Via RRW:
The consumer product review site SharedReviews.com will announce tomorrow that it has taken an undisclosed sum of investment from parties in the domain buying industry. Those investors include Frank Schilling, one of the world’s most successful domain buyers, Seattle based early-stage VCs Monster Venture Partners and the big domainers at Internet Real Estate Group.
Content from SharedReviews will subsequently be leveraged to populate a vast swath of parked domains. Genericly named domains, misspelled domains, random domains that show up in search results - now they’ll have real live (syndicated) content on them, in addition to contextual advertising. Though it’s easy to look with suspicion on anything that big domainers do, this might not be so bad for the rest of us.
Great choice of initial investors. Congrats Frank, Peter!
Continue reading...
Your name as a brand can be a powerful force both online and offline. Former NHL hockey Hall of Famers and two of the greatest hockey players to ever lace up skates were Bobby Orr (BobbyOrr.com) and Wayne Gretzky (Gretzky.com). As smart as they both Orr and Gretzky were on the ice they also had the vision to develop their names and domain names as hockey brands on and off the ice. Check out their brilliant online e-commerce businesses:
Photo from BobbyOrr.com
S. Granville-Smith, SGranvilleSmith.com
Continue reading...
Elliot Silver continues strong, this time with a powerful and insightful interview with “Domain King” Rick Schwartz.
There’s too much good material to quote so I will keep it short, but be sure to read the whole interview for more. It is a fascinating read.
1.) EJS: Development seems to be one of the “hot topics” at recent TRAFFIC conferences, and you’ve indicated that you will be developing some of your domain names. What names in your portfolio are at the top of the line for development, and what type of development options are you considering?
RS: “I think Property.com, Candy.com and Widgets.com are the ones that are ripest for development. I have been in discussions with companies on two of these domains. However nothing concrete at this point. Like most things, it all is about the timing. iReport.com is also high on my list. I have experimented with other development. RumorMill.com for one. But development does not automatically mean more revenue. RumorMill.com will likely morph into another type site and be a PPC page during the transition. What most people don’t realize is I had developed sites in 1996 and 1997 when I still had my real world businesses. I have also developed sites that just stay in orbit and I even forget I have them.. eRealestate.com was one of my early sites and I have left much of that largely as a time capsule with only some obvious updates. But most of what was written there came from 1996-1999. I have about 10 other developed sites that I don’t talk much about. As the net matures, matching a great domain name with a profitable formula for development will become easier
Which is why parking pages are so popular. You may collect a little less but you tied up zero time and that alone has value. So every time you discuss development, it circles back to 100% automation. Parking = 0 minutes per month. Development = much more time per month. Eventually there will be some other options as businesses realize just how potent type in traffic is. No matter how you cut it and how well folks think they are doing the fact is the traffic domains produce is worth 10x the current payout rate and sometimes much much more. When the true value of traffic is fully exploited then you will see payouts explode. 2 cent visitors will be worth $20 or $200 or more. What kind of an increase is that? What does that do to the price of domain names with targeted type in traffic? And as parking pages get more sophisticated they will begin to capture data and email addresses and do mail outs and do other things to aid in developing databases of buyers. So development may not be what we expect it to be and it sure as hell is not easy to develop AND be profitable. But like solving the Rubix Cube….we keep trying.. And when folks laugh at those payouts above, they will just show their lack of vision. If I have somebody looking for a $1 million property and I hand delver them to the agent that could make a $60,000 commission, you going to tell me that is worth 2 CENTS?? 2 DOLLARS. $200?? BS! I would rather sell him a 25 cent piece of candy for that 2 cents or just give the visitor to charity. But when the DAY comes that the Realtor says you can make me $60k and I can pay you THOUSANDS for that lead….THEN you will see what a visitor is REALLY worth.. And if a domain can produce just 10 of those people a year, what is the value of that domain? We will laugh when we look back at this period of pennies. Wait until they actually figure it out. How can I be so sure? 2+2 =4. Just because we are in a time in which they have not figured out that 2+2 =4 does not mean WE have to change anything. 2=2 IS 4 and when they figure it out our job is to just be there waiting and the key ingredient is patience. So overpaying for a domain today is still a HUGE bargain when you look down the road and see what I believe will unfold.”
We see that every single day with FuneralHomes.com. A click that used to be valued at 10 cents now converts to a funeral of USD10K revenue and for the funeral home, potential life-value of a consumer of much more.
great job Elliot!
Continue reading...
Elliot Silver continues strong, this time with a powerful and insightful interview with “Domain King” Rick Schwartz.
There’s too much good material to quote so I will keep it short, but be sure to read the whole interview for more. It is a fascinating read.
1.) EJS: Development seems to be one of the “hot topics” at recent TRAFFIC conferences, and you’ve indicated that you will be developing some of your domain names. What names in your portfolio are at the top of the line for development, and what type of development options are you considering?
RS: “I think Property.com, Candy.com and Widgets.com are the ones that are ripest for development. I have been in discussions with companies on two of these domains. However nothing concrete at this point. Like most things, it all is about the timing. iReport.com is also high on my list. I have experimented with other development. RumorMill.com for one. But development does not automatically mean more revenue. RumorMill.com will likely morph into another type site and be a PPC page during the transition. What most people don’t realize is I had developed sites in 1996 and 1997 when I still had my real world businesses. I have also developed sites that just stay in orbit and I even forget I have them.. eRealestate.com was one of my early sites and I have left much of that largely as a time capsule with only some obvious updates. But most of what was written there came from 1996-1999. I have about 10 other developed sites that I don’t talk much about. As the net matures, matching a great domain name with a profitable formula for development will become easier
Which is why parking pages are so popular. You may collect a little less but you tied up zero time and that alone has value. So every time you discuss development, it circles back to 100% automation. Parking = 0 minutes per month. Development = much more time per month. Eventually there will be some other options as businesses realize just how potent type in traffic is. No matter how you cut it and how well folks think they are doing the fact is the traffic domains produce is worth 10x the current payout rate and sometimes much much more. When the true value of traffic is fully exploited then you will see payouts explode. 2 cent visitors will be worth $20 or $200 or more. What kind of an increase is that? What does that do to the price of domain names with targeted type in traffic? And as parking pages get more sophisticated they will begin to capture data and email addresses and do mail outs and do other things to aid in developing databases of buyers. So development may not be what we expect it to be and it sure as hell is not easy to develop AND be profitable. But like solving the Rubix Cube….we keep trying.. And when folks laugh at those payouts above, they will just show their lack of vision. If I have somebody looking for a $1 million property and I hand delver them to the agent that could make a $60,000 commission, you going to tell me that is worth 2 CENTS?? 2 DOLLARS. $200?? BS! I would rather sell him a 25 cent piece of candy for that 2 cents or just give the visitor to charity. But when the DAY comes that the Realtor says you can make me $60k and I can pay you THOUSANDS for that lead….THEN you will see what a visitor is REALLY worth.. And if a domain can produce just 10 of those people a year, what is the value of that domain? We will laugh when we look back at this period of pennies. Wait until they actually figure it out. How can I be so sure? 2+2 =4. Just because we are in a time in which they have not figured out that 2+2 =4 does not mean WE have to change anything. 2=2 IS 4 and when they figure it out our job is to just be there waiting and the key ingredient is patience. So overpaying for a domain today is still a HUGE bargain when you look down the road and see what I believe will unfold.”
We see that every single day with FuneralHomes.com. A click that used to be valued at 10 cents now converts to a funeral of USD10K revenue and for the funeral home, potential life-value of a consumer of much more.
great job Elliot!
Continue reading...
I've been asked a number of times whether dotAsia (component/option,com_openwiki/Itemid,85/id,dotasia/) will work as a new TLD. I think that work means will it gain acceptance and become a natural intent navigation TLD for millions of people living in Asia?
I actually think that dotAsia (component/option,com_openwiki/Itemid,85/id,dotasia/) will work but it will…
Continue reading...
Elliot Silver writes:
In 2004, Citibank unveiled their “Thank You” program, a rewards program that thanked customers for banking with Citi. I worked with some great creative people at Wunderman (Gus Tejerina, Barry Dickson, and Terry Pierce among many others) who came out with some great catchy advertising based on the “Thank You” theme.
At the time, I hadn’t purchased my first domain name, so suggesting that Citibank should buy ThankYou.com was never something I considered. In retrospect, with such a huge branding initiative undertaken by Citi, this domain name was critical for Citibank to own. Up until 2006, the domain name was owned by a company called 800 Brands, Inc. Sometime in late 2006, the domain name was purchased by Citibank, where it now anchors the “Thank You” rewards program.
And he concludes:
When a company unveils a new campaign or marketing slogan, they should always prepare for the best case scenario. They should ask, “if this becomes huge, will people expect to find more information at slogan.com?” If the answer is yes or maybe, they should buy the domain name before the campaign is dropped. Not doing this can result in missed contact opportunities or added expense when the name is needed.
100% in agreement here. a multi-billion dollar company was inquiring about a certain generic domain we have before they initiated a brand change, renaming their company. They could not reach an agreement with us for the domain (we priced it relatively cheap, USD 300K range) and they could not cope with the price. After a couple of months email-negotiating, they went ahead with a different domain, “new-co-name+tech.com”. Smart move? We have hundreds of email inquiries from suppliers, manufacturers, potential partners, that prove otherwise.
Think ahead.. it’s a smart move.
Continue reading...
Elliot Silver writes:
In 2004, Citibank unveiled their “Thank You” program, a rewards program that thanked customers for banking with Citi. I worked with some great creative people at Wunderman (Gus Tejerina, Barry Dickson, and Terry Pierce among many others) who came out with some great catchy advertising based on the “Thank You” theme.
At the time, I hadn’t purchased my first domain name, so suggesting that Citibank should buy ThankYou.com was never something I considered. In retrospect, with such a huge branding initiative undertaken by Citi, this domain name was critical for Citibank to own. Up until 2006, the domain name was owned by a company called 800 Brands, Inc. Sometime in late 2006, the domain name was purchased by Citibank, where it now anchors the “Thank You” rewards program.
And he concludes:
When a company unveils a new campaign or marketing slogan, they should always prepare for the best case scenario. They should ask, “if this becomes huge, will people expect to find more information at slogan.com?” If the answer is yes or maybe, they should buy the domain name before the campaign is dropped. Not doing this can result in missed contact opportunities or added expense when the name is needed.
100% in agreement here. a multi-billion dollar company was inquiring about a certain generic domain we have before they initiated a brand change, renaming their company. They could not reach an agreement with us for the domain (we priced it relatively cheap, USD 300K range) and they could not cope with the price. After a couple of months email-negotiating, they went ahead with a different domain, “new-co-name+tech.com”. Smart move? We have hundreds of email inquiries from suppliers, manufacturers, potential partners, that prove otherwise.
Think ahead.. it’s a smart move.
Continue reading...
“The World’s Most Ridiculous Sports Team Names”, via Cracked.com:
It used to be easy to name your sports team; just pick a dangerous animal and go. Unfortunately, there are way more sports teams in the world than there are cool animals, and the result is a lot of names that range from lame to laugh-out-loud retarded.
“Made-Up Words” (winner): Webster University Gorloks
“Trying Too Hard To Be Hip” (winner): Philadelphia Soul
“Abstract Concepts” (winner): Thailand Tobacco Monopoly
“Poor Choice of Role Model” (winner): Yuma Criminals
“Sounds Dirty” (winner): Butte Pirates
“Non-Threatening Inanimate Objects” (winner): Teutopolis Wooden Shoes
“Non-Threatening Humans” (winner): King Faisal Babies
Non-Threatening Animals (winner): Hiroshima Toyo Carp
And few more here..
Enjoy!
Continue reading...
