. The new Twitter profile graphic dimensions are 1500 pixels wide x 500 pixels high for the header graphic and 400 pixels high x 400 pixels wide for the photo avatar graphic. I think the new layouts look pretty sleek.
  • Some people are critical when they see the same topic covered on several domain blogs, even if it seems clear both articles were being written at the same time. It also seems some people are critical when a blog doesn’t cover a topic, even if it’s being extensively covered elsewhere. You can’t win! I try to cover topics of interest to me and topics that will impact my business. Sometimes I deviate, but I don’t want to write about things that aren’t interesting to me or won’t impact my business. I can also cover things I know about, and I am not going to write an article based on what someone else blogged about because it’s not fair to them. If you have something that you think would benefit other domain investors by sharing, please contact me.
  • Always check the spelling on your backorders! If you see a great keyword domain name and it has fewer than expected bids (ie 25 bids when it should have 250 bids), double check the spelling! There have been many times I’ve been in an auction, especially because of a last minute backorder, only to realize it’s a typo!
  • I registered for the Pan-Mass Challenge to raise funds for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. I will share more details tomorrow, but I will be biking 47 miles in a day in August and I am super excited to participate. I did a 70 mile bike ride a few years ago, so I am more concerned about the fundraising aspect than the actual ride.
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

8 COMMENTS

  1. Well be careful about that kind of biking because I know a guy who was in great shape and not the least bit overweight who pushed himself too hard with biking and wound up getting a heart attack. It was only after that they found he had some kind of problem dealing with cholesterol. He was fortunate that the heart attack wasn’t major and he was able to go back to biking, but of course he can’t overdo it like before.

  2. Seeing the Dots.com name from Hilco reminded of the Tweeter.com name that they had up for auction and that you did a story on. The name didn’t sell in the auction but I found this story about the name that I think you will get a good laugh from. Maybe you already read it. Is it Twitter or Tweeter? LOL

    Tweeter.com and Twtr.com still for sale at Sedo. Make offer.

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/101087717

  3. “It also seems some people are critical when a blog doesn’t cover a topic, even if it’s being extensively covered elsewhere. You can’t win!”

    LOL. It seems you can’t even win completely when you post about planning to do a charitable deed like a bike run fundraiser without someone coming in with the non-happpy cautionary admonition, albeit well intended.

    Okay, well obviously the quote above was substantially and perhaps close to entirely this time inspired by what I just posted in the real estate agent thread and your reply: https://www.domaininvesting.com/something-consider-negotiating-real-estate-agent/.

    I was kind of on the path of letting it go so to speak, hence no mention above, but I’ve reconsidered and don’t think that’s really the best thing to do after all.

    You see, the truth is that the two issues that I mentioned in the real estate agent thread, especially the one that most immediately can affects the whole world of domaining and online publishing, are not at all being extensively covered elsewhere, i.e. not at all in the domaining community.

    You really had it right the first time when you said “burying my head in the sand” in the real estate agent thread, as that is what pretty near every one of the most famous and well known players in the domaining community have been doing. It’s pretty much dead silence. But they are the ones who are in the position to rally the troops so to speak, to incite people to get involved and possibly make the necessary difference. That is why it’s so disappointing to see people in public profiles like yours essentially dropping that ball.

    I had honestly never even heard of DomainIncite before the link I posted in the real estate agent thread, and that one little debate thread that occurred does not by any means “extensively covered elsewhere” make. Moreover, it was completely adversarial to begin with, and is now just something essentially completely buried and out of view. That is by no means what is needed in my view.

    Right now the only immediately visible thread I have even found in the domaining community on one of the two important issues I mentioned in the real estate agent thread is at namepros, about half way down the “Industry News” page, here: https://www.namepros.com/industry-news/819812-usa-to-cede-icann-exclusivity.html.

    The OP’s very fist statement in the thread of March 22, 2014 really says it all regarding the high profile element of the domaining community at large, the ones in the position to rally people to get involved and let their voice be heard:

    “Kind of surprised that this isn’t being talked about much around here. Any thoughts?” (https://www.namepros.com/industry-news/819812-usa-to-cede-icann-exclusivity.html#post4624686)

    He made that statement about NP (“around here”), but it truly captures what has been going on with nearly every other prominent venue, with little to no exceptions that I have seen, and even if those exceptions exist they are pretty well buried now.

    So it’s not about me or anyone else “being critical” when something isn’t being covered or addressed. Rather it’s about when something really has such huge potential implications, consequences and importance to the industry, including your own business, that there occasionally comes a time when it may be necessary to nudge and exhort the people at the top of the arena of public visibility to use their positions to rouse and inform everyone else to awareness and action.

    • I think the issue of ICANN control is more of a political issue, and I have no interest in organizing something across the domain space either. Keep in mind there are many companies operating in this business who have no issue with the US ceding oversight of ICANN.

  4. True, albeit the term “domainer” is now generic within the domain industry, it can sound slightly hobbyist.

    However, it’s often a good keyword for a newbie to key into the trade.

  5. I think a lot of people need to think really long and hard about the term investing . . .especially when it comes to taxes. 2cents.
    I am not an investor.

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