Seven Mile

I just spent a few days in Vegas at the TRAFFIC convention..  man that town will chew you up and spit you out if you let it.

The night I left town Josh sent me this link which focuses on an interesting observation.

  While $4+ million worth of domain names just sold at the Las Vegas TRAFFIC auction, the real story is that actual bidding totalled more than $30 million..  I bid at least a million dollars for names that I didn’t win.. Others did too.  All-tolled there was more than $20 million of unrequited love, bids never to matter, a desire to own domain names that would not be satiated.

Again for impact, more than 20 million dollars of cash-money was bid in about a day (8 hours over two days) by a handful of people who wanted to own just a smattering of domain names.  Some of these names were good, many were just average, few would have blown the average man-on-the-strip’s hair back.  The would-be suitors were there with cash in hand, and many (like yours truly) went home empty handed..  or nearly empty handed.

All this happened during a week in which markets corrected, new credit/banking problems came to light, mortgage rates inched higher, inflation made headlines and other generally bad stuff happened or was foreshadowed to happen in the broader economy. It happened with less than 600 would be bidders worldwide in attendance!  How can that be?  Several reasons..

–1–  Because for the most-part, domain names are un-leveraged..  they have no debt on them..  and sellers can afford to tell you how they really feel by declining what you view as a generous overture. There is no incentive to “sell now” when your cost of carrying the investment is nil to low.

–2–  Because the shift of offline publishing to online is only getting warmed up.  Much promoted but under-delivered, just 7% of advertisers are online vs. 93% offline..  Domain registrants who understand the significance of their investment are sitting on the sidelines whispering “come to Papa” under their breath, knowing that you are not the first (or last) guy to try to wrest a name away with the siren call of cold hard cash.

–3–  Because a good domain name is like a storefront..  and you can’t buy a decent storefront for 50,100, 200 thousand dollars these days. You can’t buy a bad storefront in Rachel Nevada for that, you can’t even buy the bathroom fixtures in a storefront on the fabled Vegas strip for that. Not good ones..  not a bad ones.. Not any-ones.  Only about 7% of all domain names registered (11 million names worldwide) mean anything to anyone at all..  The rest are pretty much speculative crap that somebody has convinced themselves are good.. a virtual boulevard of broken dreams – or breadcrumbs of back-fill massaged into the meat of good portfolios; painstakingly built by smart investors like you. 

Those truly good domain names are what constitute the entire “visited” Internet. The “Internet that matters” exists on the domain names which matter to anyone other than you.. More on that another time.

If there’s one thing I know for-sure folks,  it’s that Las Vegas is not the only home of lonely hearts and unrequited love. What happened in Vegas the other day, happens all around the world each and every day..  Hundreds of millions - billions each year are offered for domain names which will never sell.

What’s a domain lover to do?!?  Sigh..  Perhaps I’ll have more luck at the Affiliate Summit Domain Auction at the Rio Suites this coming week.

  It’s wonderful being back after an extended vacation break. I used to scoff at vacationing (vacations are for the weak), but I was amazed that those friends and colleagues who took longer absences around the holidays skated circles around my productivity around March and April of the next year.

I won’t bore you folks with the details of my trip, but suffice it to say, I was glad to get away for the holiday sojourn and will probably spend more time traveling this year.. (business and pleasure).

New years bring new resolutions, new promises — cleaning out old cobwebs, retiring issues and ramping-up for a new cycle of work/changes. One of my resolutions this year is to slow down on the blogging.  Charity starts at home and I need to spend more of my non-working time with my wife, kids, family and those close friends and acquaintances in our family’s life..  I just can’t do that, run a domain media co and continue to scribe each day.  Since I began SevenMile.com, several others in the industry have joined the blogging ranks ..  many of those folks have done a terrific job creating news-sites and the existing journals and periodicals just get better and better.  There are even mash-ups now about domaining where we can get the most recent commentary and daily news across many blogs/journals/sites.

I plan to continue to write, albeit much less frequently with more personal, concentrated and in-depth thoughts relating to specific industry affecting issues. I look forward to several such posts over the course of the year..  but I will leave the daily color and roundups to those who do it so much better than I could.  It has been fun sharing (daily) and part of me will miss that but hopefuly my personal relationships and biz will thrive with the extra time in what is sure to be a challenging 2008.

Looking back on the predictions for 2007 made in late 2006,  many of those thoughts came true..  increased trouble for the most flagrant violators of IP rights, continued consolidation within the industry as the big get bigger, coupled with a spreading of the cottage industry footprint of work at home hopefuls with stars in their eyes; broadening our great industry’s base as it continues to mature.

If 2007 and my winter vacation of the year taught me anything, it’s how incredibly lucky we all are to participate in a space where anyone..  anyone can still “make it” if they have the gumption and desire to dig-in and better their life.  There are no defined paths in the domain industry.. and domain names continue to act as the nucleus of all Internet commerce. If nothing in business happens without ‘a sale’,  nothing on the Internet happens without ‘a domain name’..  and it’s still an adolescent industry with lots of room for those who want to make a great life for themselves. 

The game today is similar,  but just a little different.  I encourage you to stake your claim this year if you haven’t in earnest and continue to work hard for a few years..  If you adopt that glass half-full outlook and apply yourself,  I predict you too will be reciting the words of that Talking Heads song…  as you “wake up in a beautiful house”, “find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile”.. and you ask yourself .. How did I get here?

Have a great year folks…

Folks it’s time for me to recharge the batteries..  I’ll be leaving the blog today so that I have some time to wrap up a few left-over items..  then I take to the skies for my Christmas vacation..  I’ll try to upload some shots from the trip and stop in to post if anything major comes up but barring that, you will need to get your daily domain fix from one of the many new outlets for industry related news and info..  see the blogroll at left

I’m gonna miss you guys..  I wish you all a safe and happy New Year with much domain prosperity in 2008 …  It’s going to be a very exciting year.

Elliot blogs about the 3 letter .com realm.

http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/12/10/b-king-on-three-letter-com-sales/

***FS*** There are only 17,576 3 letters in .com ..  This piece probably explains which a have gotten scores of spam sales offers for my three letter and 3 number domains over the past few days.
Google reduces the importance of sub domains in it’s ranking system.

Excerpt: “As eBay and others have aggressively used subdomains to dominate branded AND unbranded search results, and Google has improved their sitelinks technology, any relevancy gain by treating subdomains as a separate site will be going away. Google is going to start  treating subdomains like subfolders, and limit the number of results from any site to just two.” http://www.domainnews.com/general/2007120823/google-changing-handling-of-sub-domains/#more-1905

***FS*** Enjoy getting google traffic.  Don’t rely on it as the primarily source for traffic for your website/business. The best traffic is the traffic tha Google wants to “buy”  and that traffic comes from generic type-in traffic producing domain names.

Microsoft introduces free Live.in email addresses to Indians.

http://www.domainnews.com/general/2007120817/microsoft-india-introduces-new-livein-e-mail-domain/

***FS***  I think many more folks would run email on their own proprietary domains (for email) if they understood how to go about it.  There is a knowlege gap where getting email or getting a domain is not simple enough for regular folks.  Domain values will have their next dramatic leg-up when an intermediary comes along that makes the registration, management and renewal of names and email easier for the average person…  and once that application “takes off” in a significant mainstream way. Perhaps a mechanism that allows anyone to get an email on anyone else’s name or pays a fee for each email account to the name-holder.

Josh: Elliot Silver takes some of Jay W’s advice…

.. and thanks him for it. Elliot bought an existing site that google didn’t include in it’s results.  By following Jay’s advice, his name was reincluded, now appears as the #1 listing, and he’s getting additional traffic.  Even the experts learn something from time-to-time. There’s alot of learning from each other going on in the domain/development realm. http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/12/08/thank-you-jay/

More from Elliot:  Honesty and integrity critical when doing business in the domain realm.  To be fair it’s critical everywhere http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/12/08/domain-industry-lesson-1/

Sahar opens his blog wider,

..and hopes to spark discussions and learning in his new area call “Debates”. http://www.conceptualist.com/category/debates/

***FS***  Another great idea from Sahar

79.1 percent of marketers plan to increase their online budgets for 2008.

No surprise here, but good to see nonetheless.

http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071207/FREE/71207006

ParkingWhois.com

Smart idea that’s in beta.  Tells you if a domain is parked or not, and where.  Problem is i tried 5 examples.  Two worked, and the other 3 said the domain is not parked,.. and it is.  It was a bit slow on a couple of the searches.  They need to make it more accurate or this service won’t get used.

Music business in Japan sees 1% rise in sales

…industry observers attribute this to mobile music downloads. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/7130596.stm

ConsumerReports.org

…Paid subscriptions, no ads.  3 million viewers who pay for web access. 4.5 million who buy the print vrsion. 208 million in revenue and operating margin of 28 million. http://www.news.com/Success-without-ads/2100-1038_3-6222063.html?tag=nefd.top

***FS***  Only 13% margins..  Sounds low for a publishing outfit. 

Ad company installs tracking capabilities at the ISP level.

SP’s hold alot of power.  With great ower comes great responsibility.. Without great responsibility, comes great regulation. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071209.wsniff1209/BNStory/Technology/home

“The Ultimate Domain Name Guide”

I think it’s from 2006.  It’s relevant today.

The headline is over the top.  That said, it’s a good overview, especially for people just getting started.  The writer, Sebastian Robinson, thinks that the right domain name is critical for your business. Excerpt: “Domain names have become more than just an address on the web. Today they can make or break a business.”

Josh says:  I don’t think a domain name can make a business. (Unless your business is buying and selling domains, or parking names that have type in traffic.)   But, i agree with the basic sentiment that having the right name / domain name is important, if not very important.  The writer is mistaken that the .XXX extension has been granted. http://www.micromart.co.uk/features/article/default.aspx?id=22516

   http://www.thedomains.com/2007/12/08/domains-are-cheap/

This piece deserves to be set apart from the Linkfest..  Berkins has that “oh-my-gosh” moment and realizes how cheap domain names are when viewed against overpriced pieces of modern-art. Art hangs on a wall and costs you money..  Domains activate on the Web and “make you money”. To be fair..  the art market is held-up by inflation and aspration..  returns are made via the sale of pieces to a richer buyer or greater fool..  Domains often contain revenue streams in the form of traffic which help pay for the up-front acquisition cost..  Art typically doesn’t ..  unless it’s a Monet and you lease it to a museum.

I know many of us have experienced the same epiphany about the value of domain names relative to other real-world items..  This one is just the latest but is very poignant.

Give it a few years .. people will start to figure out that perhaps less than 10 million domain names have any generic or descriptive value to anyone. When that concept becomes widely accepted you’ll see an even greater appreciation in the values of those names.  Get them while you still can.

Danno writes: 

  “”Watched a TV comercial this morning, advertising this website: http://www.discovernursing.com/

Johnson & Johnson ‘gets’ generic domain names. Maybe someone should invite the person in charge of their marketing to speak at domainfest about how generic domain names have added value to their business(s).”"

***FS***   So right Danno..  these folks have done a terrific job with Baby.com and all their names really.  They sooooo “get” it.  A few major corps have had marketing staff with great naming instincts.. I remember P&G had one of the biggest generic name portfolios back in the mid nineties.  They ultimately let many of those valuable names expire..  I scooped some of them up at the depth of the bust (ie. razorblades.com) .. They still own some of their big single word generics but many of their compound phrases expired.. I can only hypothesize that the individual who acquired their portfolio was let go or left to go to another company.

http://marketforlemons.com/?p=4 

Domainer Chris Stewart runs through the numbers for us and explains why Name Media’s leveraging up is a “good thing”. Chris is a very bright guy and this is an excellent post and argument. Posted in it’s entirity with permission:

Why Companies Borrow, and Why I Think NameMedia Borrowed Smart

This is the first post on our blog so I thought I would start off with something that is both timely and controversial: DEBT. Timely because of last week’s announcement that NameMedia had completed a deal to establish a $125 million credit facility; and controversial because of the topsy-turvy ride we have taken in the global equity markets this past month mostly attributed to the spillover from credit concerns in the US. Therefore, I believe that speaking to the topic of debt is a great starting point.

Before I go into some financial analysis let me first state that, admittedly, debt is an uncomfortable topic for me. I am not fond of debt, personally. As a business manager, however, debt can and often is the best friend to a growing company. It is cheap – let’s come to this a little later, and it is often easy to acquire. Quite simply, debt shouldn’t be a dirty word. And using debt to finance acquisitions or new capital projects should not be frowned upon.

Debt is cheap. What do I mean by this? Well, I should be more specific and say that debt is almost always relatively cheaper than other financing sources. It is cheaper than other financing sources because the interest payment on debt is also a tax deductible expense. The impact of this on the cost of debt can be significant. In financial terms, the amount of “benefit” you receive from being able to deduct your interest payments on your income statements is equal to your marginal tax rate multiplied by your borrowing rate. Wow, that was a lot to say. So, instead of trying to explain this let me illustrate this for you.
 Let’s imagine a scenario where you are seeking $100,000 to finance new projects. You are given two choices. Your first choice is to use debt financing at a borrowing rate of 15% p.a. and your second choice is to sell shares of your company to an investor who demands a 12% p.a. return on his/her investment achieved through an annual dividend payment. And, let’s further imagine that you already have an opportunity to invest the funds into a new domain acquisition, which will cost $100,000 and yield $20,000 in annual gross cash flow. We will assume you are a profitable company with a 35% marginal tax rate. Which method of financing would you choose based solely on the “numbers”? Let’s take a look…

From this over-simplified analysis above you may be surprised to see that, despite having a higher borrowing rate it is the debt financing choice providing the most benefit to your company. This isn’t always the case because we could fiddle with the borrowing rate, the required rate of return from the investor, or the tax rate to achieve numerous different results. But what I wanted to show you here is that even when things appear to be cheaper (such as the investor who only wants a 12% dividend) they may not always be.

One of the quick and dirty ways to figure out your effective borrowing rate on debt is to do this quick calculation. Multiply your corporate tax rate by the rate quoted to you by the debt financier. If you are borrowing at 18% and your tax rate is 25% then your benefit is 25%*18%=4.5%. Then reduce your borrowing rate by the benefit you just calculated, or 18%-4.5%=13.5%, which is your effective borrowing rate. Recall, this benefit is attributed to your ability (in most cases) to deduct interest expense on the income statement.

Clearly, I have ignored all of the “soft” considerations when choosing between debt and equity financing. Some people, like me, don’t particularly like debt. Others prefer the benefit of having the inputs of investors who may be more experienced. No amount of value can be placed on having mentors guide you in the right direction and surely your debt financier won’t be answering the phone at midnight to “discuss the business.”

What’s more, my calculation doesn’t demonstrate when and IF you should choose either form of financing. There is a separate calculation to figure out if you should borrow to finance a new acquisition altogether. I can, however, give you a tip to remember: if the net return on the asset is greater than the effective borrowing rate then you should probably invest. That’s a great topic for my next post so come back to see me massage some numbers to make that one work out for you.

Speaking of debt, most recently we learned that NameMedia has established a new credit facility for $125 million, which will be used to pay down a prior credit facility and for continuing operations and new acquisitions. And while I am not privy to the specifics I can probably estimate that this deal is both positive for NameMedia and the domain industry overall. Having perused some of the other domain blogs I have yet to see anyone come out and give a good/bad opinion on this announcement. I have seen some comments from individual posters who believe that this news had negative implications. I couldn’t disagree more.

As I illustrated above, debt financing is typically cheaper than equity financing. And for a company, such as NameMedia, I would argue that equity financing is significantly costlier to the company than debt. Recall, NameMedia has recently filed for their IPO and I believe that investors would place a discount rate (a.k.a. required rate of return) of anywhere between 15-20% on the firm’s equity value. Such a significant discount rate would lower the equity value of the company, requiring NameMedia to issue a greater number of shares to raise the capital necessary to paydown its previous credit facility. This scenario (on a much larger scale) resembles the average Joe paying one credit card bill with another credit card carrying a higher interest rate. Using new debt, rather than equity, to paydown the previous debt is the better alternative.

I also believe that this new credit facility is positive because it signals to me that the creditors believe NameMedia’s cash flows are both stable and long-term, at least enough to cover the debt going forward.

I would not be surprised if we see NameMedia cancel or reduce the size of its IPO altogether, and here’s why. From my calculations, I believe that NameMedia’s cost of equity financing is north of 15% and as high as 20%. There is no similar tax benefit to equity financing when compared to debt financing. And if you are borrowing at 15-20% from the markets then any and all new capital projects suddenly have this rate of return as the benchmark for new investments,…anyone know someone selling generic domain portfolios at 5x? I didn’t think so. The prior need to “go public” was to paydown the prior expiring credit facility and with this need now answered to by the new credit facility I see no reason for the company to require a significant source of capital at such a high cost at this time. I think it’s also important to note that the planned sale of equity was not an exit strategy for the current shareholders, as stated in the IPO, it was merely an exercise in raising capital”"

***FS*** My personal aversion to debt is several fold.  As the credit markets have shown this year,  you can’t necessarily control when the bank will stop lending ..and for unforseen reasons, or when they’ll call a loan on you..  If everyone levered up and carried debt,  we could get to a precarious place where no company operates to it’s full potential.  There is no such thing as “no strings attached” and when you start taking money from strangers, their covenants on what you can/can’t do with your business often become restrictive and fail to allow the company to take risks and make investments otherwise possible if they were unleveraged.  This can hold the company’s true potentiual back..  lastly..  not everyone operates from a tax jurisdiction..  Drug companies, and other multinationals often use transfer pricing to offset the tax benefit that debt provides..  Ditto with a domain biz which can be run from anywhere..  Even a little island 250 miles south of cuba.

Nice list.. missing the founders of Domainstate.com and also I think Paul Sloan/ Josh Quitner (writer and former editor) of Business 2.0 should have made this list..  Their coverage of the disruptive technology embodied in the name-biz helped to shine the light on the industry for other ”legitimate web” participants to see - and their stories provided the founding spark for more than one of today’s market participants.

List here:  http://logistiklabs.blogspot.com/2007/12/20-most-influential-people-in-domain.html

As a quick aside..  Josh Quittner recently wrote a hard hitting critique of the flimsy business model and dishonest culture at Facebook, only to be publicly dressed down by Time Inc.  I am continually struck that the tech-community acts like such a fawning sycophant as it relates to Facebook.  They treat this co. like the last girl at the bar on a Friday night.  We need more Josh Quittners to tell us to give our heads a shake and to take our collective tongues out of Facebook’s caboose long enough to see what it is we’re taking home…

http://www.ricksblog.com/my_weblog/2007/12/is-fairwinds-pa.html

Those trying to do good, caught doing bad? .. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried..  as reported on Rick’s blog.  Let he who is without sin cast the first unsolicited email.  I think Rick is chagrin that those who would label the domain space as uncouth,  go ahead and themselves “do the uncouth”..  looking forward to reading more.

You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink..  Insert your favorite related Mark Twain quote here.. 

Snoopy on domainstate.com is a pretty clever chap. He’s put together some info on how how particular domain extensions have performed over the last couple of years (in relation to 3 letter names). Interesting how the more established extensions generally seem to perform best year after year yet still people invest money into extensions such .info/.biz etc,

http://domainstate.com/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=84814

***FS*** This is an interesting human behavior Snoopy has touched on..  It’s a similar dynamic that makes folks go long a stock as opposed to short, and the same kind of logic that has folks surging into stocks when they’re high as opposed to falling (fallen).

http://domainfest.com/agenda.php?hw08

This show should be a hoot.  Looking forward to attending.

http://www.namestrategy.com/domains/bubble-20-video-talks-about-domain-names.html 

  Hilarious actually..  linked on Joe Davidosn’s blog..  and as joe points out,  I get a mini supporting role.

Domains Down Under 

Melbourne.com sells for 700k.
Brisbane.com sells for 100k.
http://dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm
These are excellent geographical names..  I like cities with “i” in front of them too.  Less organic traffic but cheaper and more brandable
Other notable sales:
TheNightBeforeChristmas.com  $2,600
BabyBoomers.net  $5,000
LuxuryHomes.org  $1,775
Cannabis.co.uk  $9,743

Dun and Bradstreet buy AllBusiness.com website for 55 million.

http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures-ownership/4974051-1.html 

***FS*** Everyone’s moving to a greater online presence… rating agencies included.  Really good for name holders..  Like a slowly moving tide floating our boats.  It’s subtle ..  but everyone feels it.

Micahel Berkens launches TheDomains.com blog, and announces Domain Parking Stock Index.

http://www.thedomains.com/2007/12/04/domain-parking-stock-index/ The index is at the right side of his main page, and updates at 6 p.m. daily.Here: > http://www.thedomains.com/ (Via Sahar.)

***FS***  Awesome that Michael is doing this.. really good for the domain space..  Isn’t it time you started a blog Mr. or Ms. Domainer?  You don’t have to publish everyday but I’m sure you could add a great deal to the space with your thoughts.

Mint.com gets some buzz.

Attempts to take on quicken for financial management tools with free online tools. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/121/easy-money.html

***FS***  I like this domain a LOT!  If I owned it.. I’d sell numismatics and those cheesy limited edition replicas of stuff..  Honorable nod to those who like those cheesy limited edition replicas of stuff

Microsoft issues security alert related to third level domain names.
3rd level, meaning: go.Microsoft.com ) http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/945713.mspx 

***FS***  I have a great deal of difficulty “trusting” anything Microsoft does relating to browsing security,  because
A) They control the browser
B) They manipulate error searches in their browser to plumb incorrectly typed traffic seeking other websites toward their own Internet media portals 
C) They turn around and sue cybersquatters for the same type of traffic theft.
I will do a complete 180 on MSFT when they stop harvesting error searches in their browser..  Stealing is stealing whether it happens on the right or left of the dot

Domain Tools announces next online auction.

http://blog.domaintools.com/2007/12/new-auction-alert  (Jays readers submit comments and reactions at the link above.)

***FS***  Good deals at Jay’s auction..  daddy says buy, but some of the new innovations could make things pricier and tough for sellers.

Related: Domain Wire comments about the auction at this link below, and others add their views to the DW comments section. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/12/05/domaintools-announces-next-auction/

Josh points out:  Auction will be January 3rd, 2008.  Imo, that might be too close to New Years/the holidays, especially since no names have been submitted at this point.  Though, word does travel fast, if Jay ends up with good names.  Fact is, some folks who go away for Christmas, don’t start getting back to the nuts and bolts of work until Jan 5/7 or so. If your name doesn’t sell at the auction, Jay has an exclusive to sell your names for 60 days after the auction, and the price will drop 20%. Imo, 60 days is too long.  No exclusive or 15-20 days sounds about right to me.  The forced price drop of 20% after the auction is a bit of a disincentive for people to bid at the auction, especially if there are no bids or low bids on a particular certain name.  I’m sure some folks will increase their asking/reserve price by 20%, before they submit their names. Alot of folks say they liked Jay’s software at the last auction, kudos to that.  Imo, Jay might want to consider tweaking some of the other aspects mentioned above.  Or not, it’s his thing.

***FS***  Good that Jay’s pushing the envelope with new stuff..  But you’re right some of the dates might run too long.

1 in 20 businesses can’t remember their own domain names.

http://www.newbusiness.co.uk/article/13/11/2007/website_domain_name.html

***FS***  …And we see them every day in the expirng name lists..  A virtual boulevard of broken dreams.  It’s sad that people don’t take more pride of ownership in their rights to domains.  One man’s trash is another’s treasure I suppose. Referenced the piece in the past but worth repeating.

Inside Domaining rounds up 30 different top searched words from 2007

http://InsideDomaining.blogspot.com/
Including:  Nascar, David Beckham, Design, HDTV, Games, Travel, YouTube.

***FS***  I am a regular visitor to http://50.lycos.com have been visiting that site since Fritz Holznagel ran the show and the colors were orange (woner whatever happened to that guy?).  Suggest you bookmark the site..  The ‘archives’ are the thinking domainer’s treasure-trove. Spend 3 full days in there and get a one year masters in popular keywords and user psychology.
 

People are spending multiple $ millions on virtual gifts.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/12/04/virtual.gifts.ap/index.html

***FS*** We’re all helping to fuel this boom..  Best sold over domain names.

Bruce Schneier, “internet security guru”, answers questions,.. many questions.

Good read.
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/bruce-schneier-blazes-through-your-questions/
Excerpt:
Q: Assuming we are both still here in 50 years, what do you believe will be the most incredible, fantastic, mind-blowing advance in computers/technology at that time?

A: Moore’s Law predicts that in fifty years, computers will be a billion times more powerful than they are today. I don’t think anyone has any idea of the fantastic emergent properties you get from a billion-times increase in computing power. (I recently wrote about what security would look like in ten years, and that was hard enough.) But I can guarantee that it will be incredible, fantastic, and mind-blowing.

***FS***  The internet has been around in it’s commercial form for almost exactly 13 years ..  13 years folks.  I got Netscape/Mosaic at Comdex in 1994 .. opened my Winsock (dialup) and promptly visited the handful of sites that existed.  It took me all of 20 minutes to find my first porn online.  Today porn can be found in 5 seconds..  That’s 23,900% improvement.. The only constant since those early days is the domain name.. In 50 years they may have computers that sleep with you and smoke a cigarette for you afterward,  but you will still find those ‘types’ of websites at unique locations identified by a domain name.  Domain names.. get em while they’re hot..  and still cheap.

But Danno writes:

 ”"Four More For Wednsday:

1.New DNS Technology Flags Bad Guys Before They Act
http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=140407&WT.svl=news1_2

2.Elysium Internet Agrees to Acquire Additional Domain Assets
and Direct Navigation Technology Platform
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0335573.htm

3.Nevada Courts rule Bodog Founder Calvin Ayre not Subject to Examination
http://www.point-spreads.com/industry/120307-nevada-courts-rule-bodog-founder-calvin-ayre-not-subject-to-examin.html

4.Is Google Now Too Big To Handle Anything?
http://gawker.com/news/when-google-attacks/is-google-now-too-big-to-handle-anything-329614.php  “”

Police the Minority, Ignore Bigger Problem

 http://www.out-law.com/default.aspx?page=8738

***FS*** Out-law.com means well but can’t see the forest for the trees here.  An IP “expert” proposes a “Domain police force” to tackle cybersquatting.  Yeah..  that will stop all that stolen traffic..  sure it will bub.  Most “traffic” that gets incorrectly plumbed or stolen on the internet, does so at the portals and error pages, not on domains..  You can police domains, making individual registrants the whipping boy, but that doesn’t stop traffic intended for your site from being stolen in the browser or on portal sites..  John MacKenzie:  try typing out-law.dom or .xom or .cpm in your browser and tell me what your eyeballs see.  Who created that page? Why didn’t the browser correct you and send you to ‘your’ site?  The total amount of traffic taken to the right of the dot, far and away eclipses all traffic taken by cybersquatters.

Google.cm 

Redirecting traffic to new social network perfspot.com ..  type the name www.google.cm get a page that reports “the offering you are looking for can not be found”  (or something to thst effect) .. then *poof* get flopped over to http://www.perfspot.com/join.asp?p=80247&t=CD579

The Power of One Good Name

Courtesy of Bryan:  http://www.pehub.com/wordpress/?p=1782 Mainly this part: “”First up is 1-800-Diapers, or www.diapers.com, a baby products ecommerce company that has raised $7 million in Series B funding, according to a regulatory filing.”"

WeldingRobots.com sells for $50,000.

Very tight focus on this baby.  I’m picturing those robotic welders in car assembly plants.  I would imagine they are quite expensive to buy or lease. http://insidedomaining.blogspot.com/2007/12/domain-name-weldingrobotscom-50000-sold.html

***FS***  Speciallized domains are often the most valuable for that reason

Domainers Magazine

…to offer access to online version of mag for free in Jan 2008. http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/12/04/domainers-magazine-anniversary-gift/  the mag : http://DomainersMagazine.com/

***FS***  I think it’s only natural for a business publication about digital topics to be in digital form
Miriam Ellis writes that Homestead.com will not allow you to point your domain name that you purchased from them to a different hosting company.  She lists 12 tips for those planning to use a template-site-building company. Based on this archaic restriction, I would Never
register a domain name thru Homestead.com. http://www.searchengineguide.com/miriam-ellis/homesteadcom-your-domain-name-with-strin.php 

iPhone has .09 percent of Web usage.

Josh says: Not bad, considering that the iphone has only been around 6 months.  It beats usage stats of Windows CE, Danger’s Sidekick and the Symbian S60 smartphone. http://valleywag.com/tech/stats/iphone-has-009-percent-of-web-usage-++-yes-thats-a-lot-329413.php

***FS***  This is a huge! a fraction of a percentage may not blow your hair back but this is a new device! It’s gotten this quick share because iphone allows you to easily and intuitively navigate using a real browser, keyboard and .com domains.  Give it time..  this thing will grow like the ipod.

Rumour:  FTC will approve Google’s Doubleclick

acquisition: http://valleywag.com/tech/acquisitions/ftc-to-approve-google+doubleclick-merger-this-week-329393.php

***FS***  A monopoly is born

Rumour: Li Ka-shing Foundation buys Facebook stake.

Invests 60 mil based on 15 billion value.  Gets 0.4 percent share. http://www.news.com/Source-Li-Ka-shing-Foundation-buys-Facebook-stake/2100-1030_3-6221258.html?tag=nefd.top

***FS***  Good for Li ..  not so good for me..  I wouldn’t invest in this co.

Related from Javier:

“”A couple of weeks ago we were taking about Facebook, and how it may all cool down pretty soon. You may find interesting this detailed article (not mine) that exposes 15 reasons why Facebook is not worth 15 billion: http://mashable.com/2007/12/03/facebook-15-billion/ ”"

Great names going up on Wednesday starting at 3 PM PST – complete list posted and auction order along with silent list:

http://marketplacepro.moniker.com/auction/detail.html?auction_id=184

Let me know by mid day on Tuesday if you want to be a telephone bidder – complete the absentee bid form – your fee will be waived if you were a previous bidder.

Best Regards,

Monte Cahn

Founder / CEO

Moniker.com is the world leader in Domain Asset Management including Domain Auctions & Sales, Escrow, Appraisal, Monetization, Registration, Brand Protection, Acquisition, and Portfolio Management.

Toll Free: 1-800-688-6311

O: 954-984-8445

F: 954-969-9155

ICQ: 292961812

MSN: moniker-man@hotmail.com

AIM/Yahoo: MonikerDotCom

   Patrick writes: “”In beginning Christmas shopping this weekend it occurred to me that a smart registrar should offer a “virtual gift card” – could be in increments and then sent to people just like a virtual iTunes gift card, but loaded with money for use at their prefered registrar (could be used for domain registration, hosting, any service offered by the registrar, etc). Bigger registrars could might consider creating actual gift cards, selling them through stores. Anyway, it’s just an idea and perhaps a registrar that reads your blog might actually think it is a good one and make it happen.”"

 ***FS*** Patrick, you win my “bright idea of the year” prize with this one ..   Absolutely brilliant..  and I’m struck that no-one has previously thought of this.. It’s probably the only gift many folks with my dna would actually use. (less subtle hint to family members..  I live in the Caribbean.. please, no more socks. 

Which tld should bite the dust?

http://www.domainersgazette.com/the-dot-what-tld-deathmatch/ 

***FS*** Domainer’s Gazette runs a refreshing poll ..  Should serve as excellent guidance to newbies.

Parking Transparency 

Whizzbang sets out a roadmap for Standards and Transparency for parking companies.

***FS*** I think true transparency is a pipedream absent some kind of leverage on the upstreams.  Nothing begets nothing tho,  so kudos to MG for writing.http://www.whizzbangsblog.com/content/view/333/1/

Elliot Silver interviews Jeremy Padawer.

***FS*** Jeremy is a legacy domainer I remember Chernoff mentioning the guy in the “way early” days ..  today Padawer has a very full time job in the toy industry, and also is quite serious about domain names. He’s been investing in geo names over the last six months. memphis.org, scottsdale.org, rye.com, abilene.org, tempe.org, and others. Josh says: Jeremy is sometimes very funny and outrageous. http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/12/03/5-with-jeremy-padawer/

Madison Avenue’s Fear Of Domain Names.

By Stephen Douglas. “The truth of it is that Madison Avenue doesn’t want domains to compete with their abilities as an ad agency and undercut their client’s ad budget. pure and simple.” http://www.successclick.com/madison-avenues-fear-of-domain-names_2007_12_02/

***FS***  I personally think it’s less fear and more ambivalence or lack of understanding..  Most individual names get very little upfront traffic.  We live in an immediate gratification society.. One name 100 visits a day, nothing to get excited about ..  One name plus 12 months building to 10,000 visits a day..  that’s exciting, but it’s also uncertain and far off. Hence,  nothing to get fired-up about on Madison Ave.

Why some early stage startups fail.

***FS***  Valuable lessons here .. Written by someone at UnionSquareVentures.com. Excerpt: “”So it’s pretty clear to me that most venture backed investments don’t fail because the business plan was flawed. In my experience at least 2/3 of all business plans we back are flawed. Most venture backed investments fail because the venture capital is used to scale the business before the correct business plan is discovered. That scale/burn rate becomes the cancer that kills the business…. Regardless of whether you have taken venture capital or not, capital efficiency and bootstrapping are critical values. You must keep your burn rate low until you can show without a shadow of a doubt that you have a business model that works, can be operated profitably and is ready to be scaled. Then and only then should you step on the gas.”" http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2007/11/why_early_stage.html 

.NL Dutch Sedo Auction results.

Prices in Euros:
veiling.nl   ? 46.000
gezondheidszorg.nl   ? 16.500
luik.be   ? 3.500
kerstdagen.nl ? 3.250
hotelgids.nl ? 2.250
(not sure what currency that symbol is.) http://www.domainnews.com/aftermarket/2007120100/sedo-dutch-domain-auction-first-results/

Typo patrol

Someone is doing some pretty comprehensive research in the typo realm. http://www.domaindetectives.net/

Geo Leverage

Stu Maloff uses Geo targetted domains to help build his basketball camp business.  e.g. NewYorkBasketball.com http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2007/dailyposts/12-01-07.htm 

Sport.biz goes for $14,000.

http://insidedomaining.blogspot.com/2007/12/sportbiz-trades-for-10000-euro.html  Josh says: In my opinion, the value of certain strong or very strong single keyword domain names in some of the less popular extensions will continue to rise in value in the long run. One of the obvious reasons is that these kinds of words in .com are simply entirely out of reach for the vast majority of domain investors and people planning to build websites. Some will say that one should go for a two word .com with Sport or Sports in it.  Makes sense.  Some will say that the one word major keyword in a less popular extension is more important to their branding approach.  Makes sense. Personally, i’m not a fan of the way .biz looks or the meaning it has.  Sports.biz would have been much stronger than Sport.biz.The new owner of this domain should also get SportBiz.com, if they haven’t already.

***FS***  I much prefer names like these..  sportsworld.com sportsweb.com ..  certain think names plus ‘world’, ‘web’, ‘net’, ‘biz’ have a generic value and resonance simply because they make sense as generics but have a brandable quality about them. Would rather own those as a .com than own a further afield ext.

Microsoft buys Webfives:

Excerpt: “”The move comes just days after Microsoft took part in a panel discussion on the types of companies it would look to acquire. Managing Director Mark Wolfram had indicated that the Entertainment and Devices area might be ripe for an acquisition.”" http://www.news.com/beyond-binary/8301-13860_3-9827802-56.html?tag=nefd.top

QR Codes. (Quick Response)

QR codes were originally developed by Tokyo-based Denso Wave Inc. and are common in Japan. When published in print form - on billboards, transit ads, vehicles or other media - consumers can then take pictures of the images and have them converted to links, phone numbers or other advertising messages. “The basic function is to eliminate typing and allow you to take a code off paper media and any media that’s printable and transfer it to an electronic form,” said Greg Hayden, chief technology officer for Toronto-based Luna, which is in talks with Canadian carriers - which it will not name - in hopes of making the technology available to Canadian businesses. http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/Departmental-and-End-User-Computing/de822e9f-d9c7-49d1-97d2-be7f4d946767.html If i understand this correctly, one could use a symbol or image for one’s domain name, and this could be converted into the actual URL, when a cell phone or PDA user takes a photo of it.  If true, some very interesting possibilities could transpire around this!  This is whatcha call a good idea.

Six Apart sells Live Journal to Sup, a Russian media company.

Be careful how you treat your content contributers. http://valleywag.com/tech/livejournal/six-apart-exiles-its-troublesome-child-to-russia-329031.php

WIPO coming to Canada?

*** From October 17, 2007
http://www.domainnews.com/general/2007113022/the-wipo-is-coming-to-canada/#more-1828
http://www.slyck.com/story1601_Canada_to_Strengthen_Intellectual_Property_Throne_Speech

***FS***  .ca registrants take warning.. WIPO proceedings in general favor the complainant. In no other business do you loose the rights to your property for running afoul of a civil reglation..  it’s par for the course in the domain biz…  for now. 

Sahar gets it on with cars.

http://www.conceptualist.com/2007/12/01/weekend-getway-with-south-florida-toys/

***FS***  Nice to see you enjoying life bro..  It’s short

Tia Gives Some Tips/Tools

http://www.tiawood.com/news/internet-news/free-411-and-other-handy-google-experiments-for-doma.html

***FS***  Some neat tools and assorted domaining good-stuff  ..  Thanks Tia!~

Tia Wood asks:

“”Frank, after looking at a thread at DNF titled “Why Domains cost what they do…Your Reasoning?”, I don’t feel anyone has hit the nail on the head. To me, why domains cost the what they do has largely to do with reverse branding: the ability to reverse brand a word for a company instead of a company for a word. The same goes for branding words for individuals or organizations, etc. But the value lies within reverse brandability, correct? Which brings in a higher quality of consistent and valuable traffic. What’s your take on it?”"

***FS*** I often hear secondary-market domain sales and names referred to as “powerful” or “expensive”. Not all domains are powerful of course..  And why exactly are the powerful ones considered powerful?  Well..  As I’ve explained previously if you buy a good, meaningful, generic domain which garners some measure of organic type-in traffic for nothing more than the keyword weight of the name itself;  you essentially have a storefront with guaranteed visitors coming into your door and strolling past the merchandise.  Typing in a domain isn’t necessarily like a good storefront in a high traffic location,  it’s more like the gift shop at the end of a theme park ride that you have to pass through to leave the ride.  Only these visitors aren’t looking for the street..  they have self qualified the topic they seek by typing that particular domain name. In the real world you have to pay to lease the space, put in lease-hold improvements, etc, etc.  On the Internet, window-dressing is cheap..  the storefront and improvements which bring the visitors in “are the name”.

People often tell me domains are “”soooo expensive”"… They ask:  ”Why would I pay $10,000 or $20,000 or $50,000 for a great name when I can make up another name for less?!?” 

   Well if you buy a name like the one described above with organic,  generic-intent type-in type-in traffic; 10, 20 or 50 thousand dollars is not a lot of money.  Years ago I worked in marketing consumer electronics and we purchased full page magazine ad-space in “gamer” magazines for $15,000 for the month..  That’s one side of one page, for one-month… and that didn’t include artwork.  It was just to build nebulous concepts like “mind-share” with the gaming public.  You can’t put mindshare in the bank folks.  Had we bought a great domain for $15,000 (and we could have gotten gaming.com or games.com for $15000 back then) we would have gotten millions of yearly visitors forever;  for nothing more than the price of the renewal fees.

   The other dynamic at-play is scarcity.  With 100 million domain names registered how can they be seen as scarce? Well most registered domain-names are either “terrible” in quality or are specific to a certain branded product or service.  On any given day, a random slice of the name-space expires for non-payment. 15,000, 20,000, 25000 names expire each day.  I have watched these expiring name lists every day, for the better part of a decade.  These lists are a virtual “boulevard of broken dreams” ..  names which people bought with great hope, only to allow them to slip away after they had some emotional change of heart or after they forgot to renew them. 90-95% of these expiring names are complete and total crap.  You could make-up better names in the unregistered available pool.

The remaining 5-10% are names which could have some traffic or some value to more than one person.  Names which could be called meaningful, powerful or generic. That’s 5-10 million domain names globally.  It doesn’t take a mathematician to determine that there are just not enough great names to go around.  It’s not possible for every person or company to have even one “good” registration.  That shortage of supply and global demand keeps prices high…  and will for years to come.  In fact if the examples above show anything, it’s that great domain names are “still” cheap.

Half the planet has cell phone plans. 

3.3 billion of them. How long before half of those people have full browsing on their phones? Pretty quick, i imagine. http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=media&storyID=nL29172095

***FS***  edge, bluetooth, .mobi, gsm123..  this all bullshit.  I’m an early adopter of almost all useful things tech and I predict mobile browsing (in the lean forward shopping “sell people stuff” sense) goes absolutely no-where,  “Nooooo!! - Whhheere!!”  unless it’s iphone Safari style full browser style browsing..  AND ‘until’ battery life or power consumption gets WAYYY better.. Incidentally I’ve stopped using a Blackberry and am back to a regular flip-phone.  “A fool and his money are early on mobile” ..  Wait for the standard to establish itself (to provide a certain foundation), wait for the invariable bust from overbuilding..  then pick up the pieces on the cheap after.
 

.ASIA/ IP Issues

1. CNN: “The .Asia rollout shows in many ways how the Wild
West days are dwindling for cyber-squatters — known as
“domainers” — to mine high-value names.”

***FS***  Yawn..  Buy .asisa to flip and make money ..  don’t build your house there.  If .asia is a winner ‘in asia’,  then IDN’s are doomed..  if IDN’s win then ascii asia is doomed.

2. “To brand owners it can be a bit of a nuisance as they
have to keep registering to protect their brand name,” say
Lam of IP Mirror.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/11/28/digital.dotasia/

Josh opines on Trademarks (#2 above)

“”Comments like this often fail to communicate the bigger picture.  Imo, Brand owners that own generic word/public domain word trademarks like Apple, Amazon, Sun, Love, etc, should have no monopoly on the many possible uses of those words in public discourse and in non-confusing /non competitive trademarks or service marks or copyrights. I’ll go one step further and question the ethics of granting famous trademark status on any single words in the public domain.  Much has changed over the last 10-15 years with respect to the use of language and words because of the Net.  Many things need to be re-examined now, and in the future, including whether famous trademark status and it’s enormous power on single words in the public domain should continue.

What’s much more of a “nuisance” than certain brand owners thinking they have to register their single word public domain trademarks in every single TLD, is the sheer audacity they have to think that they own and should control that word that originated in the public domain, and be given special rights that supercede the use of that word by the general public or those that want to use that word in non-competing and non confusing trademarks or servicemarks or copyrights.

In other words,.. and in my opinion,.. when a new TLD opens like .asia, trademark holders of single words that are obviously in the public domain should Not be given special privileges to register those domain names before anyone else from the general public.

On a different but related tangent,.. if someone hypothetically registered the domain name Love.com, in 2000, and chose to simply put the word Love on their webpage or not activate the site. And in 2007 someone created a bar of soap and trademarked the word Love for that bar of soap,.. it is absurd and unreasonable that the trademark holder for the word Love, that is related to the bar of soap, should have any power to wrestle away the domain name from the current owner of love.com because they have a trademark related to a bar of soap.  Trademarks should not trump use of words in the public domain, or domain names of those same words that may be idle/not in use.”"

Down Under

Aussie domain investors have a night out with the Fab crew.

http://www.whizzbangsblog.com/content/view/331/1/

***FS***  I wish Australia was closer

Related:

.Au registrations pass the million domain mark. http://www.dnxpert.com/2007/11/30/registrations-of-au-domains-surge-past-the-1-million-mark/
 

Memorial

Elliot deals with a personal tragedy.  A good reminder about what’s important. http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/11/29/life-lesson/

***FS*** Heartfelt condolence to you sir.  It’s important to take stock in our lives and be greateful for each day.
 

Team.com sells for $ USD 300,000.

http://insidedomaining.blogspot.com/2007/11/teamcom-scores-6-figure-domain-sale.html

***FS***  Das alotta money mang..  But not for that name.  I think it’s probably fair value..  I could actually picture myself purchasing that name and I’m pretty cheap.  There are not many 4 letter.com names that are meaningful..  I purchased Note.com for $115,000 in New York recently..  That name seemed high at the time,  now I feel like I’m in-the-money.  That’s the domain biz in a nutshell..  Overpay for anything good and eventually it looks cheap.
 

Facebook begins to bow to the pressure

But still doesn’t allow a complete opt out of their ad system. http://valleywag.com/tech/online-advertising/facebook-caves-to-beacon-critics-328280.php and here: http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9826664-36.html

***FS***  I don’t use Facebook.  Millions do..  I think it’s a sideshow that will soon blow away or blow over. Nobody goes on about Myspace like they used to either..  These co’s get valued like fireworks in full explosion. Investors willing to pay anything for that one glorious moment,  which passes shortly.
 

Some bad names chosen for these companies.

e.g. :  qliktech.com  http://croydonian.blogspot.com/2007/11/shortage-of-sensible-domain-names-is.html

***FS*** Don’t buy names like these…  Need not say more
 

100 Great Domain Blog Posts

http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2007/domainer-required-reading-100-great-blog-posts/

***FS*** 1 or 2 from me..  I must be slipping ..  Which is a good thing..  It’s great to see a space becoming so vibrant and viral with domain chatter..  This is a great industry.  It’s wonderful to see more folks discussing it openly and learning tricks and tips from each other.

Thomas Price asks:

  “”…how do you know when an unregistered domain is good enough to be registered? I find domains all the time that I think are great domains, but if I registered every domain I found, I would be bankrupt by the time it came around to renewing them. I’ve got a list of over 500 unregistered domains that I think are great domains - while only a few of them are great names for “type-in-traffic”, almost all of them are “two or three stackers” in advertisemnets on Google. (The term comes from Jay Westerdal)

I think all of these unregistered domains could developed into profitable websites, but how do I know when to stop registering, and start developing? (How to cut loose of what I think may underperforming names in my porfolio).. I’ve always had a few domains that really outperformed the others, including on single domain that averaged over $500 a day in clickthroughs (until Google caught wind of it and torpedoed my organic search ratings.) I still have several GREAT performimg domains, and am always looking for that next star performer.”"”

***FS*** A bunch of great questions here.. There are different philosophies for buying names and many right ways to do things in the domain business.. A few days ago on the linkfest I blogged about how Stephen Webb was turning trafficless lemons  into lemonade with his “We Are *City* ” .com names.  This type of story emboldens every theme-name holder from the good (”e” names, “i” names, “my” names) to the horrifically bad (hotb2b name, names) ..  In the end you need to use a little pop culture, instinct and search volumes as guide posts.

Firstly if the names you are interested in are sitting there available in late 2007,  then it’s doubtful that they have any material traffic. Somebody would have scooped them up by now via tasting or via the expiring name drop (if they were formerly owned).  So what you are speaking of are names which “look cool”,  which ”could” get traffic, or which are “easy to remember”, or which would be “easier than other names” to build traffic to.

I would caution you against taking the Google or Overture search-term popularity tool results too literally.  Some of the worst names are procured using these tools.  If the name ranks highly in Google or Overture,  and it got any merchantable traffic at all (high search count names typically get some traffic), then it would already have been registered through the drop (if old) or through domain tasting (if newly invented term)..  There are the odd stragglers which may have been missed,  but unless tasting stops,  it will be very difficult for the available-pool to replenish with ‘new vernacular’ traffic names.

The Overture tool may say that “psychic reading free” gets 12,000 searches a month but may not serve results in order..  the correct order for the domain name would be freepsychicreadings.com (plural) ..  that’s where the organic type-in traffic component of those 12,000 monthly searches lies in domain-form.  Had you bought the wrong order or the singular tense, you will get less or no traffic.  Building traffic via search engine optimization or making money via paid search keyword arbitrage are similar..  The correct tense,  the most appealing order will convince the human visitor to click.

   You would be much more successful (draw more clicks) arbitraging traffic under the bidded keyphrase “psychic free reading” if you you used the domain freepsychicreading.com.. Yahoo groups less popular keyword orders together for paid-search purposes..  so if you take their suggestion too literally as a domain procurement tool,  you’ll buy the wrong order.  My advice is to watch more MTV,  see what the correct phrases are..  use pop-culture, television and magazine covers as guideposts to steer you in the right direction relating to conceptual names.

You’ll buy better names and make more money selling them that way. 

Lastly,  If you have names you’ve been carrying for years and they get no traffic and they get no whois lookups (whois lookups are useful for determining sales potential because they tell you how often others tried to see if the name was available to register) then you should dump those names.. I never let any names expire,  but I have friends who try to explore for unregistered names similar to those they are considering deleting..  If they find that all related names are registered,  then they keep their name for another year.  If they find other names available and ‘their’ name gets no traffic or whois-lookups,  then they release the registration. 

Hope this helps.

 Colin Pape writes: 

“”Hey Frank!

Had this link delivered to my inbox via my Media Post subscription…

http://www.goodurlbadurl.com/

The owner of the site takes photos of domains he comes across in the offline world and posts them along with a good URL/bad URL rating… Great idea!

You can view the newsletter here: http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=71646
(subscription required)

It contains lots of great information on the project and advice on domains from the author (an SEO guy)…

Enjoy!

Colin”"

***FS*** Enjoy it “I did” Colin!  Sites like this make me feel warm and fuzzy about the domain business..  I’m obviously not the only geek passionate about naming..  This guy is..  You clearly care.. It’s a great community. Thanks for sending.

New Logo Suggested

Domainer’s Gazette kindly offers so possible alternative logos for me http://www.domainersgazette.com/an-alternative-logo-font-for-frank-schillings-blog/ .

***FS***  I’m sincerely flattered ..  kind of like my folksy craigs-list style font.  But change is good.

Typo Partnerships 

Whizzbang hypothetically plays with fire around TM infringing domain names. http://www.whizzbangsblog.com/content/view/329/1/

***FS*** Many trademark holders are terrible domain managers, suing or UDRPing for a name only to loose it to benign neglect or to poorly execute (using the traffic poorly) after winning the name from other registrants.  Maybe domainers will go to work for mark holders,  but doubtful the markholders will trust unrelated registrants to look after their names through some kind of syndicated honor system..  although I had Michael’s same thought a few years back.

Domains Worth More than Traffic Flow 

Elliot cautions against using revenue multiples when buying a name. http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/11/28/why-you-shouldnt-use-revenue-multiples/

***FS***  I agree with Elliot..  certain B-Factor can skew name values, well above traffic value.  Mortgages.org gets 1 unique a day..  what’s that worth in traffic

Marchex

Russell Horowitz and Bill Day from Marchex to present keynote address at The Kelsey Group’s Interactive Local Media 2007 (ILM: 07) Conference at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles, CA. http://www.marchex.com/press/20071126.html Josh says:  I never get tired of local.
And when i do get tired of it, and need a nap,.. i nap locally.

***FS***  I like Marchex’ portfolio of names..  have seen the before after effect of their growth..  these folks are “doing stuff” .. and Russ is super clever..  still not crazy about the zip codes..  well selfishly I am because I own zip code com/nets ..  but beyond that am not sure..  Looking forward to seeing the fully executed play though.

Domain Auctions

Incidentally, nap.com goes up for sale today as part of a group of name for sale at Great Domains. Starts at 2pm EST. There’s some other good names in the group as well. http://www.greatdomains.com/search/searchresult.php4?auctionevent=Greatdomains

***FS***I like asia.net, fattuesday.com, hangover.com, warlock.com, onlinecasino.net “and” nap.com

Domain News claims Google ranks ccTLD domains higher

when the searcher is in that country. http://www.domainnews.com/general/2007112906/benefits-of-an-international-top-level-domain/#more-1808

***FS***  That’s a simple logical algorithmic parlor trick..  I’d be shaking my head incredulous if Google “wasn’t” doing that.

100 year .com domain registrations.  

From August 2007.  http://www.smartinfo.com.hk/en/newsinformation.php?id=57  Josh asks:  “”Unless something’s changed with ICANN, i don’t think this is a true 100 year registration at the registry.  I could be wrong. ?”"

***FS*** Correct!  Verisign Global Registry Services (keeper of .com/net) will only allow a registrar to renew 10 years out.  The other 90 years is a contractual promise from your registrar to you and is only as good as that registrar and it’s long term solvency.  Stay away from deals beyond 10 years.

Internet War

About 120 countries are developing ways to use the Internet as a weapon to target financial markets, government computer systems, and utilities, Internet security company McAfee said in an annual report. The report said China is at the forefront of the cyber war. It said China has been blamed for attacks in the United States, India, and Germany. China has repeatedly denied such claims. http://www.news.com/World-faces-cyber-cold-war-threat%2C-report-says/2100-7349_3-6220619.html?tag=nefd.top 

***FS***War is fought over resources..  which get paid for with money..  so ultimately war is (almost) always about money (when not about money it’s about religion/beliefs).. That obvious statement out of the way, I think the Internet is already changing our World as good/bad new travels to all people..  no matter where they are and allows them to make decisions more rapidly..  In the final analysis it is harder to suppress the truth “with” free information and the Internet enables that flow of free information.

Canadian student maps brain

Plans to use the way the brain works to power a search engine for images. http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1891450207;fp;16;fpid;1.

***FS***  Now this is a crazy good idea..  Wonder what images I would generate if I ate ice-cream wayyyyy too fast :)  Wonder if I could broadcast those images across thousands of domain names..  Better yet,  What if I didn’t eat ice cream too fast,  and just started thinking about images for each of my names..  I could pre-populate images across all my names in a few weeks using the power of thought alone!  Hope this kid hurries up..  I’m not getting any younger.

If I had a product or service to advertise I’d consider this opportunity..  I have no ties to the org.. just like this idea/name and think the concept has potential to stick around and become part of the broader domain show/convention circuit. There are many exemplary domain industry participants who never get the praise they should..   This “vote of the people” will be terrific for shining the light of flattery on those quiet and humble individuals who so richly deserve it.
 
  “”Domainers Choice Awards 

Your Industry, Your Choice ! 
Your Stars of the Domain Industry !