Seven Mile

  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…

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…

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/ ”"

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.

   Or as   Dr. John Berryhill aptly put it when he sent me this handy graphic “Sometimes It’s Better to Be on The Outside Looking In” ..  This image nicely encapsulates the emotion pumping through the veins of well minded ICANN board members and Domainers who know more about Internet navigation than they’d wish to.

Motley Fool/Rick Aristotle Munarriz looks at 4 internet based stocks that he calls intriguing.

http://www.fool.com/investing/high-growth/2007/11/12/4-internet-stocks-under-the-radar.aspx

Marchex
Autobytel
Copernic
Jupitermedia

Quote: “”So I’ll keep watching the four companies, hoping to jump in early before they go “ping” on everyone else’s radar. Why watch? Well, somebody has to.”"

***FS*** I like Marchex because they are trading near the break-up value of their names alone. The other pieces of the co. represent even more opportunity .  That said,  I would still prefer to buy generic domain names themselves because I understand that animal better, and because they can’t be diluted.  Buy a domain name with traffic and get “the name”..  buy a share in any public co and get the risk that management takes the business in a direction you don’t want to go.  That said,  If you’re going to be long a domain stock..  this is it. If they keep this tack they’ll probably get bought by VIACOM or FOX at some point..  that kind of buyer.  Worst case,  I could see them going private if a broader market correction affects their segment.  This company has the ability to generate the one thing everyoner wants…  ca$h.  It doesn’t need the overhead it carries to generate that ca$h.  Nice position to be in.

1.   Serena Software gives it’s 900 employees an hour a week to spend on Facebook.

http://valleywag.com/tech/bad-ideas/friday-is-facebook-day-318507.php

2.   AdBrite CEO cracks the whip. Wants his workers to work more hours.

http://valleywag.com/tech/silicon-valley-tool/adbrite-ceo-wants-employees-to-work-10-hours-a-day-318491.php

Josh says: “”It’s possible that one can overquantify energy expended to increase productivity or results. Measuring results by how many hours a person sits at a desk seems like 1959 or 1982.”"

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Yahoo_Resignation.html

Yahoo’s CTO is retiring.. presumably he wants to spend more time in the Cayman Islands..  and I can’t really blame him.

But as you chuckle, consider how big a problem this is for domains and tech in general. Many of the folks administering domain names and domain portfolios have 10 years in.  What’s going to happen when these folks tire of the race?

Speaking for myself, managing domain names is a 24×7x365 affair..  I truly love it of course,  but one day I may not.  Is there going to be a qualified person with a passion and the fire in his (or her) belly, to take the reins and make the sacrifice to run the company the way I would want them to? Will they understand the subtleties and nuances of the trade?

How about Yahoo.. will they find the right individual who truly bleeds the company colors? Even the greatest careers last just 20 years or so. This half-way point (and Yahoo retirement announcement) is a great time for us all to perform a temperature check and plan for the future (yes, you too Google).

Domain names will be around in 20 years.. but you may not — not at the company anyway. You’ll probably be sipping rum-runners on the beach with me.. Domainers get to live forever (hope you got the memo) 

Comment order has been reversed to standard style (oldest at bottom) …   enjoy 

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/115/open_features-hacker-dropout-ceo.html

Nice piece from FastCompany about Adam Zuckerberg and FaceBook. Everybody loves a rags to riches story..  This is one.

Thanks for the link Omar.

Frank,

Here was the shocker for me:

“Looming over the Facebook talk is the specter of Friendster, the first significant social-networking site. It reportedly turned down a chance to sell out to Google in 2002 for $30 million, which if paid in stock, would be worth about $1 billion today. Now Friendster is struggling in the Web-o-sphere, having been swiftly eclipsed by the next generation of sites.”  I remember meeting Jon Abrams several times here.  You could see that things were getting heady with all the attention for his company.  According to Reid Hoffman (early investor in the company), basically the whole social networking space was Abram’s to lose.

Omar.

I know what you mean Omar..  the problem with all these Web2 co’s is that the social space is duplicable if you bring enough capital (human/currency) to bear.  Anyone can start a website/forum/social network..  When you own domain names (lots of ‘em).. you get free traffic and a re-do if your ideas go wrong. It’s the ultimate burn-down value proposition.  An opportunity to reach for the sky..  and a parachute to save you if you’re wrong.