Ask Frank a Question:

Ask your question about domain names paid search or anything I post about, and I will do my level-best to answer you.  Select the Comments text below:

Posted on February 21st, 2007 in Ask Frank a Question: | 785 Comments »

Comments

  1. Posted by Tia Wood | February 21st, 2007 at 10:45 AM

    Lucky are the ones who recognized what value domains held 10 years ago. But not so lucky for the ones who are basically just beginning today. What is the best advice you can give domainers who are stepping onto the train today but still early enough to catch the ride?

  2. Posted by Frank | February 21st, 2007 at 11:14 AM

    I think the opportunities today are in the secondary market and development. The name frankschilling.com got no visits 3 days ago now it gets 200 unique a day (that’s development) You can still get great deals on names privately. That is only 200 people out of perhaps 10,000 who globally participate in this industry. Against that backdrop you are still sooo early. So you might not scoop up hundreds of generics a day at registration p[rice. But if you are persistent in this business, you will thrive Tia.

  3. Posted by HairyApe | February 21st, 2007 at 11:36 AM

    Since this is your personal blog (these are the questions I always wanted to ask you):

    1. I’ve heard that you were financially successful before domains. If that’s true in what other industry you made your money before you got into administrating internet names?

    2. What made you start in this particular business? When and how did you started in it? Was your original idea to be like most others, acquire to sell for profit, or did you strictly follow what Ult was doing? Do you remember when and how did you get the vision that “law of large numbers” can only work in your favor?

    3. When you could have pretty much any name in the world, why “Name Administration” exactly (sounds a bit bureaucratically plain and boring)? And how come you don’t change NA homesite web design? It looks outdated and very early 90ish, which is fine, but I think you are deserving of much better front presence. I think your audience, your business partners and your fans sort of expect that of you.

    Thank you.

  4. Posted by Frank | February 21st, 2007 at 12:26 PM

    1. I made a little money in real estate.. but I was not fabulously wealthy, far from it. I just took a risk that paid off.

    2. I really want to answer this for you but out of respect for somebody who’s writing something fairly detailed about all that I will hold back. There is nothing with a freshness date in the answer that will hold you back from succeeding in the current environment or I would answer you now.

    3. When I started the company I thought I would be doing alot more work managing other people’s names/portfolios. We still do some of that, but the name just sort of stuck. We started building a reputation in the space. When people live in a place like the Cayman Islands and rebrand their company they have a tendency to look like their running from something. We just didn’t want to give that incorrect impression. Our website is just there to explain what we do. You would not believe how many clever folks just don’t understand this space or what we do. They think there must be a catch. We’ll get around to redesigning at some point. I promise (thanks for your kind words) :)

  5. Posted by stuff | February 21st, 2007 at 1:03 PM

    Mind me asking about the company?
    is your staff also located in cayman?
    If so, are You hiring :) ?

  6. Posted by Frank | February 21st, 2007 at 1:31 PM

    At the moment we are fully hired. We have staff in Cayman/BVI and we use the same services you guys do to get drops buy lists etc.

  7. Posted by HairyApe | February 21st, 2007 at 1:37 PM

    >>”2. I really want to answer this for you but out of respect for somebody who’s writing something fairly detailed about all that I will hold back.”< <

    So you are saying, between the lines, that there’s your autobiography coming out soon :) (Or at leats a book about the industry’s biggest players?? :) Well, fair enough.

    And if it’s not too much to ask, two more quick ones I forgot to include previously por favor.

    4. There’s an impression that you don’t buy domains from small players at various domain forums, and I mean domains that you would ordinarilly find very attractive (quality wise and price wise). Curious why that is? Why only acquire through bidding (eitheir in drops or in auctions)?

    5. What’s your take on IDN’s?

    And inre: “kind words” ;) , there’s plenty of those from me too trust me, but those are easy. Besides, I have a feeling you get way too many kind words and admiring glances from those who have some vested interest in you, but far less more straight, honest feedback. When you’re on top there’s tendency to be sheltered from the ordinary.

  8. Posted by Frank | February 21st, 2007 at 1:49 PM

    There are at least 2 books being written about the domain (Domainer) space that I have heard of (Perhaps more coming)

    #4 will be answered in the next issue of Domainer Magazine and I can answer #5:

    I like IDNs I think IDN traffic exists now, in the form of error traffic going to ISP’s in countries where non latin keyboards are used. Ultimately they are regional though. If you are going to sell things globally you need latin characters. In the final analysis IDN’s are valuable because of type-in traffic… Type-in traffic depends on user behavior. You are not going to get people in Mexico typing Arabic symbols and you are not going to get the French typing Chinese.

  9. Posted by Tia Wood | February 21st, 2007 at 2:58 PM

    Thanks for answering my question!

    This might be a stupid question but if I hear it from you, I’ll take it more to heart. :)

    Is it better to purchase domains privately (person to person and places such as pool, snapnames, etc) versus publicly (through forums)? I seem to waste time scouting public forums for that “one great domain” that someone is willing to let go for a discount. And I’ve had a tad luck with that.

    However, I always feel like I’m wasting my time and money (because I seem to pick up a few duds on the way from impulse shopping).

    Would I be better off saving my money for the private purchases versus scouting public forums? Or in other words: where is the best place to shop for domains for domain investors?

  10. Posted by Frank | February 21st, 2007 at 3:06 PM

    Shopping privately almost always guarantees you the best deal (and the most upside appreciation) Like those companies advertising on latenight TV going town to town buying estate jewelry.. or garage sale shopping – you never know when you’ll find that vintage Patek wristwatch or a copy of the Declaration of Independence in the back of a picture. But its hard work. Shopping the auctions is easier but that ‘ease’ comes at a premium.

  11. Posted by Stuff | February 21st, 2007 at 3:10 PM

    Where did this car blog go:)?

  12. Posted by Frank | February 21st, 2007 at 3:11 PM

    Filed under ‘Wretched Excess’ to make way for domain stuff :)

  13. Posted by Tia Wood | February 21st, 2007 at 3:23 PM

    I really hope you’re enjoying this because another question popped into my head! Knowledgewise, I really feel like I’ve outgrown the beginner’s nest (hanging out at domain name forums) but I don’t feel ready to pursue a place such as Rick Schwartz’s community.

    Now that I’ve flown the beginner’s nest, I’m beginning to network and read like crazy. However, I’d still like a community that I can learn more from. I’m not saying that I could ever learn anything again from the forums I began at; it just seems like I’m reading repetitious things and giving advice more than learning.

    Is there a place for people like me who are somewhere in the middle?

    Thanks again!

    Tia

  14. Posted by Frank | February 21st, 2007 at 3:36 PM

    Domainstate.com has excellent info.. as good as any TIA. It’s not the forum necessarily it’s what’s inside that counts.. You should really try to go to Targetedtraffic.com as an attendee next week. You will meet so many people. So much opportunity at a show like that. Really. + Vegas is cheap fun and easy.

  15. Posted by Adam Strong | February 21st, 2007 at 5:08 PM

    Everyone knows you “dont sell” , however I’ve seen names appear on the radar that have “changed hands”. . . .So ….really how often do you sell domains? What determines wether or not you make a sale? How do you/your company value a domain and wether or not its time to sell it?

  16. Posted by Frank | February 21st, 2007 at 5:40 PM

    That’s a really great question Adam. You know names sales are a funny thing. I tell all who care to listen that selling domains is not my core business. I really don’t want an offer to sell our names (I would be sooo happy if nobody ever emailed again with an unsolicited name-sale proposal). We are still building out the network (and you are going to see some significant changes in regard to the network in the coming months). Alot of our names are search terms with huge Overture style (search) rank so while a name like SexualDysfunction.com only gets 1 unique a day, it has a huge search phrase rank of people looking for it in the search engines. We don’t get any traffic from search engines right now. We’re too big and PPC pages don’t meet the engine’s criterial so they actively work to block us. As a SIDEBAR: we don’t necessarily want that traffic. If we are providing useful products the traffic will find us (and Google (for example) blocking all URLS’s ultimately serves to weaken Google’s usefulness not ours (if people are typing our [and your] URLs in Google’s search box and Google gives back any result but y[our] URL website [because their algo says 'Eeek ppc'], thats not useful). So we get our browser type-in traffic and we improve our pages. Anyway, I would be shooting myself in the foot if I sold a name with a reasonance and brandability such as SexualDysfunction.com (both feet if I sold it based on PPC value). The sales you do see (and let me be clear that we have sold names), occurr when respectful well minded attorneys and investors (or companies) put forth a polite considerate and meaningful proposal that justifies us stopping what we do to consider the value proposition in selling a particular name. It rarely happens. But it it does happen. Then again we have received offers in the last two weeks for $120,000+ which we have flatly rejected because the names are too valuable (in those particular cases it equated to 100+ years PPC revenue). Hope this adds some color.

  17. Posted by Gabe | February 22nd, 2007 at 3:01 PM

    1. I know you’ve mentioned that the next step for you is development, but can you be more specific on your future intentions? I know with such a large portfolio of names, scalability is a problem. With a portfolio of names in the hundreds of thousands like Name Administration, it seems that is will almost be impossible to develop and customize each domain asset to maximize it’s fullest potential in terms of overall earnings. What is your take on this issue?

    2. It seems that your revenue model is strictly based on PPC income (correct me if I’m wrong)… what are your thoughts of expanding into the affiliate marketing game and Click-Per-Action revenue model to compliment PPC? I’ve been exploring this method myself and found that with very little development (paid $75 for custom landing page), Ive increased my ROI dramatically ($10/mo in ppc v.s. $150 in first 2 weeks with CPA). I’m sure you have a ton of generic domains that would kill it in the Affiliate Marketing game with little development and maintenance. Any interest in this arena?

    I look forward to your response and many more blog posts in the future!

  18. Posted by Frank | February 22nd, 2007 at 4:19 PM

    Thanks Gabe! CPM and CPA are problematic at this point because they are time consuming.. there are alot of little moving parts.. If one could automate the whole affair you’re right, you’d really have something and revenues would go way up. Thats not an option for large commercial registrants without lots of staff or automated tools. We have expirimented with rudimentary development lately.. personalloans.com makes almost twice the revenues it did when we ran it with the template at blackgold.com. The extra development (right side content) at personalloans.com now has added alot to the party (nearly 100% improvement). The next step is blindingly simple so obvious.. it incorporates content.. paid search listings.. It will dramatically increase return visits.. You will see that across our health vertical shortly (1 month) and I’ll blog about it when I get it live.

  19. Posted by Gabe | February 22nd, 2007 at 6:40 PM

    Thanks for the quick reply!

    Here’s a hypothetical:

    If you absolutely had to sell your domain portfolio, but the buyer said they would let you keep any 10 domains…which would you keep?

  20. Posted by Frank | February 22nd, 2007 at 7:11 PM

    That is a tough question Gabe.. mostly personal names.. mine, my wife’s, sevenmile.com < –myblog, that sort of thing. It might have come up in the past ;)

  21. Posted by Murphys Law | February 24th, 2007 at 7:15 PM

    Hi Frank,
    Just to re-visit your take on IDNs.
    Traffic to IDNs is slowly increasing, not up there with ASCII keywords yet but Im sure it will equal or possibly even outperform ASCII at some point. When you say they are regional, that is true but when you consider that English is not the most widely spoken language it kinda puts a different spin on it. There are 2 or 3? times the number of Mandarin speakers for example.
    Certainly internet penetration is not on a par with the US or Europe when compared to China or India for example but this demographic is changing and the ‘playing field’ as it were, will eventually level out. IDNs are an area where there are a lot of detractors and this is a natural human reaction to something that is not fully understood. I guess it is also an attempt, whether conscious or subconsciously to protect the interests of ASCII domainers as IDNs will only continue to encroach on ASCII domain territory. I also believe IDNs offer the best (And possibly the last?) big opportunity for a novice domainer to grab a piece of the action without having to find $xxx,xxx – $x,xxx,xxx to buy a half-way decent ASCII keyword. Yes it is more difficult for someone who doesn’t speak the language of their target domains but that is a hurdle easily overcome with a bit of work and willingness to learn. As for selling things globally I wouldn’t really mind too much if my Chinese character domain cracked the 1.3 billion Chinese market and fell flat on it’s face in the Latin character using world.
    All the best Frank
    PS. If you’re looking for some top notch IDNs you know where to get hold of me .. ;>)

  22. Posted by Frank | February 24th, 2007 at 8:04 PM

    http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/02/international_d.html

  23. Posted by Dan | February 26th, 2007 at 1:40 PM

    What type of tool do you use to manage all of your domains?

  24. Posted by Frank | February 26th, 2007 at 2:30 PM

    We use a simple internally developed database.. Think of a large server-side excel sheet with lots of columns and data.

  25. Posted by Gabe | February 26th, 2007 at 7:33 PM

    A common theme with successful entrepreneurs is the ability to go against the crowd…buck the trend – place all your chips in the pot while everyone else is passively standing by, waiting to jump on the bandwagon once the road is already paved.

    I started investing domains back in 2000 but soon after the dot com crash in 2001, I (regretfully) lost faith in the long term value of domain names and decided to focus more of my time in other ventures. It wasn’t until January of 2006, that I got back into the domain arena thanks to a brilliant Business 2.0 article on the booming industry of virtual real estate by someone that you know fairly well, Paul Sloan. This was my “Epiphany” – my sudden realization that my investment focus should be in domains, not real estate, stocks, gold or other commodities.

    It’s been well documented that leaders in this industry like yourself, Rick Schwartz, Yun Yee and a few others had the intuition and foresight to go “all in” when it wasn’t necessarily the popular thing to do. What was your “Epiphany” – that moment that triggered the light bulb in your head to believe that quality domain names would be the best commodities to invest in?

  26. Posted by Frank | February 26th, 2007 at 8:27 PM

    I was so late in domains. I was online in 1994 and actually had the thought when typing my 20th name that didn’t resolve: “I wonder how you get that website name in .com?” I even worked for a small tech co in 1995.. Then I went back to some chatroom and surfing for porn. I could have just as easily missed all this. Rick Schwartz had made his fortune before I had good names. There is a book coming out which is quite evocative (I don’t want to spoil that because I think it will be an interesting read) The catalyst moment was when Gary Chernoff (Friend of mine who was earlier in names than I) mentioned the Overture search tool. Big names (dictionary words) were gone but search terms (eatingdisorders.com etc) would expire or go to auction and nobody would really target these because they were not deemed that interesting. Many great ones were still available. I was really late. Being late in this space has actually taught me alot about market timing. In alot of respects it’s better to be late than early. If you’re too early you can miss it too by giving up when things might have gotten better or by not having momentum on your side. You’ll be hearing alot about the ‘domain book’s’ coming out on a forum near you as the year draws to a close. There are so many substories and inticacies that you might find fascinating about it that it does no justice to tell it to you now, in this venue.

  27. Posted by Harvey Kaplan | February 27th, 2007 at 6:15 AM

    My question:

    When I take a trip to visit Cayman, do I get to share a beer with Frank? :)

    **** For you Havey always F:)

  28. Posted by Mike in Vancouver | February 27th, 2007 at 2:13 PM

    Is it true or just an urban myth that you started the cinqo de mayo event at the Roxy in Vancouver?

  29. Posted by Frank | February 27th, 2007 at 2:38 PM

    That is true Mike! I beleive I’m also still the holder of Vancouver’s Port Mann Bridge speed record.

  30. Posted by Mike in Vancouver | February 27th, 2007 at 2:43 PM

    Well Frank, if I ever come to the Caymans, maybe we can shatter the 7 mile speed record together!

    ***** sounds good sir! Its so slow you could sprint for it ;)

  31. Posted by Sahar Sarid | February 27th, 2007 at 11:58 PM

    Hi Franky,
    I see you quite often you consult your wife about your business dealings (”The white house”, fruit.net purchase, etc).
    What are the relationship dynamics between the two of you when it comes to the way you invest, the things you do?

    **** Same as any successful relationship I guess. I get to buy the car I want.. then she’s the boss :)

  32. Posted by Rob Sequin | February 28th, 2007 at 1:09 PM

    Frank,

    Since, you have some great Cuba domains and live so close to Cuba, do you have an interest in Cuba on any level?

    Above Gabe mentioned something about successful investors being “all in” when everyone else is waiting on the sidelines. I like that quote since I feel that I am close to being “all in” with my Havana Journal and Cuba domain portfolio. I have been buying Cuba domains since 1998 and publishing the Havana Journal for four years. LOTS of time and money are “all in” for me.

    If you do have an eye on Cuba, do you have any advice on how to play Cuba for the near future and/or longer term?

    Thank you.

    Rob

    (Same Rob from SearchDomainsForSale.com :-)

    ***** Cuba is going to be huge if and when they open up. There are weekly flights from here.. you should go.. They do not stamp your passport.

  33. Posted by Rob Sequin | February 28th, 2007 at 3:04 PM

    Thanks. I have been there, legally on business on US Treasury license. Maybe TRAFFIC 2008 South… in Havana :-)

    **** Ha! That would be cool!~

  34. Posted by Russ | March 1st, 2007 at 1:03 PM

    Hi Frank-

    Why the love affair with .net domains?

    -Russ

    P.S. kudos on the blog, I hope you’re still getting some “real work” done! ;)

    ***FS*** I like .nets cuz they have traffic.. and alot of the world that identifies .com names as US centric, prefers the agnostic .net (not to re-ignite the IDN debate, but alot people may find they have more success with .net in IDNs for the reason that theyu seem more international and non-us centric). Also .nets are relatively cheap so there is more headroom for relative appreciation. All things equal I prefer the .com tho.

  35. Posted by JB | March 1st, 2007 at 9:38 PM

    Hi Frank,

    I really appreciate your blog, it is very insightful and brings very valuable information.

    I’d like to ask you two questions, I’d like to hear your take on these:

    1. Have you ever drilled down into the differences in demographics for a typical search engine user and a typical person typing in domains? My take is that the latter tends to have a bigger representation of females + tends to be of older age, do you see this the same way?

    2. My second question sort of builds up to this. Have you noticed that different countries have different type-in bahaviour. My observation is that for example Americans are more likely to type in a domain name than a UK citizen (I am obviously taking into account the differences in populations here as well so the data can be compared). Also my belief is that when an American arrives on a landing page, he is more likely to click than a Brit for example. Do you have the same observation? What do you think the reasons for this are?

    Thanks in advance,
    Jan

  36. Posted by Frank | March 1st, 2007 at 9:55 PM

    ***FS*** That is a Super good question Jan. I think the gender/age question really comes down to the type of name inventory you own. Our ‘Games’ vertical is mainly kids, probably boys. Our ‘Cars’ vert is probably 18-34 Men. Then we have a faily large ‘Beauty’ vertical that attracts women. Its funny you should mention the UK.. We run a portfolio of about 4000 pretty good .co.uk names .. they get very consistent type-ins and generate strong revenue. The pound is much stronger than the dollar and we monetize through Yahoo (Europe).. I have never looked very closely at the percentage of people clicking through based by geographical IP address. I do think different cultures have different expectations of product quality. Your average Opel has a much higher level of fit and finish than your average Chevrolet because Europeans demand it. So it stands to reason if you run a uniform “one style fits all countries” page implementation, you might not draw as many clicks.

  37. Posted by Omar | March 1st, 2007 at 10:41 PM

    Frank,

    Can you share with us the earnings seasonality for traffic domains? In general, how do you expect earnings to be this year?

  38. Posted by Bob Luther | March 2nd, 2007 at 1:50 PM

    Hi Frank,
    You commented “We don’t get any traffic from search engines right now. We’re too big and PPC pages don’t meet the engine’s criterial so they actively work to block us.” My question is about a domain that does not have the benefit of being a type-in domain, but benefits from search traffic because of its history. The domain is well indexed in the search engines because it had a business website on it for years.
    January was the first full month it was parked, and it got 2803 uniques and 308 clicks. But in February it dropped drastically to 160 uniques and 18 clicks. I dont think anything changed except that Google, for instance, probably detected that it is now parked. Do you think that is what affected it? If so, it makes me think that I cannot park a name like this…I need to have a developed site to continue to get the traffic from the search engines. If I go that route, will the search engines still clobber it if the developed site has some Google ads or affiliate links on it also….or will that not be used against it? OK, now my accountant suggests a question…could the search engines be ‘de-listing’ it because the DNS has been changed to point to a parking company…as opposed to simply checking the content of the site to determine whether it is parked content or true developed content? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

  39. Posted by Edwin | March 5th, 2007 at 8:51 PM

    If you had to start all over again, and had $100K in your account, what would be your strategy?

    ***FS*** Great question Edwin… I would try to buy high quality names 50 of them by making $2000-$5000 offers through whois.. calling registrants and emailing.. then I’d put them into a PPC and reinvest the profits into more buying names.. resell the odd good one for a profit and again reinvest as much as possible (plowing all the money back in). You do all this part time until you get critical mass. That’s the trick of the biz.. get to the point that you can do it full time. Once you’re a full timer you have an instant advantage over many others. You can take some time to develop. I am reasonably sure that even today you could buy 50 names like those I am picturing at 2000-5000 each. (names like rumcakes.com <–i just paid 4k) I could live off that one name.. Name gets 10 visits a day. You could put up a simple site shipping prepackaged rumcakes.. Dropshipping. (I gave away $18,000 worth of rumcakles last Xmas).. 10 visits a day is 3650 customers a year looking for rumcakes (with no content there really) you could make $2,000,000+ per year off that one single domain by developing and creating a rudimentary business at the name.. That’s the power of the internet. Levering the built in type-in-traffic embodied within the name into something bigger.

  40. Posted by Cherminator | March 6th, 2007 at 5:20 AM

    Franky, I miss you and wish you were here. It’s just not the same here without you.
    :-(

    G

    ***FS*** Save me a chair at Slack’s Vern and I are coming into Penticton this summer .. then maybe a vegas trip together? I miss you too sir :(

  41. Posted by Edwin Sherman | March 6th, 2007 at 5:54 PM

    Great answer! The one last question I have is: Why do you register names like BootDiskFailures.com and SeattleVideoSurveillance.com. Names like this get few to no searches (according to WordTracker and Overture), have 0 incoming links, and I’m guessing very few (if any) type-ins. Why do you buy these sort of names? How exactly are you making money if they receive little to no traffic?

    Edwin Sherman

    PS: Your rumcakes.com example reminded me of this rags-to-riches domain story in Newsweek:
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17030580/site/newsweek/

    ***FS*** What’s funny about that particular link you chose is that I sold him ‘unicycles.com’ (brokered the sale in 2002).. small world. I like names like those you illustrated because linguistically speaking there are not alot of search term combos that make sense:
    boot disk failures: 543 <– gets some overture rank and you can sell highly bidded ‘hard disk recovery’ paid search listings.
    seattle video surveillance is actually an anomally .. it was bought with a third party in mind.. but that name notwithstanding, we are not perfect.. we do make mistakes. Check the Overture rank though and you’ll see most of our search-term style names have a ‘user search’ heartbeat as with bootdiskfailures.com. Still last point.. many of these names represent future opportunities we believe in, but don’t constitute the bulk of our revenue generating inventory. Thats why we want low renewal fees for our names..

    A great deal of the names we (and others) own have no revenue at all.. If renewals go up we start saying, why are we carrying this weight? A great deal of Verisign’s recent revenue increase has come from low renewal fees and tasting.. as they raise the bar they are going to have to be careful to pick the magic level where they don’t loose too many renewals as a result of price increases (Sidebar item but relevant to your question).

  42. Posted by Mike | March 7th, 2007 at 2:20 PM

    In regards to PPC/domain parking, no advertising, straight type in traffic only; how much of a role does the TLD play in the success of a parked domain? Logic would dictate that a .com always outperforms a .net/.org, etc.
    I have a healthy mix of several TLDs, yet i’m wondering if i shouldn’t just capitalize on .com domains and sell/drop the rest?

    any advice appreciated!

    ***FS*** alot of this comes down to common sense.. Mortgages.org gets one unique a day. If I owned the .com it would be more like 1000-2000 a day. If I owned a name like charity.org it might actually do better than the .com … some .net’s do as well as the com but by and large .com is king for type-in traffic. Everytime a user watches tv everytime they see a print ad, a billboard , that gets reinforced.

  43. Posted by Gabe | March 8th, 2007 at 12:17 AM

    It seems that your blog is getting quite popular since your first entry less than a month ago…great stuff – keep it coming! By the way, any big purchases at the auction today?

    ***FS*** I actually didn’t buy that much.. I took seven names for 142,000.. the best one I bought was homeforeclosures.com for $90,000. There were alot of great names but I honestly have alot of trouble opening my wallet at these auctions because of the auction fever dynamic that goes on. Still its great fun to attend one and to get a sense of the size of the industry.. Maybe 5% of those in the domain business attend these things.. maybe 1% of global participants.. Its exciting to watch the industry mature.

  44. Posted by Dan Cera aka DomainTrader.ca | March 8th, 2007 at 2:48 AM

    Frank:

    I found it interesting given his company’s Canadian presence that Geo Sign founder Tim Nye said that when he saw a “.ca domain on a flyer, I think small-term local firm”

    I am not sure what small-term local firm means exactly but I’m assuming its a typo and the reference was to small-town or small-time or something like that.

    I personally think Tim underestimates the inhernet value in country code traffic. While .ca suffers from a demographic problem due to a lack of population the traffic generated there when targeted converts very well.

    Yahoo, ebay, amazon…don’t think Canada too small and even though he says it says small time Tim’s company saw fit to register geosign.ca.

    As you have ties to Canada and an investment in the .ca namespace yourself I wanted to ask your thoughts, experiences and opinions on the value and future of .ca domain names specifically.

    There is no question that .com is king but after that where do you think cctlds fit in to the future of the web.

    ***FS*** I think you’re right. .ca is everywhere in Canada. My opinion is: .ca names are good in Canada, but if you want to do substantial business globally you don’t need (but should have/try to acquire) the .com .. In America .us will never be as popular (never catch on) like .de did in Germany or .ca did in canada because .com is so entrenched in the culture. You have a decade of branding, a trillion+ dollars in global marketing pushing the.com brand. I think Tim believes there is value in some CCtlds and alternate tlds, but if you want to Lever-up borrow money against your internet business.. during this early phase, .com is it. .com has the traffic. Follow the traffic, follow the money. I think certain CCTlds do well because of currencies and languages. The visitor can expect the British pound, the Canadian Currency or German language and Euro prices.. like that. I like .CN names because the Chinese are nationalistic/’middle kingdom’ oriented. They will want the .cn but if they want to do business blobally, .com will still have the advantage for a few decades

  45. Posted by Gabe | March 8th, 2007 at 7:04 PM

    I wanted to hear your thoughts on typo names and traffic. More and more I’ve been hearing the whisperings that new smarter browsers will eliminate typos – and that domain holders with typos should unload them now before they are worthless. Now what I can’t comprehend is that how would the browser tell if the domain is actually a typo? I mean, look at all these names that are being branded into full fledged successful companies; freindster.com, flickr.com, digg.com. I can understand that there are browsers that can correct the tld’s like if someone typed in .cm instead of .com, but I can’t see how a browser can automatically assume that I meant to type in forsalebyowner.com when I actually typed in forsalebyowener.com.

    Now I understand that branding a typo name to represent your online company is probably not the best route (only companies that don’t rely on type-ins, i.e. digg, can get away with this), but ultimately you can always brand a catchy name that gets few if any type-ins and redirect the typo domain to point to your branded name (ex. Brand FSBOHomes.com and redirect forsalebyowener.com which gets over 300 uniques/mo.). Ultimately, instead of having to pay Yahoo/Google $2 per click ($600/mo. for 300 visitors), you just saved yourself $7200 a year on advertising since you already own that targeted traffic. You would think that advertisers that buy this type of traffic at Yahoo/Google would be knocking on the door to buy this domain for $14,400 so that they could own this traffic for life rather than pay $14,400 for 2 years of advertisement via Yahoo/Google. Yet, the number represents over 8 years ppc earnings and paying this much for this typo would be foolish to many “domain investors”. (This brings it back to the whole Sendori business model – eliminating the the two middle men, ppc company and Yahoo/Google, and going straight to the traffic buyer).

    What I’m getting to is even though generic typos have little “brandable” value, they ultimately have “traffic” value which we all know is the alpha denominator in generating sales online. With this said…I have 3 questions:

    ***FS*** Very well thought through comments Gabe!

    1. What is your take on the feasibility of future browsers being able to somehow recognize and correct a typo name which would dramatically decrease typo domains?

    ***FS*** Highly unlikely IMO.. its too problematic because as you pointed out “what exactly is a Typo?” Flickr, digg and even deel.com example I used in this post: http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/02/when_is_a_typo_.html .. its very hard for the browser to modify user intent without ramification. Sites change and today’s typo becomes tomorrow’s brandable variant. Consider that its 2007.. they can’t stop spam (I have a spam filter and still get it), they can’t stop pop-ups (i have ie7 popblocker and still get them), how are they going to stop folks from navigating to the sites they actually want.. the action is so benign.

    2. What valuation models do you use to value your typos – 3x, 5x, 7x years ppc revenue, etc.?

    ***FS*** Depends on the viewpoint of the party taking on the risk I suppose. For me, I don’t like trademark typos (they have a minus multiple because I actively try to avoid or delete problems), but a brandable variant like deel.com if I could get it.. I’d pay whatever I could within reason.. We don’t really use the “multiple of ppc” rule because my deal may be different than the sellers. ie. sellers 10x may be my 3x. I don’rt like typos that aren’t brandable or are overt such as: dfeal.com <— deal.com primarily because they are not brandable… I guess I would focus on typos that are “not really typos” like dogz.com (yes, the ’s’ is next to the ‘z’ on my qwerty keyboard.. but being a typo is just not what ‘dogz’ is about. Its street-slang .. see where I’m going with that?

    3. Do you see advertisers in future bypassing the big boys Yahoo/Google and going straight to the domain owners to buy or lease TYPO traffic (if so, we are greatly undervaluing typo domains – don’t you think)?

    ***FS*** We are seeing that now.. savvy advertisers approaching to buy verticals direct. Its a very easy sell.. You can hear the lightbulb going on, on the other end of the line and the excitement in their voice as they contemplate the prospect of all these potential leads “refreshing” to their site. We sell verticals of traffic that include generic brandable variant names like dogz; so yes.. I could see aggressive advertisers coming after typos as well as generics.

    Your insight is always appreciated and I hope you still got time to finish your “real work” now that you got this blog going.\

    ***FS*** Its hard.. but rewarding.

  46. Posted by Frank's fan | March 9th, 2007 at 12:16 AM

    I have a few undeveloped 1999 adult and bodybuilding domain names how on earth do i get them valued when they would only be of interest to those guys very familiar with those two fields.

    ***FS*** I would not worry about getting you name ‘valued’ appraisals don’t help sell names. The person buying your name will not care about your appraisal. the only place appraisals work is in the mortgage/housing business where they are standardized and required for borrowing. Try selling your exgirlfriends engagement ring when you have an approaisal for $5000, you’re asking $3000 and there are 20 of them that are bigger and better on ebay for $1000.
    Plug your names in through a parking service, see if they have any traffic/make money; then write the aggregator saying you have a generic name that gets (for example) 12 uniques a day, making $X a month.. What’s it worth? You will get an email back.. and that number will be a lowball wholesale.

  47. Posted by Drewbert | March 9th, 2007 at 11:56 PM

    Dear Abby,

    What’s your position on hyphenated keyword names.

    Sincerely,

    Concerned bystander.

    ***FS*** Ha!~ I likem’ skate-boarding.com one of my fav’s these get traffic but its clearly more muted than no dash (with rare exceptions)

  48. Posted by David Wrixon (aka Rubber Duck) | March 10th, 2007 at 2:32 AM

    Frank,

    This is not really a question. It is a suggestion.

    If you have any aspirations in the IDN market, this is an opportunity you should not pass over.

    http://www.idnforums.com/forums/2112-a-bold-foolish-experiment-entire-japanese-idn-portfolio-for-sale.html

    If you think Edwin is close associate of mine then ask around, he is not, but this is one of the best Japanese Domain portfolios in the business. Maybe even the best! In 12 months time selling this will look like an act of suicide.

    Best Regards
    Dave Wrixon

  49. Posted by Brad | March 11th, 2007 at 4:03 PM

    Frank – I work for a very large company that has many businesses, including media properties. From what I can tell, I am the most knowledgeable person in the entire (very large) organization about domains – I’m probably also the most passionate.

    I have had little success in convincing my company (or even my business unit) that we should be spending a lot of money to lock up the good real estate before it is gone. The general response is, “we don’t have the cash right now and need to make the numbers for the quarter. Besides – all the media companies are consolidating their properties under one domain – they aren’t going to multiple domains “(games.yahoo.com, movies.yahoo.com). I tell them that it isn’t a single expense for one quarter – that we can write it off over 15 years and that we need to own the category – blah blah but nobody gets excited.

    This company could spend millions on names without any troubles but I’m having trouble getting buy-in.

    Any suggestions? Any data / examples (especially from media business) of people going the many domains route v.s. single domains? I think barry diller is a good example – they have all sorts of similar businesses using different names (tickets, loans etc) – but any suggestions would be great.

    Thanks in advance,

    Brad

    ***FS*** and just try buying a good name.. I know folks who have tried to buy launch.com and altavista.com from yahoo.. no traction. They are scared to sell in case the give something up that they handn’t anticipated. I really don’t have a further piece of advice that I haven’t already given on this.. Even if I had a great one it probably wouldn’t be in my best interest to give it out as I’d still like to try to capitalze in the secondary market (buying names) over the next few years myself. Prroctor and Gamble got it a few years ago buying alot of great domains .. so did J&J (baby.com) Kay Jewelers (Gold.com) .. I can honestly say I don’t have a convincing statement that you can make to a quarterly focussed company in order to illustrate the potential in locking up the right domain names now.

  50. Posted by Gabe | March 11th, 2007 at 9:46 PM

    “T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West’s Live Domain Auction organized in conjuntion with http://www.Moniker.com yielded over $4,000,000 in sales on Wednesday this week. Rumors have it that the domain name porn.com did exchange hands privately after the auction ended for $7,000,000, making it one of the largest domain transactions so far.”

    Just read this on domainnews.com. Have you heard these rumors that porn.com actually did sell after the auction?

    ***FS*** I have not.. but I know that Monte tried very hard to make the deal go on the block that afternoon. That’s a huge purchase and would not surprise me to hear that it in fact closed. As a quick aside, I have heard of several deals for millions of dollars (hotel.com, hotels.com etc) That went for many millions, but you will never hear about them due to NDA’s.

  51. Posted by Rob Sequin | March 12th, 2007 at 10:59 PM

    Frank,

    I have seen rumors about ATT buying Yahoo? Do you think that would ever happen and what are your thoughts on a new Yahoo run by ATT?

    ***FS*** I had heard that too but never pictured it actually happenig.. Watch.. it will happen tomorrow or something. Let me think about this and get back to you if I have a great vision or something. Hey.. maybe Google will mysteriously start loading slower web-wide ;)

  52. Posted by Franky Tong | March 13th, 2007 at 5:08 PM

    I stumbled across this: http://www.domainpreserve.org/ I chuckled and thought you might enjoy it :)

    ***FS*** Funny!

  53. Posted by Edwin Sherman | March 13th, 2007 at 5:15 PM

    Quick question: Is the ICA membership fee an annual or lifetime fee? I can’t find this info on the site.

    ***FS*** Thanks Edwin.. I beleive its annual. The good new is that ICA dollars get spent.. I personally donate alot to the group as a public service to help those who are starting out as I did once.

  54. Posted by Raymond Hackney | March 14th, 2007 at 3:06 PM

    Hello Frank, great blog have two questions if that is ok with you .

    1 Do you have any opinion on the .tv extension? It is a niche extension but one that I follow greatly and provide commentary on in the namepros .tv subforum and run a typepad blog like you at dottvnation.tv.
    Demand Media coming in to run the retail side is looking to promote the extension heavily. Wanted your opinion as other big domainers like IGAL(domainspa) and ELEQUA (FMA.com) have big .tv portfolios. .tv does get traffic too I own .tv domains that get 60 -100 uniques a day and know others that get more.

    ***FS*** I think .tv will do okay but prefer dot com. No matter how hard Demad tries they are not going to undo a trillion dollars in marketing and branding that made .com what it is. They could give the names away for nothing and it still wouldn’t happen IMO. Names that get 60 unique in .tv would get 6000 unique in .com the only thing I could see getting closer is brand encroach/typosquats like ktla.tv upnnetwork.tv .. that said you can make money in .tv land but you can make money anywhere if you exert effort.. the trend is your friend and that trend is still .com .. stick with .com and you will create more opportunity for yourself. More opportunity for traffic, more opportunity for sales.

    2) Is it possible to send you an email of just like 20 domains and get a quick opinion from you these are all .com I like your rumcakes.com idea could you really make that much with just 10 visitors a day? \

    ***FS*** The name gets 10 uniquye a day with no development ever before.. that tells me that will very little effort I could turn 10 into 100 and sell rumcakes for thousands of dollars.. so to answer your question : Yes. A meaningful name like rumcakes.com that gets 10 or so uniques consistently for nothing more than the keyword weight or gravity of the name can easily ratchet up to 100’s of unique with precious little effort and into millions of dollars in product sales.

    Thank you
    ***FS*** glad to help

  55. Posted by Anonymous | March 14th, 2007 at 9:43 PM

    Thought you might be interested in this entry from Henry Blodget
    http://www.internetoutsider.com

    Thanks for the great blog!

    Advertisers Fleeing TV, Radio for Internet, etc.

    Emily Steel of the WSJ reported startling numbers from TNS Media Intelligence showing just how fast major advertisers are pulling money out of traditional media and throwing it into paid search, digital media, and other “unmeasured” advertising. This trend has been underway for years, and the figures are backward-looking, but it’s no wonder that traditional media conglomerates like Viacom are starting to panic:

    In a sign of how major advertisers are shifting money out of traditional media, ad tracking firm TNS Media Intelligence reported that the nation’s 50 biggest advertisers cut their spending on “measured” media such as TV, print and Internet display ads by 1.5% in 2006 — though U.S. ad spending grew 4.1% overall.

    While some of the decline may reflect overall cutbacks in ad spending by big marketers, it likely signals that big companies such as Procter & Gamble are reallocating some of their ad budgets to new Internet ad venues which aren’t measured by TNS — such as paid-search advertising, social networking and online video.

    Not surprisingly, the report showed that growth in ad spending on traditional media, particularly newspapers and radio, continued to slow dramatically while spending on Internet display ads is accelerating. But it also highlighted a significant slowdown in ad growth among cable channels, after several years of robust increases.

  56. Posted by Omar | March 15th, 2007 at 1:30 AM

    Frank,

    For those of us who don’t have an exclusive contract with Yahoo or Google, do you recommend we keep trying different ppc providers or just stick with one thats a great Google feed and one thats a great Yahoo feed?

    A related question would be – which ppc provider do you think is best for each feed?

    Thanks in advance (I know fellow domainers are *struggling* with this issue).

    ***FS*** I think the parking companies can can do alot for you if you negotiate.. Some of them get such good revshares (because of their size) that they can actually give you a better deal than you could get direct.

  57. Posted by Raymond Hackney | March 15th, 2007 at 4:13 AM

    First off thank you for your replies to my questions. I really just wanted to get your opinion on .tv glad to see you at least thought it could do ok. I am focused on .tv as it is my niche. I own several LLLtv.com and Countrytv.org to support the .tv efforts but they are development and sales efforts the LLLTV.com get lowball offers all the time, some get traffic but I do not disagree from a domainer standpoint .com is the king.

    The one question you did not answer was if I could email you a small list but I figured I might as well post them here and you can answer. Just your opinion on my top .coms

    Fasterpaydayloans.com
    NiceTrade.com
    VideoGameTitles.com
    MarketGains.com
    Yread.com
    SouthBeachHomeloan.com
    DominioBlog.com (spanish for Domain)
    DeportesBlog.com (spanish for Sports)
    Anythong.com
    FranceMobi.com
    Italymobi.com
    Germanymobi.com
    MobileMusicVideos.com
    StraightLoan.com

    Do you think any of these make sense to build a rumcake example business out of ?
    I thought VideoGameTitles.com and I have aplan for Anythong typo for anything and perfect for Ladies Underwear.

    Lastly when I cannot get the .com I go for .org for finance/loan related domains trying to build a good network around fasterpaydayloans.com with major cities like miamipaydayloan.org detroit,La,Atlanta Do you think this makes sense I figure if I develop it I can sell as a package down the road.

    Thank you again great blog

    ***FS*** I think if you follow the traffic you will always win. I read your names “VideoGameTitles.com and Anythong ” were the ones that jumped out to me (as they did w. u) The reason is there may be traffic there. Thats the key in everything.. follow the traffic, follow the money.

  58. Posted by Gabe | March 15th, 2007 at 4:17 PM

    You got me reading Owen Frager’s Blog….smart fellow with great insights on the advertising industry. He’s got an interesting piece on the Microsoft’s acquisition of TellMe. Owen hints that if you look into the service that TellMe provides, domainers, specifically .mobi speculators, should be nervous.

    I’m not a big .mobi fan anyway, but I can see how this could disrupt future type-ins of .com/.net via cellphones in the future. Interested to hear your opinion on this.

  59. Posted by Tia Wood | March 15th, 2007 at 5:54 PM

    What’s your take on this thread:

    http://www.dnforum.com/showthread.php?t=215642

    ***FS*** Hi Tia.. I think intellectual property rights on the web should be respected by all.. you shouldn’t be a white hat/black hat domainer where you go out and deliberately register tm names in a profile seperate from your other ‘good’ names .. intent is important.. it shines through. That said.. i think microsoft and google should stop making money off typos of my generic domains when surfers accidentally add a .comm or .con or .cpm or .cvom after the name instead of the correct .com (that traffic is intended for my network not their error page) Just because you make a billion a month, doesn’t mean the rules don’t apply to you. Buts both ways.

  60. Posted by Drewbert | March 16th, 2007 at 5:03 PM

    Dear Abby,

    What are your reactions to this?

    http://battellemedia.com/archives/003447.php

    Love always,

    notunconcerned nonbystander

    ***FS*** Bill Gates talked about this a year ago and they are just getting started.. I think its clever.. “Everybody needs money, that’s why they call it money” [Mammet] .. Won’t kill google imo but might dent it. Good for domain traffic, bad for Yahoo ;)

  61. Posted by Patrick McDermott | March 16th, 2007 at 5:23 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Regarding getting your own Registrar,
    you said “get Snapnames, Tucows, Enom or Moniker (nod to others not mentioned) to run the cred for you”.

    What does “run the cred for you” mean?

    Thanks,
    Patrick

    ***FS*** “Running your accreditation (cred is slang for accreditation or registrar: ICANN accreditation)” You need somebody to run the registrar backend on a server somewhere unless you’re a programmer. Tucows has a product called OpenHRS, Snap can do it, Enom can do it.. You should own your own cred and not give out the registry password for the drop pool. Again … running a registrar is good for folks who are making good money from a fairly large portfolio of domains that are worth real money.. This won’t be for everyone.

  62. Posted by Bob Luther | March 19th, 2007 at 9:21 AM

    Hi Frank,
    Have you seen today’s New York Times article titled “Researchers Track Down a Plague of Fake Web Pages” ?
    They refer to a report at
    http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~hchen/paper/www07.pdf

  63. Posted by Jon | March 19th, 2007 at 7:39 PM

    Hi Frank – You’re incredibly generous to spend your time responding to everybody … much appreciated. A quick question … I read below that you recommend “following the traffic” to find domains names of value. How would you reconcile that advice with a gut feel that a domain has (or may have) some inherent strategic value (to businesses, industries etc) but may garner little or no traffic?

    I’ve struggled with this dilemma as I’ve built a portfolio of 1500 or so domains that I feel have a very strong inherent value, but have turned out to generate minimal traffic and even less in earnings. I’m confident that with the proper exposure and in the hands of someone willing to spend minimal “rumcake” time (I have a day job and don’t have this time), many of my domains could be extremely valuable in the business world. Any thoughts?

    Many thanks …

    ***FS*** http://inventory.overture.com

  64. Posted by stuff | March 21st, 2007 at 6:59 AM

    Frank as I understnad You don´t sell domains. But A domain containing “sex” word I am really interested. Have You started maybe dropping those adult domains like other big portfolio owners? Or what do you think? Maybe You can send me an email.

  65. Posted by Jason | March 21st, 2007 at 12:24 PM

    Frank,
    I enjoy reading your thoughts and hearing this is just beginning. However, I am young, smart, HUNGRY, and only have $1500.00 in my pocket. I am ready to invest it all in domain names. What do you suggest and why? I tried buying a name on Snapnames and some guy Bonkerstwo kept bidding it up…LOLOL

    How can I get my slice of cheese?

    Thanks,

    Jason

    ***FS*** Offer privately .. scour whois for a name than interests you and make private offers via phone, email. Sounds like you have more time than money so you’d be surprised what the secondary market holds.

  66. Posted by Jsson | March 21st, 2007 at 1:36 PM

    To follow up…Going through Whois Info and contacting people has not been as fruitful as I would like. With Only $1500 don’t you think long term 5 years from now I would be better off buying a quality .US or .INFO name which would have potentially BIG upside as opposed to buying a 3 keyword .com which still has very little traffic and revenue as the .COM market is already the HUGE dominant player.

  67. Posted by Gabe | March 21st, 2007 at 10:29 PM

    Frank,

    I’m sure you’ve got your ear to the ground and heard the news that Google is venturing into the world of CPA (Cost-Per-Action). CPA is far from new (CJ, Clickbank, Linkshare) but with Google getting involved with their massive advertiser base – this is big news.

    http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/03/21/digesting-googles-new-ppa-advertising-product/

    Looking at a few other industry blogs, it seems that there are mixed emotions on the effect it will have on Google’s earnings as well as how it will effect domainers. According to Paul Sloan, it doesn’t look to bright for domainers:

    http://blogs.business2.com/sloan/2007/03/googles_test_co.html

    I’m a little more optimistic for a few reasons:

    Click fraud is overblown since the advertisers ROI will effect the market bid price for a specific keyword. If click fraud is high, advertisers will convert less of their clicks into $ and then will adjust (lower) their bid price on future PPC campaigns. This ultimately has more of a negative effect on Google and domainers than advertisers because shrinking bid prices mean less revenue to split out with Google and domainers while advertisers always have the option to lower their bids (Google is subject to market bid price and domainers can only change advertising feed – which will most likely have the same click fraud issues).

    With CPA, an action needs to be completed in order to get paid (sale made, or application completed, etc.) – ROI calculations would no longer have to compensate for click fraud which would effectively increase the efficiency of the entire process – which will drive up CPA bid prices (advertisers always have to bid up to stay competitive in Google marketplace) to a sustainable market level.

    With a more efficient marketplace – no click fraud serving as an extra middleman – it should equate to better payouts to traffic drivers such as domainers.

    The only way I think CPA can hurt domainers is if Google does not implement a quality system that verifies that the action is complete – sale verifications can only be 100% verified if Google handles the payment (maybe through Google’s Paypal killer – Gbuy) and pays out the appropriate monies to the affiliate (domainer) and the advertiser. ClickBank, another CPA marketplace does this in order to efficiently track all pruchases. But, we do have to keep in mind, that not all completed “actions” are sales, some can be just to fill out newsletter requests – how can their be 3rd party verification for this?

    So many variables to consider to understand the total magnitude of the overall ripple effect this will have for domaining industry (our heads will spin trying to think of all the different scenarios). But one would be foolish to think that this will have no effect on domain strategies & revenues. Even with you Frank, having a Yahoo feed – you know it’s only a matter of time when Yahoo and Microsoft will get in the mix as well. Curious to hear your thoughts.

    ***FS*** Here you go: http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/03/googles_new_cpa.html

  68. Posted by owen frager | March 22nd, 2007 at 6:30 AM

    Enjoyed you on the radio yesterday. Thanks again for being so generous and sharing so much that contribnutes to our wealth and success.

    I was struxck by your comments about having a plan for each of your names. A memory of when you bought the name and what your vision was. This kind od passion is rae and found in only a select few of the domainers I know who recognize a business problem and get jazzed about the Internet’s opportunity to solve it (the name is a sidebar but a sidebar with type-ins or one that works in a NetShops model is certainly a headstart).

    Can you share what some of your favorite names and 100 years from now how you’d like to be remembered for what they represented?

    ***FS*** Wow thanks for the compliment Owen That’s a big question and if I take the time to answer it I have no time to do this AM’s company stuff.. allow me to defer and I promise I’ll post about it.

  69. Posted by Rob B | March 22nd, 2007 at 5:41 PM

    Hello Frank, here is a specific question, how would you monetize French Canadian traffic? I have some french generic .ca’s on different subjects that get traffic, right now I build single page sites with related content and Adsense type ads. I’ve found a french dating affiliate program, and amazon in french, but beyond that I haven’t seen much out there for french traffic. PPC sites rarely have french ads, so there is no point in using PPC to show english ads to french surfers. Is there anything else out there you know of?

    ***FS*** Totally depends on what the names are . You could try an espotting feed pulling french results from Europe if there are content matches but depends on the name.

  70. Posted by kamal | March 23rd, 2007 at 12:44 PM

    Hi Frank,

    A question about Godaddy. You mention in a post that you like Godaddy and Bob Parsons but in a post advising which registrars to buy from, you mention enom, domaindirect but not Godaddy.

    I have a bunch of domains at Godaddy (not worth much) and am now getting into domains seriously. Would you recommend staying with them or starting with one of the other registrars you mentioned?

    Thanks,

    Kamal

    ***FS*** I have a great deal of respect for Bob.. a veteran, served his country, built a great business.. I admire everything except the shooting of an elephant in paul sloan’s Biz2 piece. That’s unforgivable IMO. Godaddy the regsitrar is an upsell rar.. buy a registration and watch the upsell emails flood in. They are too big IMO to effectiely service commercial registrants and their unique needs. They have a policy of cancelling or holding registrations if somebody complains about them, their TOS looks punitive. For a small mom/pop registrant they are fine, but I wouldn’t use them as a mid/large domainer. Perhaps others have some real world experience and will comment.

  71. Posted by Gabe | March 24th, 2007 at 7:07 AM

    http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/03/23/police-raid-justintv-more-pranks-on-the-way/

    Smells like a trend here for .tv domain owners. Too bad Frank.tv is already taken….we could of had the Frank Video Blog!

    P.S. I’m guilty…I regged a .tv after seeing this.

  72. Posted by Bill | March 26th, 2007 at 10:51 PM

    Great blog very entertaining read. I believe I understand where you stand on the newer extensions with regards to natural “type-in” traffic, my question though is what value would you assign the prefix regardless of the extension provided that we are talking about a marquee keyword? For example if “back.com” (which changed hands five years ago at around $80k) is today worth $500,000 how much would “back.info” be worth?

    P.S. I’m the owner of neither, just using them as an example.

  73. Posted by Cohn | March 27th, 2007 at 6:57 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Don’t know if this has been covered here yet…

    Have you or anyone you know written a book about domaining that you could recommend?

    Thanks,

    Tim

    ***FS*** I think there is a new book coming. Late this year early next .. I know of two in the works actually.

  74. Posted by Johnny B. Good | March 29th, 2007 at 1:28 PM

    Hello Frank,

    In regards to selling individual domains or a whole portfolio, you said in your article entitled Reflection on the Ides of March, “The disconnect I have built to is that large groups of names are actually worth less together than their individual break-up value apart (and by a considerable margin).”

    This notion occurred to me many years back when a guy I met told me how he used to buy and sell strip clubs in South Florida. He told me that he bought these dumpy little strip clubs for $150,000 to $200,000, fixed them up a little, and built the traffic and then would sell the club for $500,000 to $600,000 to one buyer. But he soon realized he could cut up interest in the clubs into thirds and sell interest in each third for $250,000 to $300,000 and make $750,000 to $900,000 instead, or even keep a third interest himself.

    That is the moment I realized our company’s domains are better off being sold individually (if ever), instead as a bulk sale – ideally.

    But, my next thought was what about a really good set of domains in a niche that truely make an unbelievable “niche collection”? Are these better off being sold as a set, like a set of rare coins that were hard to assemble, or broken up and sold to each interested party? I lean towards thinking a set like this, if truely remarkable, would be better sold as a set.

    My question to you is, if you are able to answer it: Should a great .com niche collection be sold as a set or broken up and sold?

    I’m sure with your collection you could make some nice sets too :)

    ***FS*** I agree that sets are worth more in most circumstances. That’s what I have been building to over the years. I just launched a new website at http://www.webhealth.com yesterday that all my health names point into.. Try: eatingdisorders.com, depressed.com .. we’re sending 30+k visits a day to different pages within the site.. Its an instant portal. Yesterday they were all parked like testdrive.com is.. (same layout) .. Ad high quality content, flip a switch and BAM.. you’ve got site that can rival WebMD

  75. Posted by kamal | March 29th, 2007 at 6:52 PM

    Frank, nice work on Webhealth. I noticed that you used a wiki and I started laughing. It’s nice and simple: perfect.

    Been thinking of doing the same for some projects. Also noticed that anyone can edit your wiki. That’s created spam problems at Wikpedia.

    I’m curious as to why you’re letting anyone edit (hence deal with spam issues) rather than just keep it closed.

    Thanks,

    Kamal

    ***FS*** I’d love to take the credit but that falls squarely with a guy named Ying and his pal Ry.. It’s an experiment that we think will work. If it becomes a spam magnet we’ll lock it down.

  76. Posted by RobB | April 2nd, 2007 at 3:51 PM

    Communicate.com just listed a news release today on 2006 revenues and site stats. They own sites like perfume.com, canadian.com and so on. Here is the link, http://www.cmnn.com/news_display.php?newsID=275

    Do you know much about Communicate.com? They are a Vancouver company but they trade on the OTCBB, which I try to avoid. I’d be interested to hear what you have to say about them.

    ***FS*** Vern and I looked at these guys a while back.. they were selling names and recording sales as revenue.. Its one thing when you have 100’s of thousands of names and sell a handfull but another when you have 20 epic names and sell one. They don’t have many good names left. They get a bump from the overall mkt as name co’s go but I would not buy this stock.

  77. Posted by Margaret | April 3rd, 2007 at 1:39 AM

    Thanks for the interesting and well-written blog. I was scrolling down the page when I hit the section on the report from ICANN/ALAC. I had to read it several times, and then check that it was in fact April 2nd and not April 1st. To see domain monetization described as “a fundamentally sleazy business”, and to read that we are “tricking people by the use of typos and expired domains” was such a surprise coming from supposed industry professionals.Additionally they are “calling on Google to stop paying for clicks on pages with no content”. Google already makes it abundantly clear in their TOS that the use of cobbled together (often called Made For Adsense) pages is already against their TOS, and will result in being banned from Adsense. So who exactly makes up this ALAC group, and where have they been for the past few years? Thanks for any enlightenment!

    ***FS*** Thanks for your comment Margaret.. I am not a huge booster of typo domains or the more unseemly side of domain names.. you can’t defend the undefendable.. but the comments from this ALAC bundling all forms of ‘making money’ with domain as some kind of ill are just nuts.. They have no idea why there is renewed interest in names, no idea why 100 million domains are registered, no idea why ICANN doesn’t have budget problems anymore, why verisign’s stock is up etc etc etc etc .. these folks act like they have been living in denial or smoking alot of something herbal .. or something.. it’s other worldly.. JMO

  78. Posted by Adamo | April 3rd, 2007 at 12:14 PM

    Just following on from Margaret’s comments the problem seems to be that the mindset of ICANN hasn’t really moved on from the early ethos of the net as a not-for-profit community space of anti-commercial geeks and academics (many in ICANN would qualify as both!).

    The concept that domains are public goods rather than private assets is the essence of that worldview, and was very entrenched early on – remember the pre-1995 ‘honour system’ whereby registrants were discouraged from registering (for free!) more domains than were absolutely essential for their needs, and the fact that so many accepted that. Many of those same early adopters willingly gave up their domains in protest in mid-1997 when the first NetSol imposed fee structure came into effect (and in so doing contributed to what will one day be seen as the greatest transfer of wealth from one group to another since the Russian Revolution!…and that’s no joke.com…sorry couldn’t resist the synergy of that one).

    ICANN has never really come to terms with the commercial value/potential of domains and still views domainers as akin to wartime profiteers making excessive profits from ‘hording’ goods in short supply. As for ppc, they have the same attitude that many domainers will recognize from all those domain inquiry emails that begin “I see that you aren’t using this domain”, and then expect to buy it cheaply because they plan to ‘do someone’ with the name.

    What will change ICANN’s attitude? Perhaps a new generation more accustomed to the contemporary commercial realities of the net and domainers themselves educating the broader net community about the issue. The creation of ICA seems like a good start – and all domainers owe the creators and initial supporters of that organization a vote of thanks….thanks :-)

  79. Posted by Frank Schilling | April 3rd, 2007 at 12:27 PM

    Excellent comment Adamo, I think you’ve nailed. Thanks so much!

  80. Posted by Dave Sprake | April 3rd, 2007 at 3:54 PM

    Hello Frank,
    First just wanted to say thanks for the blog, really interesting, thought provoking and enlightening.

    I have been thinking about some of your views for type in .com traffic being like water flowing over a waterfall. Will it go on for ever? It makes me uncomfortable….

    There are thousands of young (and old) people with new ideas for starting up websites and when they look for a domain name for there new idea, do they pay thousands $ for a .com, or a very long .com that is unregistered or $6 for a shorter dot- something else.

    It is not unreasonable to think some will go for another, more widely available shorter extension i.e. .info, .biz .tv whatever…….

    Fast forward 5 years future, and some of the successful start-ups might make it big- (maybe top 10 Alexia?)

    Everybody would have heard about that once unknown extension, and hears the rub…..

    Will it take a huge leap of imagination for someone to type in for example rumcakes.com and then rumcackes.info to see what’s there?

    Also if someone is looking for rum cakes, will they figer out that typing rum cakes in to Google (or other search engine) will give more and maybe better results than typing it followed by .com or .info in the address bar.

    I don’t know…… but in makes me uncomfortable. Should we diversify into other extensions to hedge are bets?

    ***FS*** Its nearly impossible to undo the trillion dollars in branding that made .com the juggernaut it is. Quick what’s atoll free number? 800, 888 then what? 800 will always be king.. even tho 888 is actually easier to remember

  81. Posted by Jamie | April 3rd, 2007 at 7:40 PM

    How do you estimate traffic for foreign tlds, like .co.uk? The overture tool seems to only address .coms, but then again I’m new. Could be an error between the chair and the keyboard..

    ***FS*** dead reckoning.. if you have experience in other GTLD’s and CCTld’s you can estimate traffic in the .co.uk space. Traffic more valuable there (from a US perspective) because advertisers pay in Pound Sterling

  82. Posted by Jamie | April 4th, 2007 at 12:58 PM

    I’ve noticed that godaddy will place ads on any url that you register with them. If you do not upgrade (i.e. pay) to their cash parking service then godaddy keeps all of that revenue. Even though the conversion rates are likely terrible, in aggregate I would think that this amounts to a good chunk of change every month. Amazing that they are getting all of that for essentially doing next to nothing. Very light hosting fee for them, some overall upkeep for their ad network. But no service complaints, since there is no “customer”. And they get branding off of each page.

    What do you think the odds would be for a class action suit against godaddy for all of the advertising revenue that they take off of someone elses parked pages? Tongue in cheek question, but I’ve been wondering about how they get away with this for a while.

    ***FS*** It depends on their Terms of Service (TOS) and the dates that they updated that TOS to reflect the parking dynamic. It’s conceivable that a smart class action attorney would see what you see, then start an action on behalf of early registrants who were hoodwinked as this parking dynamic was born. Then again, Godaddy likely reserves the right to update their TOS at any time .. so register there and just accept you have no rights. I don’t think it’s ‘right’ because the registrants did all the work in garnering those registrations. It seems inequitable for Godaddy to just take over their registrants traffic.. Read what your TOS says about the parking, contact a lawyer, or you can always move away from Godaddy.

  83. Posted by Franky Tong | April 4th, 2007 at 1:27 PM

    Hey Frank can you slow it down??? I’m trying to get some work done and not spending all day reading your blog! :D

    ***FS*** HA!~

  84. Posted by Eric | April 5th, 2007 at 11:28 AM

    Hi Frank,

    This may seem like an odd question but since you post about life balance I thought I would ask you for advice. Do you have any strategies on how to combat this feeling of great opportunity is right in front of you and there is not enough time in the day to do all the things you want to do. Your posts have been inspirational – so much so that I have turned what you have said into an action plan that has turned into results, (i.e. real tangible profit). Now is the building time – however like Internet time it feels like if I don’t run faster and faster the full opportunity will slip away. Have you felt this and if so what if anything has helped you manage the stress. I repeat over and over again all day long that the domain business is just like the Real Estate business and if you can go around picking up an acre of good/great land (location location location) at a great price then you are building real wealth. Do you have any sayings or strategies that help put things into perspective?

    Thanks,

    Eric

  85. Posted by pk | April 6th, 2007 at 10:40 AM

    RE: “google power” post: frank —i have 5,000 plus names for about a year–Q: are .com the only ones with value???? i have tons of generic finacial related names, but parking doesnt generate much—any suggestions???
    thanks pk

    ***FS*** You need the right domain names pk… carinsurance.com <— right .. carinsuranceplanet.com <– not so right.

  86. Posted by pk | April 6th, 2007 at 2:54 PM

    thanks, yes!!! i get that, so if its about type in traffic and root words (key words) does that mean only .com work well for example futuresbroker.net vs obviously better .com and what about out of sequence like brokerfutures.com??? dont mean to be a pain, appreciate the feedback thanks pk

    ***FS*** I like certain two word phrases like that.. I paid 20k for advertisignworld.com .. but I really like generic “world “, “web”, “hub”, “net” names. They’re very descriptive and brandable. Check http://inventory.overture.com and look for generic things with high search counts (in the correct order as domains) .com is best, then net or org and the .cc tld of the most populace countries.

  87. Posted by Omar | April 7th, 2007 at 12:52 AM

    Frank,

    I’m really curious to know which books you would recommend us.

    Looking forward to hearing from you!

  88. Posted by Gunnar Grimsson | April 7th, 2007 at 12:35 PM

    Hi Frank, interesting use of a comment system :)

    I have the domain where.is and have been trying to get price appraisals from a few places but I don’t even get answers.

    I realise that .is is not common in the domain business but I still think where.is is worth good money. The problem is I don’t know how to evaluate the price nor where to sell it.

    Any pointers for me?

    thanks in advance
    Gunnar

    ***FS*** Hi Gunnar, I like names like these and think they are worth a few thousand dollars.. You ultimately need the .com as a supporting actor because people get confused.. delicious.com <<— got bought for that reason. They seem neat.. but the masses trust .com. It’s cheaper and easier to come through and buy the .com than it is to go around and change global human behaviour. So my advice is your where.is is worth 2k or 3k as a “neat name” but get whereis.com

  89. Posted by owen frager | April 8th, 2007 at 11:38 AM

    Everyday I look at the photo of you facing the Ocean and get so touched. It really says “free to be me, I can do anything the f*** I want.” I was there once, on an island for a while with that view… know the feeling.

    I came to Florida to look after elderly parents and chill from the burst in Silicon Valley when I left. It was a stepping stone. But never starting with a PPC model, and having to cast my development plans aside until the technology, ad agencies and consumers caught up, I returned to the corporate world- really to get an invaluable dual perspective (like working undercover) to understand everything that’s wrong, so i can offer their agencies a solution they can close that makes it right. It’s a perfect storm of circumstances that are now closing in.

    But every day it’s a lot of pressure. The clients, the deadlines, the proposals, the sales calls, the parents, their doctors, the keeping up with the reading… networking…. all while taming the lifestyle I was accustommed to because the goal here was to buy the best ROI for fix and flip and save as money as I could — having experienced a bust once; and with the vulnerable weather here; I was smart enough to realize, no one is assured of the tomorrow they plan.

    Good news is that even though realty is down, I’m up over $200K in four years and this will be the fifth successon of fix and flips where I’ve made over $250K or more in two years av… including one which was a brief summer on the island.

    So my lifestyle like you suggested has been to move around, take something worth x and creatively make it worth y… and that’s kind of like the domains that have survived and thrived over that time, but also the added value of the knowledge needed to make them successful. Act two.

    So the long point of all this, and as my anchor here loosens each day my parents health declines, is I’ve been thinking, can’t go back to NY (though I’m certain that’s where my domains will be invested in the trust of others)… so where next

    I am just craving for the day when I can face the ocean turn down the jets and take that Leo DiCaprio King of the World snap.

    What does it take to move from US to Caymans? What are real estate investments like? Cost and ease of getting to NY regularly for board meetings?

    ***FS*** Thanks for all that backstory Owen. Firstly I think you did a really noble thing caring for your parents. I know this may sound foreign to guys like us but some people would just dump their folks in a hospital or nursing home. I guess it depends how your parents treated you as a kid.. my parents treated me wonderfuly and were so loving.. I would do anything for them .. sounds like you’re the same. One of the biggest reasons Michele and I initially settled on Cayman as opposed to another spot was proximity to US/Canada, Law and order society, Climate (weather and tax), and most importantly health care. There are two world class hospitals here staffed with wonderful professionals who come for the tax climate themselves. You get the best and brightest who come here to make a better life and offer what they have. The living here is rather simple (no malls and distractions) so people immerse themselves in their work.

    My wife had some abdominal discomfort. She went to the doctor in the AM and had a CT Scan in the PM.. there was no extra payment for this level of service. She had our daughter here and was surrounded by three nurses and three physicians. They didn’t give us preferential treatment.. It’s just the way it is here. Much much better health care. I joke that Cayman is the Disneyland of healthcare.

    You can find real estate here: http://www.cireba.com .. there is a new airport coming in 2010 so probably not a bad time to invest, before we start getting jetways and 15 direct flights a week from NYC. Its not for everyone here but it works for me. We’re 1 hour to Miami and 3.5 to Teterborough. you can go commercially nonstop to Newark and daily non-stop to Ft Lauderdale, Miami, Atlanta. You need a passport to visit and there’s a background check / fairly involved process in immigrating. Very British here, a lot less Calypso than your average Caribbean isle., but much warmer and safer here than Bermuda, Bahamas, Turks, Anguila.

  90. Posted by Fellow Domainer | April 9th, 2007 at 7:18 PM

    Frank

    I don’t agree with your politics but when it comes to domains we see eye to eye.

    You might enjoy my friends blog, Selwynduke.com. He probably thinks recruitment on the Internet is a problem too. LOL. He is a clever witty guy though.

    I have to give myself kudos for realizing your way with words before others as I quoted your open letter to ICANN (under the pen name Jake) on domainnamewire.com a couple weeks before you started your blog. I have been reading since day one.

    http://domainnamewire.com/2007/02/07/mgm-loses-bid-for-wargamescom/#comments

    I quoted you because I recently had to write several UDRP responses for generic domains including a 3-letter dot com. The TM issue cuts both ways and and it looks like you and I will find ourselves on the wrong end or the sword in the years to come unless the UDRP is revised.

    Love your blog Frank, enjoy it with my coffee in the morning. Thanks for sharing.

    ***FS*** My pleasure.. politics are a funny thing.. I’m more centric than you’d think .. thanks sincerely for the compliment. And it’s funny.. I wrote that quote years ago when overreaching tm interests were contemplating changing the UDRP to include last names like schilling.com or tradenames (unregistered marks) like bostonplumbing.com .. have had alot folks misinterpret that I am railing against ‘trademarks’ which I am not, I support TM holders and respect famous marks. Those are wholely different from tradenames which conceivably encompass everything under the sun. I also don’t like certain first and last names together as domains .. those may be the exclusive provence’ of one.

  91. Posted by Fellow Domainer | April 9th, 2007 at 7:33 PM

    By the way Frank, my question is: How will you or your heirs defend your domains after every possible English word is trademarked?

    I only have 10,000 domains and I am amazed at how many UDRP’s that I have to answer for obviously generic domains.

    ***FS*** I think common sense will rule the day. We really do not get challenged that often legally *knock on wood* .. we try to do the right things and steer clear of trouble. I don’t walk around with a chip on my shoulder but if a bad guy walks into my store with a gun, you can bet he’s leaving feet first.

  92. Posted by kamal | April 9th, 2007 at 8:43 PM

    For Fellowdomainer,

    I respect what you’ve done with your parents. I wanted to add something to what you asked Frank. You might want to consider other islands as well. I currently live in the Dominican Republic in the beach town of Cabarete. Will probably return home to the U.S. soon but it’s a great experience to live on an island, have the type of view that people only see in photos and movies.

    It’s also relatively cheap here. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

    Frank, apologies if this isn’t the right place to post this but wasn’t sure where else.

    Best,

    Kamal

    ***FS*** Looks good to me Kamal.. thanks for being so helpful.

  93. Posted by Fellow Domainer | April 9th, 2007 at 9:29 PM

    Do you draw the line at first and last name combinations? I don’t. There are 15,000 people in the world named Robert Smith. Who should own RobertSmith.com?

    The fact of the matter is that there are at least a hundred people in the world named Frank Schilling. Let’s not even mention the the historical people named Frank Schilling.

    Recently Keith Urban filed a UDRP against http://keithurban.com/

    Don’t you see where this is going Frank? It only costs $1500 to play domain roulette.

    ***FS*** Fair comment my friend.. Recent UDRP decisions seem to be favoring respondents on generic two worders.. but what about RobertArthurKosteckie.com < — thats what I was aluding to more .. Two worders are a tough way to make a living with so many long tail generics still in the sea. :)

  94. Posted by Margaret | April 10th, 2007 at 12:49 AM

    I was intrigued to read in an earlier post that Vancouver BC had been such a hot-bed of early domaining enterprise. I am from that area and spent most of 1999 glued to Network Solutions looking up all sorts of unregistered words and saying to anyone who was interested (almost no-one) what a cool domain that would be. There were no forums then and I didn’t know of anyway to make money off these domains, and at Netsol’s $35 per domain, reluctantly let them go unregistered.

    Fast forward a few years, and for the past three years I have been building a domain portfolio (wishing I could time-warp back to 1999). The questions I would like to ask you are; do you generally now concentrate on buying domains on the aftermarket or is it still possible to register a new good dot com? Secondly, if one has missed out on a good dot com, do you see much monetization possibilities in the other TLDs? If most browsers (and people also) default to a dot com, I’ve never been quite sure what the possibilities are with the net and orgs etc. for parked page income.

    Thank you again for such an informative blog.

    ***FS*** I think there are still great opportunities in .com .net and the CCtld of the country you reside in. You can’t get the great once at registration price, but then again, you never really could. Even during the expiring name days you needed to troll and work hard. I think if anything it is easier today because the map is there. There are experts all around you who can explain what makes up a good name, what gets traffic and why. Back when I began everybody was a cybersquatter. Today, people are smart enough to know the difference between a legitimate investor and a squatter. Thats a foundational shift IMO. That serves to help you as a newcomer. (i recognize you’re technically not new). Stick with .com search terms : ceilingfans.com etc etc .. try to buy one and build a small site selling something. That name will be worth a million dollars one day. You can do that too .ca for example. That’s what I would do if I had to do it again. The traffic is in .com or the search engines .. register a good .com then buy traffic for it through adwords (arbitrage) that sort of thing. Lots of opportunity IMO.

  95. Posted by Cohn | April 10th, 2007 at 7:59 PM

    How many active domainers do you think there are?

    Ideas on the average portfolio size?

    1-10 urls? – 200,000+ (registrants who think somewhat domainer like)
    11-99 urls? – 50,000ish (oldschoolers, small timers and recreational folks poking around the domainer perifory)
    100-500 urls? – 3-5,000 (individuals globally kicking it up a notch and heading domainer)
    501-1000 urls? – 1000 getting more serious.. some companies and isp’s lawfirms and marketing advertising concerns)
    1,001 to 9,999 urls? – 200 Mid tier global operators
    10,000+urls? – 100 Serious operators

    Thanks,

    Tim Cohn

  96. Posted by StudioMobile | April 10th, 2007 at 9:23 PM

    Hi Frank– Really enjoy your writing, thanks for sharing your ideas and insights. I saw your recent comments on the sale of MobileFone.com, and wanted to get your feedback on a related site we registered 7 years ago and recently decided to make available– MobileLove.com — We’ve had many inquiries about it over the years and decided with all the things happening in mobile that now’s the time to make a decision. We also own all the top-level extensions. Thanks for any thoughts/suggestions. Your blog’s become one of my first morning destinations– Best, William

    ***FS*** I sincerely thank you for the compliment William but mobilelove.com is not a good name in my opinion. Mobilefone is good because its a brandable variant of a phrase which rolls off the collective conscience water off a duck’s back. Mobilelove.com? .. not so much. I will leave this open in case anyone else wants to chime in to the contrary.

  97. Posted by Tim Cohn | April 10th, 2007 at 10:01 PM

    Excellent Summary. Thanks Frank!

  98. Posted by Hairy Ape Like Creature | April 10th, 2007 at 10:13 PM

    You know what I can’t understand about you (and your operation Frank)?

    The fact that you don’t seem to have an obvious ambition of becoming a true(r) media company. You seem satisfied of doing all this hard work just on your own (with some help by one or two people here and there).

    I mean, you are smart enough to realize that you can assemble a team of hungry, ambitious and talented individuals who would do anything for you for a modest, set salary, and opportunity to live down there? Why don’t you have a team of 5-6 extra professionals who could work around a clock for you? Imagine an operation where tons of hard and innovative work is done by these people 24 hours a day. Breaking news at 3AM? – someone at Name Admin is there to react. Latest rumor buzz? – someone at Name Admin is there to dig out the fact? Future trends? Someone other than you is there to research and report (to you)?

    After all, no matter how hard you like to work, you still have other life/family commitments that others don’t.

    So how about setting up couple of different “media inteligence” departments at Name Admin consisting of, say, two people each (12 hrs. per each person per shift).

    Say, your

    “Domain Intelligence” department – would be responsible for trawling forum boards and buying generic domains and sites (from weak holders) for peanuts. Also they could trawl expiry lists, and red flag or green flag something you might have missed etc.

    “Breaking News, Current Buzz and Future Trends” department – could be responsible for identifying exactly that.

    5-6 enthusiastic, smart people working for you 24hrs. on salary might cost you $200k-$300k per year or less, which is what you spend on a few good domains.

    I guess, what am I trying to say is that in a domain business on your scale, it might be wise to invest in people as well. That $200k-$300k or less you spend on them, might bring you several fold in return?

    Your mantra is “if you don’t keep growing, you are dying”, but you apply this only to domains, not to your own human factor in your company, even though, ,when it comes down to it really, human factor is the most valuable, because all the artificial intelligence will not be able to replace the kind of things that smart, dedicated living, breathing humans can contribute.

    Of course, you don’t even have to bring thgem to Caymans, you could hire them remotely for those same tasks, though I would imagine that for the maximum dedication and team spirit fostering, nothing would beat locally based hirees.

    Just a sugg.

    ***FS*** Wow.. great suggestion. I’m working on such a plan as we speak. I have to weigh it against personal issues and lifestyle issues but something pretty big will happen growth-wise this year.. I’ll blog about it when I get closer.

  99. Posted by Scott | April 10th, 2007 at 11:28 PM

    Frank,
    It seems that there is a very large gap between companies like Sedo who syndicate Google ads and individual domain owners who are restriced by Google from creating landing pages like yours or Sedos. How can domain owners with smaller portfolios of high quality domain names deal with this inconsistency and maximie revenue?

    Thank you.

    ***FS*** Thats a terrific question. I think many little operators are in a tough spot because they do not have the scale to negotiate.. The best opportunity is likely to grow through acquisition, or band together with your peers to form a negotiating group. If you have enough traffic you can accomplish a lot.

  100. Posted by C_Sivertsen | April 12th, 2007 at 12:50 PM

    Frank,
    As a “car guy” I wanted to make sure you’re aware of Dan Neil who manages all auto reviews for the LA Times. I’m not a car guy but I read his review each Wednesday as I enjoy his offbeat writing immensely. He’s actually won a Pulitzer for car reviews and finds a way to make them entertainng and accessible each week.

    This week he reviews Ferrari’s new 2007 599 GTB Fiorano, which he calls “…the world’s best-ever front-engine sports car.”

    http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-hy-neil11apr11,0,6886194.story?coll=la-home-highway1

    Here is dan’s page at LAT anhttp://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-hy-neil-sg,0,5627290.storygallery?coll=la-home-highway1

    I always sell Dan Neil when i get the chance.

    Cheers!

    ***FS*** Thank-you so much kind stranger. I haven’t read him .. love that Ferrari BTW.. I would absolutely 100% own that car (sticker premium and all) if I didn’t live here.

  101. Posted by Andrew Hyde | April 12th, 2007 at 7:26 PM

    This, your blog, is just a great read for anyone in the domain industry or anyone in the IT industry for that matter. No need to post the comment, just wanted to let you know I enjoy the commentary and the perspective. It’s fresh, current and on top of the market – bar none. Specificly the referance to cutting a deal with AOL as ‘getting light from a dark star’ – perfect.

  102. Posted by Charley | April 13th, 2007 at 3:57 AM

    Hi Frank,

    There is lot of information on this blog. I am impressed the way you have been a leader in the domaining world. I have one question to ask you. What is your opinion on varietyflower.com & varietyflowers.com ? I would like to list them on Moniker’s auction, few months from now.

    ***FS*** I don’t know much about flowers.. but overture says only 450 people searched for this term across Yahoo’s entire network in the month of February. Seasonality can influence the overture count but this name doesn’t bubble up through my collective conscience as it relates to flowers. I don’t hear people at the watercooler saying: “Its my wife’s birthday on Friday, I better run out and buy some ‘variety flowers’ or I’ll be in the dog-house” Also, the order could be “flower varieties”.. OV would spit back the same score. I haven’t checked the USPTO on it but if it were tm free for flowers and crossed the block at snap I might put a $60 proxy on it. It might potentially make a nice anchor name for some form of flower site. Selling privately to a third party who wants to name their biz?.. that, I really couldn’t tell you because I’m not routinely a seller.

  103. Posted by Nathan Hicks | April 13th, 2007 at 1:57 PM

    Hi Frank
    really, really terrific blog. Amazing info and foresight. ANy chance of giving us a quick run down of your technology setup that powers your business (office, hosting etc)
    \Cheers \Nat

    ***FS*** Hi Nat.. we’re a linux shop.. other than that it’s alot of proprietary DB and management stuff that was written in-house. Nothing amazing.. all fairly rudimentary. We outsource as much as possible and distribute that outsourcing across lots of different providers so no one catastrophic thing can take our lights out. Thanks for the compliment.

  104. Posted by Scott Arenson | April 13th, 2007 at 4:31 PM

    Frank,
    Since pointing your many health-related domains at your WebHealth wiki to drive traffic, have you made or lost money relative to keeping the domains as standalone properties with ad links? Or is it too soon to do an ROI analysis?

    Scott

    ***FS*** We make marginally less with the wiki.. but traffic is climbing (going to climb further, so remains to be seen how this plays out.. dev. like this is a stage we want to get to.. is this the best formula for generic name implementation?.. too early to say IMO .. but its been very well rec’d

  105. Posted by Charley | April 14th, 2007 at 7:25 AM

    Thanks for the reply Frank.

    What do you think about the .Asia domain whichg should be released some time in the future. Is it a nice investment that will explode/take off for the future?

  106. Posted by paul | April 14th, 2007 at 1:03 PM

    Frank,

    I was hoping to keep this confidential if possible. I own a very high profile generic financial service name

    [kept private per your request]

    ***FS*** My advice on that name is enter it in the traffic auction with a reserve price you feel comfortable with. You can’t take the temperature of the market without sticking your toe in. The NY auction is a good location to take tat name across the block.

  107. Posted by Yoni B | April 14th, 2007 at 1:56 PM

    Frank,

    With all things equal, (no developed websites & all domain available), if you could own only 10 domain names, which ones would they be?

    ***FS*** Whoa.. lemme think about this one a while and I’ll blog about it. :)

  108. Posted by Tim Davids | April 14th, 2007 at 6:58 PM

    Frank,

    Nice blog…my question is: Which is better, buying domains for ones personal account or just buying shares of a company like Marchex?

    thanks,

    Tim Davids

    ***FS*** Thanks sincerely Tim.. I think it depends on the structure of the company you are buying into. You could buy stock in a name company and then they turn around and hollow the co out by selling all their good names to me on the cheap. You still own the stock. So I would try to buy the names themselves or buy the stock of a company that doesn’t sell its names.

  109. Posted by Raymond Hackney | April 14th, 2007 at 7:32 PM

    Hello Frank
    I wanted to get your thoughts on a finance/loan portfolio built mainly around .org

    I believe in this area .org may come off as more authoritative.

    SO I regged domains:
    KentuckyHomeloan.org
    HawaiiHomeLoan.org
    Startuploan.org
    Startuploans.org/.net
    lapaydayloans.org
    detroitpaydayloans.org
    miamipaydayloans.com
    atlantapaydayloans.org
    ohiopaydayloan.org
    caymanislandsbanks.org/.net
    caymanislandbanks.org
    caymanislandrealestate.org
    Now I HAVE A COUPLE GOOD .COMS TO BUILD INTO THE MIX
    Straightloan.com
    PalLoan.com
    southbeachhomeloan.com
    Fasterpaydayloans.com
    For the paydayloan theme I figure to build Fasterpaydayloans.com as the hub then use the city and state .orgs for local content.

    What do you think I believe for finance .org number 2 behind .com better than .net .org=trust IMO

    LAstly what do you think of the Cayman domains on the list

    PS from our other posts back and forth you know tv domains my focus I picked up CayhmanIslandtv.com

    ***FS*** I get a lot of emails like this.. I am not crazy about those names but one or two are okay. I think you would be better off trying to buy a few obviously good names in the secondary market from a private holder or a broker like Sedo.com, Afternic.com, tdnam.com

  110. Posted by kamal | April 14th, 2007 at 9:22 PM

    Frank,

    First, thanks for writing this blog and sharing your knowledge, and taking the time to reply to questions and comments. I realize that it takes time away from your other activities and, like the rest of your readers, truly appreciate it.

    I have a question regarding some things you stated in your mobilefone post. You said that it should get 200+ uniques a day, and felt it was worth more than the price of $65K (this was before the nice detective work by Sahar).

    So, instead of asking a generic question, I’ll give a specific example. Out of the domains I own, I’ll pick two:
    (1) Tranr.com: Got 55 uniques last month
    (2) Drugscoop.com: Got 12 uniques last month

    (uniques data from Sedo parking)

    I’m assuming that drugscoop is more brandable than tranr (not sure what people are coming for at tranr – type of porn, misspelling of trainer, etc.)

    Now, how would one value a name like the ones above? If I assume that 200+ uniques a month (type-in)= $65K, then tranr.com would be worth 25% of 65K. But that seems kind of high.

    Whereas Drugscoop gets less typeins, but will probably result in higher paying drug related CPC ads and is easier to brand.

    Normally, when someone asks me what an asset is worth, my response is: Whatever the market is willing to pay. Or, the present value of revenues that asset will generate over the next 5 to 10 years.

    But when it comes to domains, I’m still confused. For all I know, my assumptions are incorrect. So,how can I estimate a value of domains like these if I see them for sale in the market?

    Thanks,

    Kamal

    ***FS*** Let me preface that what I’m about to write is subjective.. your opinion may differ from mine and the next person’s, however it is generally understood that in the majority of instances a domain name’s break up value is higher than its valuation based on what it can earn in paid search. You have odd situations which do not fit this mold (statement) but generally, individual names change hands in arms length sales for significantly more than even 15x the annual revenues that name makes via PPC.

    I would say that type in traffic only serves to make it harder to convince a seller to part with the name because the seller can see the name as the ability to draw a heartbeat of interest and there is some ability to make money.. Type in traffic shows there is in upside and the name’s owner can easily hypothesize about the rudimentary (or advanced) site he/she may build there to turn visitors into repeat customers and so on. Its like valuing a vacant storefront next to a medical clinic.. the site’s owner can see the people walking out of the clinic and can already picture the pharmacy he wants to build..

    So while I do not know what people at tranr.com and drugscoop.com are looking for .. you as the names owner can hypothesize, google and figure it out. My valuation of mobilefone.com was based on the fact that the name is so incredibly brandable. PLUS a great many people guess type this name because it is an obvious deffensible varint of “mobile phones” .. Somebody could brand/build a site there to sell the thing that the people type (look for). $65,000 is not alot of maney for a store location with the ability to drive that kind of “in the front door” foot traffic.

  111. Posted by Raymond Hackney | April 14th, 2007 at 9:43 PM

    FranK I guess I was asking you two things jsut your opinion on the cayman domains but the other was Finance related domains in .org I wanted your opinion. My opinion is that .org is more authoritative than certainly .net and maybe even .com since I am looking to develop I see no reason in buying other domains on SEDO or the like

    FloridaHomeloan.org and Californiahomeloan.org both sold on sedo for $3000 and $1500 respectively

    ***FS*** Good points.. and i’m sorry if it came off that I was raining on the parade as thats not my intention. I like .org’s too .. I own mortgages.org and scores of other good ones.. but that name gets just 1 type in visit a day. Now with a keyword like “mortgages” I could probably turn that into something.. but traffic?.. it just aint there. I generally view domains without traffic (or the potential to easily generate traffic) as trees in the forest that fall.. Did it make a sound? Does it matter if nobody was there to hear it? I readily concede that doesn’t mean you can’t sell the name to another individual, but the only reason that individual would give you $1500 over going out and registering hotloansforyoutoday.com is ‘hope’.. hope for traffic.. which isn’t there. Hope this helps.

  112. Posted by Charley | April 15th, 2007 at 1:31 AM

    Frank,

    1. How do you develop type in traffic domain names or do you just park them?

    2. Does development of a domain name involve programming and design?

    Thanks

    Charley

    ***FS*** Development starts in rudimentary ways such as the content at personalloans.com .. That’s basic standalone site dev but you could argue that we have now developed thousands of names; if you look at eatingdisorders.com it is developed with content right now. We just don’t allow the URL to serve in the browser (its a refresh instead) but aside from that semantic difference the name is fully developed now. Ultimately a big tranche of our names will be grouped into buckets and developed like this: http://www.netshops.com/ .. They get their traffic from category killer domains: “http://www.hammocks.com/“. We just haven’t pulled the trigger on the fancy site and product shipping infrastructure/people at the top, but we could re-build the entire netshops enterprise out of cashflow relatively quickly.

    If your question was more specific ..ie. How do ‘you’ do it then I’d say hire some programming talent on a piecework basis until you create a web enterprise that allows you to keep him or her full-time. You can hire a student locally from the computer science department of your local University or outsource to India/China … Geography is History :)

  113. Posted by Dennis | April 15th, 2007 at 1:46 PM

    Thanks for your candor,availability and patience. Here are 3 questions that arise in part from other responses you’ve given:
    1. Do you have any suggestions about the best way to track an inventory of domain names? You said you keep various private databases…in that regard, what types of statistics do you try to maintain about domain names in inventory? If there are database tools available to purchase, that would be great but knowing what info to track will help when privately developing the inventory tool. In my own case, the inventory is over 1,000 domain names and even at this level I’m finding that relying on the registrars’ listings doesn’t work, so now is the time to get organized.

    ***FS*** You should buck-up and transfer consolidate your portfolio to one trustworthy registrar who you know on a first name basis and then use their tools to manage .. I know of no publically sold management tools.

    2. You mentioned that “smaller operators” might “band together” to get better ppc terms. Any thoughts on what that would involve or how it could be done?

    ***FS*** A conference call with likeminded associates (friends) who are in the same business where you all keep your individual domain names and businesses seperate but you negotiate your traffic deals together as one block.. all in the group would send traffic to that winning revshare bidder… you can do this at the middleman level as well ( domainsponsor vs namedrive or sedo).

    3. Could you explain more what you mean about developing a “web enterprise” through domain names and where can I find out more about that? Hiring help (whether a college student or professional) is great but I need to be able to explain the desired end-result very clearly…and I’m still learning!
    Many thanks.

    ***FS*** Look at what netshops.com is doing with hammocks.com or look at what the guy at unicycles.com is doing. One category killer name and then you can plumb unicyclepictures.com unicycletricks.com etc etc etc in to drive related targeted traffic where it is appropriate and relevant.

  114. Posted by Charley | April 16th, 2007 at 3:35 AM

    Frank,

    What types of categories/segments do you invest and develop domain names? I am thinking about Gambling, forex, adult.

    Charley

    ***FS*** I take a scattershot approach and try for something in everything. Forex is probably the best of the three but the others are fine too, so long as they comply with applicable laws.

  115. Posted by Charley | April 16th, 2007 at 10:16 AM

    Frank,

    As an extension to the previous question, I would like to know which categories/segments have higher liquidity, meaning more domain related sales? Could you list them below.

    Thanks,

    Charley

    ***FS*** I am exactly the wrong guy to ask this question to.. We’re not in the business of selling names. You should take some of this stuff over to the forums: http://www.dnforum.com, http://www.domainstate.com. Lots of experts to interact with there who could answer sales related stuff much better than I.

  116. Posted by Johhny B. Good | April 17th, 2007 at 11:35 AM

    Hello Frank

    I thought you would “dislike” this article so I am sending you the link. It’s another “your all cybersquatters” article:

    http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1733

    Notice, if you will, in this article how he defines cybersquatting:

    These are the most common types of cybersquatting,

    “Cybersquatting”: Bad-faith intent registration; a cybersquatter can either sell to the highest bidder, or collect money by “domain parking”;

    “Typosquatting: This is cybersquatting of the tendency to mistype certain words in Internet addresses, such as spelling Google as “Googel”;

    “Domainer”: A purveyor of domain names, who makes income from buying and selling them;

    “Dropcatcher”: A person or company who rushes to purchase, or “catch” popular domain names quickly when their registrations lapses;

    “Domain Tasting”: Getting domains for a “five-day free refund period” to test, then dropping for refund the ones that didn’t pan out;

    “Domain Parking”: A way of making money by having a small site with just advertising linked to a related domain name, where the owner paid a small amount whenever a person clicks on an ad; which can add up to millions in some cases.

    ***FS*** Absolutely ridiculous.. These guys truly do not understand the ‘law’ about which they write and the piece tells half-truth’s .. I would encourage all to help these folks correct the falicies they espouse.. Can’t find a spot to comment of I would do so. What these people do not understand is that: “generic name (names which anyone can own) get organic type in traffic for nothing more than the keyword weight or gravity of the name” .. Once you get that concept in your skull, the “cybersquatters = domainers” argument falls apart like ashes in the wind.

  117. Posted by Charley | April 17th, 2007 at 12:29 PM

    Frank,

    How can I reach end users, especially for cctld’s like co.uk, de, us, eu and com?

    Charley

  118. Posted by Bradford Hines | April 17th, 2007 at 2:03 PM

    Frank,

    I just got into the whole expired domains world this week, I joined both expireddomains.com and recycled-traffic.com. Any tips on where to begin?

    Thanks for your time,

    Brad H.

    ***FS*** Start at domainstate.com and read my friend..

  119. Posted by Jamie | April 18th, 2007 at 4:51 PM

    can you recommend reputable parking companies for “foreign” sites? Specifically the UK, but also interested in the rest of Europe and Asia.

  120. Posted by Edwin Hayward | April 18th, 2007 at 7:43 PM

    In response to Jamie’s question, the best companies for UK traffic parking seem to be http://www.sedo.co.uk/ (especially if you can get into their “Pro” program that has minimum traffic/quality requirements, but higher payouts) and http://www.namedrive.com/ – they’re not the only players in the market but they seem to be the most consistent.

    Don’t pick a single “winner” and dump all your traffic with them or you’ll be leaving cash on the table – instead, experiment and move the traffic around until you find the best combination (some domains that perform well at Sedo may perform badly at NameDrive, or vice-versa – seemingly no rhyme or reason to which ones will do well where, but there are definite “winning combinations” of parking arrangements if you’re willing to put in the time/effort to test and refine.

  121. Posted by Hairy Ape Like Creature | April 18th, 2007 at 9:20 PM

    Hi Frank,

    check this out > http://tinyurl.com/2fvbwh

    Perhaps you can comment on it in your blog?

    By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer Wed Apr 18, 2:16 PM ET
    If you Googled “Virginia Tech shooting” or “Virginia shooting” this week, the Internet search engine served up dozens of links to news about the university massacre. Yet some media outlets weren’t taking the chance of missing readers’ attention by being bumped down the list.

    The New York Times and The Washington Post, for example, bought keyword ads that put their coverage into the prominent “sponsored links” atop the Google results page. So did The First Post, a British online news magazine. The Times, CNN and Fox News got similar links up on Yahoo; Fox News also mined MSN.

    Buying keyword ads to run alongside search engine results is a well-established practice. All kinds of companies, in and out of the media, do it when sporting events or TV shows turn something into a hot topic.

    But for top-tier news organizations to advertise their Virginia Tech coverage this way illuminates the massive power the Web now wields in the traditional media. No longer can the Times or the Post assume that readers would naturally come to them, even when a huge event breaks.

    “An increasing number of users go directly to a search engine when news breaks rather than going to a news site,” said Peter Hershberg, managing partner of Reprise Media, a search marketing company.

    As a result, news organizations need an analogue to last century’s newsboys in knickers who barked out “Extra! Extra!” on urban street corners:

    “Shooting at Virginia Tech,” the underlined link for the Times read. “The New York Times has the latest news and updates.”

    “Special Report on Va Tech Shootings,” CNN’s link proclaimed. “Timeline of the tragedy and reports from VA Tech students.”

    “America mourns college gun rampage massacre. News, analysis, pics here,” said The First Post’s come-on.

    Representatives for the Times and the Post both said their organizations regularly buy keyword ads in hopes of grabbing readers who might not otherwise check out the newspapers’ Web sites. They declined to share how much they spend on such campaigns.

    The costs can vary wildly: Generally, search ads are automatically generated at any given moment based on how many nickels or dimes a sponsor is willing to pay the Internet companies every time someone checks out the link.

    Google and Yahoo, the top two search engines, also factor in how frequently the ads actually get clicked. The goal is to increase the odds that the sponsored links will be relevant to what the Web surfer was exploring.

    It’s not foolproof, of course: In addition to the news ads on Yahoo on Wednesday, “Virginia shooting” at times returned a link sponsored by the FFF Hunting Preserve, touting its “9 station range Shooting course in Virginia.”

    One potential problem for news organizations is that keyword ads “can also leave you looking crass — that you’re tapping in for a business purpose on a tragedy,” said Danny Sullivan, editor of the SearchEngineLand.com newsletter. “It could make some people’s eyebrows go up … `Did you have to go after that particular term?’”

    But Sullivan added that if news sites have “substantial information” to share about a search term — even if that information is, after all, a commercial product — “I would err on their side of that — that it’s not so bad.”

  122. Posted by Paul | April 20th, 2007 at 1:29 PM

    Frank, check out what I did for my domain name http://www.fees.com for the June Traffic Auction. I hope to get lots of action on this name as I put a real low reserve to bring in lots of bidders. Any feedback would be appreciated.

    ***FS*** I think this looks great. Keep a level head about its ultimate value and always leave enough room to incentivise a potential purchasder to part with cash today .. and you should sell this registration.

  123. Posted by Charley | April 21st, 2007 at 4:35 AM

    Frank,

    Are there any reliable sources for domain capital? Suppose I need $5000 for buying up some names, how would I proceed if I don’t have the money.

    Charley

    **FS** I think there is a company called domaincapital.com

  124. Posted by Colin Pape | April 21st, 2007 at 9:32 AM

    Hey Frank,

    Thanks for taking the time to maintain Seven Mile – I can imagine how much time you’re spending…

    In light of your purchase of canada.net (nice score!) and the fact that you are (or were) a Canadian, I was just wondering if you hold any dot CAs in your portfolio?

    If so, care to mention any of your favourites?

    Thanks again Frank!

    - Colin

    ***FS*** I have a handful at the moment.. but my family own many .. a preach the gospel of domains to all who will listen.. sometimes my family listens. :)

  125. Posted by Tom | April 21st, 2007 at 12:49 PM

    Frank, great blog. Quick question. What is your opinion on the pros and cons of asking for and/or revealing what the reserve price of a domain name is in an auction?

    ***FS*** Hate to be vague but would depend on the auction and reserve price.. neutral at face value.

  126. Posted by graham Haynes | April 21st, 2007 at 2:14 PM

    Dear Frank, I know it sounds crass but your one smart guy. Value your opinion on this commercial conundrum. I have 200 3 alpha character dot coms. Most of them have letters either x,y,z which to many people are low quality but I purchased them back in 1999, for the registration fee, believing one day I could unlock there value in the Chinese market. I just cant think of the best way to utilise the names. With the advent of web2.0, I am thinking of building web sites with this technology in china, all the big social sites, in china, have only 2or3 character names in the dot com space and often numbers. With the mobile phone being seen as the future way most Chinese people will connect to the web, short domain names are a must. I am based in Shanghai for my other business 6 months a year and I could pool together some local talented web designers. What do you think, any thing obvious strike you, as the way to unlock the value of 200 3alpha character .com names?
    Graham

    ***FS*** I’d activate these names and see what people are searching for.. if you only have a few hundred you could hand search what each of the acronyms stands for. Sometimes three character alpha and three character numeric names can have meaning in different languages.. google your acronyms to see what exactly they are.. some of them may be quite useful outside of china .. and thanks sincerely for your kind compliment.

  127. Posted by CyberSquatterX | April 22nd, 2007 at 2:01 AM

    Frank why do you and Jay want to declare war on cybersquatters when the result will be that all the typo’s will be owned by Chinese and Koreans?

    There are no laws against cybersquatting in these countries and there is now way to persue people through the courts in these countries.

    A lot of chinese poeple will be making some serious doe. Once that money leaves your orbit and my orbit we won’t see it again.

    Like many Americans I buy American cars and products because I understand this simiple truth. Even John Q Public understands this.

    I think it is kind of Ironic that the result of Microsoft’s cybersquatter crusade will be that all their domains will be owned by Chinese who will use them to sell pirated MS software. Where as if they had let sleepng dogs lie they would have ended up getting most of the traffic anyway via PPC.

    The stupid Lehman act is going to cost
    America billions. Yes billions! If I didn’t know better I would think it was written by the Chinese. The lehman act should read “All typo’s must be owned by China”

    I think you and Jay are off base. It’s a war you can’t win. You can only hurt Americans and ultimately yourself.

    ***FS*** Firstly its the Lanham Act, not the Lehman Act. I don’t think Jay and I are declaring war on cybersquatting.. in fact I haven’t even spoken with Jay about this stuff.. and even if we wanted to do such a think it wouldn’t stop the problem. We both run blogs so we comment on things in the press, etc.. You are correct that ‘cybersquatting’ is not regulated in China, other asian countries and I agree that certain types of cybersquatting happen through the browsers Google and Microsoft benefit from cybersquatting and in a manner of speaking, are cybersquatters themselves when their browsers hijack URL strings. That said.. the world is always changing .. brand holders want their traffic back, other brand holders say “I don’t care as long as the traffic gets to me” .. In short .. its not up to me or Jay.. if it were up to me I would scrap the Lanham Act entirely and write it in a way that benefits America .. You can’t change the world by “letting sleeping dogs lie” and regardless of what I write here, the dogs are already awake.. Jay and I are just telling you .. that ‘the dogs are awake’.

    I liked your quote: “I think it is kind of Ironic that the result of Microsoft’s cybersquatter crusade will be that all their domains will be owned by Chinese who will use them to sell pirated MS software.”

    Ultimately if the names are not owned offshore, they will resolve in the browser’s address bar through error search, to Microsoft themselves. So microsoft’s crusade benefits ‘microsoft’.

  128. Posted by Charley | April 22nd, 2007 at 2:37 AM

    Frank,

    1. Can you comment on 3 word names with nice overture searches,is it worth registering them or should I stay with 2 word names?

    2. What number of overture searches do you consider good for registering domain names?

    3. Does DomainCapital require a security for the investment? How would it work for a non resident i.e. foreigners?

    Charley

  129. Posted by Charley | April 22nd, 2007 at 10:36 AM

    Frank,

    I would value your comments on forexcurrency.co.uk, also with an indicative price range.

    Thanks

    Charley

  130. Posted by David Sprake | April 23rd, 2007 at 3:41 AM

    ……..and we know them as .mobi, .info, .biz, etc. Most of these domain extensions were only slightly more effective than cold fusion research.

    COld fusion reearch could come back and bite you!

  131. Posted by don m | April 23rd, 2007 at 9:58 AM

    Frank

    A few items, perhaps under the radar of the Lasalle/Bank of America merger announced yesterday is that this has the potential to bring together Loans.com and Mortgage.com, the two most premier names in the finance arena. I have not read if this was included with B of A or will go to Barclays, but certainly most analyst will overlook (mortgage.com) as a unit of ABN amro.

    I noticed you have chosen to not monetize this blog.

    Keep up the great work, this is a daily must read…thanks

    **FS** Thanks for that tip.. I have had other folks write me.. I don’t want to mentize this blog. I monetize everything else, but this is a time-out zone for free info and thought-sharing .. Thanks sincerely for your compliment.

  132. Posted by jeff | April 24th, 2007 at 9:28 PM

    frank,

    IDN .biz was released today for Japanese and chinese. I was disappointed I missed it by a few hours. Pretty much every Japanese word on the yahoo.co.jp homepage is gone and all of the major keywords are gone too.

    Many were registered by Japanese companies. Looks like people are waking up to IDNs. .com and .jp just increased in value today.

    ***FS*** Thanks for the info.. good-luck and congratulations to those new registrants.

  133. Posted by owen frager | April 24th, 2007 at 10:37 PM

    What do you know about this .US rule?
    Policy Statement by James Casey
    Director, Policy and Business Development
    April 22, 2002 as amended on June 22, 2006.
    ” The usTLD Administrator will follow a policy to preserve and enhance the value of the .US Internet address to all users, including, in particular, state and local governments, libraries and K-12 schools. Given the importance of .US as a national public resource, certain guidelines must apply. Therefore, the usTLD Administrator will review, for possible deletion by the Registry, all registered second-level and locality domain names that contain, within the characters of the domain name registration, any of the seven
    words identified in Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, 438
    U.S. 726, 98 S. Ct. 3026, 57 L.Ed.2d 1073 (1978), the “Seven Words”. ”

    ***FS*** the ‘f’ word, the ’s’ word the ‘c’ word etc etc. They are trying to clean it up. Big mistake IMO. I don’t love cursewords as foundational elements (although i own some) .. but domain names get typed by people looking for things.. those names will still resolve in the browser to google or microsoft even if they are not registered so the point is moot… and censorship is *^@#*@&$(*&@ .. I do not support censoring the 7 bad english words related to domains. Its a silly rule that drives visitors and site builders to more forgiving namespaces. It was tried in .com to some degree in the net’s early days and ultimately abandoned.

  134. Posted by Drewbert | April 25th, 2007 at 2:09 PM

    Quick quick!

    Somebody register scunthorpe.us !!!

  135. Posted by Dave Sprake | April 28th, 2007 at 7:40 PM

    Frank,
    You seem to get on the back of .mobi, info, tv etc
    ………back in the late 1970s an architect friend of mine took me on a tour of the then-seedy South Beach section of Miami when you could pick up real estate there for a paltry sum, and I didn’t, and I don’t want to make that mistake with virtual real estate.

    What is Seedy in todays domain market?

    MAny Thanks for the Blog- staple reading each day for me now….

    ***FS*** I completely agree with your analogy.. but its one thing to stumble onto seedy southbeach and go: “hey what a find!” .. It’s another when seedy south beach rate-payer’s association takes out full page ads in the Miami Herald to encourage Sunday drive throughs and stump for business. Better to hole-up in palm beach, keep making money and invest just before Miami vice hits the air..or just after.

    Translation: Make hay in .com land while they figure out how to get .mobi names to work (resolve) for all people in all circumstances and invest when the bloom is off and first round speculators start letting stuff drop.

  136. Posted by Charley | April 29th, 2007 at 4:13 AM

    >>>> Make hay in .com land while they figure out how to get .mobi names to work (resolve) for all people in all circumstances and invest when the bloom is off and first round speculators start letting stuff drop. <<<<

    Would you consider investing in these for the future, speculating higher values especially for lll, nnn ?

    ***FS*** I’m not a reseller so I don’t typically like nnn or lll domains unless they have some cool meaning as a word: faq.net, awd.com, haq.com .. But if you’re a seller I could see prices comeing down on those nnn in mobi might actually be better than lll because there are only 1000 of them and numbers are universal across all languages.

  137. Posted by Adam | April 29th, 2007 at 3:03 PM

    What’s the secret to getting EPP transfer codes out of register.com (for names caught through snapnames) ?

    ***FS*** We spend a lot of money there and have cultivated a relationship. Still, takes lots of phone calls. RCOM is pretty good all in all. Some of the smaller ones are positively prohibitive.

  138. Posted by Drewbert | April 30th, 2007 at 1:17 AM

    Actually, if you go on their live chat and rant and swear like a drunk sailor at them about dragging their system out of the 90’s or hiring some decent programmers, they’ll send an email to the domain admin email address with a secret number in it. Once you send that email back (maybe after 2 attempts) they’ll email back a reply with the AUTHCODE in it.

    Worked for me. Hopefully if enough poeple do it, they’ll get rid of hte artificial roadblock and allow the recovery of AUTHCODE’s via the website. You know, customer service.

    ***FS*** Great tip Drew .. thanks sincerely. What a crazy world.

  139. Posted by Aggro | April 30th, 2007 at 7:17 AM

    1/ Does the 80/20 rule (80$ of revs attributed to 20% of domains) apply to your portfolio? If not, what?

    2/ What % (ballpark) of portfolio were acquired at reg fee vs auction/aftermarket?

    ***FS*** To your first question my set is more weighty around the middle.. 40% drives about 80% .. I acquired most after 2002 so most of mine were acquired in the aftermarket

  140. Posted by rod | May 1st, 2007 at 10:06 AM

    Interesting article in Forbes. While not an authority in SEO, Page Rank or ranking algorithms, an interesting story of how once you are flushed in the Google toilet, there is only down…

    Condemned To Google Hell
    http://www.forbes.com/2007/04/29/sanar-google-skyfacet-tech-cx_ag_0430googhell.html?partner=rss

    Highlights:
    Item #2 could impact domainers with just landing pages…

    1) Skyfacet.com, an online diamond business; Sanar was selling $3 million dollars worth of jewelry a year. Then in September 2006, Skyfacet no longer showed up on the first few pages of Google’s results when users typed in search terms like “diamonds” and “engagement ring.” The site’s traffic vanished, and Sanar says his sales dropped $500,000 in three months.

    2) Google’s programmers appear to have created the supplemental index with the best intentions. It’s designed to lighten the workload of Google’s “spider,” the algorithm that constantly combs and categorizes the Web’s pages. Google uses the index as a holding pen for pages it deems to be of low quality or designed to appear artificially high in search results.

    3) In retrospect, Sanar thinks he can trace his problem to a search marketing consultant he had paid $35,000 to improve Skyfacet’s Google rankings. He now believes the consultant mistakenly replicated content on many of the site’s pages, making them look like duplicate–that is, spam–content. But even after he reversed the consultant’s changes, he couldn’t get Skyfacet’s pages out of Google Hell, where they remain today.4) In an e-mail, Google product manager Prashanth Koppula offers little more in the way of an explanation. Asked if the supplemental index is getting bigger, he responds that “new pages are constantly being added,” but that the “algorithmic nature” of Google’s spider makes it hard to measure the index’s size or how fast it’s growing. That’s not a problem, Koppula says, because supplemental results are no less legitimate than normal results, and pages in the supplemental index aren’t checked any less frequently by Google’s spider.

    rod

  141. Posted by Joan Butler | May 3rd, 2007 at 4:25 PM

    Dear Frank: I don’t have any specific question, just want to say thank you for all the insight. I found your site via DN Journal a couple of weeks ago and am so grateful that you share your knowledge with the rest of us.
    I am a relative newcomer to domains, my son convinced my husband and I to join forces and (cash) about a year ago. Things are going great considering the time span.
    I do really appreciate the sharing of wisdom and feel we are on the right track.
    It’s never too late to get started.
    Keep up the good work!

    Joan

  142. Posted by David Sprake | May 4th, 2007 at 4:06 AM

    Absolutely love the pearls of wisdom article, Again thanks for the blog.

    But a bit of a contradiction?

    The Power of .COM branding….

    and

    “British Internet users are six times more likely to choose a .uk rather than .com address when looking for information via an Internet search engine.”

    ***FS*** We live to survive our paradoxes ;) .. seriously tho… many of those folks will accidentally type .com frtom time to time .. such mistakes don’t happen with other extensions… hence power

  143. Posted by Sean Sullivan | May 4th, 2007 at 7:26 PM

    Frank,

    The insight and informaiton you provide via this blog is invaluable, really. I’ve got two offers on the table that are pretty significant for a domain (roofcontractor.com) I own. I’m currently building up an app that will generate some seroius (10K+ MO) money in around six months to a year. Right now it’s parked and gets around 40 type ins daily. I’ve already done the same thing with a different industry and it’s been a great success. Well now I’ve got these offers on the table and I’m not sure what to do. What would you do?
    Thanks,
    Sean

  144. Posted by Richard K. | May 6th, 2007 at 8:33 PM

    Hey Frank,

    I thought you’d find this article interesting:
    http://today.reuters.com/News/ArticleBlog.aspx?type=technologyNews&w1=B7ovpm21IaDoL40ZFnNfGe&w2=B82×9Ksc5UNVzDjpITcIrRbi&src=blogBurst_technologyNews&bbPostId=Cz2Qj7Z73pi3ICz6JpbpANIKtfBEjgRCAXx6jICz8RRgKEFvNwL

  145. Posted by Peter Denega | May 7th, 2007 at 9:37 AM

    Hi
    I collected a number of generic domains some time ago in group categories in order to dive traffic from various areas of the same industry for the purpose of developing a brand. Eight years back many of the top tier names had been registered so I concentrated on some non English languages, Italian being one.

    It now seems to be the right time to develop or sell my registrations.

    Having looked at the options available I have found that all the domain resellers / auctions to be little more than sites that list thousands of names for sale in any random order with two proposes in mind, that is to take 20% of the sale or use anyone’s domains as a parking place to create leads to the auction site and annoy people searching for a service or product who end up at parked site offering advertising.
    This type of site parked domain will have a short shelf life,and in my opinion this will kill off any brand value in the name.

    A good quality company levying fees is fine and in my opinion desperately needed. A company that is willing to work as a professional dealer / agency, that has developed relationships with ad agencies and company marketing directors with a view to making a direct approach on the basis of leasing or developing a single or groups of domains for the development of a very cost effective marketing strategy.

    The so called gurus are out there taking money for seminars and bla bla about by promoting / leading me to ad pages that offer nothing close to what the customer wants or builds any confidence in the brand/domain name.

    If you can reccomend an agency that has moved on from the 1000,000 names listed model. To one that has the ability to say yes we can can work with this or no not good enough I would be most gratful.

    The domains registered to include childrens.co.uk / childrensgames.co.uk / childrenstoys.co.uk / childrensshoes.co.uk / childrensshops.co.uk / childrensfashion.co.uk
    Childrens is live site that was put up simply to permeate through the search engines
    catstrust.com / cats-trust.com / catstrust.org The name CATS TRUST has been accepted as a trade mark in my name by the UK Intellectual Property office and is waiting for Approval at the United States Patent & Trademark Office.

    valigeria.com / = Italian for Luggage / pelletterie.com / pelletterie.net / = Italian for all things Leather, bags , brief cases…….

    assicurazione. / Italian for insurance / assicurazioneauto.com = Car insurance / assicurazionemoto.com = Motorcycle insurance / assicurazionecasa.it = House insurance /
    Overture monthly keywords for March assicurrazione = 144,414 / assicurrazione moto = 41,344 / assicurrazione auto = 34,904 (just a guide)

    prezziauto.com / prezzoauto.com = Car prices / prezzimoto.com / prezzomoto.com (also all with hyphens)
    venditaauto.com = car sale / rivistaauto.com rivista-auto.com =car magazine

    erotiche.com / erotiche.tv / erotiche. (erotiche is the plural for erotic)

    Regard Peter

    ***FS*** Not sure what you mean by an agency.. so can’t help.. but some of those foreign names have intrinsic value. I don’t like the “cat” names because they are not part of common vernacular (which i have heard of)

  146. Posted by Sandy McFadden | May 7th, 2007 at 12:19 PM

    Hello Frank,

    I have been interested for some time to get into domain names. For right now I am not interested in going big I just want to start out small and see where it can go. I have just started University and have a family so funds are very limited to start out. What I want to know is what is the best way to go about getting started. I think I have found a few available domain names that could get some natural traffic. What is the best way to build that traffic and make money from them. Should I use a parking service like Sedo, or should I build a page and try to get relevant content and use Google Adsense? If your suggestion is the second, what is the best way to get content for your site. If I could even just get one name making a little bit of consistent income each month I would be happy. Any further tips that you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

  147. Posted by kamal | May 9th, 2007 at 3:23 AM

    Frank,

    A contrarian view by Mark Jeftovic on the future of the domain aftermarket. Figured you and the readers of this blog would find it interesting:

    http://mark.jeftovic.net/archives/81-When-The-Music-Stops.html

    ***FS*** Thanks for the link Kamal.. I like Mark and think he’s got some great insights. Its important to consider all aspects when investing in anything. Appreciate you sharing my friend.

  148. Posted by Jon | May 9th, 2007 at 10:02 AM

    Frank – Thanks for all of your great insights on this blog. A few questions about CTRs. What do you think the target CTR for any parked page should be and what would you define as an under performing parked page? What are the highest CTRs you see in your portfolio and why? My best site consistently has about a 25% CTR but I have others with similar content and focus audiences that only get 5%. I’ve tried to further optimize them but nothing seems to work – any ideas? Thanks.

    ***FS*** 25% is very strong across a large portfolio. If you just set up names and allow Google’s or yahoo’s semantic technology to target the name, the CTRs are 10-15% .. If you target you can get up to 150% (more than one click per person) Depends how much work you want to do optimizing and the quality of your names.

  149. Posted by Tom | May 9th, 2007 at 4:05 PM

    Frank, any update on how the gambling names are doing in the moniker auction, especially poker.com

    ***FS*** Nothing I have heard, but its been a busy week for me.. maybe someone else will post what they know

  150. Posted by Raymond Hackney | May 11th, 2007 at 7:56 PM

    Frank do you have an account at ENOM.tv ? I would like to give you a .tv Cayman-Islands.tv I figure you can throw up a quick site and have some interest in .tv without putting out Think of it as a gift for the great work on the blog and would like to have you apart of Dot Tv Nation

    ***FS*** That’s very very kind of you, but I am .tv averse because of the ambiguous renewals.. hard to develop in a neighborhood where the future tax structure is ambiguous.. Thanks sincerely for your offer Ray. I don’t mean to look a gift-horse in the mouth and genuinely appreciate your kindness sir..

  151. Posted by Raymond Hackney | May 11th, 2007 at 11:10 PM

    Frank this is not a premium Non premium renwals are known and you can transfer the domain anywhere it is $24.99 at enom but you can move it to Moniker for $27.49 So I would like to see you do something with the domain

  152. Posted by Andy | May 13th, 2007 at 2:54 AM

    Hi Frank,
    What do you think about the google stock…is it going up or down from the $465/share? What do you think the price will be by the end of the year?
    Any other stocks that you recommend buying?
    Thanks Frank!

    ***FS*** I hate to give out stock tips for a few reasons. 1. I don’t know a ton about stocks and 2. I could be wrong. I like the domain names in Marchex’s portfolio.. The names themselves are conservatively worth 3-400 million so the company 550mm is fairly cheap. They could easily cut the marketing costs, fire some people and have have solid free cashflow year over year. So I like that co.. The only down side is the size of the float. Not a lot of the outstanding shares trade actively.

  153. Posted by David Wrixon | May 13th, 2007 at 12:11 PM

    Are you going to T.R.A.F.F.I.C East?

    [url]http://2007.trafficchina.cn/EN//url

    ***FS*** Thats too far east for Me! :) See you in Miami.

  154. Posted by Josh | May 14th, 2007 at 12:11 PM

    Hey Frank,
    I have been reading your blog for quite sometime and love the insight you provide on the Internet and investing in general. I do not invest in domains actively but still feel I take a lot away from your writings. I was very excited to see your post Re: “Can I Google You?” since this is exactly the space that my startup is operating in. It is only 10% of our service but still an exciting part nonetheless. It confirmed to me why I have been working 24/7 to get things up and running. The comments from Owen were just icing on the cake. I would love to tell you more about it so shoot me an email when you get a chance.

    Regards,
    Josh

  155. Posted by Colin Pape | May 14th, 2007 at 8:47 PM

    Hey Frank,

    You’ve probably seen this already, but if not, you’ll want to watch this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q

    Might make a good post too… As one of the leading thinkers out there, just where do you think we’re headed? Or is it pointless to guess at this point as anything could happen?

    Crazy times ahead!

    ***FS*** I’m flattered, but my expertise and thinking is not as broad or visionary as billed :) I would suggest that a lot of incredible technical and revolutionary changes have already happened in our lifetime .. yet we all continue to live fairly normal lives. Much of the grand innovation which has shaped the world to date has largely been leveraged to make our lives more simple and our existence more ordinary. People are creatures that crave peace and comfort. Maybe the future holds more of that. A veneer of increased simplicity and ease masking a much more complicated and frenetic world. I prize creativity as much as intelligence .. one without the other is an incomplete equation. It probably sounds religious or trite, but I really believe that we all bring a unique gift to the world. While there may be 1000 people in China ‘just like you’, in the end, you bring something unique.. a unique gift that the others do not. I’m more worried about the present than the future :)

  156. Posted by charley | May 15th, 2007 at 12:20 PM

    Does porn.com have affiliates or just ads ?

  157. Posted by Josh Levy | May 15th, 2007 at 5:43 PM

    Hey Frank,
    I have a startup that will be launching in the next 30 days that attacks the exact market you touched on in your “Can I Google You?” post. That service represents only about 10% of our offering but it is a nice add of feature to our total product. We think that the mainstream market is just not ready for that service yet which is why we have a more targeted market and detailed offering. If you’d like to hear more, I’d be more than happy to speak with you and let you know what we have going on. Shoot me an email when you get a chance.

    -Josh Levy

  158. Posted by Johhny B. Good | May 16th, 2007 at 10:46 AM

    Hello Frank,

    If you have not already seen this, here’s a link to another new service interjecting themselves into the search process via ISP in the name of the “protecting subscribers and improving navigation”, via a deal for a results page provided by Yahoo.

    http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070326/20070326005198.html?.v=1

  159. Posted by Colin Pape | May 17th, 2007 at 1:04 AM

    Hey Frank,

    If you haven’t come across this yet, it’s one of the better guides to registering a domain name that I’ve seen…

    I’ll definitely be passing this along to friends, family and clients…

    http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/gettingstarted/article178286.html

  160. Posted by Patrick | May 17th, 2007 at 6:39 PM

    Hello Frank,

    the European markets are known to be lagging behind a bit when it comes to SEO.

    I was wondering if the same thing was true for domaining markets and presented a great opportunity?

    Patrick

    P.S.: I read your interview with Aaron Wall and I think in Germany about 80% or so are type-in traffic. (I read those statistics somewhere and people were less than surprised that .de was of so much more value than .com in Germany)

    ***FS*** Thanks Patrick.. I agree .de is 80+ type in. I think the germans have mined the .de space of good names.. They are ahead of the pack on the naming front. I think there is still a great deal of opportunity there though.. in all of Europe.. The secondary market is still pretty fresh.

  161. Posted by Jeff Burkey | May 17th, 2007 at 7:16 PM

    Frank,

    FYI, NameDrive just launched a few new features, namely Spotlight Domains.

    http://www.namedrive.com/

    Also, an incredible domain being auctioned at ebay, PassionateFemales.com

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=006&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=160117841882&rd=1&rd=1

    ***FS*** Thanks.

  162. Posted by Ted | May 18th, 2007 at 11:49 AM

    Frank,

    I’m an avid reader of your blog, which I might add is quite informative and laden with foresight. You indicated today that the the domain ethanol.com, being offered at the NYC Trafficz auction, could go for at least $200k. I happen to own ethanoll.com, I will appreciate it if you can comment as to it worth and value.

    Thanks.

    ***FS*** Names like yours are very good brandable variants.. I view yours in a much better light than ethnalo.com, or ehtanol.com because your version is more brandable than a typical consonant reversal. The owner of the correctly spelled “Ethanol.com” can’t run to the USPTO to get a TM for ‘ethanol’ because the word is generic, but your variant may have more success depending on how you frame the application. So I see your version and the handful of other traffic generating brandable variants in a similar light to Yahoo’s “Flickr” which is a brandable variant of the generic “flicker”. I think more folks are going to be turning to brandable variants as the world runs out of generic words and phrases to uniquely identify websites..

  163. Posted by Steve | May 19th, 2007 at 7:42 AM

    Hi Frank,

    When you were 30 and you started domaining did you start with an abundance of capital ? or did you finance a great deal of your purchases?

    Thanks for your time.

    Steve

    ***FS*** I had some rental homes (before than was fashionable) I sold them when I moved overseas to start an internet gaming business.. then when the gaming thing didn’t work out i plowed the money into domains.. got more good ones than bad.

  164. Posted by Charley | May 19th, 2007 at 9:39 AM

    Frank,

    What types of magazines, journals, websites, do you visit relating to the domain business?

    ***FS*** All published on the left column of my site.

  165. Posted by Steve | May 19th, 2007 at 12:22 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Do you ever lose with with certain domain names ? For example, if a particular domain name costs 8 usd to register and you only get 1 unique on average each month and only 6 people click on ads for the year and it grosses 5 usd for that year ? Thats a 3 usd loss. Does that happen with you or is each one profitable ?

    Thanks,
    Steve

    ***FS*** Loosing is part of the game I guess. But it is only a loss at ‘that’ moment in time and depending on implementation. The new accounting phrase used to describe name that don’t make back their registration price in a year is “impaired names” .. thats what auditors have taken to calling them. Now we have plenty of impaired names which get little traffic, then we have impaired names which get a bit more traffic. You could have a million dollar name getting lots of traffic that is inactive and makes no revenue which could still be called impaired, because it didn’t make it’s renewal fees, so much of it comes down to execution and implementation. So we do have names that cost 7 and make 6 but I think somevast majority are ultimately monetizable through better implementation or resale to a third party. We like to think all our babies are pretty and alented in one light or another.

  166. Posted by Steve | May 19th, 2007 at 4:34 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Do a large number of your domains get an incredible amount of traffic ? and other portion getting very little traffic ? Do you most of your domains receive little traffic ? Sorry for all of the questions.

    Thanks,
    Steve

    ***FS*** A lot of them get a little.. some get a little more. Your question is a relative one though.. everybody has a different persepctive of ‘a lot’ and ‘a little’.

  167. Posted by Steve | May 19th, 2007 at 5:15 PM

    Hi Frank,

    To you whats a lot of traffic and whats little ? If a domain name makes 10 usd each year would that be considered a failure or something worth wild ? in your opinion ?

    Thanks for your time.
    Steve

  168. Posted by Anonymous | May 20th, 2007 at 4:42 AM

    >>> If a domain name makes 10 usd each year would that be considered a failure or something worth wild ? <<<

    I would be happy if some of my “impaired names” generate that much for me.

  169. Posted by Steve | May 20th, 2007 at 9:28 AM

    Hi Frank,

    When you acquire domains, do you have the mindset of “I’m going to acquire this domain because its an established term, it gets type in traffic and its profitable” or “I’m going to speculate on a certain market and see what happens” ? Do you do both ?

    In your early years did you do both ? or back then did you “pony up” and acquire domains that were established ? Did you get in the domain name business late ? Thanks for your time.

    Steve

    ***FS*** I’ve always just looked for generic meaningful names or things which different meaning to different people. I was definitely “late” .. in fact if anything, you could say I’m living proof that you can almost completely miss a phenomenon and then capitalise on it because of external circumstances and good fortune. I often compare myself to Forest gump for that reason.. I came late.. an entirely unexceptional person.. I capitalized on the .com bust.

  170. Posted by Steve | May 20th, 2007 at 1:52 PM

    Hi Frank,

    If you don’t mind me asking, what are some negotiation techniques when acquiring someone domain name port. ? and also, with type in traffic, is ones click through rate higher ? I can understand if you don’t to answer the first, that would be fine.

    Steve

    ***FS*** I haven’t bought many portfolios so I’m not sure exactly what buttons to push.. You should stop by at namepros.com .. you question has probably already been answered on that forum.

  171. Posted by steve | May 20th, 2007 at 4:37 PM

    Frank, do you rely solely on type in traffic or do you get hits from organic search results ? What was the first domain name you purchased ?

    Thanks

    ***FS*** My main focus is organic type in traffic. If we buy a name that gets seo traffic it’s incidental to the purchase.. myvery first name was actually an accidental misspelling (quite a way to start). I got the correct spelling: accommodationweb.com later.

  172. Posted by Steve | May 20th, 2007 at 6:45 PM

    When you first started domaining were you successfull from the start ? When did you start to see a lot ois.f traffic coming your way ? after the first couple of domain names ? after 100 ? 1000 ? etc..

    Thanks,
    Steve

    ***FS*** I don’t want to be rude and not answer Steve but there is a book coming out on the industry that speaks to all this.. it did take me hundreds of names to figure things out tho.

  173. Posted by steve | May 20th, 2007 at 9:10 PM

    Not a problem. Thanks for your honestly. Frank, do you know what the book is called ?

    Regards,
    Steve

    ***FS*** I actually do not Steve but I know the book is written (completed) and I suspect there is a ‘great deal’ of industry color in the book.. it was written by David Kesmodel of the Wall Street Journal.

  174. Posted by owen frager | May 20th, 2007 at 11:18 PM

    Frank you raise a lot of concerns about browser redirects.
    How do you feel about apple.cm going to a domain sponsor page?
    And do you think, reading between the lines of Verizon’s ppt, that they are gunning for domain sponsor as much as the domainers themselves since they were 90% of the “men behind the curtain” for the examples shown?

    ***FS*** .cm belongs to the people of Cameroon.. I do not like that many of the world’s Internet users mistakenly type hundreds of thousands of domain-names and accidentally wind up in Cameroon. But I view this in the same way as the driveway I accidentally turn into just before the walmart (mistakenly thinking I am ‘at’ the walmart). .Xom, .cpm .con on the other hand are typos of extensions which do not exist. They serve no other practical purpose “other than stealing”. There is no Country or real namespace there behind the curtain. It is just theft for corporate gain. On your second question, only Verizon knows for sure. I think Domain Sponsor is just a very large company.. a lot of people don’t realize how large and far their reach goes. There are subsyndicators who ultimately plumb certain traffic back to Domain Sponsor in certain markets.. it’s a very broad network so they get more than their share of problems. Not a defense here.. just using logic.

  175. Posted by Steve Bates | May 21st, 2007 at 2:57 PM

    Howdy Frank – Love reading the blog . . . provides me with a lot of inspiration in my own quest with businessjet.com and with my domaining business. I was just curios why you removed the flightaware.com link. Now how will we know, “where da whip at?”

    ***FS*** Ha! :) Thanks for noticing. I’m on a fractional deal and don’t want to make the other owners uncomfortable by showing their trips to Aspen or Vantaa (Finland). I still have it bookmarked and am happy to report that ‘the whip’ is running strong with several thousand cycles. That businessjet.com is a terrific generic name btw.. my friend Garry owns jet.com <– also sweet but surely gets a lot of kids looking for the band.

  176. Posted by Steve | May 21st, 2007 at 10:52 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Do you have a certain formula when it comes to domain name investing ? Do you just base your value on traffic or other factors as well ?

    Thanks,
    Steve

  177. Posted by Dan | May 21st, 2007 at 11:02 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Great blog you have! Enjoy reading it everyday. This article came out about two weeks ago. I thought it was really good and thought that your blog readers would enjoy it also.

    Best,
    Dan

    ___
    Dont Buy the Keyword – Buy the Domain

    http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/N2j7PQwf95DYH3/Dont-Buy-the-Keyword—Buy-the-Domain.xhtml

  178. Posted by Jamie | May 22nd, 2007 at 11:45 AM

    Hi Frank,

    thought you’d get a chuckle out of this, given your stance on .asia http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/05/22/apop.DTL

  179. Posted by Joe | May 22nd, 2007 at 6:50 PM

    Hi Frank,

    I am big fan of your blog and have learned alot. I do have two questions for you that i am very curious about:

    1) Given the vast number of domains you own, why do you use a typepad.com domain and not one of your own?

    ***FS*** I’m so busy and don’t take myself seriously enough to set it up.. (busy/laziness). If you type my name .com it resolves tho

    2) Why do you spend time and dish out so much valuable information to your readers for free? Not even any PPC ads on your site. Arent you making your industry even more competitive for yourself. If i had a magic formula for winning at the stock market, the last thing i’d do is share it with others and make my job more difficult.

    ***FS*** I am just giving back for a while to see where it goes.. I have no agenda.. seriously.. happy with my life. Happy helping others. Serious serious.

  180. Posted by Jamie | May 23rd, 2007 at 1:20 AM

    There seems to be a similar theme running through many of the “land rush” stories, namely that many of the early participants were in British Columbia and/or connected to UBC (beautiful campus btw). So what gives? Was there a professor up there that put out the word, akin to the blackjack clubs from MIT? Was there a patient zero?

    ***FS*** Nope.. something in the water.

  181. Posted by Jonathan James | May 23rd, 2007 at 4:54 AM

    Hello Frank,

    First off, I wanted to say thank you for the amazing blog. To be perfectly honest, I did not even know that there were people out there like you until the last few months or so and I have been reading a lot and am amazed by what you guys managed to do.

    Domains are like the new american gold rush and it is great to hear it from someone who made it big by getting in on this stuff at the right time. I definitely enjoy reading your comments and insight.

    My question is related to two domains I own. I have owned some .com domains in the past that I sold at places like sedo, afternic, and moniker. I didn’t sell them for much. Just in the hundreds to low thousands range.

    Recently I managed to get a hold of invasion.com and superhero.net , which I think could be pretty decent domains for an interested company.

    I think these two domains could fetch more money than listing them at these places. Am I correct in this assumption? Would someone in your position be more interested or willing to offer more than I could get by generically listing it?

    Do you think it is worth it for me to sell these at a moniker live auction or find an individual/company that is interested in the domain, or am I better off listing it generically for all interested parties to see?

    (*Note* While I would be more than happy to sell it to you if interested, this isn’t simply a post to try to sell the domain. I have been reading your blog for quite some time now, and am seriously interested in your thoughts on individuals going to these generic places, versus finding someone like yourself to purchase the domain or going to a particular company directly.)

    Thank you for your time.

    ***FS*** I think those are great names.. I don’t buy onesey twosey names like that because of the time/effort to close but perhaps somebody else here or on forums: namepros.com, domainstate.com will like. Thanks.

  182. Posted by Charley | May 23rd, 2007 at 5:09 AM

    Security firm renews campaign for .bank domain

    http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/113746/security-firm-renews-campaign-for-bank-domain.html

    F-Secure has renewed its campaign for the introduction of a .bank Web domain that it believes could help to reduce instances of phishing data and identity theft.
    The security company is seeking a sponsoring organisation that is willing to promote the domain as part of ICANN’s recently announced public consultation on possible new top-level domains (TLDs).

    As things stand there is nothing to prevent fraudsters registering a URL containing a bank’s name – as F-Secure has noted before – and that is unlikely to change.

    ***FS*** True true.. .banks is tomorrow’s .travel

  183. Posted by Charley | May 23rd, 2007 at 11:10 AM

    >>> ***FS*** True true.. .banks is tomorrow’s .travel <<<

    I really cannot comprehend the mindset of them releasing this extension. And there will be people who think this is big and waste hell lot of money.

    Really bad !

  184. Posted by crinu iliescu | May 23rd, 2007 at 1:31 PM

    // Hi Frank,
    If you find the following of any interest you can put it on your blog for circulation, or you can find the same at domainerism.com & trademarkism.com
    //crinu

  185. Posted by Duane Bell | May 23rd, 2007 at 2:07 PM

    Hi Frank

    We have started a small email service for Christians. We offer almost a hundred different URLs so you can have a more personal email address. The site is being updated so it will combine our current email service along with a Christian “Myspace” and a a Christian Store selling/advertising Christian products. Sort of a one stop shop if you will.

    My question is we get a lot of offers for our URLs (one for $7500.00) but it is our thoughts that keeping them together as a group and using the site to pay for further names and generate income is better in the long run at least until they are worth “Real Money”. Am crazy or do I keep them together?

    I appreciate and value your thoughts

    Duane

  186. Posted by Steve Bates | May 23rd, 2007 at 2:49 PM

    Frank -

    I know that the idea behind Domaining is that you have your money working for you (I’m working on that myself). But, I notice that you answer the blog questions very quickly. How much of your time each day is dedicated to writing your blog? I know I spend a few minutes there everyday, so I was just curious.

    ***FS*** Quite a bit lately.. I’m not doing this for ad money or glory.. just trying to help the community. one day when the secrets are more widely understood, I’ll close this blog.

  187. Posted by Basicity | May 24th, 2007 at 4:29 PM

    Frank,

    Just read in DNJournal about the sale of BellinghamWA.com for $10K and OlympiaWA.com for $9.2K. The Whois for both domains points to a POBox in Grand Cayman. I’m wondering if you’re the owner?!

    If you’re, would you be interested in ClydeHillWA.com? Clyde Hill is one of the richest cities in WA State. It boasts the #1 US zip code with the greatest single-family home price appreciation between 2005 and 2006, according to a BusinessWeek.com Special Report (http://metrobellevue.com/bellevue_citynews.htm#_richestzipcodes).

    ***FS*** Nope.. must be a different co.

  188. Posted by andy | May 24th, 2007 at 11:49 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Thank you for keeping content update in this webblog – priceless !!!

    I need artists, merchants, real estate agents traffic – I wonder if you are willing to sell.

    My current website is http://www.share.us we will launch the video sharing service on June 15 2007

    Please kindly response via my personal email address andyshelby@msn.com and delete this comment.

    Best regards,

    Andy Tran

  189. Posted by shane | May 25th, 2007 at 1:02 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Is the general rule of thumb when it comes to domain names that 1 percent of internet search traffic equals 1 percent of those people will type in your domain name ?

    For example, if a term that is searched 300,000 times a month, approx. 3000 people a month will type in your domain address ?

    I assume there are variables in this equation ?

    Thanks

    ***FS*** There is some correlation but I have not found a universally accurate formula which I would be comfortable speaking to.

  190. Posted by Steven Zielke | May 25th, 2007 at 1:37 PM

    Frank, would be interested in forming partnership around premium generic domain names for .mp. We could cut deal now versus later. Steven Zielke VP Buisness Development dotMP Saipan DataComm Inc

    ***FS**** I’m steering away from anything that isn’t .com, .net .org or the ccTLD of the country you reside in. But I sincerely thank you for thinking of me sir.

  191. Posted by don | May 25th, 2007 at 1:41 PM

    Frank,

    I thought you might be interested in this article, relates to real estate specific sites on the net:

    “The first generation of the Internet is widely accepted to be 1995 – 2004. In 1995, there were 23,500 Web sites of which 4,000 (17%) were real estate related. Today, Netcraft estimates that there are 100+ million Web sites of which about 48 million are active. Some academics estimate that approximately 6% of all commercial Web sites are real estate related and, if that is accurate, then we may be approaching 3 million real estate Web sites. Google, meanwhile, lists real estate as its top search category offering over 325 million search results for the term “real estate.”

    entire article can be found here:

    http://www.rismedia.com/wp/2007-05-24/web-20-this-time-its-for-real/

    Whats really interesting is that most real estate agents, still dont get it! As this is my niche, its surprising the # who contact us offering $100 or less for keyword rich, brandable names… instead they continue to opt the joeagent.com name approach.

    Keep up the great work!

    ***FS*** I got washingtondcrealestate.com a few days ago and was stunned to see it close for less than 10k because washingtonrealestate.com could be the state.. anyway.. You’re right..

  192. Posted by Domainer's Gazette | May 25th, 2007 at 7:16 PM

    hey Frank,

    on snapnames(or pool, etc.), when domains are being auctioned, are you using a software app to help you acquire domains, or are you physically updating bids based on your interest?

    ***FS*** I have software that bids, but I price every name manually… and I tweak prices manually during the auction when I mess up by setting proxies too high (somebody screwing with me) or too low (contested name I underpriced).

  193. Posted by shane | May 26th, 2007 at 9:14 AM

    Frank,

    Do some of your long tail domain names get more hits than your shorter domain names ? Are you surprised sometimes when you view the hits on some on your sites ?

    Thanks

    ***FS*** Yes.. and yes.. I’m more surprised that many names which garner high search counts at the engines make very poor type-in traffic. sexualdysfunction.com gets very little type-in-traffic even though the Overture count is over ten thousand apart) .. But that bare trickle of traffic flow is very valuable on a per click basis.. and the development potential is huge given the high number of people who seek info related to this problem.

  194. Posted by Steven | May 26th, 2007 at 3:23 PM

    Frank,
    Would you be willing to review some of your weekly purchases each week and put some spin and color into why you spent XXXXX on a name….maybe a weekly post on a few names.

    ***FS** I would but its probably already covered in DNJ. :)

  195. Posted by Steven | May 26th, 2007 at 4:03 PM

    I was asking if you could provide some insight into your thinking before and after you purchased the names that week. Not how much you paid! Why did you like it and value it worth XX,XXX. As an example, you bought waterscapes.com for $11,751.00.

    Thanks

    ***FS*** Oh I see.. I didn’t get that one.. I don’t think anyway.. names like those are very big tho.. you can do a great deal with them. The thought process is similar to buying a strata storefront in an area with lots of potential foot traffic.

  196. Posted by Raymond Hackney | May 26th, 2007 at 8:37 PM

    Three things Frank

    A question, an opinion and an A/C #

    .org vs .net When it comes to financial domains only which do you think better? I think .org due to the authoritative nature of the extension.

    Opinion on CopyrightInformation.org picked up in a liquidation sale for $15 I think the domain excellent based on the Keyword weight alone.

    Lastly still looking to push Cayman-Islands.tv to you I explained last time there is not variable pricing on NON-PREMIUM .tv its $24.99

    Thank you

    ***FS*** I like your .org… think you’re in the money. You’re very kind on the tv .. let me think on that one Ray.

  197. Posted by Dan | May 27th, 2007 at 2:03 AM

    Hi Frank,

    Could you give your thoughts on IDN keyword domains names and how you see this market unfolding or not unfolding. If this has already been touched on, could you post a link for me.

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS*** I think IDNs will make great pointer names for routing traffic.. and great regional names for communicating within a country. I don’t have a lot of insight into IDNs but the reasons I have steered away (up till now) is lack of cashflow from them(they don’t resolve yet), no clarity as to the technical stardard which will be adopted, lack of clarity as to whether the CCtld or .com will be better in certain markets and my own personal lack of knowledge around the linguistics in countries where IDNs will be strongest (ie, korea, japan, arabic, russian, hindi, chinese)

  198. Posted by Jeff | May 27th, 2007 at 2:31 AM

    hey frank!

    what do you think about this news?

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18873168/ (pretty cool that they actually put a domain name on there)

    Fox partnered with the Franklin Mint to advertise spiderman 3 on the back of 40,000 quarters. What’s next? Google.com dollar bills?

    ***FS*** That is very cool. Those folks are heading straight to the address bar. Maybe when they are done with that one they’ll want to borrow some money and type http://www.personalloans.com or one of yours. Some will go to Google of course.. and that’s cool. But an increasing number will expiriment outside the G-box

  199. Posted by Rob Degenhart | May 27th, 2007 at 10:55 AM

    Frank,

    What is the best way to maximize the sale of a single domain name? Get the most visibility to interested buyers etc. I have owned BeOnline.com for almost 11 years and now am considering a sale.

    Thanks!

    ***FS*** Thats a fine name.. I would familiarize myself with domain forums, where other investors congregate.. domainstate.com, namepros.com are the two biggest .. then market it on sedo.com

  200. Posted by Charley | May 29th, 2007 at 1:01 PM

    ICANN Welcomes GoDaddy.com Takeover of RegisterFly Data

    Finally we get to hear this great news.

    ICANN has welcomed today’s GoDaddy.com® announcement that it will take over the entire portfolio of more than 850,000 generic top-level domain (gTLD) names held by RegisterFly.

    “The RegisterFly situation has been extremely difficult — first and foremost for registrants, as well as for the entire registry and registrar community,” said Dr Paul Twomey, ICANN’s President and CEO.

    ICANN’s understanding is that GoDaddy.com and the gTLD registries holding RegisterFly names have worked out the mechanics for restoring, renewing, and redeeming names intending that no names will be inadvertently dropped. According to the terms of the transfer agreement, RegisterFly domain names and the data underlying the available proxy service will also be transferred. People with domain names registered with RegisterFly can contact GoDaddy.com at 480-366-3500 with any questions about the transfer.

    http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-29may07.htm

    Frank,

    Do you have any domains with RegisterFly?

    Charley

    ***FS*** I used to Charley.. not anymore.

  201. Posted by Bill Henson | May 29th, 2007 at 9:50 PM

    Hi Frank, LOVE your blog. Between you and Ron J. I’ve gotten 99% of my domain savvy.
    I would like to develop several sites that trickle down to businesses in that field and collect revenue as a result. ie. Buyagra.com to list any and every product that deals with SD. Anyways, could you steer me to a “learning tree” that can help me develop them the best way,

    TIA

    Bill (coming soon, “DotDeli.com”)

    ***FS*** That’s different for everyone Bill.. There are different ways to develop and I would be a hypocrite to say I have development all figured out.. I would join different discussions at http://www.webmasterworld.com to see what I can pick-up :) Best of luck to you sir.

  202. Posted by Patrick McDermott | May 29th, 2007 at 10:30 PM

    Hi Frank,

    I’m curious why blog Comments are not shown in chronological order.

    It’s natural to start reading from the top but if you do you are reading comments and answers to blog postings you haven’t read yet.

    I checked many of the other blogs you reference (Sahir’s, Jay’s,Paul Sloan’s,et al)
    and they all show the older blog comments first so you can follow the flow naturally.

    I wonder if you just did not realize it was set up this way – newer postings before older- or is it by design?

    Love your blog anyhow,
    Patrick

    ***FS*** Y’know.. I originally wanted to keep the freshest at top.. I will leave it for now because many folks are used to my blog being weird like that.. but if others wish I could try changing.. Let me know :) ) Thanks to you.

  203. Posted by owen frager | May 29th, 2007 at 11:16 PM

    So now that you are a blogger and understand traffic both WITH and WITHOUT without domains, what do you think of this?
    http://truthlaidbear.com/ecotraffic.php

    ***FS*** Sorry Owen.. you’re too clever for me on this one.. i don’t get :)

  204. Posted by Mark | May 30th, 2007 at 9:38 AM

    Hi Frank:

    I had a pretty straight forward question I would appreciate it you could give your opinion on. At what point or number of domains do you think it is financially justifiable to become your own registrar? Certainly there are the benefits of being able to manage and watch over your own domains, but are there any other benefits you might comment on?

    Thanks again for this great blog.

    ***FS*** It depends.. if I had 20 domain names like news.com , travel.com health.com I would get my own registrar because I would be crazy to trust anyone other than myself with the keys to tens of millions of dollars in assets.. I think it comes down to the worth of the portfolio. You will still have programmers who have access to your rar, which is okay because you have redemption grace and the courts to dealk with accidental deletions or theft.. but in regard to “terms of service” .. the best TOS is the one you can write to yourself.

  205. Posted by Drewbert | May 30th, 2007 at 2:50 PM

    I for one, would love you to change the commemnts order to freshest at the bottom.

    Freshest-at-the-top will catch on the day newspapers rearrange their stories so the first paragraph is at the bottom and the last at the top.

  206. Posted by shane | May 30th, 2007 at 5:12 PM

    frank,

    i just bought lasvegasnevadatravel.com, what do you think of the domain name ?

    ***FS*** I like it :) Congratulations. This is not an incredible standalone worldbeater.. but you can do something with that.

  207. Posted by David Pearce | May 31st, 2007 at 7:20 AM

    Hi Frank
    I have a theory that you’re going to make early readers of your blog richer than early devotees of Warren Buffet (I’m serious)
    However, the reason I’m posting: can you offer any hope at all to people who want particular domains you own? [in my case, you own herbivore.com and anaesthesia.com] I know you don’t sell domains – or at least not for less than high six-figure or seven-figure sums completely beyond the budget of minnows like me. I’m guessing you’d trade for a strong enough portfolio; but is it traffic or other factors you’re most interested in? Any tips for assembling a portfolio strong enough to pique your interest? Or should we just despair?
    Dave

    ***FS*** So many good names in the sea I don’t own.. I really hate to sell, within 2 years I’m going to develop every one. ;)

  208. Posted by Dave Wrixon | May 31st, 2007 at 9:04 AM

    Frank,

    Not sure how one is suppose to submit stories that you might like to feature, but here is one I though you might be interested in.

    Times of India is reporting that Ministry of Human Resources is looking to launch a 10 Buck Laptop. Yes, that is right not $100, just 10 Bucks!

    http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/4663
    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/HRD_hopes_to_make_10_laptops_a_reality/articleshow/1999828.cms

  209. Posted by Charley | May 31st, 2007 at 10:10 AM

    Good Morning Frank,

    I’d like to know how I could test the traffic and revenue for the domain names during the domain tasting period.

    Thank you

    Charley.

    ***FS*** I think Moniker offered that service, although the namespace has been largely mined of generics at this point.. I’d focus on expiring names and approaching people privately via whois to ask if they want to sell.. also SEDO,Afternic, Buydomains

  210. Posted by Patrick McDermott | May 31st, 2007 at 11:38 AM

    Frank,

    Thanks for making the adjustment and putting all in chronological order.

    Patrick

  211. Posted by Patrick McDermott | May 31st, 2007 at 11:42 AM

    Hi,

    Dynadot.com also offers the service but does not charge anything for the domains you give back.

    Patrick

  212. Posted by owen frager | May 31st, 2007 at 3:11 PM

    Chris Whitmore of Deutsche Bank said the addition of YouTube content “provides a glimpse of Apple TV’s potential and its future evolution.” Today analysts have realized what I’ve been trying to communicate all along: Apple is now a television company as the web is transforming into a television medium. The set box is seen as a replaceent for the DVD and eventually cable. So the question is, 8 months after I blogged “aapl $75/msft $28: You decide” what do you think about my $300/share by Christmas prediction now?

  213. Posted by Dan | May 31st, 2007 at 8:15 PM

    Hi Frank…I just received this from Snapnames:

    To SnapNames Customers:

    I’m writing to inform you that SnapNames has agreed to be acquired by Oversee.net. Oversee, a company already familiar to many in the domain name industry, is a technology-driven online marketing solutions company that offers an impressive array of services to domain name owners. You can learn more about the company at http://www.oversee.net.

    It’s important that you understand there will be no changes to the way SnapNames provides its services. This is a combination of two industry leaders with outstanding reputations for serving domain name investors and customers at all levels.

    We were attracted to Oversee for many reasons, including the opportunity to offer SnapNames customers a greater breadth of service offerings. Together, the two companies can provide services that support our customers’ needs throughout the entire life cycle of a domain name, including procurement, monetization and sales.

    This transaction is expected to close in mid-June. There is more information available on our Web site at http://www.snapnames.com. Of course, we’re always available to assist you in any way we can, and encourage your questions and comments. Our support team is available to you here:

    On the Web: http://snapnames.custhelp.com
    By e-mail: support@snapnames.com

    At SnapNames, you will continue to find the world’s largest selection of expired domain names. You’ll find no changes to your account or the way you do business with us. We value you as a customer and thank you for your continued business.

    Sincerely,

    Sudhir Bhagwan
    Chief Executive Officer

  214. Posted by David Conners | June 1st, 2007 at 2:04 AM

    I own 8,400+ Dot Com domains, approximately 5,000 of which are adult, and the remainder are Non-adult (mortgages, mobile, Stocks/bond/investments, real estate, words/expressions, AND 800+ related to Saudi Arabia/Islam/Muslim/Religion/cities/Royal Family–domain names the Saudi’s probably should have long-ago protected by registering them.

    How can I best contact appropriate potential buyers of these sensitive Saudi-related domains?

    Thanks VERY Much,

    Dave
    davec@san.rr.com

    ***FS*** Domainstate.com

  215. Posted by Charley | June 1st, 2007 at 4:28 AM

    Hi Frank,

    What’s your opinion on the Auction format for newly launched domains instead of the First Come First Seved Basis[FCFS] format.

    Don’t you think it will deprive the small time investors who would have benefited if it were on the FCFS model?

    Thank you

    Charley

    ***FS*** FCFS will always be available for unregistered names.. this is about registered names.. although in 2 years ‘everything’ may be registered.

  216. Posted by Brendan | June 1st, 2007 at 8:24 AM

    Hi Frank,

    My question is about domain names. I have an idea about some domain names that I expect will pull in a decent penny. How do I go about presenting the idea to you? I’d like you to be my partner in this venture. If you agree with my ideas – that it will be financially rewarding it will take a big arm to reach out and grab many names at one time.

    From what I know this industry is extremely cut-throat so I’m going to the biggest players. So how do I get you to take this seriously and lend me your ears?

    Please email me if you can respond.
    Thanks,
    Brendan
    Chicago, IL

    ***FS*** I’m fully invested Bren, but thanks for the proposal.

  217. Posted by owen frager | June 1st, 2007 at 12:10 PM

    Frank: Not for posting but you may want to link and comment if when you have time:
    http://d5.allthingsd.com/20070531/video-steve-jobs-and-bill-gates-highlight-reel/

    –Not a mention of domain, linux, dotMOBI, dotTV
    –Interesting observation by Gates that he never realized it but people don’t like keyboards or typing and discusses ceo reactions to a private demo of surface
    –Jobs mentions their progress tapping into senior market and why
    (discussed on my blog)
    –Gates admires that Steve thinks like customer while he sees everything as an engineer
    –neither own the dotCOMs of their own names
    –Bill compares AppleTV to Xbox but never mentions webtv.com and what it could be
    –Both talk about writing their original codes and product plans by hand (I acquired some of those documents in a charity auction and assume they will be a great investment

    Historical fascinating stuff.

  218. Posted by James | June 1st, 2007 at 4:30 PM

    Hello Frank,

    I am selling my domain SafePage.com and wondered if you might be interested in it? I’m asking $8,000 for it.

    I’ll try to find your email and contact you that way as well.. :)

    Cheers!
    James

  219. Posted by Steve Bates | June 1st, 2007 at 6:43 PM

    Cool pic -

    http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=1218171&size=L

    BTW – if you were reading a business jet blog, what types of information would you be interested in as an owner and enthusiast?

    ***FS*** Fuel economy.. gas is expensive these days :) Also range .. altitude to get over the weather. That sort of thing.

  220. Posted by Jeff | June 1st, 2007 at 9:05 PM

    Frank,

    These guys need your help :P . They need to get a good domain and do some SEO fast.

    [url]http://www.franchiseadvantage.com/State/126782-Franchise__For__Sale.aspx/url

    Real estate brokerage for sale with hardly any revenue. Includes a 120 sq ft office. Damn most of us probably make more than that a year with domains.

  221. Posted by Jeff | June 1st, 2007 at 10:53 PM

    Your blog just started and it’s already a hit. You also just got mentioned in the Red Herring. Isn’t it time to start a Frank Schilling invite only domain board? ;-) Time to give TTF some competition!

  222. Posted by David Bleaman | June 2nd, 2007 at 9:53 AM

    Frank,

    We publish a daily list of available premium dropped domains, along with (what we believe to be) higher-end names in what we coined the bonus list. You can read more about our service if you would like, as Frank Michlick did a very flattering piece on our service recently in DomainEditorial.com(http://www.domaineditorial.com/archives/2007/04/11/available-domain-names-list/).

    In regard to your ‘The Great Domain Name Boom Ahead’ which was probably my favorite of all of your incredible blog entries, the following names was sent out to our subscribers of our email a few minutes ago. Please feel free to share these available names with your readers, if you believe it to be beneficial for them to review and perhaps register.

    CheyenneMesotheliomaAttorney.com
    CheyenneMesotheliomaAttorneys.com
    CheyenneMesotheliomaLawyer.com
    CheyenneMesotheliomaLawyers.com
    BillingsMesotheliomaAttorney.com
    BillingsMesotheliomaAttorneys.com
    BillingsMesotheliomaLawyer.com
    BillingsMesotheliomaLawyers.com
    AlbuquerqueMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    AtlantaMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    AustinMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    BaltimoreMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    BostonMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    CharlotteMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    ChicagoMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    CincinnatiMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    ClevelandMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    ColumbusMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    DenverMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    DetroitMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    ElPasoMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    IndianapolisMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    KansasCityMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    LasVegasMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    LosAngelesMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    LouisvilleMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    MemphisMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    MiamiMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    MilwaukeeMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    MinneapolisMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    NashvilleMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    OmahaMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    OrlandoMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    PhiladelphiaMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    PhoenixMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    PittsburghMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    PortlandMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    ProvidenceMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    RaleighMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    SaltLakeCityMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    SeattleMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    StLouisMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    TampaMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    TucsonMesotheliomaLawFirm.com
    AlbuquerqueDrugStore.com
    BaltimoreDrugStore.com
    BostonDrugStore.com
    CharlotteDrugStore.com
    CincinnatiDrugStore.com
    ClevelandDrugStore.com
    ColumbusDrugStore.com
    DenverDrugStore.com
    DetroitDrugStore.com
    ElPasoDrugStore.com
    IndianapolisDrugStore.com
    KansasCityDrugStore.com
    LosAngelesDrugStore.com
    LouisvilleDrugStore.com
    NashvilleDrugStore.com
    OmahaDrugStore.com
    PhiladelphiaDrugStore.com
    PittsburghDrugStore.com
    ProvidenceDrugStore.com
    RaleighDrugStore.com
    SaltLakeCityDrugStore.com
    TucsonDrugStore.com
    IndianapolisDrugStores.com
    MilwaukeeDrugStores.com
    PhiladelphiaDrugStores.com
    SanDiegoDrugStores.com

    Thanks Frank for all that you do within the domain space. I speak for so many who truly value having you as a domain name resource.

    With all good wishes,

    David Bleaman

    ***FS*** Wow.. glad to be of service.. and thanks for the link.

  223. Posted by Dean Phillips | June 2nd, 2007 at 2:39 PM

    Frank,

    Recently a mutual fund manager from the Vanguard Funds (admittedly their Healthcare Fund manager-not a techie) said he continues to be extremely bullish on Google stock, because Google has applied for many patents that could make Google the leader on “voice-recognition” web-search technology. He believes this is the next big technology coming to users of search sites.
    If he’s right, could you anticipate how would this affect generic domain holders/website owners? Would these generics become more valuable to corporate clients? Madison Ave?

    EX: I “tell” the Google search site that I want to browse Real Estate developments in a certain Geo area:

    “New Belize Real Estate” for example.

    Would you expect my generic domain-named website to show (score) higher in voice-recognition search engine results?

    Additionally, if VR allowed for more targeted search results, would you anticipate ad revenue to the domain owner to increase? Better CTRs? How might this technology increase revenue for Google? Serving up better audiences for the AdWord/AdSense clients?

    Thanks for your thoughts.

  224. Posted by Drewbert | June 3rd, 2007 at 1:45 AM

    Yeah. I can see it now.

    I’m sitting in my cubicle, and researching something using Google images.

    The guy in the next cubicle lobs some crap over the wall at me and I stand and lean over the cubicle, telling him he’s an asshole.

    My female boss wanders into my cubicle just as my blue tooth voice recognition microphone hears me say “asshole” and my 24″ screen instantly fills with thumbnails of chocolate starfish.

    Yeah. That’ll go down well.

    Voice recognition? I’ll pass thanks.

  225. Posted by Drewbert | June 3rd, 2007 at 2:02 AM

    Let’s not forget the famous Microsoft Vista Voice Recognition public demo…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ861ehHwWQ

  226. Posted by Nolan | June 3rd, 2007 at 5:51 AM

    Hi Frank,

    Just recently got into domain buying and the natural outcome was, as it seems you prefer, to develop most domains with perhaps some big ticket sales from time to time.

    I’m also registering very general domain names such as stockxc.com, findviewhomes.com, topnetprofits.com, energylead.com, customoney.com and a few IDNs with keywords that get searched a lot (though I know that isn’t necessarily the key) such as delà.com, financiële.com and dès.com.

    I have two questions should you wish to answer:

    1. When developing a website – say stockxc.com – is it wise to come up with a content angle such as unique and useful information or is it better to try and sell webspace to interested businesses? I am checking out http://www.webmasterworld.com, dnlocal.com and domainstate.com for more information on that angle too…

    ***FS*** The answer is Yes. Unique content will differentiate you from many others.

    2. When selling on Sedo, what is the most effective way to sell? Sedo’s brokers might not be interested in a name that might still have a lot of interest from buying parties and therefore would start at the offer (never greater than $9999.00) and rise from there if the auction is successful.

    ****FS*** Names which sell to those people trolling Sedo’s boards are unlike those you just mentioned.. Look at the recent sales or most bidded section and try to acquire/develop search-term style names like those if you are interested in selling on Sedo.

    Thanks and very interesting blog, I’ve read almost everything on here!

    ***FS*** Wow, that is amazing. Thank-you
    N

  227. Posted by E.M. | June 3rd, 2007 at 10:18 AM

    Hi Frank
    I own http://www.skinny.com and I am interested in selling it. Can you provide any assistance?
    Thank you. E.M.K

    ***FS*** I’d take that to domainstate.com or namepros.com main discussion.. if your price is reasonable you should sell it quick

  228. Posted by Jeff | June 3rd, 2007 at 10:34 AM

    I think it’s time to make this blog private to select people ;-) .. also make a private frank schilling board like TTF.

    Food for thought!

  229. Posted by Charley | June 3rd, 2007 at 11:55 AM

    Hi Frank,

    .Asia is requesting for RFP-auctions. I don’t understand how this works.

    Are only big money players involved in it i.e. > $ 10,000?

    What can the small time investors do here i.e. < $ 10,000?

    Thank you

    Charley

    ***FS*** I woudl avoid .ASIA

  230. Posted by bradford Hines | June 4th, 2007 at 3:40 PM

    Have you seen this yet?

    http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/06/01/100050989/

    Cheers,

    Brad Hines
    YumDomains.com

    ***FS*** Search for “The Man Who Owns The Internet” in my blog’s searchbox

  231. Posted by Jeff | June 5th, 2007 at 12:26 AM

    Hi Frank,

    I know you’re going to be bias regarding this but….

    What’s your opinion of the recent issues regarding Jude/ICA on namepros and yesterday’s outburst regarding Rick/ICA/WADND and domainsponsor. I believe people are going to lose faith in not only these organizations but T.R.A.F.F.I.C. as well. As an officer of I.C.A. how will this mess be patched.

    ***FS*** I’m a founder of the ICA and a board member but not an officer. That said, as a guy who has given lots of money (twice) I certainly don’t like to see stuff like that happen. Nobody can control what third parties do.. people are people and will react in ways we can’t control. I think its important to rise above the pettiness and little things, viewing the big picture. Big picture: the domain industry needs somebody to speak for it. I think all the groups have had a rocky start because personalities and micro-interests clash.. We’ll get there. I still look at what the ICA has accomplished in a short time, speaking to the space and I feel good about that.. the ICA has hired a new executive director who will hopefully remain committed to the organization for many many years. Lots of good news there soon I think ;)

  232. Posted by Robb | June 5th, 2007 at 12:54 AM

    Just thinking about your blog, Kevin Ham, and Dan Warner, and was wondering how someone goes from owning say 100 domains to 100,000 or more? What were the mechanics involved to register so many, and keep paying the reg fees year after year? Was so much money coming in from the first domains that it helped fund the rest, and did you use software to register so many names? How can anyone keep track of 300,000 domains? Lot’s of questions but in 1999 you probably never thought you’d own so many domains, I’d love to hear how people like you got to owning and managing so many names. You always hear how people started out and where they are now, what about the in between?

    ***FS*** It’s kind of weird really.. you buy names and add them to your ‘train’ every day, picking up cars on the side of the track and placing them behind you.. you wake up one day and the train is very very long.. It becomes a lot harder to slow down.. it takes on a momentum and life of its own. Buying the right names brings more money, which you can use to buy more names.. that’s how most did it.

  233. Posted by Joe | June 5th, 2007 at 7:32 AM

    Hi Frank:
    I’m curious what you think about .IN? It would seem to me that a country with a billion people and an economy growing at 10% per year would be a fascinating growth story. I realized that many parts of India are still very poor and English is not the main language. However if only 10-15% of the country are educated, middle-class that speak English as a second language, then the potential market for .IN should be huge.

    ***FS*** I like .IN and all other CCtlds.. but I like this one a great deal for all the reasons you do. If I understood the culture, language better, I would buy names there.

  234. Posted by Ed | June 5th, 2007 at 11:22 AM

    Hi Frank -

    You have a really nice blog – tons of info for a hip-cat such as myself (newbie)… keep going – I believe in ‘karma’ and you’re putting out a lot of good vibes… you’ll continue to get it back 10-fold…

    I’ll keep this short since I’m sure you’ve got other things to do like perhaps surfing the auctions – it can drive one bonkers at all the choices… :)

    1.) Why are domainers whining and crying like a bunch of 5 year olds in re: to the Madison Avenue exec’s? Don’t you feel that “DOMAINERS” who hold strong portfolios need to quit resting on the laurels of others, sitting back and whining that their names need to increase and go out and friggin SELL!!! SELL their ideas, SELL their solutions to these ad companies, think outside the box and SELL their ability to alleviate theirs and their clients pain!!! It just seems so simple that the monkey that picks the stock picks could get this right! I just see too few “pitch-men” out there trying to position the industry – when in fact more people should get off their a$$ – quit the beotchin and learn to SELL! Again that’s just this newb’s opinion. It seems you’ve done a grade-A job in getting your name out, and pimping yourself to a large audience – that didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t come without some form of pioneering and hard work… Others could do the same thing… yet they don’t??? That’s the bottleneck.

    ***FS*** Nothing happens without sales.. I never really pictured myself as pimping me out.. I really just want to help folks out.. like when people stop to ask directions and you try hard to really explain it. But I guess I understand your viewpoint. You’re right.. domain registrants of all colors need to sell their products step up and come out of the shadows to explain the virtues of this business and traffic more clearly.

    >>>Also I have yet to read how any domainer (and maybe I missed it) has actually worked with a top agency or their client to figure out ways (creatively, thinking outside the box) to make things work for a higher price to show a process and also what that payoff was to set the bar for the industry… Lease, lease option, work on % of net/gross profit sales, etc… so many options.

    ****FS*** I think that will happen.. only maybe it won’t be a domain owner, but rather a middle-man of some kind. The biggest (most domain owners) don’t need maddison ave to tell them “they are good” .. or for affirmation, but there’s a general surprise (in the domainer community) that Coke’s agency wouldn’t help them secure descriptives like cola.com or softdrinks.com to use as leverage.. or to deny their peers a tactical advantage.

    2.) I forsee a world in the not so very distant future where (and this is inevitable) where the government and world bodies are going – ARE GOING to tax the internet. SOOOOO many people make the mistake to me to compare this to real-property and by doing so (which I agree with) however by doing so, so openly – you’re giving big-brother/government the idea and avenue to proceed with taxing these… because after all they’re “just like real property right?”…

    ***FS*** I pay millions of dollars in taxes each year… they’re called ‘renewal fees’ .. the registry could do them profitably at 2.00 a year but instead they charge $6.42 plus an additional tax for ICANN.. So If you say your portfolio is worth X and you look at the percentage you pay on renewals, in my own case I’d say I’m paying more than I would if i bought a building and paid property tax. So make no mistake.. there is real tax now. Now if the govt decided they wanted to run the .com registry instead of VRSN, like the FTC does with radio licenses, that would be just fine by me :)

    >>>I also believe that when they start taxing, it will either come in the form of higher FEES for re-registration – $5-$9 is nothing… that’s chump change. So my estimation is that within 3-5 years you’ll see fees of $100+ to re-register. This is coming – I just can’t fathom how this cannot happen. So my question is – while everyone was applauding the recent article of Kevin Ham (great piece by the way) do you think it’s a mistake for domaining (the industry) to come out of the closet? In your opinion will we all look back on this 5 years down the road and say to ourselves… we should have shut up, and kept this in the closet … made money like we always do, enjoyed what we do…??? Just curious on your take… what do you envision? (I’m not suggesting I want to be taxed – I don’t… this is my vision though of what’s to come).

    Thanks for your time – keep writing good pieces and you shoulda bought snap/woulda saved you a ton of $ i bet each month in the mid-term… :)
    “Ed.”

    ***FS*** You can’t keep businesses like these a secret. They get too big.. They are legal, ethical.. so its just not realistic to keep it in the closet forever. I think the best days are ahead.. not behind. That said, I would structure your business in a tax-neutral jurisdiction to give you a competitive advantage. Just like the drug companies and great brand holders do (ie. http://www.allieddomecq.com/) You want to seek tax counsel for that. This is my opinion and not tax advice.

  235. Posted by Anonymous | June 5th, 2007 at 11:24 AM

    >>> I like .IN and all other CCtlds <<<

    Good Morning Frank,

    Since the last question was based on .in and co.in

    I would love to hear your comments on these names. I was thinking on dropping these names this year. Should I consider to hold it back?

    freemusicvideos.co.in
    freepornmovies.co.in
    freepornsites.co.in
    freepornvideos.co.in
    freesexmovies.co.in
    freesexstories.co.in
    freesexvideos.co.in

    Thank you,

    Charley

    ***FS*** I am not familiar with the language there.. if that’s part of the common vernacular in that country and they get some traffic then use your judgement.

  236. Posted by paul | June 5th, 2007 at 12:33 PM

    From a conceptual standpoint domain names seem to me to have many things in common with real estate. Do you have any thoughts on the potential for long term leasing of domain names?

    ***FS*** There are lots of private subleases in place now relating to names. I have friends who were making great money leasing names in the pre-PPC days. Expect more of it in future as name prices escalate. It comes around every few years when conditions are right.

  237. Posted by sj | June 5th, 2007 at 12:36 PM

    hi frank, would you recommend godaddy.com to register? what other ones would you recommend?

    ***FS*** I can’t really enfdorse an individual rar.. because I don’t want to risk offending a friend by mistakenly leaving an obvious example. The question I would ask myself is: “Which registrar has the most to loose by screwing me over?” then go there and stay close to your rar’s staff till another mor obvious safe-harbor registrar steps forth with ‘Terms Of Service’ that truly protect you. Short of that, try hard to get your own registrar.

  238. Posted by Robert | June 5th, 2007 at 1:36 PM

    Hello, 3 questions if I may…

    1. How many domains/traffic you had when you realized you could make a living on this?

    ***FS*** It wasn’t so much the number of names because the times were different.. it was the model presenting itself to show that there would be longevity to the PPC system.. That really clicked for me when Google entered the space by buying applied Semantics in 2003. But prior to that you could make a living with affiliate programs if you applied yourself.

    2. For a successfull portfolio, what would be an optimal mix of non-trademark typos, fresh generic names, expired domains with traffic? And is there anything I have missed?

    ***FS*** I’d try to steer clear of Trademarks. Brandable generic variants like shoez.com or deel.com (instead of ‘deal’) are good.. but I’m not enamored with full-on typo plays as a rule. I don’t like expired domains with traffic (bought for the former traffic) unless they’re generic.

    3. Do domains pick up traffic as time goes by or what you see today is what you will forever get?

    ***FS*** Depends on the names but as a rule portfolios add about 2% a year .. although if you buy expiring generics (ie. i bought joystick.com) .. you may take an initial hit as link traffic dies off, before the growth picks up.
    Thanks!

  239. Posted by Tom | June 5th, 2007 at 1:41 PM

    Frank, what kind of value would you put on this geo-specific list. I am looking to sell it. What’s my best option?

    SOUTHJERSEY.MOBI
    SOUTHJERSEYREALESTATE.MOBI
    SOUTHJERSEYRESTAURANTS.MOBI

    SOUTHJERSEYADVERTISING.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYANTIQUES.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYAUCTIONS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYAUTOINSURANCE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYBEAUTYSALON.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYBEAUTYSALONS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYBLOG.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYBUILDERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCARDEALERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCARINSURANCE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCARPET.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCASINOS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCATERERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCATERING.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCHILDCARE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCHIROPRACTORS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCHRISTMAS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCLEANERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCOMMERCIAL.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCOMMERCIALPROPERTY.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYCOMPUTERSERVICE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYDAYCARECENTER.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYDENTISTS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYDIVORCE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYDIVORCELAWYERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYDOCTOR.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYELECTRIC.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYELECTRICIANS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYESCORT.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYESCORTSERVICE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYFLOORING.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYFLORISTS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYFURNITURE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYGIFTS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYGIFTSHOP.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYHAIRSALON.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYHAIRSALONS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYHEALTHINSURANCE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYHEATING.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYHOMEBUILDERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYHOMEIMPROVEMENT.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYHOMEINSPECTION.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYHOMELOANS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYHOMEREMODELING.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYHOMEREPAIR.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYHOUSECLEANERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYHOUSECLEANING.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYINSURANCEAGENT.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYINSURANCEAGENTS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYJEWELER.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYJEWELERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYJEWELRY.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYLANDSCAPERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYLAWYERS.BIZ
    SOUTHJERSEYLAWYERS.NET
    SOUTHJERSEYLEGAL.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYLIFEINSURANCE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYLIMOS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYLOANS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYMAIDS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYMODELS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYMORTGAGEBROKER.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYMORTGAGEBROKERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYMORTGAGELOANS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYMOVERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYNAILSALON.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYNAILSALONS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYNURSES.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYNURSING.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYNURSINGHOMES.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYOFFICESPACE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYPAINTERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYPEDIATRICIAN.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYPEDIATRICS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYPESTCONTROL.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYPHOTOGRAPHERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYPHYSICIAN.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYPHYSICIANS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYPLUMBERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYPLUMBING.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYPRINTING.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYRESTAURANTS.BIZ
    SOUTHJERSEYRESTAURANTS.NET
    SOUTHJERSEYREWARDS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYROOFERS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYROOFING.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYSALONS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYSCHOOLS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYSELFSTORAGE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYSHOPPING.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYSIGNS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYSUMMERRENTALS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYTILE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYWINDOWS.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYWINE.COM
    SOUTHJERSEYWINES.COM

    ***FS*** Some of those might have value.. I’m not familiar with the geo location though.. haven’t heard it called that.. perhaps somebody else will read and reply/comment.

  240. Posted by BJ | June 5th, 2007 at 2:33 PM

    Frank, I have 400 city/state + trade/business names I am going to list on leasethis.com
    Do you have any experience working with them?
    I see they are a relatively new company.

    ***FS*** I do not, but I have heard lots of folks talking about them.. lots of chatter. Good luck.

  241. Posted by Syed | June 5th, 2007 at 3:02 PM

    Frank,

    How much do you think HobbyShop.com is worth?

    And what would your prediction in terms of daily PPC be?

    ***FS*** That’s a great name.. I’d gues it gets 120 visits a day and its worth $50,000 to a specualtor .. up to ten times that developed with some rudimentary content/technology.

  242. Posted by Robb | June 5th, 2007 at 5:18 PM

    Frank, you mentioned you were going on vacation in Canada, where are you headed? The Okanagan, Kootenays, Vancouver? I’ve been visiting the Okanagan for years from Nelson and never realized it was such a hotbed for domaining, in fact I may be in Penticton this weekend visiting family.

    ***FS*** I’ll visit Garry in Penticton and friends in Vancouver

  243. Posted by Syed | June 5th, 2007 at 5:27 PM

    10x 50K is some good $$.

    When you say “with some rudimentary content/technology.” what are you referring to?

    I would have thought the only way to truely monetize a domain like that would be via ecommerce OR a community site no? (your suggesting just some articles will bring in mid xx,xxx PER year?)

    ***FS*** Create some content.. create some infrastructure.. get a fancy logo run some arbitrage.. add a blog with return users.. Eventually.. over time you will build additional value.

  244. Posted by Dave | June 5th, 2007 at 5:34 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Based on the DDN info, I thought I would take a little domain trip to Miami, but seems on a number on my list you were ahead of me . Only question I have is can you tell me where your going next so I can avoid it and head somewhere else ;) I take comfort in the fact if you beat me to to the same terms I had the right idea . At least I know who to call when I want to sell bikes in Miami ;)

    Take care

    Dave

  245. Posted by Anonymous | June 6th, 2007 at 10:07 AM

    Hi Frank

    >>> if you buy expiring generics (ie. i bought joystick.com) >> create some > infrastructure arbitrage < .. <<<

    Can you explain this in simpler terms. :)

    Thank you

    Charley

    ***FS*** Perform some rudimentary development.. In the joystick example you would create reviews on joysticks.. incl. places to buy joysticks.. then take the organic traffic this name gets and expand on it by advertising the developed site via Google adwords, arbitraging the cost of the adds against sales you can make or other flat rate display ads you can sell. Think about bizrate and shopzilla do.. You can do that .. only better.. on a niche basis if you own the category domain.

  246. Posted by Syed | June 6th, 2007 at 10:25 AM

    Frank,

    Regarding hobbyshop.com you said “Create some content.. create some infrastructure.. get a fancy logo run some arbitrage.. add a blog with return users.. Eventually.. over time you will build additional value”

    1. what do you mean by infrastructure?
    2. arbitrage how? Is it possible to do if one only has ONE domain? (i.e. someone with 100K domains can demand a higher cut) example?
    3. if someone was to dedicate themselves do this one domain, how much should it pull in per day/month? (I understand the affiliate model only, not arbi)

    I want to compare your advice over doing ecommerce (if there is any alternative to stocking and shipping i’m all ears hahah).

    ***FS*** See Charley question.. (previous) ..same answer.. Most of this info is available on the domain boards if you chat with others about it.

  247. Posted by William B | June 6th, 2007 at 12:15 PM

    Frank,

    My Father is in the car wash business and is considered to have one of the best car wash minds in the U.S. People come from all across the country to ask him advice about building a car wash. I am always telling him that he needs to charge a consulting fee for his advice. But, he doesn’t listen to me and gives advice for free. I wanted to thank you for your blog and willingness to give advice for free. I enjoy the blog, advice, the business as a whole, the articles, etc. So, I thought how could I show Frank my appreciation? The only appropriate way would be a domain name-

    http://www.thecoolestguyontheearth.com

    Thanks,
    Frank

  248. Posted by robb K | June 6th, 2007 at 1:08 PM

    Frank,

    I am looking to sell my small domain portfolio. Is there a way for me to send you my list and see if you have any interest. The names are pretty decent, including RockTheHouse.com, RentalCity.com, CoolMusic.com etc.
    Thanks, and I hope to hear from you.
    -Robb

  249. Posted by Dan | June 6th, 2007 at 2:10 PM

    Frank…Just some FYI.

    http://new.marketwire.com/2.0/release.do?id=739442

    Best,
    Dan

  250. Posted by Graham | June 6th, 2007 at 3:22 PM

    Frank,
    I am thinking about bidding on a solid, one word .com in the spanish language…
    What are your thoughts on these domains?

    Many thanks!

    ***FS*** I own Mapas.com and scores of other big spanish names. I ‘love’ spanish names.. thjink they are going to be bigger than English because Google is not as strong at returning results in Spanish.

  251. Posted by Salman | June 6th, 2007 at 4:59 PM

    Frank,

    Can you tell us a little about your server setup? I think it would be possible to run your system on a single server no? I mean 300K domains is allot, but there isn’t too much backend work going on now is there? Well with the popups and all, I guess you are serving 2-3 times the actual visitors so that could mean 100 million page views from 30 million uniques!

    ***FS*** Thats about right.. its not like a file server with lots going on. One big linux server ;) .. with lots of failover. Linux, apache, php, java .. the usual suspects.. although we are going to be leaning on Akamai for images soon.

  252. Posted by Dan | June 6th, 2007 at 6:04 PM

    Frank…Just a small FYI
    http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=286911&leftnm=8&subLeft=0&chkFlg=

  253. Posted by Charley | June 7th, 2007 at 9:19 AM

    Hi Frank,

    Are country names in any extension really valuable i.e. com/net/org/info/mobi/tv ?

    Which factor brings up the value for a country domain name i.e. population, GDP, etc ?

    Thank you

    Charley

    ***FS*** CC tld’s are very valuable.. sometimes more so than .com .. .de, .co.jp, .com.au, .ca, .co.uk are all valuable.. You need to have a knowlege of the country and language to thrive though.

  254. Posted by Charley | June 7th, 2007 at 10:18 AM

    >>> You need to have a knowlege of the country and language to thrive though. <<<

    Frank,

    The countries which I have in mind are African. I was thinking of getting the .TV. Would you recommend me to get it as it has 3 words in them? Is that too long?

    Thanks

    Charley

    ***FS*** I’d avoid the tv Charley.. That’s not a “cctld of the country people are in”. It’s a novelty extension

  255. Posted by Charley | June 7th, 2007 at 11:15 AM

    Frank,

    This question is regarding domain name development.

    I found a seller who offers services for name development with the following features.

    1. Immediate download of your site after creation.

    2. Choose from over one hundred of our online custom headers.

    3. Allow our graphics artist to create a custom header for you.

    4. Create your site within two minutes online.

    5. Unique Link Manager script, allows you to sell links.

    6. Targeted keywords selected for your domain name.

    7. Ability to control and place any PPC ads on your site.

    8. Template design can be edited using the included css file.

    9. Each site will contain between 75 and 200 pages.

    10. Each page will be optimized making it search engine friendly.

    He says the site will contain Adsense. I would like to know if there is anything else I should ask the seller.

    Thank you

    Charley

    ***FS*** I would take these questions to your favorite chat forums (namepros, domainstate) where others more experienced wth dev may be able to give you added color/perspective

  256. Posted by Dan | June 7th, 2007 at 11:37 AM

    A little more…FYI.

    If I understand this PR correctly, it looks like the Broadband ISP’s will be able to control “redirct” a lot of traffic that has never really been in their control before. (not promoting this company or service…just find it an interesting development).

    http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/519554/2585

    Best,
    Dan

  257. Posted by Dan | June 7th, 2007 at 12:00 PM

    Hi Again…A follow up to my last comment.

    I almost never use IE and use Firefox on a daily basis. I just typed in keywords without any extention and it looks like my broadband provider (Charter) has taken over IE… as it goes to its own results listing pages. It look like they give you a choice for this:
    http://aaplstockquote.com/charter.jpg

    Firefox…still just redirects you to the number listing on Google for whatever term you puch into their browsers. I image this will/could change because of these ISP.

    Looks like…this could have a very big effect on the amount of “type in” traffic depending on what browser prople are using.

    Sure a big difference in the way these browsers are currently controling traffic and I am sure this is a battle thats just going to get more intense.

    Best,
    Dan

  258. Posted by Salman | June 7th, 2007 at 3:08 PM

    You said if you had 100K you would buy domains in the $3-5K range, and use profits from them to move into bigger things.

    Realistically, how long would mining 30-40 domains like that take? Buying a domain is a pretty long process with all the back-and-forth emails!
    And owners of very product specific domains are probably “in the know”.

    ***FS*** Cold-calling Salman.. they are out there. I just talked to a friend (5 minutes ago) who this-week bought a $30-50000 traffic name (High OV with ext generic) for under $3000. It won’t be easy but if you apply yourself the money is there.

  259. Posted by shane | June 8th, 2007 at 12:59 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Frank, I just acquired lasvegasnevadatravel.com a few weeks ago. the overture count is over 100k each month and SEO Book count is over 300k [exact]searches (including overature) (http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/)

    I know this domain name isn’t generic but do you believe it will do better in search engines because of its long tail factor ? and also, I visited archive.org and from 01-04 the site displays

    “In 2003 more than 20,000 travelers vacationed in accommodations provided by
    lasvegasnevadatravel.com.”

    That dosen’t help me because I didn’t own the dn from 01-04 but perhaps it gives me some insight on this dn and the potential that it brings. What do you think ?

    Thanks

  260. Posted by Syed | June 8th, 2007 at 2:38 PM

    Frank,

    When looking at a domain (overture #’s etc), there is also obviously some weight given to how well a name ‘resonates’.

    With that being said, could you compare the two domains ‘bikeshop’ versus ‘bikestore’ and how they one might be better than the other and why etc.

  261. Posted by Syed | June 8th, 2007 at 2:41 PM

    Sorry just to add, please give a valuation for the two domains also.

    It is interesting, bikeshop.com has 171 OV w/extension while bikestore.com is 0.

  262. Posted by Mike | June 9th, 2007 at 9:51 PM

    Frank,

    I started a review blog on a specific niche a year ago. I can buy about 10 .net and .org names for generics in the niche. They’ve never been bought. Would like your advice if it’s worth it.

    Let’s say the examples are lionwidget.net, tigerwidget.org, hyenawidget.net…etc.

    They all get over 500 searches/month on overture. The generics are for products sold on and off the net. Only one is hyphenated. Also, there’s more names in the niche with lower search numbers. Some are .com’s, some hyphenated. Lets’s say as ex. it’s rhinoceros-widget.com which gets 200 searches on overture. Worth it? Thanks!

    ***FS*** I only like search-terms in .com unless they get huge OV.. dashes are out.. unless they’re huge dashes (ie digital-cameras.com <– huge dash name). Focus on really potent stuff in nets and orgs.. high OV singular (non director style.. authoritative single site singular terms)

  263. Posted by Charley | June 10th, 2007 at 10:08 AM

    Frank,

    Is singular or plural for one word names ?

    Charley

    ***FS*** One word names depend on the caliber of the name and extension. It’s a different scenario than compund search phrases.

  264. Posted by Anonymous | June 10th, 2007 at 9:34 PM

    from Owen Frager’s blog…

    $1 Billion Budget Authorized for Generic Domain Purchase

    The board of a major corporation has authorized a $1 billion budget for the purchase of generic domain names in an effort to drive more customers to its doors and keep those customers from diverting to competitive alternatives online. Representatives and agents of the corporation will be attending Traffic in New York seeking specific auction targets and to meet individuals offline with portfolios of interest. We understand they are also keen on the MOBI extension. VIPS can log onto TANGO after noon today for a complete briefing.

  265. Posted by Dan | June 11th, 2007 at 2:12 PM

    Frank…FYI

    http://domainnamewire.com/2007/06/11/flickercom-receives-600k-offer/

    Best,
    Dan

  266. Posted by Jeff Burkey | June 11th, 2007 at 6:28 PM

    Hi Frank,

    In case any of the Frank fans are also Soprano fans, theCottonTrader.com is featuring Sopranos Finale WTF t-shirts.

  267. Posted by Robert | June 11th, 2007 at 10:44 PM

    Hello Frank, thank you again for sharing with us. Hoping not to abuse your generous wisdom I again have 3 inquiries:

    1. We know you like generics (universality), .coms, singulars (non directory), stay out of tv/mobis and that you somewhat favor cctlds in some scenarios. Where would you place geo-generics in a scale of 1 to 10 if 10 were your beloved generic .com’s? And wouldn’t the strategy be different for geos since they are localized and only useful to a business owner/searchers in that location? What would be the cutoff population size (100k, 250k, etc)?

    ***FS*** This isn’t just science.. its part art.. you have to learn a feel for this.. not trying to dodge your question but there are several right answers

    2. I never participated in an auction and just made my first offer for a name in SEDO. The owner made a counteroffer and now I have fears of getting into a promising name that is not such. Can you share bad experiences you had buying names and which things you overlooked that may help us screening out possible lemons? I read somewhere that it is a common practice to inflate search stats prior to a sale by clickbotting the engines to raise counts. Did OVT counts w/ext ever failed to be what they said they would be? And is there one single benchmark/assessment that stands out over the rest (like backlinks, age, bannings, etc).

    ***FS*** Thats very rare.. we’ve bought many names and never experienced this ‘clickbotting’ dynamic you mention. TRhat said, a seller can inflate their numnbers through benign neglect of data or poor accounting. I’ve rarely experienced month to month problems with OV stats.. although that tool may be going away at some point.

    Ok, I admit. I cheated. This is more like 5 questions but I will be eternally grateful to read your responses.

  268. Posted by Jeff | June 11th, 2007 at 11:36 PM

    Frank, whats the sense of the weather button? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a low temperature on it. You’re just making us poor domainers jealous. ;-)

    ***FS*** Ha ha .. my wife put it up.. her idea.

  269. Posted by Jeff | June 12th, 2007 at 12:00 AM

    Don’t go to sleep yet Frank – theres gotta be one more blog post out of you tonight. ;-)

    http://blog.domaintools.com/2007/06/modern-domainer/

    Jay’s blog mentions a new domainer magazine called “Modern Domainer.” Do you have anymore details on this mag or which particular domainers are behind it?

    ***FS*** I’m not sure who’s behind it but I gave them an interview for the opening issue.. The writer was very clever.. I think this publication will do well. :)

  270. Posted by William B | June 12th, 2007 at 9:12 AM

    Time Warner Chief more morried about CNN than CNN.com!

    http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=117244

  271. Posted by Darryl | June 12th, 2007 at 11:00 AM

    Hi Frank,
    I thought you would find this interesting about Bill Gross

  272. Posted by David Sprake | June 12th, 2007 at 11:16 AM

    What’s wrong With .Biz Domain Names?

    I have a few great keyword .biz names (cost me pennies) that seem to be getting more and more type in traffic, I market and SEO them just the same as .com names and get similar results- why shouldn’t I?
    Whatever you wish about .biz, people are discovering new extensions- I think .com will always be king –but that doesn’t mean there’s room for lots of princes!!! Hay and what do princes turn into?? I remember when .net was a joke.
    I don’t blame someone with lots of .com real estate to rubbish other extensions, but it might come back and bite them one day. (or maybe they are putting every one else off while quietly buying up key other extension properties??? )
    I have had some substantial offers for credit.biz, chat.biz and email.biz, is it you??????

    ***FS*** Those are fine biz’s but the world gets very small, very quick after that. 100,000 good domain names don’t make an extension IMO. Can you make money with those you have.. sure!~ and I wish you well with them. But if you’re a new investor coming in with cash you’d be better off getting creditbiz.com, chatbiz.com, emailbiz.com .. greater return, more traffic for the outlay and more certain outcome.

  273. Posted by William B | June 12th, 2007 at 12:36 PM

    Frank,

    I have several hundred one word names with a dash between the first and second letter. I do get type-in traffic but minimal. My question is, How am I getting type-in traffic on these names? Here are some of the names.

    b-usiness.com
    m-ortgage.com
    r-oulette.com
    a-ruba.com
    s-ingles.com

  274. Posted by Jeff M | June 12th, 2007 at 2:41 PM

    Good story for your front page frank:

    KOREA: Google plans to introduce adult checking system in August

    http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=70020

    ***FS*** Blogged this here a few weeks ago: http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/05/google_daming_a.html

  275. Posted by Bob Ditmar | June 12th, 2007 at 10:58 PM

    Hi Frank,

    I have created a relatively small portfolio since 2002, and many names were created as I thought about various websites I wanted to develop. Then, two years ago, I had an inquiry into my name, CamperLinks.com, from a party in New Zealand when I never even gave selling domains a thought. Since then, I had a great offer (bid) on that name on Afternic, but the $30,000 buyer fell through and failed to live up. Since then, I have decided I do not want to do the forum or auction thing, but rather, wanted to locate some good brokers to help me sell my portfolio, i.e., “leave it to the experts with the connections.” I have had just a few offers since I re-evaluated this strategy. I would rather have my names or portfolio sold privately anyway rather than in public. My question is, would you know how I could get my list out to some very reputable-type brokers who could maximize my humble portfolio’s profits for both them and for myself. I am not looking to beome a professional domainer, but I also have become aware of the rising value of my cyber-estate and was hoping you could point me in the right direction. I have included a link to my very small list of 44 names in this email which I have organized for you to see how I am looking at the names. Here is the address> http://ditmaronline.com/DomainNameBrokers.html

    Thank you for any advice or help you can provide to me.

    Best regards to you,

    Bob Ditmar
    administrator@ditmaronline.com

    ***FS*** I would take your catalog of names to the forums (namepros.com, domainstate.com).. if your names are good and priced equitably, somebody will buy them from you. If they are bad, those on the forums will tell you they are bad.

  276. Posted by Jeff | June 13th, 2007 at 12:00 AM

    How’s website advertising on the cayman islands in mainstream media? I see you know about the expedia dot commm cliche. Do the parking providers pay out in cayman dollars? You must travel to the U.S. pretty often. (looks closer than the U.K.)

    ***FS*** A many whispered the jingle to me when he rowed by in a hollowed out canoe from Honduras, it was passed to him by his father ;) I don’t leave my lovely island enough.. but soon come.

  277. Posted by Dan | June 13th, 2007 at 2:29 AM

    FYI…

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/12/youtube_utube_alive/

    Best,
    Dan

  278. Posted by Tia Wood | June 13th, 2007 at 12:36 PM

    Just wanted to drop a line about how I explained domains to a nondomainer. He asked me why some domains were so expensive in the resell. First I asked him what he thought of when he heard “Office Depot”. He said “office”. Then I asked what he thought of when I said “Dell”. He said “computers”. I then explained that domain names are reverse branding. Instead of using a company name to brand a word association, domains names work to brand a word with a company association. His eyes lit up and he understood. :) Just thought I’d share a simple, short and sweet way of explaining things.

    ***FS*** Great job Tia!~ Keep fighting the good-fight.

  279. Posted by Dan | June 13th, 2007 at 1:36 PM

    A little more FYI…

    http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/061307_Go_Daddy_Offers_Domains_Via_Mobile.cfm

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Woo hoo.. I can run my auction from the Starbucks. :) Now if I only had a Starbucks in Cayman.

  280. Posted by BJ | June 13th, 2007 at 3:41 PM

    Hi Frank,

    I am having pretty good luck with my geo-domains so far. Its early but looks like they may earn enough PPC to cover renewals. According to leasethis.com these are also the most popular names to sign leases with. But I haven’t had any bites on the leasing so far.

    Do you think there is additional money to be made by putting content on these of domains?

    Thanks,

    BJ

    ***FS*** Yes I do BJ.. onward and upward.

  281. Posted by rahmulus | June 14th, 2007 at 6:47 AM

    What is the more valuable domain coffeecup.com or coffeecups.com?

    ***FS*** Out of those two I like the plural better as a functioning ecommerce site selling coffee cups. But the sigular could be turned into the name of a chain of coffee shops.. so theoretically it is more valuable .. 6 of one half-dozen of the other.

  282. Posted by rahmulus | June 14th, 2007 at 7:21 AM

    How would you ballpark a type in traffic number? Say hotthainights.com gets 1000 searches on Yahoo’s network. What would you say would be the total number searched using all searches? Yahoo 1000..Google 1200..MSN 600..odds and ends..200 for a total of 3000?

    3000 x 1% = 30 ?

    Not looking for a formula but a gut feeling.

    ***FS*** It depends if you have the correct tense.. it could be singular.. also the right order.. could be: thaihotnights <– some sports team.. or something else.
    OV is like a Sextant.. it’s not GPS

  283. Posted by Charley | June 14th, 2007 at 2:00 PM

    G’day Frank,

    Can I add content with ads on my domain names and then park it with say Sedo, NameDrive, etc or is that not allowed ?

    Thanks

    Charley

    ***FS** You’ll have to check, w. them if they have such a solution sir.,

  284. Posted by Dan | June 14th, 2007 at 3:41 PM

    This relates back to the June 01 article:

    The Great Domain Name Boom Ahead

    http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/06/the_great_domai.html#comments

    I thought this list would be helpful for domainers looking to register “geo” names with specific business or services.

    Having domains with these cities in the domain name will/would hopefully increase the chances of someone wanting to buy your domain or maybe a little traffic also.

    Enjoy,
    Dan

    The Most Common Place Name(s) in America

    http://geography.about.com/od/lists/a/placename50.htm

    I am often asked for the place name that occurs in each of the fifty states. Fortunately, it would appear that such an un-original toponym (place name) does not exist.

    Recreational linguist Dan Tilque did researched this topic, which was published in Word Ways in 2001. He utilized the US Geologic Survey’s Geographic Names Information Service to discover that while Springfield is commonly thought of as the most prolific place name, the place name of Riverside can be found in all but four states (it does not exist in Hawaii, Alaska, Louisiana, and Oklahoma).

    The runner up was Centerville in 45 states, followed by Fairview (43 states), Franklin (42), Midway (40), Fairfield (39), Pleasant Valley (39), Troy (39), Liberty (38), and Union (38).

    Springfield isn’t even in the top ten (only 35 states have a Springfield).

    Tilque concludes that there’s no toponym in all fifty states.

    While Wikipedia provides a list claiming to include the most popular incorporated places, their list also includes Census Designated Places, which are not incorporated cities. Nonetheless, their list is interesting and shows the toponym of Greenville as a Census Defined Place or incorporated city in 34 different states.

    The runner-up for most popular place name on the Wikipedia list is Franklin (26 states), followed by Clinton (21), Madison (20), Clayton (19), and Marion and Salem (18). They claim that Springfield is found in 17 states.

    Thus, it would definitely appear that there simply is not a place name to be found in each of the fifty United States but Riverside is the most popular toponym across the fifty states.

    Greenville
    Franklin
    Clinton
    Madison
    Clayton
    Marion
    Centerville
    Fairview
    Midway
    Fairfield
    PleasantValley
    Troy
    Liberty
    Union
    Springfield
    Marion
    Salem
    Riverside

  285. Posted by Jeff | June 14th, 2007 at 4:54 PM

    Google is making a new tool to make it easy to report websites that sell “paid links”
    http://searchengineland.com/070612-152543.php

    I used to be thousands a month from paid links when I ran my other business.

    I think Google needs to get their hands off of other people’s websites. Sure it hurts results but we gotta make money too.

  286. Posted by William Brister | June 14th, 2007 at 8:06 PM

    Frank,

    NY Times announces May Ad revenue down and Online Advertising up. How is this going to play at TRAFFIC NY?

    http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070614/new_york_times_sales.html?.v=1

    ***FS*** You’re going to see a lot more stories this year.. It’s a recession coupled with a sea change.. Good for you if you own online properties with lots of “reach” and “organic proprietary traffic” .. The next couple of years look very very clear to me… even if traditional media hits rough air.

  287. Posted by Dan | June 14th, 2007 at 10:20 PM

    FYI…

    The Domains Of The Day

    How two Boston entrepreneurs are making millions from names as simple as chocolate.com

    http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_26/b4040059.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_technology

    Peace,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Beat you to that one Dan but thanks!~ :)

  288. Posted by Empedocles | June 15th, 2007 at 7:54 AM

    Trade Mark Notifications Warning

    The danger for domainers in the UK is that the systems currently in use by the UK Patent Office do not include examiners employing whois searches as part of the procedures used when cross referencing words or terms in existing use.

    e.g. In 1999 I registered the domains dogstrust.com catstrust & animaltrust In 2002 I received a letter from the solicitors acting for the a large UK charity The National Canine Defence League (NCDL) they offered to buy the domain dogstrust.com. I refused the offer explaining that in my dotage I intended to develop the domain as a not for profit organisation as dogs are my passion & I wanted to give something back. They offered me £500 I refused the offer.

    Some time later while browsing the net I noted that the NCLD had changed the name to Dogs Trust and had purchased every other dot on the market in the name of dogstrust, no probs with that.

    In 2005 I happen to be on the Patent Office website searching for TM ’s and type in Dogs Trust to find that the mark has been accepted and registered after the required three month advertising period wherein the public have the right to appose the mark. How was I to know the name was being registered when the Trade Mark Journal is published on the Patent Office website.

    If one wanted to go through the courts to revoke the mark the costs would be horrendous.

    If anyone uses the name dogs trust to sell goods, advertising, pet insurance or any amount of other categories you would be taken to task.

    To cut the story short in 2005 I apply to register the mark Cats Trust and was refused although the examination officer agreed that the mark was on all fours with the registered mark Dogs Trust
    I go to tribunal with a case load of evidence showing that the case law used by the Patent Office and the procedures used by the examination officers have been superseded by the instant communication channels used today : Case law cannot be denied in 2007 when technological communications have ensured all the facts are clear and available to examining officers.Clarity and consistency of treatment is imperative, it was never so.

    I won my case and my case history will be fed back into the feedback system in relation to the requirement for examiners to consider more fully previous acceptances, and hopefully the use of whois.

    The next episode will be when my website dogstrust.com is developed and the natural traffic starts to flow. Will I be taken to court ? The word of the law and natural justice are not the same thing, so it will be interesting to see the next move as I would enjoy the scrap.

    The point of this entry is be aware of trademarks and if possible TM your domain it is a very powerful tool for a brand.

    Listen now to a furtherpoint: no mortal thing

    has a begginning, nor does it end in death and obliteration;

    there is only a mixing and then a serperating of what was mixed,

    But by mortal men these processes are named “beginnings”

    Empedocles 492-432 BC

    ***FS*** Thanks for sharing your story.. and that is a great quote.

  289. Posted by Domainer's Gazette | June 15th, 2007 at 10:46 AM

    Hey Frank..

    just wanted to share a post I just made on my domaining blog (gave you a shout out) about the 4 types of domainers I see in the market.. see what you think, or if you agree..

    http://www.domainersgazette.com/the-4-types-of-domainers/

    love your blog.. thanks for sharing all your knowledge..

    -peter

    ***FS*** Thanks for your kind words. I want to forever think like an ‘astute domainer’.

  290. Posted by Robert | June 15th, 2007 at 8:34 PM

    I posted a sticky in front of my laptop to keep questions at 1 a day only. Just like nutritious apples :)

    You mentioned opportunities lie in aftermarket and most of your posts revolve around the notion of cash flow creation. Basically buying traffic (type-in preferably) through buying domains.

    Are there not other segments to be exploited as new words come online, new markets developed or new regions expand and developed? And are there not these opportunities regged-fee investments that one day may become the macaus of the domain world? Which takes me to my last question:

    If you think of “macau.com” as the category killer, where do you place macautimeshares or macautravel.com? A very disant 5th place?

    Aloof_domainer_turning_apprehensive

  291. Posted by owen frager | June 16th, 2007 at 2:02 PM

    With all the debate on TV extension, and Sage’s post on untapped possibilities, I thought I’d bring up a great example I stumbled on doing TM research on Google. First time I’d ever seen a dotTV in the first four results:
    http://us.god.tv/Group/Group.aspx?id=1000009052

    I’ve blogged about these sites before… The profitability of Televangelism and the sold-out Billy Graham crusades represent the demand, but also the limited reach. Kind of like finding porn or show tunes sheet music in Omaha ten years ago. The web is particularily useful to solve these kinds of problems.

    Sometimes it’s not a case about finding traffic for something you can sell, it’s about providing a convenient destination for traffic that’s captive.

    There could be a future for TV, but it won’t be based on PPC. Find a preacher who needs a bigger pulpit (regardless of what they are preaching) and you can deliver it.

  292. Posted by Dan | June 16th, 2007 at 2:24 PM

    Empedocles…

    I do not know the TM laws in the UK…but it would seem to me it might be a good idea for you to try and TM your names with the .com at the end. You might even want to apply in the US.

    Example: dogtrust.com

    Best,
    Dan

  293. Posted by William Brister | June 16th, 2007 at 3:38 PM

    Frank,

    It seems NYT is justing trying to find any down side news to the net and affect consumers. What do you think?

    From Drudgereport

    NYT: INTERNET SALES IN ‘DRAMATIC SLOWDOWN’
    Sat Jun 16 2007 12:46:20 ET

    Since the inception of the Web, online commerce has enjoyed hypergrowth, with annual sales increasing more than 25 percent overall, and far more rapidly in many categories. But in the last year, growth has slowed sharply in major sectors like books, tickets and office supplies, the NEW YORK TIMES will report on Sunday, newsroom sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.

    In Page One leads, the paper claims: “Growth in online sales has dropped dramatically in such diverse categories as health and beauty products, computer peripherals and pet supplies. Analysts say it is a turning point and growth will continue to slow through the decade.”

    Developing…

    ***FS*** Could be some truth to that.. this will happen (peak) eventually.. then the BIG consolidations will start to happen.. multi-billion dollar online media mergers. Still lots of gas in the tank between here and there tho.

  294. Posted by Empedocles | June 17th, 2007 at 5:05 AM

    Dan Thank you for the comment.

    Trademark Law is more complicated than you think, adding.com to any TM name is not enough.

    The TM Office will search the register and records for earlier marks which may conflict with your mark. It is the categories the TM mark is taken under that can make a difference to your registration : You have Panther as a TM under Categories insurance, financial services. I can have Panther TM under heavy goods vehicles that is acceptable.

    Another strange anomaly is that one can choose to TM a mark under The UK Patent Office covering the UK / World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) which will cover individual countries worldwide or The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPOT)

    If you have a TM mark in the UK and choose not to cover the USA you can then cover that TM and category in another country ? with the internet there is one commercial community !! The rules will have to evolve.

    A generic term or word must be seen as the name of a particular undertaking, as apposed to simply being seen as a mere description / or your brand could have historicaly become a brand generic term for a product = Coca-Cola

    The TM is a useful addition to your arsenal

  295. Posted by david chelly | June 17th, 2007 at 2:58 PM

    Hi Frank,
    I’ve put dou.com on sale at sedo and I thought that it might interest you. It is probably one of the last chances to grab a CVV.com!
    thanks
    david

  296. Posted by Charley | June 18th, 2007 at 11:50 AM

    Hi Frank,

    Before you leave, can you squeeze in this question too. :)

    I have found overture terms with more than 8000 searches, the .com & .net is registered but org, info, biz are all available. They are 2 word adult names.

    Would those names in the above extensions be valuable ?

    Thank you,

    Charley

  297. Posted by Yossi Gliksman | June 18th, 2007 at 3:58 PM

    Hi Frank,

    I would to email you some info regarding a new approach to monetize online advertising.

    Please email me, if interested

  298. Posted by Dinesh | June 19th, 2007 at 2:18 AM

    Hi Frank.

    I am the registrant of the following domains :
    howtoavoidtax.com
    indiaf1race.com
    bluechipstocks.info
    whatisthelaw.net

    Kindly let me know if you would be interested in acquiring any of these
    domains. We can then discuss further details.

    Thank you.

  299. Posted by Jason Hendricks | June 19th, 2007 at 2:44 AM

    I know you’re on vacation right now, so I’ll make it brief (even though I could go on about how I visited Seven Mile last summer and it was incredible).

    I have a few domain names I’m looking to sell to fund other projects. I don’t currently know of an accurate appraisal service. Can you recommend an appraisal service and/or marketplace where I’ll receive fair market value for the names?

    The tool you mentioned in an earlier post said one of the domains is worth a little over $617K. :)

    ***FS*** At this point there really isn’t a good one that I have tried.. The people on assorted forums are likely your bestr bet.. They’re the buyers

  300. Posted by DC Domainer | June 19th, 2007 at 10:20 AM

    Sedo Picks up GreatDomains from Verisign. Lets see how this plays out. Should be good for the brand. Thoughts?

  301. Posted by Charley | June 20th, 2007 at 6:36 AM

    Frank,

    There are some names in overture with more than 10k searches of which .com & .net is registered but org, info are available.

    Those are 2 word names.

    Would appreciate your comments.

    ***FS*** It depends how big the Overture count is, the tense of the name (singular is better), and whether people might want to find “Info” about this product or service. Also I would only pay reg price.. with the mind that I’m going to buy it for 10 bucks to sell for $1000.
    For example toiletpapers.info <– not so hot it’s plural .. even if singular, people aren’t exctly screaming for ‘info’ on this product. Eatingdisorder.info<– much better.. singular tense the .info extension becomes part of a descriptive phrase and here is something people look for info on. People make the mistake of buying .infos as traffic names when there is no traffic in the space.. DolphinPictures.com gets 25 uniques a day or so but the info won’t get that in a year.. search terms work in .com info’s might work to resell if you buy them as I’ve described above.

  302. Posted by Matt | June 20th, 2007 at 9:25 AM

    Frank –

    First off — thanks for opening up to questions. It’s a great idea, and you’re executing it wonderfully. I hope you keep it up.

    Here’s my question -

    I’ve just started building a portfolio of domains. I do a lot of blogging, and decided to launch a domaining blog – DomainBinge.com. Do you have any thoughts on content/perspective/etc. that I could take on the blog that would add value to the growing community? Any side of things that you feel isn’t represented well at this point?

    Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

    Thanks again,

    Matt

  303. Posted by Johnny B. Good | June 20th, 2007 at 11:59 AM

    Hello Frank,

    It seems to me we now have Bob Parson’s working against us.

    Bob Parson’s writes in his June 4th Godaddy blog regarding domain tasting and kiting :

    “With the exception of just a few names, 93.5% of those names were registered simply to see how much advertising revenue – paid by big search firms like our “do no evil” friends at Google – will generate when they are associated with a one page Web site and related links.”

    The key is the last part of his statement. He paints Google as being evil by allowing one page sites with related links – therefore as it reads you would assume that parked pages were an “evil” product.

    Since reading that statement it has been “burr in my saddle” for four reasons : I do park domains and I have spent several hundred thousand dollars with GoDaddy but I don’t do domain tasting or kiting, and now he makes that statement; GoDaddy does it’s own “Cash Parking” program full of single pages with links(from Google btw)thus making Bob a big hipocrite ; intentionl or not, he is just lumping us in with those tasters/kiters ; and lastly we don’t need any more misinformation being picked up by the press and presented as fact. This kind of talk just gives credence towards any movement that could begin against domain parking in general. We must fight to separate ourselves from the dirty part of the industry.

    This rhetoric from Bob does not help. This was very shortsighted and irresponsible and peeves me to no end – and I am a big Godaddy client. He is biting some of the hands that feed him, so he should take note.

    Also, I was buying domains before Bob even knew what a registrar was, and now he comes along to label me, you and every other domain parker, when he actually does it too?

    I usually don’t get too upset by these blockhead comments in other media, but this guy has the largest registrar in the world and he has influence.

    I’ll stop my venting now, or I will end up writing a thesis.

    Maybe my own registrar really is the way to go. :)

    ***FS*** I’m hopeful that Bob didn’t mean that statement in that way. The tasting issue has been under Bob’s skin for a long time because it mutes his registrars ability to grow.. others take the good names putting them in the drivers seat. Bob doesn’t like that.. and thats fine.. it’s called competition. Verisign allowed the tasting process it’s legal and they don’t plan on closing the opportunity because they make money from it. Crying on his blog about it is doing about as myuch good as my whining about right side of the dot typosquating (in extensions) ;) I personally think tasting ’should’ go away at this point because most of the generic names are gone and the potential for harm is unclear enough that they should suspend the opportunity while they study it. But I’m a libertarian so let them taste names provided nobody else is hurt bu it. Live and let live i say.

    Bob Parsons’ businesses make a lot of money “parking” domain names so I don’t think that he would label something he does for profit as bad. Perhaps he mis-spoke. Parking is never going away.. Making parking ‘go away’ is akin to making the Internet go away. It’s just not ever going to happen. Wayyyyy too much moiney getting made. The underpinnings of the naming system, verisign, ICANN, ‘everything’ domain name related is financed and amortized on the back of paid search. We’re talking about at least 2-5 billion in yearly cashflow ..its like any other content site that displays ads.. only the content is optional. You can’t change that.. nor is there a reason to.

  304. Posted by Dan | June 20th, 2007 at 1:31 PM

    FYI….

    TRAFFIC: Beyond Pay-Per-Click

    http://domainnamewire.com/2007/06/20/traffic-beyond-pay-per-click/

    Best,
    Dan

  305. Posted by Dan | June 20th, 2007 at 1:37 PM

    FYI…

    A new domain portfolio and monetization management tool
    http://www.domaineditorial.com/archives/2007/06/17/a-new-domain-portfolio-and-monetization-management-tool/

    Peace,
    Dan

  306. Posted by Dan | June 20th, 2007 at 3:30 PM

    FYI…

    Sedo Acquires Industry Pioneer, GreatDomains, from VeriSign

    http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070619005795&newsLang=en

    Best,
    Dan

  307. Posted by Yossi Gliksman | June 20th, 2007 at 6:31 PM

    Hi Frank-

    I am a former CEO and founder of Multinational Telecom, which pioneered the international callback industry in 1990.

    I came up with a strategy how to increase significantly the level of monetization of a substantial portion of the soon to be $25 billion online advertising space, and I am looking for a capable partner for this venture.

    The strategy will work for paid search, contextual, brand, and direct navigation/parking advertising, and it could create a multi-billion dollar business.

    Please let me know if your are willing to sign a NDA and whether you are willing to consider founding a company.

    Yossi Gliksman

    ***FS*** I’m fully committed at the moment, but have posted here as some of my colleagues are always eager to explore opportunities such as this. Thanks for your post.

  308. Posted by Johnny B. Gpod | June 21st, 2007 at 3:59 PM

    Hello Frank,

    I just was doing a Whois search on a particular domain and saw someone advertising within the Whois info. that they would lease the domain, but not in a formal Sendori/LeaseThis fashion, just in-house leasing. Common stuff, right?

    Well, in regards to all this alternative income channels talk recently (LeaseThis.com, Sendori.com, etc…) it occurred to me that all the “Whois Details Searches” on a daily basis is really powerful stuff. Just think of the sheer amount big businesses and regular mom and pops that go there and realize that a domain is owned by a particular person and then just say, “Oh Well!”, or maybe even visit the parked site, and then move on since there is no clear cut, easy way to do business with the domain owner. In only a fraction of those lookups do they even contact us – so, imagine how many do not.

    What if you, your industry buddies….. or even a conglomerate of mid-tier/small-tier domainers agree to put in the Whois info. that the domain can be leased at LeaseThis.com or Sendori.com. Millions of domains and millions of Whois lookups combined with the advertising of Sendori/LeaseThis, etc… potentially could make those companies an overnight success.

    Yea, I suppose Sendori/LeaseThis would get a free windfall, but we would gain a viable domain alternative faster in return, thus checking Google/Yahoo, giving us some leverage as well.

    Maybe other domainers are starting to do this, but I have not seen it yet. It just seems like a really powerfull way to get to the end users that I suspect would convert well.

  309. Posted by Charley | June 22nd, 2007 at 8:12 AM

    Hi Frank,

    Are these trademark names ?

    - travelchannel
    - fashionchannel
    - foodchannel

    Thanks

    ***FS*** That is a really good question.. It depends on your Country .. I would use the searchable trademark database at http://www.uspto.gov to check the US marks.. then consult IP counsel or a searchable database in your own country.

  310. Posted by Charley | June 22nd, 2007 at 9:35 AM

    >>> I would use the searchable trademark database at http://www.uspto.gov to check the US marks.. < <<

    Frank,

    Can you post a link from that site to check these trademarks. All I see on that site is full of text :)

    Reply,

    Charley

    ***FS*** http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=lbefq8.1.1 .. Use ‘advanced search’ and use quotation marks around your query

  311. Posted by Charley | June 22nd, 2007 at 9:51 AM

    Frank,

    I found this exact result for food channel out of many.

    http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=lbefq8.3.3

    How do I interpret the text in this link?

    Reply,

    Charley

  312. Posted by Dan | June 22nd, 2007 at 11:43 AM

    FYI…

    Business.com Could Hit Jackpot on Auction Block.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118248076104444461.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us_business

    Best,
    Dan

  313. Posted by Eric D | June 22nd, 2007 at 12:09 PM

    Hey Frank,

    Neat story about Business.com going up for sale – http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/06/21/businesscom-on-the-block/

    What is really interesting are the comments from those that don’t realize the potential of a domain like that.

    This brings up a point I have been struggling with – those with great type-ins that have not developed further – do you think that takes away from the value of type-ins. More specifically – if more type-ins had more depth to them and less AD parking the trend toward always type-in would increase – your thoughts?

    Cheers,

    Eric

  314. Posted by Peter Best | June 22nd, 2007 at 2:02 PM

    What is your opinion? Should we sell the “Best” portal which will include our 55 auction category domain names, such as BesArtAuction.com to BestYachtAuction.com as one portfolio/business. Or should each name including various extensions be sold separately? I guess you can see what we own at BestSearching.com or BestPressReleases.com

    Thank you for your opinons

    PB

  315. Posted by David Wrixon | June 23rd, 2007 at 6:46 AM

    Frank,

    Just wondered if you have ever come across one of these?

    http://img.yahoo.co.jp/images/mobile/howtoaccess/qr_ytop.gif

    I don’t believe they exist really outside Japan, but there they act as Bar Codes for URLs, that can be picked up using a Camera Phone? Why are they needed and why has this technology not been adopted in the West? The answer to that question would undoubtedly give anyone a big insight into how the Japanese Internet actually works!

  316. Posted by IDN | June 23rd, 2007 at 4:03 PM

    Dave is partly right… However does anyone remember the Cuecat? It was offered by a company thru radioshack in America for free. Users could scan a barcode on an ad and go directly to the website….

    They went bankrupt here however I guess these kinda things are needed in Japan.

  317. Posted by Mac McAdams | June 23rd, 2007 at 4:42 PM

    Frank,
    Help. I have been following your website recommendations, and now have a chance to purchase a good domain name at good price. I am apprehensive about the purchase, though because five years ago, this domain was used selling what the domain name describes, and had a great looking site. It is now just a directory that is totally irrelated to the great generic .com name. Other than checking the whois and using a service like escrow.com, what should I do to protect myself from getting ripped off. Any advice you have would be much appreciated. Thanks for your help.
    Mac

    ***FS*** When you open escrow, make sure the domain’s administrative email is the same as the escrow seller email. Now you know you’re dealing with a real seller. Don’t do the final release of funds in escrow.com until the seller provides the name’s authcode and you use said code to successfully transfer the name to your registrar of choice.

  318. Posted by Chris Hartnett | June 23rd, 2007 at 11:03 PM

    O.K. Frank, I get it. Domains are GREAT. There are very few people I’m sure that are reading this, that would disagree with this statement. I even get it that “Domains are really, really great.” I have placed my bets like the rest of us and they have paid off beyond expectation and will continue to do so.

    I just got back from NY after a great few days and Rick and Howard put on a great show and I’m really glad I’m home and just as glad that I went. We missed you there. I heard this many times from many people besides the guy trying to find you to buy the three names.

    BUT, I finally have a BIG problem with you Frank. I hate to get heavy here on your Blog but I have to do so since I feel like I owe you and many I’m sure on this Blog feel the same way. I owe you for great advice and for sharing your heart and thinking beyond the norm and call of duty. A real gift to the Mass Collaboration. Thank you once again. Your time is precious and we all value it. But, because I owe you, I can’t sit back and say nothing here with this major issue. That wouldn’t be fair to you or your loved ones. “Your loved ones?” How did they get into this? Well, they are really the whole motivation behind this post.

    Before I turned off my “stay at home” computer to head to Traffic New York, I checked your Blog one last time. You posted that you were going with the family to check out the “Royal Mouse” and I said to myself, “great, finally this guy is taking a rest and it is pretty smart of him to go during Traffic week because so many of the usual readers here, will be focussed there.” I was really happy for you and I was happy for your wife, your kids and anyone who loves you. Now I get home, turn on my computer and take a chance and see if you broke the code or unwritten promise and POSTED something on your Blog during your vacation. Damn. There it was. Not one post but three full posts since the “going to see the Mouse” post. My heart sank. I said to myself, “he gets so very much but he doesn’t really get it, he doesn’t get that “REST IS THE BASIS FOR ACTIVITY”. This is why we have a REFRESH BUTTON on our computers. This is why each step you take forward, your other foot is resting. In order to move forward, we have to pull back the bow before we release the arrow forward to the target so to speak. Frank, you were not on Vacation my good man. You were still on the Blog in your head. It doesn’t count. You’re kidding yourself if you think differently. Ask your wife if I’m right. Yes, there was some very compelling domain industry news over the last few days. Big Auction. Big News with BIG DBusiness.com… yeah, yeah….EAL. There will always be something pulling you out. You have to “let go” Frank. The ship will steer itself for a little while. Have some Faith. You are a great Captain but even the best of Captains go below, let go and REST. Otherwise, they would get burned out and might not be on top of their game when they are really needed the most. We are all going to die someday in the next 1-50 years or so and then all of this means absolutely nothing. They forget you faster than one might think. This is just a game. You play well. Very well. BUT, it is just a game.

    I am reminded of the story about the guy who plays the King in the Play on Broadway.(New York is still in my head) He is a great actor and everyone loves his performance but then after the play, everyone is back stage eating and drinking and having fun in costume but the King stays in character. He still is playing the King because he never took off the costume and he is starting to think he really is his part in the play. He forgets who he really is.

    Frank, there are two things I know very well that aren’t up for debate. One is that we all have to take the costume completly off sometime to stay healthy and sane, even if we are extremely dedicated to our craft and are on a mission and two, if we start thinking what we are doing on the surface is more important than what we are doing inside and with our loved ones, then we have sold a diamond for the price of spinach.

    I have no doubt you will get a Billion Plus for your domains, Frank, but then what? Does the end justify the means? We have to totally enjoy the journey and that means we have to stop and center ourselves and remember who we really are from time to time. We are not what we do and we are not what we have and we are not what the world sees us as, WE ARE BIGGER THAN ALL THAT BUT IN A MORE COSMIC WAY.

    This is your Blog so I don’t want to blast you in public in your own space for something we are all guilty of if the truth were known. My wife tells me this post is too personal but I’m still typing away. You have to do what you have to do. I respect you and so do most I speak with in this industry. Probably everyone come to think of it. You, Kevin and Sahar enjoy this Universal love and respect. A very cool thing. This all being said, next time you go on vactaion, “let it really go” and “Drop” the domains for a few days. Give yourself a real break. I, for one, will not log on to your Blog during that time regardless of whether you Post or not. We owe it to you to make you take off the costume even though you are a world class director and actor of your production (your life). All the very best, Chris.

    ***FS*** That is very well said Dr. H .. you are right. Sometimes in this business you can forget who you are.. The business becomes you and it can consume you if you let it. When I started this blog, no full-time domainers were blogging. Since then Sahar has created his blog and domainnamenews.com has launched. The day may come when I really don’t need to do this as much because the information will be available elsewhere.. I am going on my summer vacation in a month and promise to try to quit cold turkey for a week or two :) Thanks again for thinking of me.. You are a very kind man.

  319. Posted by kamal | June 24th, 2007 at 3:42 AM

    Frank,

    Thought you might find this interesting:

    http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/06/23/real-evil-isp-inserted-advertising/

    Note the statement the company makes: “ISP delivered advertisements are an untapped source of revenue.”

    The article doesn’t provide a screenshot example, but I wonder what would happen to a parked domain page? ISP ads in addition to yours?

    I find it a bit of a stretch to believe that they can get away with this for long (if the article is accurate).

    ***FS*** This is going on now Kamal.. but the commentators on the thread have it right. Regular folks don’t want ISP shaped surfing.

  320. Posted by David Wrixon | June 24th, 2007 at 8:53 AM

    Frank,

    I know you previously expressed a vague interest in dot CN and CNNIC have recently announced they have reached 5.3 Million registrations, although it is very unclear how many of these are discounted English.cn as opposed to IDN. I, however, stumbled across this poll which the community at Domain.cn are using to sample opinions amongst themselves. I thought the result might be of interest to others here, so I take the liberty of providing the Autotranslated URL:

    http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdomain.cn%2Fclub%2Findex.php&langpair=zh%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

    ***FS*** Thanks for this.

  321. Posted by David Wrixon | June 24th, 2007 at 11:58 AM

    Sorry Frank, the Auto-Translator is misdirecting the link a little.

    I can only show you the actual poll in Chinese:

    http://domain.cn/club/viewthread.php?tid=248199&extra=page%3D2

    Apologies for confusion.

  322. Posted by bradford Hines | June 24th, 2007 at 12:32 PM

    For sale pages like this are always interesting:

    http://fortunecookie.com/

    ***FS*** Funniest thing.. I like this name and think the price isn’t insane, but this schmartzy page which illustrates the obvious, probably hurts the seller. “If its that good why hasn’t anyone else bought it?”.. that sorta thing

  323. Posted by Mac McAdams | June 24th, 2007 at 2:56 PM

    Thanks for your help, and your daily insights.
    Mac

  324. Posted by John Reese | June 24th, 2007 at 9:54 PM

    Frank,

    Is there any reliable data out there that shows whether generic domain type-in traffic has been growing or declining during the past few years? One would think as the Internet population grows so would the type-in traffic, but on the other hand, the argument could be said that some browsers have made ‘adjustments’ and the fact that Internet users become more savvy over time and learn how to search for things via Google, etc.

    I’m just curious as I haven’t seen any data on this. I, obviously, can look at my own data but I wonder how it stacks up over a larger group of statistics.

    * I have noticed an interesting trend of more people searching Google for the actual domain. I think this is due to the fact that many have the Google toolbar installed and the search area is directly under the “address bar” area and can easily be used by accident.

    ~John

    ***FS*** Our own data showed a historical increase (single digit percentage) of organic traffic, while at the same time a decrease or fall-off in residual link traffic. That decrease is largely due to our implementation. Additionally, in recent years we’ve seen browser gaming, isp applications, toolbars etc. all of which mute the traffic coming in. There is a constant battle going on for organic traffic. In the final analysis, domain names are probably in the best position because they are the only “destination” .. everything else is a clog, dam or game.

  325. Posted by Tom | June 25th, 2007 at 3:01 PM

    Frank, do you penalize the value of a domain if the amount of characters are very long. Last year fireplacemantels.com sold for $76K. It has 16 characters, although I don’t know how large the industry is, do you think this is a reasonable value. I am looking at a two-word domain that is 19 characters, but the industry is enormous. Would paying more than 6 figures make sense from an investment standpoint, aside from developing it. I have been debating it with a partner and he thinks the domain is too long, but it is probably the 2nd best domain for the industry.

    ***FS*** Length is not as important as potency.. WorkersCompensation.com is 19 characters but is worth hundreds of thousands because the phrase is so potent. LongTermCareInsurance.com that’s 21 characters and worth a bundle.. again because it’s potent.

  326. Posted by Joe Davison | June 25th, 2007 at 4:55 PM

    New York Post reporters were present at the TRAFFIC conference in New York last week.

    Turns out they wrote an interesting little piece about the auction:

    http://www.techanalyst.com/domains/ny-post-article-on-domains.html

    It’s great to see mainstream coverage of our industry. Heck, my mom found and read this article and she barely touches computers!

  327. Posted by Dan | June 25th, 2007 at 8:42 PM

    FYI….

    Foreign Internet: Talks weigh creation of new domain names

    http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=265839

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Thanks for the story link Dan.. I saw and was going to blog it earlier, but I just didn’t have the heart. They’re always talking about adding new extensions. Usually those extensions are crap.. they sucker a few new comers who later abandon them in favor of .com’s and the cycle repeats. If they name the extensions I’ll blog em ;)

  328. Posted by Larry | June 25th, 2007 at 8:57 PM

    Hi Frank,

    I wanted to say Thank You and that I look forward to visiting SevenMile each day. Your selection of posts, responses and general domain guidance make it clear why you are not only admired and successful, but also a true domain visionary.

    My simplified perception of how I view domain value is based on whether the domain contains “searchable” keywords in the name for direct type-in or if the domain has been built as a branded niche destination through a combination of SEO and content. In either case, from a domaining perspective ….. the object is to monetize the guest visit. Hopefully, this is a mutual exchange that is beneficial for both. The domain owner earns revenue while directing, giving or delivering the end user what they are looking for.

    The ultimate beauty of the internet is that it is a business that never closes ….. and ….. just as everyone does not shop at the same grocery store, clothing retailer, etc ….. the marketplace is open to anyone with a few dollars, some creativity and the drive to succeed. You just need to build a better mousetrap or develop a more engaging user experience than your competition.

    Thanks again for sharing !!!

    ***FS*** Larry you are too kind.. thanks sincerely.

  329. Posted by Bob Amend | June 26th, 2007 at 1:58 AM

    Hi Frank,

    I read a March 2007 post where a reader asked what you’d do if you were starting fresh and had $100K to invest (that’s me currently). You said you’d try to buy 50 or so names at $2000-$5000, park them, reinvest those profits, sell a few names here and there, pile it all back in, and develop out a couple sites (rumcakes.com was the example) on the way to becoming a fulltime domain investor.

    However, in June 2007, you wrote specifically about the Domain Distribution Network, and you wrote one post that strongly encouraged folks to acquire reg fee “region + occupation/service” names in order to resell those names on the new DDN (whenever that comes online at the registrars – can’t currently get Go Daddy to talk to me about it openly, other than to admit it’s coming online soon.) Other names you recommended buying for resale were common myspace screennames in .com.

    I’d love to know which of those two buying scenarios you feel most confident about. Putting all my money into 50 or so more “expensive” names seems a little less diversified than buying many thousands more “region + occupation/service” names for reg fees (phoenixplumber.com, for example).

    I guess my question is whether you feel more confident about owning a lot of inventory to resell to small business owners (or other portfolio buyers), or whether you believe in holding less inventory, but inventory that gets type-in traffic and that can be developed out into full-fledged businesses with a little elbow grease.

    Your thoughts would be most appreciated, and thanks a TON for the blog.

    ***FS*** Thanks for the thanks.. It depends where in the food chain you are Bob. My comment on sopping up city+service names for the Fabulous DNN is geared to more professional types.. My comment on starting over today has not changed though.. I’d buy high quality generic names (beating the bushes privately for bargains). You should only own enough domain names that you feel comfortable carrying the renewal charges. Plan out in advance in your mind, how many names will you be able to sell and at what price in order to pay your renewals in time. Hope this helps.

  330. Posted by Shmuel | June 26th, 2007 at 11:53 AM

    Frank,

    I would love to see a post comparing type in traffic to 1-900 phone sex and psychic phone number “dial-in traffic”. Well before domains were around there was a LOT of money in “type in” phone numbers with memorable names, or names that might get some dial in traffic and I wonder if there are people who made the transition from that business to domaining. Perhaps a post will draw them out!

  331. Posted by Adamo | June 26th, 2007 at 10:09 PM

    Many thanks for continuing to provide an excellent read over breakfast (I always visit here first thing to see what’s happening!). It’s great to see this blog continuing to grow at a steady clip – most bloggers start to feel the pinch after a few months when the initial enthusiasm has died away and they simply run out of interesting things to say.

    On a more ominous note, it may be just me (a network problem perhaps!) but it appears sevenmile.com has fallen victim to the great firewall of China. The only way I can read you now is through a proxy server (subscribing to a proxy service is essential here if one wants to visit many international sites, such as wikipedia for example). I hope this is just my problem (was it something I said?) and not a site-wide problem. Perhaps other China-based readers would like to comment.

  332. Posted by Rahmlus | June 27th, 2007 at 8:08 AM

    About a year ago I dabbled a bit with domains because I just couldn’t get the “Master of Their Domains” article out of my head.

    Treating the domain business like an ignored software manual I just started buying. I ended up getting a couple hundred. Most of which were completely boneheaded buys….I keep thinking about the cop that shows up in the Jensen’s house in “There’s Something About Mary”. Ted just got his nad stuck in his zipper and the cop shows up at the window and asks “What….the hell…. were you thinking?”

    Most of the names were trademark but a couple generics that look ok to develop.

    On the positive side I did a couple things right:

    I went to a tropical place (Thailand) to be stress-free and acquire domain names. I had never heard of this requirement previously so I guess I just may have a talent for it after all.

    Learned a lot by failing and it only cost about $1,500, which is a cheap tuition fee.

    I did get lucky with 17 trademark domains in connection with iphone such as:

    iphonebattery.com
    iphoneringtone.com
    freeiphonedownload.com
    freeiphoneringtone.com

    I agree with you %100 percent that the trademark domains aren’t very good long term but these seem to be pretty good on the short term.

    I’ve taken a spin around similar iPod related domains and they are not owed by Apple (they don’t even own iphone.com). These names are not generics but better than your average trademark? I realize Apple could take them whenever they wanted so are they worth developing? Sell, Sell, Sell? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

  333. Posted by Steve Bates | June 27th, 2007 at 8:30 AM

    Frank -

    What is your take on Bill Gross’s latest comments at PIMCO? He is obviously a brilliant guy (and I’m sure he has some outstanding researchers and managers working for him). I wonder how problems in the general economy will hit the domain industry and internet based businesses.

    ***FS*** guy’s an out-of-the-box thinker.. He doesn’t always get it right, but on this one he and I think alike: http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/06/sell_the_extra_.html

  334. Posted by Rahmulus | June 27th, 2007 at 9:01 AM

    @ Adamo
    Yes, our Chinese overlords have deemed typepad off limits so we all have to use proxy servers. But I, for one, welcome our new overlords.

  335. Posted by Dan | June 27th, 2007 at 3:11 PM

    Hi Frank,

    You did not like my comment for the article:

    “And You Want to Be My Latex Salesman…” – Scott Austin Doesn’t Quite Get It

    I sent it in last night? It has not been posted.

    Peace,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Dan, I have not seen it :(

  336. Posted by Johnny B. Good | June 27th, 2007 at 4:30 PM

    Hey Frank,

    If you have not already seen it – here’s an link about eMarketer revising their predictions upward for 2007 and 2008 online revenue growth.

    http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=118821

  337. Posted by Dan | June 27th, 2007 at 6:27 PM

    Hi Frank,

    I resent through the comments for this story…for some reason its not getting to you. I will post it from here and you can move it under comments for this story. Thanks Dan

    ________

    “And You Want to Be My Latex Salesman…”

    Having a bad domain name is like people always seeing you as though you just got out of a”cool pool” after a swim…

    Its really a “misrepresentation” of your true self/ business and can cause “significant shrinkage” in your potential customer or client prospects.

    Resulting in the possibility of you having to hide…”like a frighten Turtle”.

    Peace,
    Dan

  338. Posted by David V | June 27th, 2007 at 9:52 PM

    Frank,
    Have you ever heard of Dr. James Canton?
    He is founder of IGF, a think tank that forecasts innovations and trends. They provide many services and consulting to large global companies and governments.
    If you have heard of him, what are your thoughts about his ideas on the www?
    Here’s a quick quote.
    “As the net becomes pervasive driven by the unification of supply chains, shaped by telecom, banks and content players an entirely new paradigm of doing business will emerge. Knowledge-Value engineering is the process of leveraging virtual supply chains to manage, create, sell, distribute, market and finance an entire business online.”

    I am not affiliated with them in any way, I just have found his work to be interesting and have been reading his material for over 12 years. Would love to hear your thoughts.
    David V

  339. Posted by David V | June 27th, 2007 at 9:58 PM

    Here’s the link for you to take a peak at. Forgot to drop it in my question for you.
    http://www.globalfuturist.com/index.php

    Thanks David

  340. Posted by Snoopy | June 27th, 2007 at 11:01 PM

    Hi Frank,

    There is a lot of projections and discussion about how fast the online advertising market is growing yet domain parking revenues seem to have been stagnant for some time (maybe for even a year?). If I remember rightly you suggested a while back this might be due to factors such as smart pricing etc from the search engines which may have offset otherwise high bid levels. Do you expect a pickup soon or do you think there might be other factors which could keep a lid on revenues in the domain area?

  341. Posted by Dan | June 27th, 2007 at 11:02 PM

    FYI…

    TRAFFIC NYC Official Auction Results

    http://marketplacepro.moniker.com/auction/live_auction_ticker.html

    Best,
    Dan

  342. Posted by Dan | June 28th, 2007 at 10:40 AM

    FYI…

    For all “forward thinking” folks out there…this seems like it may be worth while checking out from time to time.

    http://www.trendwatching.com/briefing/

    Peace,
    Dan

    BTW: I have no relationship or other interest in this site, other than just trying to be helpful.

  343. Posted by Dan | June 28th, 2007 at 11:59 AM

    U.S. iPhone Searches Up 583%, Traffic to iPhone Site Up 185%

    http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2007/06/28/us-iphone-searches-up-583-traffic-to-iphone-site-up-185/

    Peace,
    Dan

  344. Posted by Dan | June 28th, 2007 at 12:07 PM

    Hi,

    Maybe an “opportunity” for someone down the road…if they are up for selling this domain.

    ___

    Estee Lauder bids adieu to Gloss.com

    Estee Lauder Cos. is glossing over Gloss.com.

    After six years of operating Gloss.com LLC, No. 180 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, as a stand-alone e-commerce site, Estee Lauder will close down Gloss.com by June 30.

    The site, which sold nearly 5,000 products, was originally launched as a partnership between Estee Lauder and such consumer brand manufacturers as Chanel S.A and Clarins.

    But over time Estee Lauder emerged as the majority owner and has made the decision to close down Gloss.com and concentrate on its other commerce-enabled web sites such as Clinique.com and Aramis.com. �Our customers prefer to shop another way and Gloss.com will close down at the end of June,� says an Estee Lauder spokeswoman. �Customers prefer to shop our individual sites and at other retail store sites.�

    Gloss.com, which used GSI Commerce Inc. as a third-party e-commerce platform and fulfillment provider, featured deep content and tools that enabled shoppers to personalize beauty product.
    http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=22893

    Best,
    Dan

  345. Posted by Dan | June 28th, 2007 at 1:00 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Man did I miss my calling…LOL

    http://dnhour.com/

    Peace,
    Dan

    BTW: Taken from post at:

    http://domainnamenews.com/editorial/dnhour-launches/

    ***FS*** Dan .. its never too late You’re gifted :)

  346. Posted by Jeff Moore | June 28th, 2007 at 1:19 PM

    I don’t have a question. I didn’t see a contact form, but I thought you would appreciate the iPhone keyboard’s perspective on TLDs:

    http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/492-iphones-disappearing-spacebar

  347. Posted by Dan | June 28th, 2007 at 2:06 PM

    Should You Start a Business Without a Dot Com?

    http://domainnamewire.com/2007/06/26/should-you-start-a-business-without-a-dot-com/

    Best,
    Dan

  348. Posted by IPTV | June 28th, 2007 at 3:23 PM

    Microsoft started it…and these guys are talking it to even a higher level.

    http://domainnamenews.com/legal-issues/vulcan-puts-the-pinch-on-domainers-and-google/

    Peace,
    Dan

  349. Posted by adam | June 28th, 2007 at 4:37 PM

    Hey Dan …. want a job ??
    adam@domainnamenews.com

    ***FS*** You should do it Dan ! Part time.

  350. Posted by Gabe | June 28th, 2007 at 6:19 PM

    Frank,

    I don’t know why, but I have a pet peeve with large companies that hold these beautiful generic domains in their portfolio, yet they do nothing with it. For example, take a look at HomeLoans.com, owned by Wells Fargo. According to Compete.com, that domain gets almost 400 unique visitors a day, yet for some reason they rather let that name site idle than forward it to their web page regarding mortgage loans. I just don’t get it!

    Imagine how much revenue they are leaving on the table probably because of the lack of knowledge regarding the power this generic domain holds. If they forwarded this domain to their mortgage page (like Bank of American did with their domain loans.com) and assuming that this name gets 12,000 type-ins a month, with a conservative 1% conversion rate (people using Wells Fargo for their home loan), with revenues of $4000 per loan (very realistic in this industry) – we are talking potential revenues of $480,000 a month or $5,760,000 annually!

    Yet for some reason Richard Kovacevich (the recently departed CEO of Wells Fargo) or any other high ranking management personnel for that matter, fail to realize that they can probably add $5 million dollars in annual revenue by simply instructing some systems administrator to take 2 minutes out of his/her time to forward the domain to their mortgage home page. 2 minutes of work = $5 million in revenues – what a concept….if only they knew.

    Wells Fargo is not the only one missing the boat – Fidelity owns Retire.com….but instead of it being forwarded to their 401K home page….this domain is being wasted into internet obscurity. I’m sure there’s huge list of similar big name companies under-utilizing their generic domains for what seems like no good reason at all.

    It’s still baffles me that it’s almost 2008 and these companies don’t get it…..this truly signifies that it’s still really early in the domain game, don’t you think?

  351. Posted by Gary Coey | June 28th, 2007 at 6:39 PM

    Hi Frank,

    I have to say I have never been much of a addict. But having taken the time to look into domaining I have become quite the domain junky over the last week. I think I am starting to go a little too crazy with the domain ideas. I think I might be getting to creative and less organic. I am hoping you could tell me if I am on the right track in registering domains like the following or if maybe I am heading down the path of owning a bunch of letters with .com on the end:

    RetailerTrends.com
    Whateverhappen2.com
    TotallyTVS.com
    FLAT1080P.com

    Also, I have heard if you register a domain with a company’s tag line in it you can get into some significant legal trouble? Is this the case or is someone simply blowing wind up my … :)

    Frank, I should also say your site is quite addicting, unfortunately there are only so many hours a day. Good on you for offering the community your vast knowledge and for being so candid. Thank you for curbing my addition to facebook to something a lot more productive and educational.

    Gary

    ***FS*** thanks Gary, first one’s just okay the others, not so much. You should visit the forums and watch, discuss what’s good.. namepros.com is a good place to start.. domainstate.com later after you get your feet wet. Fecebook is a time vacuum.. good for you for escaping. And yes, blatant trademarks will get you in trouble.

  352. Posted by JX | June 28th, 2007 at 7:39 PM

    Interesting article about Luxury Shopping online….
    reminded me of your “Eat the Rich” post…

    http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/25/lifestyle/luxury_online_shopping/index.htm?postversion=2007062511

    “Rich, online, and nowhere to buy…”

    “Online retailers are the wave of the future, so why are the world’s trendsetting luxury brands so far behind?”

    –Thanks for the blog… everyday is a Great Read!

  353. Posted by David V | June 28th, 2007 at 9:34 PM

    Another article about the changing of the media. QUOTE “News is entering a new phase. TV, radio and the web no longer stand alone as separate channels, but are converging in a complex interplay of social media. Over the coming days, the BBC is offering a glimpse of how it could be delivered in the future.”
    Here’s the link.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6240878.stm

    It will be interesting to see how the mainstream print media makes this transition.
    David V

  354. Posted by Jamie | June 28th, 2007 at 11:21 PM

    Hi Frank,

    what is your view on misspellings of non-trademark terms?

    Thanks,

    Jamie

    ***FS*** Thanks man.. i’ve covered this one before.. likem if they are generic and brandable. deel.com is a great brandable variant of deal.com but generkc.com is not a good “brandable variant” of generic.com .. its just a mistype.. and I don’t like those as a foundation. One’s an accident, the other is shaping user intent and visually pleasing.. sometimes the kind I like can be both tho. Depends on circumstance.

  355. Posted by IPTV | June 29th, 2007 at 2:53 AM

    Gabe,

    Good post.

    This happens and is happening with a lot of generic domains and even so called TM domains… I have seen companies file WIPO’s and win or just send out a C/D letter and the owner of the domain turns it over to them… and after the domain is transferred to them, it will not resolve and “redirect” for months or years after the transfer.

    I think in most cases its…”the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.”

    As for the rest of your post…they do not “get it”, because no one has “educated” the right people in the right way.

    Most of these companies should have 50 SEO experts ~ 50 Internet marketing experts – 50 Domain name experts working “in house” for them.

    Most have 1 SEO expert ~ 2 Internet marketing experts ~ O Domain name experts “in house”…and none of them “get along”…because companies are paying much more attention and paying much more to… “huge marketing and PPC firms to manage 90% of their online activities.

    Pure and simple.

    Peace,
    Dan

  356. Posted by IPTV | June 29th, 2007 at 2:58 AM

    FYI…

    http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article2720094.ece

    Google sued over defamatory postings found on web search

    “”n one anonymous posting on an internet discussion forum, Brian Retkin, managing director of the internet company dotworlds, is wrongly accused of cashing in on the 11 September attacks on America by offering the free registration of domain names to the US in a way that took advantage of the fervent patriotism at the time. In other anonymous postings, he is wrongly and groundlessly accused of conducting fraudulent business.”

    Interesting…

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Saw that one.. very interesting stuff.

  357. Posted by Dan | June 29th, 2007 at 3:57 AM

    Wasn’t sure how to get an email to you so I’m trying this way – this certainly isn’t intended to be a public post.

    First of all, thanks for creating such an amazing blog. I’ve learned a ton from reading through the questions and answers.

    I have a portfolio of 250+ related domains that I’ve been buying since 1996. I’ve never gotten around to building the business I’d wanted to with them.

    I’m looking to find a partner to develop them or just sell them now (I’m assuming they have more value as a portfolio, but maybe not) and was wondering if you would be willing to take a look at the list and point me to any interested parties you can think of.

    Please feel free to email me back at dan@basicmedia.com if you’d be willing to discuss further.

    Thank you so much!

    Dan

  358. Posted by Rob | June 29th, 2007 at 12:10 PM

    Just a heads up – latest issue of Business 2.0 magazine has a one page article about traffic arbitrage, explains buying cheap traffic from one source and driving it to your webpage with higher paying ppc ads. I know you’ve often mentioned it here, now the secret’s out. Sorry, can’t find a link to an online version, maybe you can.

  359. Posted by Dan | June 29th, 2007 at 1:05 PM

    Hi,

    So there is no confusion…I own a bunch of iptv domains…and my name is Dan. But the post above this is not from me.

    weird…

    My post are (Dan) not IPTV. So I do not know why someone else name Dan would be making post under the username IPTV?

    Peace,
    Dan

  360. Posted by Dan | June 29th, 2007 at 1:15 PM

    FYI…

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/19371521

    Peace,
    Dan

  361. Posted by Michael Gilmour | June 29th, 2007 at 1:18 PM

    Frank,
    I’ve done a lot of work in collecting stats etc. on the domain name industry for a presentation that I did at Traffic. I thought that you may want to have a look at them and also my thoughts on domaining at whizzbangsblog.com

    Keep up the great posts! I love them!

    Michael

    ***FS*** Thanks Michael! Will do.

  362. Posted by Joe Davison | June 29th, 2007 at 1:53 PM

    Frank,

    An article on domain names was the lead story on Forbes.com for a short time this morning. I took a screen capture to document the coverage:

    Excellent mainstream coverage for the domain industry. We’re going to be seeing a lot more of this.

    ***FS**** Yes we are.

  363. Posted by IPTV | June 29th, 2007 at 2:46 PM

    My Bad Frank…

    I am IPTV (forgot I changed it from Dan…LOL)

    Just the post from “Dan” (dan @ basicmedia. com) confused me next to my post. I thought something went haywire with typepad.

    Back on earth now…LOL

    Peace,
    Dan

  364. Posted by Robert | June 29th, 2007 at 3:02 PM

    Dear Frank, excuse my naivete…

    But I keep thinking… direct navigation… straightforward traffic… Why all parkers rely on 3rd parties to provide ads, splitting profits as well as being subject to somebody elses’ policies when large domain owners with enough traffic of their own could set up an independent ad network both to serve ads as well as making it a bidding platform?

    If type-in traffic converts as well as what has been stated there will be no shortage of advertisers!

    ***FS*** lazyness.. lack of scale.. there are a host of reasons. Sometimes aggregators can offer a better payrate than going direct cuz they are soooo much bigger ..

  365. Posted by Mike | June 29th, 2007 at 3:49 PM

    i’ve owned casualdining.com since 1999 – the name is parked at sedo.com and receives roughly 75 type-ins/month – determining fair value has always been a difficult exercise for me – what are your thoughts?

    thx

  366. Posted by Domainer's Gazette | June 29th, 2007 at 4:19 PM

    hey Frank,

    you visited Daily Domainer lately? the site’s coming up dead for me.. not sure if it’s some strange connectivity here in ole ATL..

    -peter

  367. Posted by IPTV | June 29th, 2007 at 5:09 PM

    Interesting article by:

    Synergy Between Domain Names & Keyword Based Search Engine Optimization Strategies

    http://www.searchnewz.com/topstory/news/sn-2-20070629SynergyBetweenDomainNamesKeywordBasedSearchEngineOptimizationStrategies.html

    I do not agree at all with some of what he has to say…but still an interesting article.

    Peace,
    Dan

  368. Posted by Steve | June 30th, 2007 at 9:17 AM

    Hi.

    If you were competing in an ultra competitive market where a keyword rich domain would help the end user know exactly what your site is about, but can’t buy the Keyword.com, KeywordKeyword.com or even any of the top KeywordKeywordKeyword.com domains (even the 3 keyword phrase terms are ultra competitive) because they are all built into full working corporate entity sites and/or are way out of range for what we can afford – - do you think there is any value at all in buying an available eKeywordKeywordKeyword.com domain (again with the notion that even the 3 keyword phrase terms are very competitive and lucrative)?

    I think a domain beginning with “e” and then followed by a keyword, etc. is a very 1990’s style – but I am really curious to know your opinion. But then on another hand, I thought a site offering real estate services (for example) with a domain eRealEstateServices.com (for example) would be better than SteveLicensedAgent.com (again just an example).

    What’s your opinion? Thanks!!!

  369. Posted by Rob | June 30th, 2007 at 12:04 PM

    Hello Frank, check out this domain sales page at: http://terracerealestate.com I’m looking for real estate related names to reg and came upon this site. At first it looks like a real estate site, but it’s really a nicely done domain sales page, with lots of good reasons to buy the name. One of the best domain sales pages I’ve seen.

  370. Posted by IPTV | June 30th, 2007 at 12:48 PM

    FYI…

    Dot-com investors lose antitrust bid
    http://news.com.com/Dot-com+investors+lose+antitrust+bid/2100-1014_3-6191747.html?tag=st.rn

    Best,
    Dan

  371. Posted by john | July 1st, 2007 at 9:42 PM

    http://domainstate.com/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=79097

    Do you think iReit has had enough of the TM hassles?

    ***FS*** Thanks John.. just part of the natural cycle. The important thing is somebody is going to buy the assets iREIT has cobbled together. That buyer is going to have a great deal of concern about managing their portfolio and taking things to the next level. ‘That’ care and attention is ultimately healthy for the space.

  372. Posted by BJ | July 1st, 2007 at 9:55 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Can you provide a rough estimate of all annual costs associated with owning your own register?

    Thanks,

    BJ

    ***FS*** Certain fees are variable based on how many registrations you manage.. figure on your cost of insurance (500,000 liability policy) and your cost of hosting, icann interaction etc.. it’s nominal.

  373. Posted by IPTV | July 1st, 2007 at 11:47 PM

    Rumor Mill…

    iReit is up for sale.

    Peace,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Thanks Dan.. old news.. (to me anyway) .. thanks tho.. peace to you :)

  374. Posted by Charley | July 2nd, 2007 at 10:09 AM

    G’morn Frank,

    I have 2 questions for you. :)

    1. Suppose a domain expires on July 10, will that be available to register or backorder ?

    ***FS*** It depends.. about 45 + 5 days if it goes through a regular deletion cycle

    2. Would SnapNames be able to catch domains registered with Enom, Godaddy, Tucows ?

    ***FS*** Again it depends on whether the name is screened by “demand media” owner of bulkregister and enom.. if the name is any good they hold it back and if they hold the name back then no. Same w. godaddy and tucows who have proprietary auctions

    Thanks,

    Charley

  375. Posted by Charley | July 2nd, 2007 at 12:38 PM

    Frank,

    >>> It depends.. about 45 + 5 days if it goes through a regular deletion cycle >> if the name is any good they hold it back and if they hold the name back then no. >> Same w. godaddy and tucows who have proprietary auctions <<<

    Which are those for godaddy and tucows ?

    ***FS*** TDnam.com and Tucows.com
    Thanks

  376. Posted by IPTV | July 2nd, 2007 at 12:51 PM

    FYI…

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon_minding_0702jul02,0,6971095.story?coll=chi-business-hed

    http://searchengineland.com/070702-083246.php

    http://www.marketwirecanada.com/2.0/release.do?id=747754

    Best,
    Dan

  377. Posted by IPTV | July 2nd, 2007 at 2:02 PM

    FYI…
    http://blog.domaintools.com/2007/07/domain-roundtable-auction-process/

    DomainTools is holding a Live Domain Auction on August 15th this year. The auction will take place on the last day of the Domain Roundtable Conference. The submission process to submit domains is going live this week so keep an eye out for more details.

    The auction will be broadcast live on the Internet but the best view will be on the auction floor in Seattle. Everyone is free to bid online/offline and there is no fee to attend the auction or bid on a domain.

  378. Posted by IPTV | July 2nd, 2007 at 6:56 PM

    FYI…

    Seattlest Interview: The Name Inspector
    http://seattlest.com/2007/07/02/seattlest_inter.php

    Dirty tricks of the sex.com scam
    http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/dirty-tricks-of-the-sexcom-scam/2007/07/02/1183351124286.html

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Thanks much Dan! Thatg name inspector guy needs a domain section ;) Also looking forward to reading my copy of Kieran’s book.

  379. Posted by Johnny B. Good | July 3rd, 2007 at 1:00 PM

    Hello Frank,

    Did you see this Forbes article; it doesn’t cover parking really, but is basically a decent written piece about the exploding domain market/auctions, and how a bunch of folks are “collecting” domains. :)

    http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/2007/06/28/google-news-corp-ent-tech-cx_ll_0629webaddresses.html

    Johnny

  380. Posted by IPTV | July 3rd, 2007 at 4:17 PM

    Everyone…

    Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

    Peace,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Nice Dan.. thanks.

  381. Posted by Daniel Rueda | July 3rd, 2007 at 5:01 PM

    One Question. May be the greatest question ever asked on earth. Who has the greatest domain name portfolio on the planet. Toplevel, keyphrase, locaton, based, strategic, uniform, built in branding, generic, common sense.

    I know the answer. Do you? I may be the only one on the planet that knows this? Probably. Why? Since 99 percent of domain portfolio owners are closet cases. Why? most are cpc domain garbatrage. Mumbojumbo names that share no relation to each other. Time we all got together, crunched up the mulch and declare a winner. We can do it here on your platform. You’ll be famous as a discoverer and the first declarant of the ‘Most Valuable Domain Portfolio on the Planet. ” Who really owns the Internet? Who is the “King of Location?”

  382. Posted by Larry | July 3rd, 2007 at 5:56 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Are you currently acquiring new domains for your portfolio or temporarily pausing to see where the domain marketplace is going in the near future?

    I’m cautious that the current frenzy surrounding domains might start to slow and similar to the U.S. real estate market …. one could get left holding properties with declining value.

    BTW, I also believe the U.S. stock market is due for a major correction that will cause deep financial pain for many.

    Thank you for any insight.

    ***FS*** This business isn’t for the faint of heart.. I’m personally ambivalent.. a buyer and a seller in some respects depending on the deal. The oldschool operators in this space haven’t changed much and for the most part they are still buying. I think the broader economy could adjust (housing/stocks) but not a lot of that money has found its way to the domain space so I don’t think it will change the dynamic here that much.. Names that make 15-20X cashflow on a PPC deal will continue to get scooped when the foreclosures peak. JMO

  383. Posted by IPTV | July 4th, 2007 at 2:50 PM

    FYI…

    Interesting Article from May 07:

    Special Report
    The Inside-Out Web

    http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0507/156.html

    Happy 4th of July,

    Dan

    ***FS*** Thanks Dan.. blogged that one here back in May: http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/04/forbes_world_be.html .. Happy ID4 to you too ;) )

  384. Posted by Jeff | July 4th, 2007 at 6:13 PM

    I hit the typo of frankschilling.com
    “frankschiling.com” :P
    looks like its owned by tmfor.com lol

    must be getting tons of hits since your blog became popular…. $

    ***FS*** Not a problem by me.. Owner’s not using the name to harm my brand and I’m not the only Frank Schilling on Earth. Glad a domainer registered it, they’re usually more professional about it.

  385. Posted by Brooks | July 4th, 2007 at 8:28 PM

    Hey Frank. I wanted to ask you if being as well known as you are, do you feel people play games with you like jacking up the bidding process to make you spend on drop names knowing full well that you will outbid them?
    I was having a drink at one of the conferences and I heard someone say that when it came to true generic words that there is no way you can get them, so just bid it up on them and make sure “they” pay dearly for what they get. I thought it was just the old jealousy thing. I don’t see the point in it or the logic. Anyway, Thanks.

    ***FS*** That cuts both ways.. you can stop biding and hang the party running you up.. in the end the bigger guys don’t feel it. It all works itself out in the wash.

  386. Posted by Don | July 4th, 2007 at 8:31 PM

    Frank, in your opinion, what’s the best place to park domains in spanish?
    Thanks a lot

    ***FS*** I had never really looked at Spanish that closely.. Sorry I don’t have a good answer there.

  387. Posted by al | July 5th, 2007 at 12:49 AM

    Hi Frank,

    Do you know what the procedure is for a country code level extension if that country is acquired by annexation through war or like Tuvalu disappearing into the sea by global warming.
    Will these extensions cease to exist, will ICANN delete them?

  388. Posted by al | July 5th, 2007 at 12:55 AM

    Hi Frank,

    I would appreciate your view on my thoughts:
    http://www.conceptualist.com/?p=277
    The post # 9 or so, should be under my name!

    Thanks

  389. Posted by Mac McAdams | July 5th, 2007 at 1:37 AM

    Frank,
    Names like Scubamasks.com (2056 Overture, 0 with extension, 32 per day Wordtracker) Without the direct type in traffic, the monetization is predicated on building out the site. Can you give me a glimpse of how you would evaluate this domain; what would you pay for it now and what traffic would you expect without a build out?

    Thanks for making your 5 year nap a power nap- please keep up the website insight.

    Thanks,
    Mac

  390. Posted by owen frager | July 5th, 2007 at 9:36 AM

    Big progress: Madison Ave shows domains some respect. The first ever coverage in the only publication that matters.
    fragerfactor.blogspot.com (direct link to normall subscription-only content)

  391. Posted by IPTV | July 5th, 2007 at 11:39 AM

    FYI…

    (Prudent Press Agency) WASHINGTON, DC — DNS World, the premiere conference on Internet Domain Name Service will set the stage for a new era in IP addressing, Internet domains, addressing within IP4 and IP6, DHCP, registrars, root servers and route servers, DNSSEC and much more

    http://prudentpressagency.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=393

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Thanks Dan!

  392. Posted by Jeff | July 5th, 2007 at 2:21 PM

    new lowdown article on new PIR management
    http://www.dnjournal.com/lowdown.htm

    She is an ex employee of dot mobi..
    PIR States: “In our opinion the marketing of dotMobi since its debut last fall has been masterful and will undoubtedly serve as a model for other new TLD launches.”

    Great model riiight…. new TLD launches – 30 pages of reserved words – sell a few each year at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. = PROFIT

    Screw the domainers. ;-)

  393. Posted by IPTV | July 5th, 2007 at 2:27 PM

    FYI…

    Nominet celebrates six millionth .uk domain milestone

    The registration of the six millionth .co.uk domain name highlights the fact that businesses in the UK are voting with their feet in terms of recognising that local domain names are important to customers.
    http://www.itpro.co.uk/internet/news/119113/nominet-celebrates-six-millionth-uk-domain-milestone.html

    Best,
    Dan

  394. Posted by Empedocles | July 5th, 2007 at 2:46 PM

    Never sold anything or moniterised anything to date. Typicaly tooo busy at the day job, one hobby site related to photography has been online for about 5 years averages Month Unique visitors Number of visits Pages Hits Bandwidth
    Jan 2007 13713 18361 64894 123493 1.35 GB
    Feb 2007 12384 16000 54592 107364 1.15 GB
    Mar 2007 13676 18359 63265 121207
    I would appreciate your wisdom on who to offer the site for sale with ?

  395. Posted by IPTV | July 5th, 2007 at 3:07 PM

    FYI…

    Child.org is On Auction at Sedo at $10,000 now.
    4 more days to end, 1 bid…. reserve met

    oy.com is for sale on dnforum..high offer currently 94K.

    Peace,
    Dan

  396. Posted by Robert | July 5th, 2007 at 4:36 PM

    Dear Frank, would like to hear your comments on perhaps an ongoing tug-of-war… or a mere coincidence that will soon be dealt with.

    I recently read about how well ‘property.com’ was scoring in Google for the terms ‘property’ and ‘commercial property’. Domainers were in awe -for the most part-, explaining that such an old domain with so many backlinks could still be positioned highly in spite of being a parked page. Today, -at least from where I am sitting- the site can’t be found and I was only able to locate it by typing in the browser ‘www.property.com’. Not even ‘property.com’ would bring it up.

    If the domain didn’t have type-in traffic, Google has just made sure that this is the only traffic the site will get. But perhaps is only a temporary glitch… or you think this is a mafiosi message, dead fish wrapped in aluminum paper included?

    ***FS*** Ha! Maybe not quite that bad (yet) .. Google is definitely trying to keep their users in the Google world.. They control a lot of traffic, they know that and cognizantly and negatively shape navigation against domain holders depending how those domain holders implement. Ultimately I genuinely believe that Google weakens their user experience by doing this. .. You can only shape user intent so far.. The combination of Google’s blocking exact match URL’s and unrelated Black Hat SEO activity sufficiently chinks away at the armor and will degrade results enough across many keywords and searches, enough to force people to leave Google and navigate outside of “G’ .. If you love your users set them free. Google doesn’t think it has to do that yet.. but I think they’re wrong.

  397. Posted by BJ | July 5th, 2007 at 6:06 PM

    Hi Frank,

    As you have discussed on your blog in the past the new safari browser automatically checks the.com extension if you fail to enter the .com extension on your own.

    Do you see any ppc value in purchasing generic domains like the following (i.e. footballcom.com , gardencom.com?

    I noticed if you forget to add the period in front of the com the safari browser doesnt notice the error and adds .com to the typo.

    Thanks,

    BJ

    ***FS*** That’s an onld trick.. I’d try to avoid and focus on trying to buy secondary market generics as cheaply as possible.

  398. Posted by IPTV | July 5th, 2007 at 6:42 PM

    FYI…

    Domain Contacts Should Not Change

    Lately, ICANN has been in the process of determining the fate of domain name ownership information. The proposed change aims to improve the privacy of domain registrants by limiting the information required…

    http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/070705-144911

    Peace,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Thanks Dan!~

  399. Posted by owen frager | July 5th, 2007 at 7:34 PM

    Who are Dan and Josh and if they are not on your payroll, can I put them on mine?

    ***FS*** Just 2 great guys, passionate about the name business :)

  400. Posted by IPTV | July 6th, 2007 at 2:23 AM

    Owen…thanks for the kind comment.

    I would be happy to be on any ones payroll…except:

    drug dealers
    pimps
    terrorist
    pedophiles
    assholes
    and my mother in law (just kidding…I am not currently married.)LOL

    Just trying to help in my little way…

    to move the domain business out of the dark ages and into…at least into this century.

    Peace,
    Dan

  401. Posted by Al | July 6th, 2007 at 8:57 AM

    For anyone who is interested, found a little bit about comparable issues. So I assume it’s the same Wild West case as it is with other sections on the internet. Not much set in stone, so it’s more about “try something and see what happens”. This surprises me because I was expecting greater visionary anticipation from the so called “high profile people”. Is it that hard to anticipate up front to main real world issues that are bound to happen many times over in the future?

    http://www.circleid.com/posts/new_domain_names_internet/

    “ TLDs are a very restricted marked. The bureaucracy of creating and managing one isn’t the main problem. The real stumbling block is that there are no – at least no effective – guidelines what happens if one TLD – by what ever means – is deemed a failure and should be closed down. There have been a few cases of not yet wildly used ccTLDs that have been abandoned or transitioned to a new ccTLD. However even moderately clear situations like .SU aren’t handled. A market where failures (like .COOP and to some extend .MUSEUM) aren’t removed is a very unhealthy one. You only seem to treat the failure of the entity managing the TLD. While this is an important aspect, failures of complete TLDs are a vital ingredient for marked driven innovation.”

    http://www.associatedcities.com/news.php?newsID=121

    “Tralliance would not comment on the state of the .travel TLD. June is scheduled to show how ICANN will handle the possible fold of TheGlobe.com along with the approximately 25,000 people who have registered .travel Web sites.”

  402. Posted by Robert | July 6th, 2007 at 3:38 PM

    Just sending you this.

    Funny, I made so many typos writing your name in the browser that I could only wonder when one of your peers would jump in… lol

    http://frankshilling.com

    ***FS*** Sigh.. I hope he makes a buck or two ;)

  403. Posted by Daniel Rueda | July 6th, 2007 at 3:58 PM

    can anybody answer my question.

    who has the greatest domain portfolio ever assembled?

    ***FS*** It’s open for interpretation Daniel.. There are many great portfolios and depends on how you define great.

  404. Posted by IPTV | July 6th, 2007 at 4:51 PM

    FYI…

    From post on Dnforum:

    No BIN in mind. Highest offer is 8k.

    Asked.com earned $510.63 on 22404 Views from 1/1/07 to 6/30/07

    I believe it’s worth quite a bit more than 8k. It’s on auction now. Let me know if you have any questions. I may be able to provide screenshots, but I will have to check the Sedo terms of service.
    http://www.sedo.com/auction/auction_detail.php?language=us&auction_id=13022&tracked=&partnerid=

    Estimated end time:6 days 23 hours 12 min.
    (Jul/13/07 04:00 PM EST)

    10,000 USD
    Reserve not met
    Currency conversion as per today’s conversion rate:
    7,355 EUR
    4,975 GBP
    Bidding History (2 Bids)

    ___

    I have no connection to this domain at all…just thought it was an interesting auction.

    Peace,
    Dan

  405. Posted by JX | July 6th, 2007 at 4:59 PM

    I remember hearing the domain market overview in 2006 — (I think the info was from Dan Warner)

    The domain market expected to reach $2 billion by 2010, up from $750 million in 2006. Domains contribute 10% to 15% of Google and Yahoo!’s search revenue.

    15 companies/people own 100,000 ore more domains.
    60 own 10,000-100,000, and
    200 own between 1,000 and 10,000.

    (In total, 275 entities/individuals controlled 10-15% of G/Y Search Revenue, not to mention domain aftermarket)

    Do you know if there are any updated figures for 2007?
    How has industry consolidation, new entrants into the domain industry, and/or portfolio growth changed the above stats?

    ***FS*** That’s a great question.. I don’t hear a lot of new info coming out .. part of that may be due to the fact that some of the folks who were chatty about the space (looking for a structured exit or merger deal) have been bought or re-engaged into building their own businesses for a greater economic outcome.. so there is less of an interest in leaking the subtleties of the business to all comers.. thats part of it anyway. That info you quoted at the beginning sounds pretty accurate the 2bil sales figure will happen next year or in 2009 ..JMO

  406. Posted by IPTV | July 6th, 2007 at 6:02 PM

    Just another example of someone that does not understand the value of a good domain:

    water-pumps.org…your kidding me…for a “retail business”.

    http://www.theopenpress.com/index.php?a=press&id=20876

    Peace,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Yes sir.. I feel for that guy. Wrong extension for commerce plus a dash.. YEEE-ikes. I’m sure the owner of waterpumps.com will be getting a C/D shortly ;)

  407. Posted by Mike O'Connor | July 6th, 2007 at 7:23 PM

    Hi Frank,

    No need to moderate this one into your blog, I just found this thread to be an easy way to send you a heads up.

    I was on the Madison Avenue panel at TRAFFIC, and pitched a little list of “Reasons why an end-user might want to buy a domain name.”

    Since several of the bullets came from your blog, I just wanted to send you a link and say “thanks!”

    Here’s the link;

    http://www.haven.com/index.php/domain-names/126

    ***FS*** Thank-you Mike !

  408. Posted by IPTV | July 7th, 2007 at 4:09 AM

    FYI…

    Moiker Affiliate Summit Official Live Auction Domain Name List:
    http://marketplacepro.moniker.com/auction/detail.html?auction_id=141

    Peace,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Thanks Danno!

  409. Posted by IPTV | July 7th, 2007 at 1:01 PM

    FYI…

    Keen interest in domain name auction
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0707/S00068.htm

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS*** thanks Danno! Crazy bidding for a name like that.. isn’t a ‘America’s cup’ a trademark.. :- / I wonder if the bidding was real or just the seller trying to drum up some PR.

  410. Posted by IPTV | July 7th, 2007 at 2:22 PM

    ***FS*** thanks Danno! Crazy bidding for a name like that.. isn’t a ‘America’s cup’ a trademark.. :- / I wonder if the bidding was real or just the seller trying to drum up some PR.

    IMHO: Just an “angle”…to make something look like it has value when it does not. Basicly the guy is lying.

    Not the first or last time for something like this…I bet he thinks he’s real “original”…LOL

    Peace,
    Dan

    ***FS*** I think you’re right.

  411. Posted by Robert | July 7th, 2007 at 2:47 PM

    Good Cayman Saturday mornings, Frank!

    Mike o’Connor’s list is not only comprehensive but very detailed. Notwithstanding, I believe the single most important reason to own a generic .com is to “monopolize” ad space. In other words, to lock the competition out of prime ad territory. What do you think?

    Anyway, what I really wanted to do this morning is to drop you this link http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/comments-on-thomas-claburns-piece/ to a post on one of the most read “traffic” blogs on earth, by Mr. Cutts. It contains a mention to domains and I found it particularly interesting given the comments, worth a read to every domainer who would like to gain insight into the collective “search mind”… or “mind search” (whatever expression makes you happier).

    Cheers!

    ***FS*** Thanks for this link Robert! Very interesting to read Matt’s take on domain traffic. By and large domain traffic is of very high quality, just poorly organized so I guess if Google can organize it, that makes names stronger.. To be fair, Google has been running domain syndication and AFD for years now and hasn’t done a great job of organizing or bettering the domain real-estate they provide syndication feeds on. Perhaps it’s not a priority or perhaps strong names are perceived to weaken Google’s brand, so they intentionally pay a form of benign neglect to keep individual name sites from getting stronger. Whatever the reason, I believe there is a huge untapped opportunity to leverage domain names and their traffic to provide a more useful and potent Internet experience to users. To answer your first question.. I see each good, meaningful name in the highly visited .com space as a category or end node that provides the “eleventh result” where a search engine can only show ten ‘above the fold’.

  412. Posted by IPTV | July 7th, 2007 at 5:39 PM

    FYI…

    This may have already post…

    http://www.p2pnet.net/story/12719

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS** Thanks to you Dan.

  413. Posted by BJ | July 8th, 2007 at 1:48 PM

    Hi Frank,

    Do you have any tips for driving traffic to parked pages? I am looking for a way to increase traffic without violating the TOS.

    Thanks,

    BJ

    ***FS*** Arbitrage may be acceptable depending on your partner and TOS but aside from that not really BJ.. organic name traffic is all I know.

  414. Posted by GoldenBear | July 8th, 2007 at 9:19 PM

    Frank,

    How would you go about beginning to value a name that has low searchabilty, but when heard has obvious industry-specific end-user appeal.

    Many of these types of names come to mind, like ‘quench’ (soft drink?), ‘growth’ (financial?), ‘zoom’ (aftermarket car parts?).

    Interested to hear your thought processes when evaulating such a name.

    Lastly, a shameless plug: one of our pals has one such name on auction here:

    http://www.afternic.com/terroir.com

    ***FS*** Big question… let me think on that one.. plug included ;)

  415. Posted by Snoopy | July 9th, 2007 at 2:08 AM

    Frankshilling.com

    “Unique Visitors per month*: 102″

    I think I have mistyped it before.

  416. Posted by Charley | July 9th, 2007 at 8:21 AM

    >>> Arbitrage may be acceptable depending on your partner <<<

    Frank,

    What did you mean by this ? I have many names parked at Sedo and they have ads with Google.

    Reply,

    Charley

    ***FS*** I would pick up the phone or send an email to your search partner.. different search partners allow different implementations some of those permit arbitrage.

  417. Posted by Domainer's Gazette | July 9th, 2007 at 12:05 PM

    hey Frank,

    I know, I know, I toot my own horn on your site, but I just finished up a post (took me two days to write) teaching people how to determine actual traffic stats from expiring domains.. thought I’d share with you..

    http://www.domainersgazette.com/how-to-uncover-actual-traffic-stats-from-old-expired-domains/

    -peter

  418. Posted by IPTV | July 9th, 2007 at 12:05 PM

    FYI…

    Fights over names for Web use grow harder to untangle

    http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-11/118395530582520.xml&coll=1

    Best,
    Dan

  419. Posted by IPTV | July 9th, 2007 at 6:33 PM

    They gotta try something…lol

    Dotmobi Now Tries With City Names

    http://pc.mtld.mobi/switched/reserved.html

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS*** They get an A for effort :)

  420. Posted by David Bleaman | July 10th, 2007 at 2:37 PM

    Hi Frank,

    We are in the process of gathering today’s names for DailyDomainDrop.com and stumbled on the availability of CaymanNightlife.com, in the event you wanted to grab it. Thanks for all of your great insight that you provide each day.

    Happy Domaining!

    David

    ***FS*** Thanks David.. I don’t usually chase Cayman names. But I would like Scott Day to sell me CaymanIslands.com ;)

  421. Posted by owen frager | July 10th, 2007 at 3:19 PM

    Is there night life in the Caymans? Since there is no mall and you drive all the way across the island just for a once a week dinner out, seems to me it would be pretty boring without the web.

  422. Posted by Jeff Burkey | July 10th, 2007 at 6:15 PM

    Frank,

    If you were going to develop DriverClassifieds.com, would you build a site for golf club drivers or a classifieds site for truck drivers? I have experimented with two different parked themes, but not enough data to determine optimal choice. What’s your gut feel? I appreciate any feedback from you or your readers.

    Regards,
    Jeff

    ***FS*** Its funny how a name like that can be interpreted in so many different ways. I heard it in my mind and pictured an automotive enthusiast classified sections for collectible cars. Thank you “car and Driver” for those decades of mental branding :)

  423. Posted by IPTV | July 10th, 2007 at 8:16 PM

    FYI…

    Merriam-Webster puts out ginormous list of new words

    http://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6769880

    Best,
    Dan

  424. Posted by IPTV | July 10th, 2007 at 9:05 PM

    FYI… getting a little out there but kind of interesting.

    New DNSSEC pilot program for the US Government

    http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=5338

    Best,
    Dan

  425. Posted by don | July 11th, 2007 at 11:47 AM

    Frank,

    I have not seen you comment on the Internet Brands company before, but they have a great portfolio of developed sites, I really think you will see Marchex and the other large players develop their high profile sites in a similar fashion. I bring this to your attention as I saw the following press release today.

    http://www.internetbrands.com/ib/news/press-releases

    Keep up the hard work with the blog, I imagine this is occupying more of your time than you 1st imagined..

    ***FS*** It is a lot of work Don.. thanks. I think these ‘Internet Brands’ folks have made me an offer for my testdrive.com name before. Don’t know much about the co or how they make their cashflow.. They have some good names but others that are not so hot. The biggest domainers will be like much larger versions of these guys within 5 years.

  426. Posted by John Kretzschmar | July 11th, 2007 at 12:49 PM

    Hi Frank

    I’ve owned a URL – goaltime.net – for a number of years now. It got decent traffic and good webalizer stats as a functioning site, mostly from people typing it into the address bar vs search keywords and links related visits. This domain is parked for now, but I’d like to sell it for a reasonable price (upper 4 figures) based on it’s simplicity (easy to remember), versatility (goals relate to personal, business and sports) and play-on-words (goal/net). What’s my best approach: auction, reseller or just setting up a temporary “this domain for sale” web page?

    Thank-you, and keep up the good work on your blog.

    ***FS*** Thanks John, I would try to get feedback as to value from your peers by posting on namepros.com or domainstate.com… both are free to join. My own take is that goaltime.net (the name alone) isn’t exactly a greq\at search-term that rolls off the tongue as a form of popular vernacular and the .net isn’t as good as the .com. I like .nets when they are meaningful terms.

  427. Posted by John Kretzschmar | July 11th, 2007 at 12:54 PM

    PS – I mistakenly let another domain name I owned expire – selfsign.com – and it was snapped up by Onlineinc.com, who were probably on its waiting list. I won’t make that mistake again.

    Cheers,

    JK

  428. Posted by Patrick McDermott | July 11th, 2007 at 3:37 PM

    Frank,

    I think this is an important article written by Michael Collins for the Internet Commerce Association.

    If you haven’t seen it yet, link here:

    http://snipurl.com/DomainsAtRisk

    Patrick

    ***FS*** Thanks Patrick.

  429. Posted by IPTV | July 11th, 2007 at 3:47 PM

    FYI…

    Kinda Interesting

    New PnP Phishing kit discovered – Phishing sites created in seconds

    http://tech.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1328729.php/New_PnP_Phishing_kit_discovered_%96_Phishing_sites_created_in_seconds

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Thanks Danno.

  430. Posted by al | July 11th, 2007 at 9:02 PM

    Hi Frank,

    My personal experience is that multiple (>2) keyword targeted generic domains mostly receive better type in traffic than the 2 keyword domains most currently go for. I also see these traffic stats confirmed through sites like Sedo etc. (at least among the no BS traffic domains). Is the type in audience getting used to being able to type in almost anything they come up with and arriving at an actual destination thus having the open market effect of cutting out the middleman(search engine). What is your general view on why 2 keyword domains would be better, or aren’t they necessarily? Or would “Follow the traffic follow the money” still prevail?

    ***FS*** I see three word compound terms fetching better and better prices at the auctions. I used to have the rule of the roost on those and can never get a good one below 2k wholesale anymore now. That’s life I suppose.. I think people who can correctly spell and type three or more words are more sincere ‘clickers’ because it was more work for them to qualify themselves and enter the query. More clicks means more money.. More money means higher name prices. Something like that.

  431. Posted by Shiphouse | July 11th, 2007 at 11:05 PM

    I apologize in advance for the length and don’t expect it to be posted on the site, however, if you like the idea would you mind contacting me via email. My post is as follows:

    Mr. Schilling,

    I came across your site after reading the article “Masters of Their Domains” several months ago. Every since coming across your site I have been hooked by the endless possiblities that exist today in the domain industry. In order to get my feet wet I have started to register domain names based simply on events and ideas that I see on TV and read about on a daily basis. While the first several domain names that I registered most likely have very little value (www.scottsdalekneereplacement.com, popularcolleges.com, vegasdinnerreservations.com, and rowehomemagazine.com) I recently registered a domain name that I feel can capitalize on the growing popularity of the game common referred to as “bags”, “baggo”, or “corhnole”. The growing popularity of this game can be exemplified in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal:

    “More People Give This Game A Toss as Corny as it May be” (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118299527491351006.html?mod=most_emailed_week)

    As well as the upcoming Windy City Cornhole Classic which is being held at Soldier Field:
    http://www.chicagocornholeclassic.com/

    In order to capitalize on the growing trend of this game I have registered http://www.bagboards.com. In my opinion I feel that this domain name has huge upside potential to an individual that wants to sell products related to this game (i.e. boards and bags, boards generally go for $100 and bags vary but are generally in the range of $15). However, I feel that this domain would has even more potential to be turned into the next marketing machine for a beer (or entertainment company). This game is a low cost solution that people of all ages love, if you don’t believe me go to any tailgate party this fall, you will not only see college kids chugging more beers than the current hops supply can keep up with while playing this game but you will also see their Dad’s, Grandpa’s, and little brothers tossing the ole bags into the hole right along side them.

    Now imagine if you take this same tailgate party at any football stadium (NFL or College) where 3 out of every 5 tailgate parties have bags tournament going on amongst themselves and create a tournament put on by Beer Company (Fill in the blank to the highest bidder; Miller Lite, Bud Lite, Michelob, Busch Lite). Now as an added spice put together a team of “Bag Girls”, picture hot, sexy, sweet, shall we say well endowed girls that go around the tailgate promoting the tournament with bagboards.com across the front of their T-Shirts and/or the Beer Company Logo placed on the shirt with sometype of saying on the back of their shirt such as, “Come Play with Our Bags” and I will bet you a beer that you have a good event going on.

    This however is only the begining, a Beer Company could take this concept and turn it into what I would like to call the National Championship Series and the SuperBowl Series (Or a variation of the wording due to trademark issues with the NCAA and NFL) where they run bags tournaments throughout the year at tailgates across the country which eventually lead to a championship series at the National Championship and Superbowl. If you can’t see by now this can obviously be turned into a national ad campaign based around a concept that would be very cheap overhead for a beer company, a bags tournament, all while driving massive amounts of traffic to the site.

    I could go on and on with this, think Spring Break and Nascar, the possibities are endless. So to recap what would be needed to monetize not only this name into something huge but could also turn into the tipping point for a game that is gaining tremendous mainstream popularity?

    1) The domain name, http://www.bagboards.com
    2) A team of Hot, well endowed, girls sporting bagboards.com t-shirts
    3) An interested audience (not too tough, drunk college kids and dads wishing they were back in college, listening to some hot girls telling that instead of playing bags by their Tahoe and lame party they can go compete in a tournament that is sponsored by their favorite beer and potentially win a trip to compete at the Superbowl or National Championship).

    Please do not take this email as any type of solicitation, I just wanted to share with you a story on how you have stirred the creative spirit inside of an individual and potentially get any feedback on if I am thinking correctly on a potentially creative way to monetize a domain name.

    Thanks,

    Shiphouse

    ***FS*** Thanks for taking the time to write.. Shiphouse, you are like a diver who is going too deep .. getting nitrogen-narcosis and disoriented in the process.. All domainers do this from time to time .. registering names in novelty viens that may “come to be” or that may “not come to be”. Sometimes the enthusiasm that we fel about our newly discovered vein helps to carry us to the next adventure. We feel rich having found that special thing and the euphoria helps to give us confidence to find the next great thing. I am not trying to say that your chosen vein won’t bear fruit.. I am just trying to point out that all successful domainers need cashflow from traffic or name sales. Don’t forget to focus on the cashflow. Find “that something” which energizes you but keep looking for names that you can energise others about without too much effort or energy.. find the simplistic obvious names that represent products and services being sold, then sell or park them if they get traffic. The cashflow will help you to secure ever greater names and opportunities. Good luck.

  432. Posted by Scott | July 12th, 2007 at 2:13 AM

    Frank,
    There are many premium two-word spanish language domains names that are still available. You own tarjetascredito.com. Are they worth going after? (And why didn’t you snag malosmuchachos.com if you thought badboys.com was a good one at auction…)
    Thanks,
    Scott

    ***FS*** I don’t speak spanish but many folks think I do because I have a lot of decent spanish names. I acquired those as part of a portfolio I bought in 2005 .. When you don’t speak the language, buy from someone who does. :)

  433. Posted by IPTV | July 12th, 2007 at 5:48 AM

    FYI…

    Hardee’s, Chicago firm battle over Burger Chef name

    http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/columnists.nsf/joewhittington/story/FEF94FAE3F4B600686257316000D0AA8?OpenDocument

    Frank…

    “”To complicate matters in this time of Internet savvy and dependence, neither company seems to own Burgerchef.com. That domain is listed as belonging to Domain Name Sales Corp., a company run by Franky Schilling.

    On the Domain Name Sales website, Schilling is described as “one of a handful of old-school domain name wildcat investors and operators. He oversees several Internet related corporations and chairs a cooperative investment group/trust. Franky is a likeable easygoing guy who resides permanently in the Cayman Islands. Franky mixes one heck of a rum-runner.”

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Wow.. I hadn’t seen that.. 3 US trademarks and some intl. marks too, several of which the registrant predates. Article confuses the registrar with the registrant. Crazy. I do mix one heck of a rum-runner though.. The secret is start them out sweet then add progressively more rum till your guests can’t taste them anymore. :)

  434. Posted by simon | July 12th, 2007 at 6:24 AM

    Hi Frank
    After 10 years, it’s time for me to let go of troops.com Would you be interested, or could you advise me on the safest, most productive, route.

    thanks

    ***FS*** Fine name.. but no interest unless I could get it super cheap. Good luck sir.

  435. Posted by owen frager | July 12th, 2007 at 8:59 AM

    Frank:
    Wonder what you think of this story and what advice would you give to Madison and Hollywood execs to get better names by facing the domainers rathing then fearing them (only to hurt themselves in the end):
    http://fragerfactor.blogspot.com/search?q=see+you+in+court

    ***FS*** Very interesting angle. I think they ‘can’ get those names .. Many folks are just too cheap for their own good where high value generics are concerned. Yesterday we saw ‘cityname insurnace’ in an auction list for several thousand dollars, we told our insurance agent who happens to be in said city.. He told his IT guy who said “buyinsurancecityname.com is available for $8 and should rank just as well at google” .. :) )) That’s how lots of folks think.

  436. Posted by nathan | July 12th, 2007 at 9:56 AM

    hi frank – awesome blog – quick question (forgive me if this has been approached previously). I spend many, many hours looking through drop lists each day – even with some filtering using mysql to get rid of the rubbish – there are just too many to go through in a quality way. Is there a process you guys follow to filter down the lists and focus on a few names – or tools, or am I just plain missing something – thanks for your help
    Nat

    ***FS*** A lot of it is manual nat.. I am looking through lists right now.

  437. Posted by IPTV | July 12th, 2007 at 3:47 PM

    FYI…

    Email From:

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    Take control of your domains. MyRebel.com is the next step in maximizing the value of domain registration by placing the domainer in the driver’s seat for the first time. This new service virtually puts the power and security of owning a registrar directly in your hands.

    Check out our MyRebel.com Presentation

    For more information about MyRebel.com or to scedule a demonstration, please contact Jason Lavigne.

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    ____

    Best,
    Dan

    **FS*** Thanks for sharing Danno .. I got that one too.

  438. Posted by Rob | July 12th, 2007 at 3:48 PM

    Check out this small auction for three domain names – I think they are marginal at best.

    http://didyousmellthat.com/web/3-cool-niche-website-domains-for-sale

  439. Posted by Raymond Hackney | July 13th, 2007 at 6:49 AM

    http://www.namepros.com/307779-l-l-l-dot-com-values-16.html#post2062981

    The thread is about L-L-L.com Started asa couple people buying a few but now it is picking up Buy Domains is a regular taster and owns a bunch. What are your opinions Frank I picked up a few U-T-V X-T-V and U-F-L.com if Mark Cuban starts the UFL football league UFL.com owned by University of Florida they ain’t selling I will give him a good price for the domain. The cool thing if you develop the domain is GOOGLE treats the same with or without the hyphen.

    ***FS*** I don’t like 3 letters without the dash.. let alone with. But I think as things get extended out further those names will have some value for resale.. BD likely knows that because they are a sales org.. and they’re planning for the future.

  440. Posted by Anonymous | July 13th, 2007 at 8:15 AM

    Frank would like your opinion on these domains I think as hybrids become more popular especially in the future a city hybrid.com will have some generic value

    I regged SanjoseHybrid.com SanantonioHybrid.com and Detroithybrid.com
    All 3 of the top 10 cities.

    ***FS*** I’m not crazy about those hybrid names because it takes a long time for the future to get here and names like those to become valuable. I’m still waiting for my WAP and electronic bar code names to catch on fire and its been years.

    Picked up some generic radio and television domains Four Five and Six television.com and three five eight and tenradio.com

    ***FS*** Might get traffic, fairly generic.. but if you’re buying these names now you’d probably make as much buying longtail product names or city+service names: sanjuancapistranoflowers.com < -- mid size town and product/service. These have been selling.

    And I know you think .tv sucks but I did sell SIX.tv for $25,000 which was only 10 years revenue as the domain makes about $2500 PPC

    ***FS*** Congrats to you.. I have said it before.. if you can buy a .tv to flip.. then great.. ditto with .mobi (another extension I don't hold for the long term).. You should take 12-15k of that money and buy really good .coms offering 2-5 k to folks privately. You'd be surprised what shakes loose and for how much (little).

    Still holding Cayman-Islands.tv for you Mercedes just launched http://www.mercedes-benz.tv Check it out you a big car guy. Great looking site .

    ***FS*** I will check it out.. thanks!

  441. Posted by Raymond Hackney | July 13th, 2007 at 8:49 AM

    Thanks for all the feedback Frank the radio domains do get traffic and the television is the area I focus on I try to stay within a few areas. I like the hybrids because they are already here and environmental domains will get bigger in the future IMO and for $20 I think it worth it they are $500 to $1500 domains down the road IMO if you sell cars in SAN Jose and you sell hybrids that a pretty decent domain. IMO Also picked up BeverlyHillsTelevision.com and BritishTown.com getting traffic too

    Thank you again

    ***FS*** My pleasure man. Good luck.

  442. Posted by Martin Reeves | July 13th, 2007 at 9:37 AM

    Hi Frank,

    Now Yahoo Panama has been running for a few months in the US what is your verdict on it? The roll out in the UK continues with the introduction of the new ranking model on the 23rd. As a Yahoo distribution partner in the UK I would be very interested to hear your perspective.

    Thanks
    Martin

    ***FS*** Panama was suypposed to help high quality traffic and hurt lower quality traffic.. but I don’t think it quite worked out the way they expected. It looks like they are still tweaking it here. It may be different depending on how they execute it across the pond. As you know it’s a different ad mkt (size/scale) over there.

  443. Posted by Charley | July 13th, 2007 at 10:09 AM

    G’morn Frank,

    This question is a unique one which I haven’t seen asked anywhere.

    Q. Overture shows 1 million results for sex, porn, etc. How can I find out from where this comes? Is there some sort of link to locate the search results.

    Reply,

    Charley

    ***FS*** It’s searches recorded at the yahoo search box and the search box of yahoo syndication channel partners.

  444. Posted by IPTV | July 13th, 2007 at 10:23 AM

    FYI…

    Domainers Can’t Get Any Respect
    http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2007/07/12/domainers-cant-get-any-respect

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS*** No they can’t .. thanks ;)

  445. Posted by IPTV | July 13th, 2007 at 10:30 AM

    FYI…

    Moniker extends Affiliate Summit Silent Auction

    http://domainnamenews.com/up-to-the-minute/moniker-extends-affiliate-summit-silent-auction/225

    As per an email sent today, Moniker extends the deadline of the Silent Auction for the Affiliate Summit to July 17th. Bidders from previous Moniker auctions do not have to pay the Silent Auction access fee.

    Best,
    Dan

    ***FS*** Saw that too.. thanks Danno

  446. Posted by Scott | July 13th, 2007 at 11:56 AM

    Frank,

    I love your blog first of all. It’s great you are doing this. Thank you.

    My question is something that you’ve probably covered before but I want to put a spin on it.

    I have quite a few fairly generic names that all get a trickle of traffic each month, (i.e. FullSizeSUV.com, HomeEquityRates.net, SeniorThesis.com, DigitalMinilabs.com, DieselMower.com, etc, etc)

    Some get 10-15 visits per month, some only get 1 or 2 visits per month. All get fairly good click amounts and produce a little revenue at Fabulous.

    But, since they only have light traffic, does that make them near worthless as generic names go?

    ***FS*** [Those are what you call long-tail names.. they get fewer searches and form a very long-tail of fragmented subject matter that people look for. Longtail names can be very valuable. I know of names that draw 4 visits a month which make their owners hundreds of dollars a year.]

    I bought these because they are either descriptive or commonly used terms.

    For instance, digital minilabs are manufactured by the likes of Fuji, Kodak, Noritsu, etc and go for about $80-100k each.

    Full size SUVs are a common category of SUV, (I know you own CompactSUV.com)

    Home equity rates is a common enough term, IMO, to be valuable even with light traffic.

    The “spin” I wanted to ask about is how these types of domains will equate to buyer interest at a TRAFFIC auction, (if they were accepted)

    ***FS*** [I don't think you'll get a huge premium on low-unique longtail names at a TRAFFIC auction unless you can identify those I illustrated above and provide some proof of rev/color as the name crosses the block.. Typically TRAFFIC auction names that bring big dollars get solid traffic and have the ability to easily make money]

    Will the buyers there (or in a silent auction) see any value in domains like these, even though the traffic is light, or do they see the amount of traffic and automatically say “NEXT!” :)

    Would you even bother submitting them?

    ***FS*** [See my comments above]

    Sorry for such a long post. Hope it makes sense. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks again.
    Scott

  447. Posted by John Cronin | July 13th, 2007 at 12:13 PM

    Hi Frank

    Looks like I missed out on a generic domain I came up with … falselimbs.com http://www.anotherjunction.com/2007/07/falselimbscom-no-leg-pulling.html

    I couldn’t convince myself on this name … a missed opportunity – what do you think??

    Kind regards

    John

    ***FS*** they call them “artificial” limbs (arm leg etc) don’t they?

  448. Posted by IPTV | July 13th, 2007 at 1:59 PM

    Might be of some intrest…Go Aricles gets a lot of traffic…so this may take off.

    __

    Important GoArticles Update – July 13, 2007
    To All GoArticles Contributing Authors:

    Please read this message carefully. As part of a network wide upgrade, Jayde Online has launched a sister site to GoArticles.com called DropJack.com.

    http://www.dropjack.com

    DropJack is a Digg-like social content website powered by users like you. As a member, you can submit your own original content or you can submit stories, articles or news items that you believe are newsworthy and that would be of interest to others.

    We encourage all GoArticles members to sign up for a DropJack membership and to participate in the promotion of their own content and the DropJack service which was created as another vehicle for the dissemination of quality content.

    Register as a member – submit content – vote on content. It’s that simple. The more votes (jacks) a story receives, the better placement it receives on the DropJack site.

    In addition to the launch of DropJack.com, a number of modifications will be made to GoArticles.com within the next few weeks. Planned changes are as follows:

    1. A new look and design for the site.

    2. An article rating system based on a visitor/reader voting system.

    An announcement will be sent out to all GoArticles members upon completion.

    Sincerely,

    The GoArticles Support Team
    __
    Best,
    Dan

  449. Posted by Charley | July 14th, 2007 at 3:49 AM

    >>> ***FS*** It’s searches recorded at the yahoo search box and the search box of yahoo syndication channel partners. <<<

    Frank,

    Is this data not available for the public any where ?

    Reply,

    Charley

  450. Posted by Charley | July 14th, 2007 at 7:17 AM

    Hi Frank,

    Is this really long word valuable?

    refinancehomemortgageloans.com

    Charley

  451. Posted by Shiphouse | July 14th, 2007 at 9:20 AM

    Since reading Colin Pape’s post on utilizing Google Suggest as a tool to identify popular search strings I have been pluging in topics and headlines of various news items and trends in order to potentially identify new domain names. For example yesterday on BusinessWeek online I read the following article online in regards to widgets entitled, Living in a Widgetized World:

    http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_30/b4043075.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories

    After typing widgets and several variations of the word into the Google Suggest engine I noticed that widets for blogs produced 40,200,000 results. Therefore, I registered the domain http://www.widgetforblogs.com. However, how accurate is this in judging a name? Specifically, do the number of results really matter so much as opposed to what first appears in the suggest engine when I start typing in widgets? For example, widgets for windows appears first but only has 25,000,000 results.

    Thanks for any input.

    Shiphouse

    ***FS*** That one might not be bad.. In the final analysis you have to use common sense and ask yourself if the name is registering makes sense.. could you see yourself visiting this site? developing there?

  452. Posted by ColinPape.com | July 14th, 2007 at 1:30 PM

    Shiphouse,

    The order in which a term appears is the most important indicator for type-in traffic estimation purposes.

    The results figure is handy too, but would be used more to indicate the competitive nature of the category – more results should in theory indicate existing content that your content would compete against. You should be able to quickly tell by looking at the search results if they are directly related to your term and what the landscape actually looks like.

    I think that widgetsforblogs.com is a great domain for development – very easy to build upon and there should be at least some traffic. We are still early in the widgetization of the web though, so it might be a long-term play to realize maximum value of the domain.

    I noticed you registered the term with the ’s’ on widget[s], not the singular – good call, as the plural comes up first in the suggestion list, has more results and makes more sense for use as a directory or by a widget development company.

    Sounds like you’re on the right track to me… Keep it up!

  453. Posted by Shiphouse | July 14th, 2007 at 6:50 PM

    Frank & Colin

    Thank you both for you responses, it is greatly appreciated. I have honestly not developed a website before, however, my intentions upon entering into the domain game was to hopefully register domain names that had the potential to be developed. I believe I am now starting to register some names that could prove worthy of developing. Therefore, it looks like I have a project to keep me occupied at nights.

    The two names I have initially thought of developing as my first projects are http://www.usgreencardnews.com (45,000,000 Google Suggest Results (”GSR”) & http://www.usgreencardstatus.com (91,500,000 GSR). I believe these two sites could replicate each other rather closely or drive traffic to one and other. I envision them being a one stop shop for students and individuals alike that are in the US on student and working visas awaiting news on green card status.

    In regards to getting started on developing a site do you have any suggestions on sites/blogs/forums to visit that can field my development questions as I don’t want to bother anyone here with them.

    Thanks again for your responses.

    Cheers,

    Shiphouse

  454. Posted by Anon | July 15th, 2007 at 2:37 AM

    Hi Frank! I have few q’s.

    I recently negotiated a deal on a local holiday destination that would be within Australia’s top 20 holiday destinations for around 80k usd. I have a little over a week to get the money.

    My question is how would you go about this if you had a. no credit record solo operator ??? b. are in a position of low cashflow (I cannot sell .com.au)??

    How do you finance domains when the owner needs cash fast and you have little options available??

    I am also thinking of selling my portfolio, but it would break my heart. I see your name on some reg’s I have gone after, you are well ahead of your time kind sir and I congratulate your vision. I don’t have much but you might like some I think – based on your registrations in my areas. I have around 200 domains aquired throughout this year. Some good ones, but few plurals. Shame you cannot sell .com.au too, anoying. Maybe Boomerang might buy a company if I formed one? What do you think Frank the name is killer?

    ***FS*** My best advice is talk to a friend who has the money you don’t.. Don’t stick your neck out for this name unless it is truly great and you can see cashflow instantly.

  455. Posted by Rob | July 15th, 2007 at 4:53 AM

    Hello Frank, it’s as hot as heck in southern BC right now, upper thirties in the Nelson area for quite a few days now. For some reason when I was outside painting in the heat and imagining myself on a beach somewhere, it made me wonder how do you cool homes in the Caymans? Electric or natural gas? Or do you not use air conditioning? Just wondering about the energy source down there and how stable it is.

    ***FS*** Ha! I am going to be in Kelowna in late August.. it gets to be 40 celsius there some days.. It is a really nice summer down here this year.. Hot but not unbearable.. and sunny (this is usually our rainy season) .. A big red boat pulls up each week and delivers liquid fuel and propane to tank farms on the Isalnd. The utility co fires the whole island on diesel generators.. So it’s not sustainable.. But we have strong consistent wind out of the east so you could fairly easily power the entire island on electricity (wind generators) if you wanted. Even today, deisel is cheaper because we’re close to Venezuela. I bet you I pay less for gas than you do in Nelson :) Works out to about $1.05 CDN a liter with today’s exchange for premium unleaded.

  456. Posted by Al Vin | July 15th, 2007 at 12:14 PM

    Hi Frank…

    I came across this article with your name in it….

    http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/columnists.nsf/joewhittington/story/FEF94FAE3F4B600686257316000D0AA8?OpenDocument

    I am wondering if you are aware of it because I did a search for Burgerchef.com in your blog but could not find any results.

    Cheers to you and thanks for all your insights!

    Al.

    ***FS**** I did mention it in comments.. they get the registrar and registrant confused .. Thanks for posting Al.

  457. Posted by Elliot Silver | July 15th, 2007 at 5:24 PM

    Hey Frank,
    I saw this article in the Denver Post (http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_6369057) about the congressman who let his election domain name expire, and the new owner has it pointed to adult links at Sedo. Insofar as this is another incident where domain investors look bad, do you think there is something we can do to help the congressman retrieve his name? Notice that his staff tried to buy the name through Sedo, instead of filing a UDRP or a lawsuit, which would also be an option since the name is far from generic. Is there a way to help?

    Take care,
    Elliot

    ***FS*** You could try contacting the domain owner’s monetization partner, ask them to ID the owner (whee the ppc checks go), contact the owner and explain as you did here.. you might get traction.. then transfer the name and call the reporter to write a foillow up. Would make nice press.. but we’ve done this several times onl;y to watch the reunited name holder mismanage the name in the following year.. Some people are just not good name managers.

  458. Posted by Jeff | July 15th, 2007 at 9:43 PM

    Hi frank,

    what type of companies do you invest in? Internet companies or brick & mortar stocks? I am thinking of doing an internet only stock buy as I believe the sky is the limit with companies such as Google;)

    example: IAC, GOOG,amazon etc

    or AAPL, exxon etc

    ***FS*** I’m a conservative investor.. Domains, oils, gold, banks, and inflation indexed bonds.

  459. Posted by Jeff | July 15th, 2007 at 9:44 PM

    Hi frank,

    I contacted Neustar a few months back and they said that there are no plans to have IDN .us names…. Isn’t that funny when a large proportion of people in the U.S. now speak spanish? Basically all of the other big cctlds support them now. ;)

    ***FS*** It is.. Further entrenches the eventual drive to one world default language.. English

  460. Posted by Drewbert | July 15th, 2007 at 10:06 PM

    >Further entrenches the eventual drive to one world default language.. English

    Careful what you wish for Frank. Pretty soon there will more Chinese language speakers using the Internet than English speakers. Don’t downplay minority language use in the DNS, because English won’t be the majority language for much longer.

    ***FS*** The world just feels like its on an English tilt to me Drew.. right or wrong. I don’t know anybody learning Chinese i school.. But most Chinese getting a higher education are learning English.

  461. Posted by jeff | July 15th, 2007 at 10:41 PM

    if this is true why is china threatening to break the dns root if chinese idns aren’t implemented faster (out of the so called “test)

    ***FS*** I don’t know for sure if it’s true or not.. it’s the general feeling I get.. Everyone in every other language on Earth learns English.. but English speakers do not reciprocate by learning those other languages.. The trend is toward English and that trend is accelerated by the Internet. There will always be other languages.,. but in my lifetime you will be able to go anywhere and speak English.. Try that with Russian, Farsi, Arabic, Chinese or Japanese.

  462. Posted by jeff | July 15th, 2007 at 10:54 PM

    actually frank if you are familiar with the u.s. education system many require you to take french or spanish as a second language in middle school & high school.

    Some colleges require at least one class in it.

    ***FS*** But nobody makes you use it post school.. Maybe you dust it off for that trip to the market in Cancun or Paris – English is with us every day tho.. It’s words creep cross language on the web, it’s in our face, it’s the language of commerce.. jmo of course.

  463. Posted by jeff | July 15th, 2007 at 11:08 PM

    kinda backwards don’t you think

    more people speak chinese in the whole world… the number of chinese webpages will eventually overtake english ones… chinese people will need another alternative other than .cn to handle their internet population which would eventually surpass the u.s..

    perhaps chinese will have a digital divide against english… they will both dominate the web with hindi making a big dent as well.

    the anglo saxon world is about to change… watch it unfold

    ***FS*** Jeff, I’ve been watching the net evolve for 14 years and if the Chinese/Indians haven’t set the world on fire yet, they probably won’t.. they could have done it with numerical names (but didn’t) They have numbers in china don’t they? .. There hasn’t been the same groundswell or lust by the populace to get online.. perhaps I’m too narrow minded in my thinking.. I’ll concede that.. But I go by the framework of what I see happening around me and I just don’t see that much changing in 5 years .. in 10, maybe something.. but we’ll both be much older.. Lots of opportunity cost between here and there… and English will continue to get stronger/entrench as we go. JMO (and I know, I’ll probably be wrong) ;)

  464. Posted by Drewbert | July 15th, 2007 at 11:57 PM

    China is still building out the Internet there.

    Take a look at the Alexa top 500 listings…

    Baidu is already #7
    QQ #10
    Sina #16
    Sohu #22
    163 #23
    Tqobao #29
    Yahoo China #35
    Google China #36
    Tom #40

    As more and more Chinese get connected to the Internet, all those properties will rise to the top of the charts. 2 years from now, the entire Alexa top 10 global sites will all be Chinese. If you want to restrict your business to english speakers and USD, that’s your choice, but don’t come crying to me, pal. :^)

    China is an unstoppable freight train of commerce. Capitalism has taken hold there and is running rampant.

    ***FS*** Drew .. you are a bright man and I don’t want to bet against you. So lets both get the popcorn and watch what happens. I agree on the USD, agree on china growth, agree on a lot. But am just unsure on the ‘timing’ of all this.. Wouldn’t it suck if you’re 100 and then you’re right.

  465. Posted by GoldenBear | July 16th, 2007 at 1:01 AM

    >>***FS*** I don’t know for sure if it’s true or not.. it’s the general feeling I get.. Everyone in every other language on Earth learns English.. but English speakers do not reciprocate by learning those other languages..<<

    For what it’s worth Frank, Jim Rogers, the co-founder of the Quantum Fund with Soros back in the day, has famously labeled all his furniture in Chinese characters so that his toddler can learn the language.

    He realizes that she will likely be working in China in 20 years.

    Awareness of the Chinese machine is very apparent on the West/East coasts.

    And if you haven’t made a trip to Shanghai yet, I would encourage it. As someone who spent many years in Asia, I was stunned at the progress in China over the last 10 years.

    Oh, and only a tiny percentage of the intelligencia in China speaks/reads/writes English fluently. That’s the punchline.

    ***FS*** I like Jim Rogers I follow his thoughts.. but I think his daughter is going to be early.. you can be right.. and be too early and still be wrong.

  466. Posted by Anonymous | July 16th, 2007 at 5:39 AM

    >

    This is precisely why the US economy will end up as a busted flush!

    ***FS*** Not just the US.. I was born in Germany.. I have an ext. family there.. Nobody is contemplating learning anything but english

  467. Posted by David Wrixon | July 16th, 2007 at 9:06 AM

    One of the more intriguing – and under-reported – developments of the week was the announcement that the Brown government plans to boost the teaching of Mandarin in UK schools. Creating the training and support infrastructure to translate this aspiration into reality will not be easy, but the idea is a very good one – and not just because today’s schoolchildren will grow up in a world dominated by Chinese economic power. They will also have to adjust to a world influenced by the ’soft’ (ie cultural) power that is the inescapable accompaniment to economic dominance.

    http://technology.guardian.co.uk/opinion/story/0,,2127418,00.html#article_continue

    ***FS*** That ‘is’ interesting.

  468. Posted by David Wrixon | July 16th, 2007 at 9:22 AM

    >

    In PPP terms China’s GDP will exceed the US by 2010 at the latest. After that it is just a matter of currency realignment.

    The US bleat about the low value of the Yuan, but that is keep down US inflation and interest rates. If the China were to realign their currency in the way the US suggests, it would be more likely to destablise the US economy than China’s. Inward investment into China is massive and is not dependent on exports. Everyone feels they must have a slice of the action in the World’s largest market. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Telecoms and Internet markets. China is hot on Japan’s tails with the introduction of 100 megabit mobile internet access. The average “broadband” speed in the US is currently less than 2 Megabits.

    The Chinese are virtually pleading with investors to take their money elsewhere, as there only real concern is overheating! This won’t happen unless they actually become uncompetitive. The only viable opposition in the abundant supply of skilled labour is India, but there the story is much the same.

    ***FS*** You’ve obviously done a lot of research on the topic. We’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out. Beyond the statistics (which I don’t question) it will be interesting to see how the mechanics unfold… The only predictable thing being unpredictability (and all that)

  469. Posted by ColinPape.com | July 16th, 2007 at 9:28 AM

    Hey Frank!

    Just came across this article and thought you might be interested:

    http://venturebeat.com/2007/07/16/weblo-where-you-can-be-a-virtual-mayor-raises-33m/

    What a scheme! Hard to believe that Richard Rosenblatt invested in it.

    Take care!

    Colin

    ***FS*** Saw that! Lots of ways to make a buck in this world. Thanks Colin.

  470. Posted by member | July 16th, 2007 at 9:55 AM

    Drewbert has been hypnotized by david wrixon. frank you’re losing him lol..

    this definitely isn’t the Ari/Larry pair ;)
    Frank + Drewbert

    ***FS*** Drews a good guy.. and a smart smart guy.. I think he’s probably ultimately right.. the question revolves around timing. We could have seen the internet coming in the 70s waited out the 80’s acquired the good names in the 90s and gone broke before there was a good way to make money in the 2000’s

  471. Posted by David Wrixon | July 16th, 2007 at 11:37 AM

    If this was a turf war, which it should not be, then you lost Drew a long time ago. This guy was stumping up four and five figure sums for IDNs for sometime back.

    Yes, Frank is absolutely correct it is about timing, and yes you can get in far too early. Many of those that piled in in 2000 got burnt. But, ee are already on IDN 2.0 here. The lesson from ASCII, however, really must be that most turn up rather late for the party.

  472. Posted by Andy | July 16th, 2007 at 3:36 PM

    Hi Frank,

    What do you think about local.com
    The stock symbol for local.com is LOCM and it has a market value of about 75 million.
    How much do you think local.com is worth?
    Do you think the stock LOCM will go up or down from the $8/share price?

    Thanks Frank!

    ***FS*** haven’t been following the co andy.. The name is solid.. but not the only name for a local search engine.. but local search is sort of over-rated.. I mean “find me the most relevant results” (NLP, Local , Semantic etc doesn’t matter) So to that end neither does the name. It’s a fine name.. but reminds me of B2B.com’s perceived value as a name in 2001.. Nobody cares about B2B today.. b2b is just a part of the market.. That’s what “local” will be in 5 yrs.. just another part of search we take for granted.

  473. Posted by DCMike77 | July 16th, 2007 at 3:40 PM

    Hey Frank,

    I know you’re not a big .tv fan, but this site just launched on Thurday and it truly exemplifies the power and potential of it.

    http://www.mercedes-benz.tv (also available on your tv :-)

    Any thoughts on where .tv is headed now?

    Cheers
    -Mike

    PS Love, love, love your blog

    ***FS*** Saw that site.. my CL65 gets here in 6 weeks so especially interested in that video.. Mine’s black.

  474. Posted by Raymond Hackney | July 16th, 2007 at 6:28 PM

    Glad you checked out the Mercedes .tv site when I sent it to you I thought you might be like .tv oh noo

    Anyway wanted your opinion on Khakis.net what kind of value you think it might have ?

    Another thing Frank some post do not have the capthca come up does that mean they did not go through ?

    ***FS*** Not sure on that captcha.. if you don’t see it then probably :- /

  475. Posted by The Financier | July 16th, 2007 at 6:58 PM

    >>In PPP terms China’s GDP will exceed the US by 2010 at the latest. After that it is just a matter of currency realignment.

    I would argue that we could easily use GDP (in terms of purchsing power parity) on a per capita basis. In that comparsion the GDP (PPP)/capita for China is somewhere between $7,000 – $8,000 and the US is north of $40,000.

    In your scenario the Chinese economy eclispses the US in a few short years. In mine, the average Chinese citizen has nowhere near the standard of living that the average American has.

    We used the same numbers. But each of our results tells a different story.

  476. Posted by Raymond Hackney | July 16th, 2007 at 10:16 PM

    Frank you never answered opinion on Khakis.net figur eif you can sell rumcakes we can sell Khakis

    Thank you

    ***FS*** Sorry man.. I like that name.. even in the .net.. I’d obviously like the com more.. But it’s a fine name.. not a world-beater .. but fine and solid. .. Use arbitrage to buy clothing related traffic (esp camoflage [and misspel] traffic) from Adwords and sell stuff.

    You could live off that name if you built a site and worked at it. That’s the beauty of all generics if you really think about it. In our lifetime folks ‘will’ live off single names like that.

  477. Posted by Ben Wilks | July 16th, 2007 at 10:29 PM

    Gday Frank, just wanted to chime in and quickly say that China is the next World superpower with India not far behind. USA is large and all but these guys are a far more savvy business intellect and they work together and do things on a grand scale. I started school in East Malaysia and I have a strong respect for the Chinese business intelect. They are hard working and true innovators.

    I would strongly advise going for a trip and checking it out. I think a guy like yourself would appreciate the culture and opulence.

    I guess I better ask a question or two.. What do you think of com.au as a domain extension. Have you noticed any of the larger Au companies reging lots of .com.au’s? If you have what’s you opinion on them?

    **FS** I like .au.. would like them better if .com.au converted to .au. No i haven’t noticed anything or heard any chatter

  478. Posted by Raymond Hackney | July 17th, 2007 at 5:38 AM

    http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny–domainnames0715jul15,0,5859427.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

    Good article Frank you should do a post about Comment about .net being worthless

  479. Posted by Steve Bates | July 17th, 2007 at 9:29 AM

    Frank -

    I know, two comments in one day – I’m pushing it. Do you think the advent of the iPhone and other devices like the Blackberry makes the .mobi irrelevant since you can view a regular website on them? granted some sites are designed well for mobile apps, but do you think these devices effectively nullify the .mobi?

    ***FS*** Yes.

  480. Posted by BJ | July 17th, 2007 at 10:02 AM

    Hi Frank,

    How much does PPC revenue normally drop during the summer months? What is considered the peak season for PPC? I am guessing October/November around the start of shopping season.

    Thanks,

    BJ

    ***FS*** We have normally grown through it ..PPC bids typically solidify over summer.. Traffic drops 25% or so from Feb/Mar highs though. But this just felt different so worth mentioning.

  481. Posted by don | July 17th, 2007 at 10:05 AM

    Frank,

    Came accross this pr release today, its a shame that 10 million can be invested into a biz like this and they have absolutely one of the worst brand names I have heard in a while, they could have bought hotproperty.com or houses.net in the past 2 months…

    “The latest startup in online real estate launches today, aiming to mesh a cross-section of real estate data and for-sale listings into one place where consumers can customize and save their preferences and share with others.

    Terabitz, based in Northern California’s Silicon Valley, enters an already crowded online real estate marketplace and hopes to put the home-search puzzle pieces together created by its predecessors.

    The company, which has raised $10 million in funding from Tudor Capital, has created a cross between a real estate portal, search engine and bookmarking site. Users can customize information on specific ZIP codes for display on their dashboards, which function like a “home page” during their real estate search.”

    full article is here:

    http://www.inman.com/inmannews.aspx?ID=63891

  482. Posted by theinvestor | July 17th, 2007 at 10:42 AM

    Hi Frank,

    Having a rough time getting through to you on your blog! Just wanted to ask you a couple of quick questions. Do you think there is any value in piranafish.com? I saw that you own piranhafish.com, also what do you think of 1 word domain names such as boist.com?

    Thanks

    ***FS*** Thanks.. I like names like the fish one.. not sure what boist means and I don’t sell individual names or return unsolicited sales inquiries.. but thanks.

  483. Posted by Yan Charbonneau | July 17th, 2007 at 10:56 AM

    Hi Frank,

    i’ve been in the internet biz for some years now, building sites and offering marketing services. About 6 months ago, i started to learn more about the domain industry and i found it EXTREMELY interesting! So i became an avid reader of your blog.

    Now that i learn enough about domaining, it’s time for me to start investing!

    The only problem i have is the cash flow. :(

    Now my question: i have about 1000$ to start, should i buy cheap names at 10$, or concentrate on bidding on more expensive names?

    My first though is to buy names that are in the hundreads of dollars, build traffic on them and sell with profit to reinvest in more expensive ones.

    Thank you Frank.

    Yan Charbonneau, from Montréal, Canada

    (thanks very much for your generous post and comments on this blog!)

    ***FS*** Follow the cashflow.. I can’t give an indivdual example beyond what I already have, but I would focuss on the private secondary market, buy a name sell or monetize through PPC

  484. Posted by JX | July 17th, 2007 at 12:10 PM

    Frank,
    You probably already saw this but thought I’d pass it along… Interesting that the domain portfolio was referenced…

    Jobing.com Acquires Top Jobs Domain Portfolio

    “Jobing.com scooped up LocalCareers.com, acquiring one of the best jobs domain portfolios in existence. A real coup for Jobing, bravo Aaron! This is the biggest missed opportunity of this decade for the other roll-ups and companies with big aspirations in the job board marketplace. We all dropped the ball” said Eric Shannon of Internetinc.com (from 6/22/07)

    Local Careers has over 400 related job domains in its portfolio including: LocalCareers.com, RecruitingJobs.com, RetailingJobs.com, VeteranJobs.com, ArizonaJobs.com, CaliforniaJobs.com, MichiganJobs.com, NevadaJobs.com, NewJerseyJobs.com, FloridaJobs.com, TexasJobs.com… So not only do they get a new customer base, they get a suite of domain names for further expansion.

    Does anyone know the price range?

  485. Posted by Drewbert | July 17th, 2007 at 2:01 PM

    Hey Frank,

    Here’s an article about blogging that might have some stats for you to absorb :^)

    http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/17/BUGOSR1C581.DTL

  486. Posted by Tad Crazy | July 17th, 2007 at 6:10 PM

    frank

    Have you seen the new 50 cent video?

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=fbM9EP2G0LM

    I like this line at the start

    I took quater water and sold it bottles for 2 bucks then coka cola came along and bought it for billions, What the f%$@

    ***FS***Love 50… “hate it or love it, the dog’s on top..”

  487. Posted by Scott | July 17th, 2007 at 7:27 PM

    Hi Frank,
    Could you give a guestimate of the value of homeloans.com? (From your perspective.)
    Thanks,
    Scott

    ***FS*** probably 3 million-5million

  488. Posted by Steve Bates | July 17th, 2007 at 10:31 PM

    Here is the promised screenshot of dnzoom

    I used businessjet.com because I am getting geeked up for the NBAA but I have about 100 domains in the beta and I am able to look at domains at a number of registrars and parking services all at once rather than logging into each one individually.

    http://www.businessjet.com/dnzoom.php

    Adios Amigo

  489. Posted by Ben Wilks | July 17th, 2007 at 10:45 PM

    Frank, regarding the .au namespace, do you believe the .com.au owners should have first right to .au, or open up a new namespace? What about the effect on .com.au branding outlayed by companies. I thought they could redirect the .com.au namespace to .au and shut down .com.au over time.

    What are you thoughts?

    ***FS*** I like .com.au and I do think the registry should give a first right of refusal to holders of those names if they plan to offer just .au .. the question is who gets the right if there are multiple sub-domain holders .com.au .net.au .. who wins.. this would apply in other namespaces with the same issue.

  490. Posted by Adamo | July 18th, 2007 at 12:53 AM

    In response to the earlier comments re the emergence/future importance of the Chinese language, there is indeed no doubt that Chinese will continue to emerge as an important world language. But let’s not get carried away about what that means – the Chinese themselves certainly aren’t! They appreciate as well as anyone that for most types of international business, education, travel, etc, English is and will remain the world language. Indeed, the dominance of English will only increase. Practically ALL Chinese school kids now learn English, as it is very clear to anyone that if you want to have any meaningful interaction (business and otherwise) outside your own language group then it is in English you do it. And not only in dealings with native English speakers (who constitute a minority of those who speak English). When Chinese deal with Brazilians or Germans, or when Russians deal with Japanese or Italians, etc, etc, etc, in most cases it will be in English, the world’s most common second language, and hence the most important. This state of affairs could change in the long run, but as Maynard Keynes once said, in the long run we are all dead!

  491. Posted by David Wrixon | July 18th, 2007 at 8:26 AM

    Adamo,

    You are missing the point. Domain name type in comes from Joe Soap. 99% percentage of Chinese Internet content is in Han Characters and 99% of type-in will be in Han Characters. It is only a matter of time before this traffic is economicly high significant.

    Essentially as a domainer, you have two choices. Once is to ignore it, in which case it won’t really damage you. The other is to recognise it and exploit its potential.

    Those that got into Domains in 1998 may well be justified in doing the former. Those that bleat about missing out should seriously be considering the later, if only to save the rest of us from more eternal whinings.

  492. Posted by Gary | July 18th, 2007 at 8:50 AM

    Frank, can I have your thoughts on City+Service Vs Service+City please

    Tools such as Overture tells us which way round people search for these, but I wonder if the same order applies for type-in, or are there circumstances where for type-in these typically reverse?

    ***FS*** My own experience says avoid the reverse.. It’s a mirage that makes you feel good for a while.

  493. Posted by James | July 18th, 2007 at 8:56 AM

    Frank, check this out – hugely entertaining – enjoy it now before the PC crowd get it banned….http://redbullairrace.com/

    **FS*** Thanks!

  494. Posted by Adamo | July 18th, 2007 at 9:46 PM

    David, I do not disagree with your post. My comments were more about the supreme position of English as the world’s lingua franca, in business, education, and on the net, and not meant to denigrate the growing importance of other major languages, especially Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese. I would never talk down the importance of other languages. What I am doing is talking up the as yet unassailable position of English.

    Your stats re Chinese traffic seem about right – Chinese people do search mostly in Han characters and I have no doubt this traffic will continue to become more valuable. As for direct navigation in Han, I have no stats at all, suffice to say it’s probably also significant. I would note, however, that in my experience in China I have yet to see (or more precisely, my wife is yet to see!) any company promoting its domain in Han characters. The domains we see on TV, billboards, newspapers, and on buses are invariably in English, pinyin, or numbers, and sometimes even a combination of the above!

    In sum, I’d say that while it’s a good bet to bank on the continued growth in the Chinese internet, for the foreseeable future (if such a thing exists) it’s still a side road (albeit an important one) compared to English Main Street.

  495. Posted by The Financier | July 18th, 2007 at 10:33 PM

    >>I would note, however, that in my experience in China I have yet to see (or more precisely, my wife is yet to see!) any company promoting its domain in Han characters.

    Adamo…thanks for your insight and info.

    It’s important to point out that only until recently (with the launch of IE 7.0) were surfers able to reliably type-in an IDN and have it resolve via their browser. Yes, you could download plug-ins and other browsers would enable IDNs to resolve, however, Microsoft is the default browser of the world. This would be a logical reason why companies would not promote themselves via an IDN in their local market.

    On your point above, an example of rapid IDN use is Korea. The penetration of Korean IDNs into mainstream commercial life has been rapid and significant since the beginning of the year (coinciding with the relatively recent launch of Vista and IE 7). I have seen companies the size of mom-and-pop businesses to the Hyundai’s of Korea both brand and utilize IDNs in commerce and advertising.

    And for the curious… the extension of choice for these visible IDNs is mostly .com.

  496. Posted by Jeff | July 19th, 2007 at 12:16 AM

    looks like the internet is killing money hungry companies bank vaults…

    harry potter plot/ending for the latest book is already released online before the release date…(read this elsewhere)

    book has also been shipped by accident to over a thousand harry potter readers..
    http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/ny-etharry0718,0,6688206.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

    hard to keep things underwraps with the internet nowadays……..

    scholastic giving a $50 to those that already received the book to remain hush hush HMMM

    ***FS*** A perfect foil for my favorite Shakespeare quote.. [and I'm paraphrasing] : “The only way two men can keep a secret, is if one of them is dead.”.. Long live the Internet! :) )

  497. Posted by Jeff | July 19th, 2007 at 12:30 AM

    seeing how the topic of idns is going to keep rolling I thought I’d ask you what you thought of the four idn sales this week on dnjournal ;-)

    ***FS*** I’m gingerly skirting this topic to avoid backlash from people I love and respect. :)

  498. Posted by Drewbert | July 19th, 2007 at 12:52 AM

    And let’s not forget that Microsoft is yet to start auto-updating IE6 installations to IE7 in China and Korea!

    Once they do that, the traffic will certainly ramp up.

    ***FS*** I actually [and fully] agree with this point ;)

  499. Posted by David Wrixon | July 19th, 2007 at 4:20 AM

    Direct Navigation on IDN is not yet strong, but it is way beyond theoretical.

    Most type in relates to brands rather than Generics and most in on IDN.com rather than dot JP as far as I am able to tell.

    If you cast your mind back five years in the Chinese Internet. Unicode was barely used. Everything was either English, Pinyin or Han in bitmaps that weren’t searchable. Those days have been consigned to history, as will be the days when Chinese navigated in Latin Characters.

    I can assure you that, however, small compared with the US, genuine local traffic on IDN.com that converts exists in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian and Arabic, and there are even signs that the Indic scripts are picking up. I even had a local pestering me for a domain in Bangla the other day.

    The main obstacle is Browser support, but there is also a bit of an issue in some cultures over people learning what the address bar is for. In Japan they search IE6, often with the extension, so that they can click and link through to the site.

  500. Posted by Chris Brooks | July 19th, 2007 at 8:26 AM

    Hi Frank,

    I have a question for you. I’m primarily a web developer, but over the last year or so I’ve bought a couple of domain names in the niches that I specialize in.

    I’ve decided to step up my domain purchasing efforts a notch, and as a result, I’ve decided to sell one of my names to get some capital. But this brings up a problem.

    The only thing that makes it possible for me to get good deals on domain names is that the market really isn’t rational yet. (For example, if you look at any of the secondary domain markets, you can regularly see truly awful domains priced in the thousands. And halfway decent names priced for nearly the same amount.)

    The good side of this is that you can find good buys if you look hard enough. But the flip side is also true: it’s hard to know how to price your own domains. I might sell a name for a price that I think is reasonable, but leave a substantial multiple of the selling price on the table.

    So, there’s my question: how do you recommend selling domains? Do you recommend Moniker-style auctions? Or perhaps using eBay as an auction platform, and then directly contacting people that you think might be interested in the name? Other ideas?

    Thank you for your time (and your very interesting blog!)

    -Chris

    ***FS*** Fee neutral (because I don’t know what they charge) I would choose Moniker, because they are perceived as ‘the’ auction house for (specializing in) domain names. They can hold the sellers hand helping to transfer names after close as well..

  501. Posted by Mitch | July 19th, 2007 at 2:52 PM

    https://adwords.google.com/select/print

    I’m sure you have already seen this but just in case you haven’t.

    They’re doing the same in radio.

    Mitch

  502. Posted by Mitch | July 19th, 2007 at 2:56 PM

    https://adwords.google.com/select/print

    I’m sure you have already seen this but just in case you haven’t.

    They’re doing the same in radio.

    Mitch

  503. Posted by Raymond Hackney | July 19th, 2007 at 4:15 PM

    FYI not a question you might want to post
    http://www.stockwatch.com/swnet/newsit/newsit_newsit.aspx?bid=U-b005965-U:GOOG-20070719&symbol=GOOG&news_region=U

    GOOGLE down 24 points in after hours trading Earning out

  504. Posted by tim ballering | July 19th, 2007 at 6:57 PM

    More on Internet killing print

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aQlmRbnXcu8A&refer=home

    July 18 (Bloomberg) — Richard A. Smith knows something anyone considering buying a newspaper company needs to know. He’s taking his advertising dollars somewhere else.

    Smith, president of Realogy Corp., the largest residential real estate broker in the U.S., said the portion of his Coldwell Banker and Century 21 branding budget devoted to newspapers will shrink by as much as two-thirds next year from 2006 as spending moves online. Newspapers will receive 70 percent of Realogy’s home-sale advertising by 2010, down from 84 percent this year.

    ***FS*** Wow.. 2/3ds is a big drop .. I feel for print :- /

  505. Posted by David | July 19th, 2007 at 8:07 PM

    More Chinese takeaway. Apparently the world’s most popular blog is by this lady.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6906591.stm

    Irony is that she too is learning English.

  506. Posted by bumblestork | July 20th, 2007 at 12:59 AM

    Hi Frank -

    First time post. This newbie thanks you for the daily education.

    At what point do “generics” become too “granular”? Somewhere in between cars.com and usedpinkpolkadotbottlecaps.com there is a cutoff point. These are some of my registrations during July:

    curbstops.com
    extrudingequipment.com
    funitels.com
    leadremediation.com
    noiseabatementbarriers.com
    ultravioletsensors.com
    holidayteas.com
    sedimentremoval.com
    sewagepumping.com
    ttyequipment.com
    flushometers.com
    reportingdashboards.com
    heartreplacementsurgery.com
    businessintelligencemagazine.com
    searchalgo.com
    parkingcurb.com
    businessintelligenceserver.com
    magnetocalorics.com
    aquaticgrasses.com
    keycardsystem.com
    lotgrading.com
    muckremoval.com
    roughgrading.com
    structuralprecast.com

    There is little to no traffic on these, but the majority represent a tangible good or service. Should I continue to invest my time (and on-going reg fees) into a portfolio of this quality?

    Thanks,

    Bill (bumblestork)

    ***FS*** Some of these are fine bit most of these are getting out there a bit.. If you would have invested the time/money you spent acquiring these names differently, you could have bought something in the secondary market [privately from a weak holder], arbitraged it, flipped it as a site etc.. jmo I genuinely appreciate your post and wish you well.. but thats my gut call

  507. Posted by IPTV | July 20th, 2007 at 12:22 PM

    China has nearly 100 new Internet users per minute

    http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90781/90877/6220701.html

    __

    VSNL wins vsnlinternet.com
    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Internet_/VSNL_wins_vsnlinternetcom_/articleshow/2218998.cms

    Best,
    Dan

  508. Posted by IPTV | July 20th, 2007 at 1:21 PM

    More Than $680,000 in Premium Domain Names Sold During the Affiliate Summit East Domain Name Auctions.

    http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,143203.shtml

    ___

    Best,
    Dan

  509. Posted by B | July 20th, 2007 at 7:45 PM

    Frank –

    This is more of a comment than it is a question, but I could not seem to find the correct place to post such.

    I remember reading a while back about a post you made regarding natural progression of the domain industry, etc.. I though this was pretty cool. Check out http://www.DigitalCameras.com Apparently that is a parked site.

    B

    ***FS*** Huge progression.. expect every parked name to look like that in 5yrs

  510. Posted by jim | July 20th, 2007 at 9:59 PM

    It’s interesting how some users decry the current state of parked pages. The “parked”, microfont, somewhat fuzzy page of yesteryear (circa 1999) used the phrase “This site is planned for development, In The Meantime Try Searching the Internet for These (often unrelated, untargeted) Topics.” And that was supposed to generate revenue!? Digitalcameras.com has come a long, long way.

  511. Posted by OnSpec | July 21st, 2007 at 9:48 AM

    “If we all knew then, what we know now”…or is it “What goes around, comes around”…or Good things come…

    Frank,

    I was taking a walk down memory lane via Wayback, to see what had happened to my first Internet web site, DotBox dot com. While reveling in my nostalgia, I chanced to click on one of the links for SnapNames. I was amazed to find the “Big List”. Take a look at what was “snapped” up, as at the summer of 2001.

    http://web.archive.org/web/20010801150210/www.snapnames.com/success.html

    SpongBobSquarePants.com (kudos Adam)
    Wrigleys.com
    CasinoAffiliates.com
    Strohs.com
    BelgianChocolates.com
    CoffeeCake.com
    Doobies.com
    EasterBaskets.com
    MiamiBeachHotels.com

    And hundreds more.

    Unfortunately, that list shows several domains that I used to own, but eventually lost including my beloved DotBox dot com. On the upside, also on that list are 2 specific domains that are now worth multi-millions each, those being:

    *Regalos.com (Gifts in Spanish), and

    *Directorio.com (Directory in Spanish)

    Now here’s the weird part. I am the broker (looking for potential buyers and/or joint development partners), not only for Regalos.com and Directorio.com, but also for these other potential “category killer” domains:

    *1800Golfing.com

    This is a rare opportunity as the domain is being sold (or co-developed) as a package WITH the 1-800-Golfing telephone number 1-800-465-3464 (no dashes)

    1800Casinos.com
    *
    As above, this domain is being sold WITH the 1-800-Casinos telephone number 1-800-227 4667(no dashes)

    *SpaDirectory.com

    *YourHome.com

    *GiftCards.ca

    I would suspect that some of our more well-heeled brethren and sisteren on both the domainer and end user side would see some stratospheric potential here.

    Cheers,
    OnSpec

  512. Posted by Fantasy Futures Exchange | July 21st, 2007 at 10:24 AM

    Frank, question on generic names with hyphen–example: car-insurance.com vs carinsurance? do the hyphen names have much value or not and why?? thanks for taking the time to answer my questions and explaining aspects of the biz! much apreciated!! —pk

    ***FS*** Less organic traffic in single dash names.. virtually none in double dash names.. I’d stay away unless its e–mail.com

  513. Posted by Mike | July 21st, 2007 at 12:03 PM

    Hi Frank,

    I am getting an amazing education with each and every post….thanks…….

    One question, regarding sportscores.com…….I’m curious as to why their isn’t a link to actually get a score? Anyway, how might you build this one out to get maximum value? By the way I love the split screen idea.

    Mike

    ***FS*** There will be soon.. Hard to develop all the land quickly enough.

  514. Posted by Gary | July 21st, 2007 at 4:09 PM

    Frank,

    continuing the theme of “the worth and power of generic domain names isn’t widely known to the majority..”

    how many struggling mom & pop online small business do you think are out there that started up early i.e 10 yrs ago on a generic domain, and probably don’t realise that their name is worth 100’s of times what they’re struggling biz/hobby is worth?

    ***FS*** best question of the week there.. “Lots” there are tons of people sitting on names that are worth a fortune who don’t know what they have. Names worth more than they