SUCCESSCLICK.COM

WHAT DOMAINERS WANT – ADD YOURS

I thought this would be a nice little “summary” of what I hear from my domainer friends, clients and associates on what they would like to see in the year 2010:

1) No runaway prices on domain registrations. Currently, it seems ICANN is going against the current recession, allowing Verisign to raise prices on .com extensions. Hey, somebody has to be able to abuse the system!

2) Transparency in PPC services, starting with the sources (Yahoo, Google, Bing, etc). This is the “talking to a wall” segment.

3) More information from domain blog experts on all the monetization options available for their domains, including myself

4) When to sell, when to build out, when to drop, how to avoid buying a TMer domain, when does a hyphen work, etc.

5) Seeing themed domain auctions with some new faces. We’re all tired of auctions that cater only to other domainers looking for a good deal

6) More surveys and reports on which are the best registrars to buy domains, based on ease of transfer, registration fee pricing, bulk management, ease of use through total control feature sets, etc.

7) More focus on domains sold by the “little guys”, which make up 98% of all domain sales, instead of incessant vanity articles on the domain players who have already made it big (millions of $$$) by selling domains we all know would sell for big bucks. What can domainers learn from these guys we all wish to be like? Answer: “You should have been there in 2000 with $100k in your bank account” and “This industry is easy when you come in with lots of money first”.

The majority of domain investors don’t have domains that fit the “six figure and up category”, and we already know all the success stories, projects, partnerships, ad nauseum, etc. of those lucky/smart 25 domainers who own the most domains, or the best domains. Let’s focus more on the new and old domainers who survive comfortably without any fanfare by selling domains for $1000 or less, every week. (I’m curious about my friend Rob Sequin’s rise in the industry). Let’s provide data on domains sold from $300 and up (thousands of these deals happen every month), show the hard working domain site builders (just watch Elliot go!), list the end user companies “getting it”, and how we can help more end user companies become educated on the value of domains in their business. List as many “end user” businesses buying generic prodservs domains as we can, and provide this info to use to anyone contacting an end user potential buyer to prove the value of domain names.

8 ) Reports on content building websites, their ease of use, the viability of the content, ROI, simplicity of adding custom content, SEO education, notification on when their “content site” has been indexed by any SE

These are but a few of the most requested “wants” I hear. If you have any to add, now’s your chance. If you identify yourself, I will allow a linkback to your website in your comment.

I admit I have failed in writing more helpful articles for new domainers, so I will try to provide information along these lines, and include relevant points added by those commenting here.

Happy domaining!

Read the rest of this entry »

IS IT TIME FOR AUCTION SITES TO MARKET TO END USERS?

As a domain appraiser for almost a decade, I started out confused after reading the domains that sold at “no reserve” at DFG yesterday. I had 13 “zero reserve” domains accepted by Moniker Auctions for the DFG 2010. I expected some bidding on several of these domains, because most of them get enough traffic to pay for their annual renewal fees and a little more.

However, what I’ve just read is that my domains below, which could have been purchased for $100 (I think that’s the minimum bid), (UPDATE- During Moniker’s Extended Auction, the minimum to buy any domain is $300) were not sold. Really? Am I that lame now? Should I close my doors and say “hell, I have no idea what people want”? Or should I take about 2 minutes to analyze the reality of this failure by the domain auction services to sell obviously generic brandable domains for $300 or more?

I chose the latter.  I analyzed the situation and thankfully, came back to my ongoing rant I’ve been screaming for over five years now:

DOMAINS ARE NOT SOLD AT VALUE UNLESS YOU GET END USERS INVOLVED. Obviously, the domain conferences have stopped trying to reach out to “end users”. Now it’s even become a “nice domains for cheap” isn’t enough for other domainers to get involved — they’re all in “sell mode”. So, for the auction sites,  it’s a “come kiss your sister and cousin, they’re cute” sales plan. “Let me hook you up with your aunt, and you can pay me 15% of the escort fee.” Ewww.  In other words, we’re selling to each other. There are no widespread “end user” markets being approached, educated and lured into these domain auctions. It’s a wholesaler’s game, and WE ARE IT. So all the domainers you know are aware of your domains, but there’s a few hitches in their expectations: Every dollar they spend on a domain is considered carefully. If they don’t have a buildout or resale plan in their heads already, your NO RESERVE DOMAIN, regardless of how wonderful it is, will not be sold at these auctions.  Sure, the one word naturals will sell, even in ccTLD’s… hooray for that.

But here’s my list of ZERO RESERVE DOMAINS, which would have been bought for $100 $300 if you were the only bidder, seemingly a reality at this point:

wirelessaccess.net, $0   (WIRELESS ACCESS . NET)
worldsubjects.com, $0  (WORLD SUBJECTS . COM)
learningcompanies.com, $0  (LEARNING COMPANIES . COM)
livecomfortable.com, $0  (LIVE COMFORTABLE . COM)
securealarmservice.com, $0 (SECURE ALARM SERVICE . COM)
simplewebservices.com, $0 (SIMPLE WEB SERVICES . COM)
perfectspanish.com, $0 (PERFECT SPANISH . COM)  SOLD FROM THIS BLOG POST, DOMAIN NOT AT AUCTION
bargaincruiseships, $0 (BARGAIN CRUISE SHIPS . COM)
unlimitedwebservices.com, $0 (UNLIMITED WEB SERVICES . COM)
advancedreservation.com, $0 (ADVANCED RESERVATION . COM)
administrationservices.com, $0 (ADMINISTRATION SERVICES . COM)
autographguru.com, $0 (AUTOGRAPH GURU .COM)
billingcompanies.com, $0 (BILLING COMPANIES . COM)

Any of these domains could have been purchased for at least $300, which I believe is the minimum bid on a “no reserve” domain. No bidders? Is DFG populated with a lot of attendees who are only networking and trying to sell sell sell… and the cycle of incest has finally ended? Is it all just Pimps now? Have we all become Pimps who have no street location to sell our wares?

Do I need to market to real “end users”?  Is this apparent failure to sell clearly generic domains for the minimum price ultimately marking the FINAL POINT where domain auctions have to bring in end users?

Do domain auction sites, live or silent, now have to step it up to reach out to the relevant companies that would be interested in these domains in order for the auction sites to actually EARN their commission? Heaven forbid!

Read the rest of this entry »

WANT A DOMAIN BRAND THAT STANDS OUT? HERE’S A ONE-STOP SHOP!

I really enjoy reading and perusing my associates’ blogs and domain industry service/products websites.  I wonder in amazement at the speed in which my domain industry friends are able to produce their ideas into working sites and make them grow so quickly.  It’s truly impressive.

One of the most prolific domain service creators is Francois Carrillo, who runs not only the MUST READ Domaining.com, but also several other website services for domainers, one of them being Mocus.com, the “focus” of this article. 

The best thing I like about Mocus.com is their pleasant homepage filled with realistic looking logos and neat domain names (all four character domains, pronounceable), staring up at you from eye-catching logos.  If I was a startup company looking for a memorable name and wanting/needing a catchy image to help me sell that name to my partners, I’d visit Mocus.com first, and seriously consider the domains listed there. It’s a quick sell page – what else do you need to do to prove these domains can be utilized as brands? Not much, but still some additions are needed to make this site perfect.

At the immediate level, Mocus is an impressive and ingenious way to show any marketing VP or director the potential of a domain name for setting the brand name of their new company. To be honest, it’s something a lot of companies should look at anyway to help them select a brand for a new project they’re already involved in. It’s a great place for advertisers to pick up on ideas…

Mocus also seems to have a robust affiliate plan, which purportedly offers a higher commission rate for leads than any other domain selling site.

My only main complaint with Mocus would be that they only feature four character words (so far). I think five character words, pronounceable, can be just as valuable, if not more valuable, than many four character words.

Overall, I think Mocus.com is a site that has a little more growing to do, but something that could be finished in a week. After that, I think anyone who wants to sell a CVCV.com domain who doesn’t place it on Mocus is losing a great source of promotion. Also, referring domains sellers to this site could make a nice revshare.

I’m looking forward to seeing this site grow and evolve to include any “brandable” domain, regardless of its character count.

Great $99 Domains! Get ‘Em While They’re Hot! Happy New Year!

I’m posting these domains for anyone looking for a great deal on generic branded domains. This posting is a lead-in for my long overdue website, BULKSALEDOMAINS.COM, which I should have finished by the end of Spring 2010.

All domains are ONLY $99.  The payment method MUST be Paypal. I will provide my Verified Paypal account upon your interest.

IMPORTANT NOTE: (All Google searches for multi-word domains below were done in “quotes”, so the results are based on the whole phrase together, not a count of each separate word):

ICHTHYOLOGIST.COM – $99 (this dictionary word domain means “someone who studies fish” – Google search count 123,000)

RADIOCONTROLRACING.COM – $99 (this is a phrase for remote/radio controlled racing – Google search count 45,900)

SAFELID.COM – $99 (this is a child-safety product, consumer/manufacturer – Google search count 117,000)

ELECTRICALSTRIPS.COM - $99 SOLD (These we all have, and always seem to come up one short when we need it! – Google search count 74,800)

AUTOMOTIVECOMPONENT.COM – $99 (An auto part, as described by design engineers and mechanics- Google search count 119,000)

BROADBANDAMPLIFIER.COM – $99 (A device to increase your internet/wifi connection speed – Google search count 34,000)

PALMSPRINGSHOME.US – $99 (Popular resort in the desert of California, full generic in the .us extension – Google search count 451,000)

LASVEGASHOUSE.US – $99 (Popular resort in the desert of California, full generic in the .us extension – Google search count 448,000)

MOBILEHITSONGS.COM – $99 (Nice brand for listing ringtones – no Google search results [3] but I love this brand name)

DISCOUNTMADRID.COM – $99 (Nice brand for listing travel and hotel, shopping discounts for Madrid, Spain – Google search count 70,500)

TEXASOILSYSTEMS.COM – $99 (A great brand for oil equipment products/services in Texas )

Read the rest of this entry »

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

Wishing you all the very best for the Holiday Season… with joy and comfort for all of your family and friends!

Cheers!

Stephen and Denise Douglas.

AMAZING DOMAIN TRICK – GOOGLE FEATURE UNVEILED

Hi Gang,

I’m going to give a way a secret I’ve been using for several years.  This feature involves a process of “gauging” the popularity of your generic descriptive domain of prodservs. (This may be the biggest DOMAINING TIP you received all year.)

This simple procedure using Gmail has done a lot to help me pinpoint fast-moving topics and pick up domains that are showing if their “trend” is becoming popular. The more articles returned on your alerts, the more popular your generic domain is. Not only that, the alerts bring you news articles that reveal new technologies, prodservs, updates, and fun content to rewrite for your Whypark pages to make the text original.

Remember, these are tests done for NON-TM domains. No brand typos, no trickery, just straight forward facts to help you nab and/or monitor a domain that purely describes the prodservs of ANY company promoting those prodservs online.

The only requirement is that you use Gmail. You can set up alerts here to any email you want: http://www.google.com/alerts (thanks to several reader’s feedback, there’s the link!) You do NOT have to use Gmail, although I use Gmail almost exclusively, and find that it’s the best web-based email service there is. Regardless of the other weird stuff Google is doing, (I imagine we’ll soon we’ll have Google ID chips implanted behind our ears), this service really “delivers the goods for you.

If you’ve been using this Google Alert feature already, or have questions/issues about it, let us know your experiences and results.

TOP DOMAIN BUYER OUTED BY “INSIDE EDITION”

Why was the buyer of the 4th-highest priced domain purchased in 2009  investigated by “Inside Edition” regarding the buyer’s live auction events?

There’s been a lot of discussion and near-obsession lately about alleged “shill bidding” by a certain domain auction company executive, but most domainers didn’t know there was a larger and more relevant news report about live auctions by the company that bought the domain, Auction.com. On its face, it seems this story eclipses the “Halverez” scandal by a long shot.

“Inside Edition“, a TV news show, investigated home foreclosure auctions held by the Real Estate Disposition Corporation (REDC), the buyer of the currently 4th-ranked highest-priced domain name sold this year, AUCTION.COM. This nationally reported story aired on November 25, 2009 on  “America’s NewsMagazine”, as Inside Edition calls itself.  The televised story was also transcribed in its entirety on Inside Editions’s website.  Although the show seems nebulous, it has been a CBS-syndicated program for 22 years. It covers stories on consumer reports, hidden camera investigations, and celebrity gossip.

Here’s are portions of the transcripts on the broadcast story from INSIDE EDITION’s website:

“Airdate: 11/25/2009

It’s fast-paced, loud, a total frenzy, and when the gavel slams down, you could be a homeowner.

And business is booming. Every weekend in ballrooms across America, hundreds of people flock to foreclosure auctions, hoping to get a piece of the American dream at a fraction of the price.

INSIDE EDITION went to auctions in New York City and Dallas, and right away, we noticed something curious.

As soon as the bidding started, men in tuxedoes began pointing and yelling into the crowd as if they saw someone bidding. Maybe they were seeing something we didn’t.

Read the rest of this entry »