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.

What a world we live in..  and what a great deal a man (or woman) can learn in a month away from the blog-sphere.. Deals announced, partnerships strategized and all roads lead to the ability to reach our fellow-man.   I’ve been traveling for family issues (nothing serious folks) over the past month –  I’ve been home and away from home. It will be great to reflect on the industry and vent some thoughts about the way things are ..  and the way they might go in the coming few weeks (go easy on me.. I’m traveling here).

Some thoughts for you to consider..  This blog has been inactive for 30 days and has somehow managed to add 400 subscribers since I took a posting sebatical.  In that time it attracted 1200+ spam posts..  It’s all about the eyeballs folks. 

In a world where people still operate 800/900 numbers to capture users “phoning in” common numbers (Good work folks) – In a world where new billboards are appearing on the LA skyline month to month –  In a world where those Sunset Blvd billboards generate more revenue than the buildings they are emblazoned on; what are your unique domain-name visitors worth?  The battle to reach (and win) the hearts/minds of our fellow man has been raging since Gutenberg invented the printing press. How much greater is a medium’s value when that ability to connect can be quantified and judged against its peer group?  Is a unique visitor the same as a phone-in, a qualified lead or paid introduction? 

Stay tuned folks. You live in exciting times.

http://domainstate.com/showthread.php3?s=8444324b3e3a6a31b47609a0ffc57499&threadid=84905

We can all feel the changes reverberate across the Web..  Domain names registered by small registrants and large aggregators who create content and take eyeballs/market share away from established media/content co’s are the ultimate disruptive technology. It’s a great time to be in this industry..  I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens.

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

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.

Everyone is Doing It

http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/12/07/everybodys-doing-it/

***FS*** Investing in domain names that is

Domain Valuations : Chris Stewart

Domain Value (DV)=Traffic Value (TV)+Brand Value
(BV)+Utility Value (UV)+Discretionary Value (DiV) : Part 1
http://marketforlemons.com/?p=5

Via.com sells for 157,000.

(scroll down.) http://www.domainstate.com/showthread.php3?s=bf857a50211d7889c72645f54b38beb6&threadid=84867  Great name to build on.  Good price for buyer (fully valued for name-investor), esp if they are going to develop.  Via would be a good name  for a search engine or some kind of portal.  Lot of other possibilities.  Has meaning in multiple languages.

 From Danno:

AfternicDLS Member Sells UI.com for $275K (nice story)

http://afternicdlsblog.com/2007/12/07/afternic-success-story-uicom-sells-for-275k/

 ***FS***  Still sooo much untapped opportunity in the name business for those who care to try. 

iREIT leaves the ICA

(Scroll down at the link.)
http://dnjournal.com/newsletters/2007/november.htm

***FS***  It was really more Bob Martin who was behind iReit’s participation in the ICA..  with Bob gone it’s no surprise the group dropped out.

Sedo.com now shows that invest.com sold for $ 1,015,000.

http://www.greatdomains.com/auction/auction_history.php?language=us&auction_id=21998&tracked=&partnerid=32392  Josh says :  I think the buyer got a good deal. You can buy a parking spot in Central London for  $50,000 - $90,000 and in some cases you’ll pay considerable monthly fees on it.  And to go with your parking space, you can buy this 3 bedroom, 3 bedroom flat for $13,000,000. http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&pid=059058&agentid=07711
Renewal fee each year on invest.com: $ 7.50 . Taxes and maintenance costs on your $13,000,000 flat in London: Priceless.

***FS***  Agree with J’man’s logic but as a wildcat investor (me) who has to front the 1mm,  the carrying charge is about 70k a year.. so I’d say the name’s fully valued from an invetor’s perspective.

Considerable controversy around the sale of Music.mobi.

Excerpt: “Constantine Giorgio Roussos thought he was the winner of Music.mobi in yesterday’s.mobi auction at Sedo. He bid $66,000. The auction ended and he received an automated invoice from Sedo. He then received a  “personal” e-mail from a Sedo employee (which also may have been automated). But then something happened. Sedo extended the auction due to a server slowdown in the final minutes of the auction.” The name was then sold to someone else who bid $616,000.  http://domainnamewire.com/2007/12/07/musicmobi-winner-vows-lawsuit-against-sedo/

***FS*** This is the classic fight over nothing.  Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a publicity stunt.

Opportunity Cost of Lost Opportunities.

Interesting article by Elliot Silver.  Sometimes you “overpay” now, and benefit later.  Perhaps you never overpaid in the first place. http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/12/07/opportunity-cost-of-lost-opportunities/

***FS***  Historically speaking, if the name was generic and got type-in-traffic, it was very hard to loose money in the domain biz..  the market has consistently caught up to your overpayment..  That won’t go on forever tho.

Light of Logic Creeping Through

New York Times David Pogue blasts companies that have chosen wierd and hard to remember company names.He points out plenty of hard to remember names. Trulia and Zillow are two better examples than “Fark” which is witty enough.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/technology/personaltech/06pogue-email.html?ex=1354683600&en=e08b6ea2e4dad1dd&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Danno Sends Related

Seussical-Sounding Web Site Names

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/the-dr-seuss-jumble-naming-web-sites/?hp 

***FS*** Nice to see people having that..  “hayyy… waita minute.  “  moment of logic setting in.  Most Web2 names are awful.

Eric Litman becomes Managing Director of WashingtonVC.

http://www.domainnews.com/general/2007120709/eric-litman-becomes-managing-director-of-washingtonvc/#more-1890

***FS***  Congrats Eric.

Where’s the money?

Excerpt: “”The venture (capital) industry is headed into a wall. All the best companies are being sold,” Deninger said. “For seven straight years, the number of companies going public has declined. That means the number of (prospective) buyers is also declining. Eventually, the VCs will have fewer companies that they can sell their companies to.”"  http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9830529-7.html?tag=nefd.blgs

***FS*** Blame SarbOx man ..  People are getting sloppy overpaying for nothing and the good stuff never sees the light of day..  Irony: Rules meant to protect investors only serve to make the rich richer and give said investors fewer opportunities.

Invest.com bid up to 431k at Auction

auction is still live. 4 hours to go, as of 10 a.m. EST. Friday, Dec 6, 07  Reserve is 200,000 - 499,999. http://www.greatdomains.com/auction/auction_detail.php?language=us&auction_id=21998&tracked=&partnerid=32392

***FS***  Great name..  This is fully valued from a wildcat-return investor’s perspective.

Which domain extensions have increased in value the fastest. 

Between 2004 - 2007. http://www.domainbits.com/increase-value All the data:  http://www.domainbits.com/data

***FS***Summary:  Buy .com’s

Whizzbang: Where to buy domains.

http://www.whizzbangsblog.com/content/view/335/86/

***FS*** still find deals on SEDO.com,  Afternic.com and GreatDomains.com

Verisign states that 146 million domain names registered across all TLD’s.

12 million in the last quarter. http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2007/dailyposts/12-05-07.htm Josh

***FS***  Most of the 12mm new names were discovered through tasting ..  and (very very important) only 5-10% of all 146mm names are worth anything whatsoever.. to any more than one distinctive entity.  That means there are just 7 - 14 million investment grade names available to the world.. How many do you own?

Alvaro Albarracin goes on a .mobi speculation shopping spree.

http://www.conceptualist.com/2007/12/06/alvaro-albarracin-breaks-dotmobi-sales-record/

MUSIC.MOBI = USD 616K
GAMES.MOBI = USD 401K
SPORTS.MOBI = USD 101K
MOVIES.MOBI = USD 82K
PHOTOS.MOBI = USD 51K
VIDEOS.MOBI = USD 51K

Alvaro says “I am not planning on developing these names,  I am planing on selling these sometime in the near  future.” .. 

***FS***Sell Alvaro ..  run like the wind and sell.  This man will be joining Dr. Van Neeste in the land of irrelevance shortly

Pubcon coverage.  Domaining.

Effective Domain name strategies  http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/015575.html

***FS***  These are good beginnings..  bet that a handful of folks had the light-bulb domaining moment.. 

Domains and trademarks.

Clark Walton, Esq. - Domain Name Law http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/015574.html

***FS***  Synopsis of presentation provides interesting insight into lawyer’s thinking, tactics.. Most domainers I know don’t run from lawyers.. They have lawyers too  :)  In 7 years I’ve found that you are more likely to be challenged by an over-reaching lawyer on a legitimate registration that you are to be backed into a corner over a name you really shouldn’t own.

Bruce Clay’s take on Richard Rosenblatt’s keynote

http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/archives/2007/12/keynote_address.html

***FS***  I like Richard Rosenblatt..  He’s a one in ten million character..  One of the most charismatic people I have ever drank Patron with / met.

Pubcon coverage links above via Sahar.

http://www.conceptualist.com/2007/12/06/pubcon-coverage-effective-domaining-strategies/

***FS***  Thanks Sahar!

Domain industry events listed.  Til May 2008.

http://www.domainnews.com/industry-events/

***FS***Nice summary to bookmark on DomainNews.com

Domain Truffles.

Josh says: Michael Berkens talks about domains as commodities and collectibles.  As well, he highlights the notion of quality by briefly discussing buying oil paintings at a flea market as compared to going to Art Basel in Miami, where 500 million dollars worth of art is expected to sell in just 4 days. He likes truffles, too.  Btw, Michael, it was a dog and not a pig that found the giant truffle that recently sold at auction in Macau. http://www.thedomains.com/2007/12/05/domain-truffles-2/

***FS***Berkens is an attorney turned domainer..  He has great insight into the value proposition that meaningful generic names represent.  Love the truffle analogy Mike.

Moniker Pubcon auction results.

Monte continues to move auctions outside of the  domain investment community.  That’s a good thing. http://www.domainstate.com/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=84850
GrandPa.com - $55,000
FamilyServices.com - $45,000
MortgageRates.org — $17,000
BlindDating.com — $14,000
ComputerDiscounts.com - $10,000
More sales results of other names here: http://www.domainnamenews.com/events/moniker-pubcon-2007-auction-results/1328#more-1328

Tips for finding brandable domain names. 

by Bill Eisenmann.
Excerpt: “”Not everyone is looking for keyword rich, generic domain names. Many Internet startups are looking for a simple, catchy name or phrase to build their online identity around. Brandable, web 2.0 style domain names have gained popularity in recent years mostly due to the explosion of social-networking sites. http://availabledomainnames.com/2007/tips-for-finding-brandable-domain-names/

***FS***  Everybody wants traffic..  Everybody..  Whether they say it or not..  whether they know it or not..  nobody wakes up in the morning, says “I want to start a website that nobody will visit”.  Nothing happens on the Internet without traffic.  Generic keyword style domain names get a primer-level of organic type in traffic for nothing more than the keyword weight or gravity of the name itself.  Those are the “catchy”, “brandable” and “cool-sounding” names which constitute the 5-10% of all names registered which are worth anything at all..  Those are the names you want.

Domain Tools Auction

Jay responds to auction criticisms, reduces after auction pricing reduction for names that don’t sell to 10% reduction from previously stated 20% reduction, and drops his commission to 9 % from 10%. http://blog.domaintools.com/2007/12/auction-rules/

Joshsays: Read the post for more details and other info.  One of the things that Jay says is they they will do alot of pre auction promotion, to generate interest.  Thing is, the cut off date for name submissions is Christmas eve, and the auction is on January 3rd.  ?. Jay retains exclusive rights to sell the domain for 60 days after the auction.

***FS***  It’s his sandbox..  and he needs some kind of tool to discourage off-block sales after auction close.  Understand the sellers POV too tho.

Facebook bows to pressure about Beacon Ads.

Allows users to turn them off completely.  How many will turn it off?  Choice. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9051119&intsrc=hm_ts_head
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/12/05/2114247.shtml

***FS***  Josh Quitner was unfairly silenced on this..  It’s Facebook who deserved the slap-down IMO.  http://valleywag.com/tech/media/facebooks-foolish-foes-330424.php

Nokia to continue to invest in online services

.. to add value to their phones. http://www.news.com/Nokia-sets-eyes-on-Internet-to-support-handsets/2100-1039_3-6221589.html?tag=nefd.top

***FS***  Nokia is in trouble long-term..  They don’t have the software..  Anyone can make hardware.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39291329,00.htm

This is the kind of direction we need to see more of..  It’s an unhealthy and unsafe dynamic when brand holders can beat you up because you told the world “their brand stinks” via a website which incorporates their brand-name.  Taken to it’s illogical conclusion, we’d have to invent codewords to talk about the products and services we dislike. 

“”There is a certain inevitability” that more and more of the sites will be allowed, according to Wilbers. Companies will have to go along with it, he said, because there are too many sites and alternate sub-domains to police their branding effectively.

“Whether they like it or not, the internet is being used for such purposes,”"

Ya gotta love Free-speech.  Power to the people..  What the Internet is all about.

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://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.

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/ ”"

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.

Guy.com

Sells for 1 million. 3 letter .com’s with good/great useable meaning are rare. Another compelling week for reported sales. .Net and .Org are the steady climbers. From:  DN journal weekly domain sale reports.http://dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm 

***FS***  I remember men.com selling for 1mm couple of years back.. Men.com is 100X better than Guy.com ..  There’s the domain biz in a nutshell.

Classmates.com filing for IPO.

http://www.domainnews.com/general/2007112804/classmatescom-filing-for-ipo/ 

***FS***  50 million signups and 3 million paid users like the name or don’t care what it’s called. Many folks aren’t crazy about it (the name).

Revenue domains. 

What should you pay?  : Whizzbang.  http://www.whizzbangsblog.com/content/view/328/1/  Gilmour keeps ‘em coming. Here he gives rough
estimates as to what he thinks revenue domains are worth, purely based on the rev, and not the potential brand value of the name.  He wades into potentially TM infringing names territory and different types of non infringing generics.

***FS***  I remember Rick Schwartz offering $8 per unique per month back in the early days ..  or maybe it was per week..  Anyway,  what a long way we’ve come.  Expect other investors to start paying closer attention to this stuff after the Name Media IPO.

Dell vs. Florida Registrars.

http://blog.domaintools.com/2007/11/dell-vs-florida-registrars/  Josh says: Domain tasting or testing is not inherently a bad thing.  It depends on how it’s used.  Example: If you are setting up a blog or a start up company and are trying to figure out what name to use, you might brainstorm 50-100 different names, or more.  Considering how blisteringly fast names are being registered, I don’t see anything inherently wrong with registering those names ASAP, and then deleting those you don’t want during the 5 day taste/test period.  Having a small charge for doing so seems reasonable to me.  There’s a difference between the bathwater and the baby.

***FS*** I’m inclined to agree …  this is a different issue though..  second hand chatter alleges kiting obvious marks between registrars, large scale tasting and keeping deliberate TM’s without screening.. etc.  Haven’t read the whole complaint,  but this is a big action.  Here’s to hoping for a peaceful and amicable settlement that makes the space better.

Elliot offers up to $50,000 for a US city .com domain;

population should be 50,000 or higher.   (”city”.com,  nothing else.)

http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/11/27/wanted-us-city-com-domain-name/

***FS*** It wasn’t that long ago that one could have probably got a name like this for much less.  Is this a bubble price, or reflective of the importance of the Geo space?  Josh says the latter.  (It’s worth noting that he’s a big fan of geo and thinks geo is very compelling.) I’m a big Geo fan too..  but some of this is just related to inflation..  We live in a world awash in US Dollars. Some of that “money supply”/liquidity phenomenon is making itself felt in in the domain business,  although it’s a lot less than in other sectors.

WeAreSanDiego.com sold to San Diego Union-Tribune.

Seller is Stephen Webb. http://www.domainnews.com/general/2007112723/san-diego-union-tribune-purchases-wearesandiegocom/ Some folks mocked Stephen Webb when he recently launched IamDomainNames.com.  He’s now leasing IamSeattle.com to the Seattle Space Needle folks. He just may have struck a likeable little vein here. Congrats to Stephen!  As an aside..  I see the day when the flurry of derals like this (domainers selling names to traditional media) is so thick and wide that it no longer can be reported in detail like this.
 

Brookstone.com offers realtime 3d store walkthrus.

(Uses Kinset.) http://kinset.com/brookstone.php  Many web spaces/sites in the future may be realtime 3D.  The smart ones will continue to offer 2D as well as 3D.  The viewer will decide what they are in the mood for.  Currently, most realtime 3d on the web still has that cartoonish look. In 2-5 years, full blown photo realistic/cinema realistic 3D will be here on off the shelf desktops and laptops. 

Josh says: ”"I’ve been waiting for this for over 20 years.  I’m old.”"    ***FS*** You and me both bub.

Valleywag: Scripps to sell Shopzilla.

They paid 525 million.  They want 525 million. http://valleywag.com/tech/shopzilla/scripps-to-sell-its-search-engine-327209.php 

***FS*** I go to So Cal with my family at Christmas and Scrips has educational institutions and charitable stuff going on all-over San Diego.  It’s a good thing Scripps has a lot of money ..  they bought a bag of smoke when they bought Shopzilla and they are now trying to find another party to hold that bag.  You should have bought domain names folks because:

A) You would have an asset with burn-down value

B) You would have made money on that asset

C)  That asset would pay you dividends without the moving parts of thousands of staff  ..  and.. *drum-roll* 

D)  You probably wouldn’t be Selling that kind of asset.  I should really charge for this info…  sheesh.

RentYourSoul.com

Start up company guy wants to rent your soul for a week.  Swears he’s not the devil.  Will give you 10 bucks and donate 10 bucks to a charity of your choice, selected from his list. http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9824150-7.html?tag=nefd.only 

***FS***  Anything that gets people giving is a good thing.  I read this story and donated $1000 online to World Vision.  You should give too..  Because if you read this far down my linkfest, you’re probably a serious domainer and are making a pretty good living..  You’re blessed..  Count yourself lucky and pay something forward today.

Netsol releases white paper: Pros and Cons of Pay per Click vs. SEO.

***FS*** Why would a registrar go to all the trouble of writing a white paper on this stuff?  It’s not to sell more domains, that’s for sure..  I smell a shift happening..  Registrar’s are worse copycats than Domainers..  Watch what happens at Godaddy / Tucows / Enom if Netsol gets any traction with this stuff.

http://www.domainnews.com/aftermarket/2007112619/network-solutions%c2%ae-releases-white-paper-detailing-pros-and-cons-of-pay-per-click-advertising-and-search-engine-optimization/

Download the white paper here. http://bpmforms.networksolutions.com/whitepaper-ppc-vs-seo.html?OriginationPage=pressrelease&CampaignName=ppc-vs-seo-20071112

Related:

Netsol offers whois ad space for domain owners that use netsol.  $12 fee. http://www.domainnamenews.com/featured/network-solutions-enhanced-whois-listings-provide-advertising-to-1-million-per-day/1315   ***FS*** Don’t other registrars off this?..  For free?..  More rev grab.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071126.wgtmedia1126/BNStory/Technology/home

Excerpt: “”Experts say advertisers need to remain competitive in a tightening market while keeping costs down, making them likely to boost spending in areas more directly linked to commerce, such as Web search queries. That would benefit companies like Google Inc., Amazon.com
Inc. and eBay Inc. But television networks like CBS or NBC and Web companies like Yahoo Inc. that rely on brand advertising could suffer. “We see continued strength in paid search and continued strength in retail e-commerce, and possibly an acceleration of online video,” said Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay.”"

***FS***  I see Yahoo as being in a great position,  they have my domains, others, error-search from Verizon, others..  These guys have so much potential if they could just use the parts better..  I serve Yahoo ads more than a million times a day, nobody knows though because Yahoo! has been so overly cautious about displaying “powered by Yahoo!” in the search box..  What has Google done?  They have put “ads by Google” across nearly every site that will have them..  and that reach has helped it to grow it’s advertiser base..  How many eating disorder clinics would run to Yahoo to advertise with them if they’d just place a ghosted Yahoo bug in the search-box at EatingDisorders.com? or a “click here to advertise” button to lead folks in?  Tens of millions of collective visits a day and nobody knows the network is powered by Yahoo!..  such a lost opportunity to brand your search..  Yahoo has the pieces, they have the good intentions..  they just need to execute better.  And quicker…  and stop coddling their brand to their share price’s detriment.

The networks have the money but they keep getting led astray ..  buying indefensible pieces..  businesses without burn-down value and other assorted bags of smoke. The net is surprisingly simple..  Traditional media outlets overthing the opportunities and fail to execute, or overpay for the pieces they do buy.  JMO

Godaddy

Go Daddy asks how to improve their signature auctions:  Elliot puts his mind to work and posts up a three point plan. http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/11/27/godaddy-tell-us-how-to-improve-signature-auctions/
 

Domain Speculation Pointers.

http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/11/26/domain-speculation-pointers/

***FS*** Elliot goes into depth.  Focus of this article is brand spanking new registrations. I thought all good names were already taken? :)  Everything but new vernacular is gon gone gone. Then again..  reading the 1950’s era popular Mechanics at a family member’s house shows how much language changes..  and how much it stay’s the same.  Fad’s come and go, trends stay with us and big generic words/phrases will be with us forever.  It’s your job Mr. Domainer to understand the difference. That’s where the money comes from.
 

Total Names Registered

There are more than 96 million “active” domain names on
the Net. http://www.domainnews.com/general/2007112714/domain-counts-and-ip-statistics/

***FS***  all but 5-7% are total crap or only have value to a sole distinctive entity.  That’s why domains are scarce.  Rubber hits the road here
 

Domain Gospel

Sahar points to Domink Mueller evangelizing to non domainers about domain names.  http://www.conceptualist.com/2007/11/26/economic-101-the-domain-version/

***FS*** Sometimes when I evangelize the space it can be self serving in the sense that the more folks who know about the space the more it helps my portfolio..  But if you look at it honestly..  pumping the space doesn’t help individual names that much..  There is something instinctively rewarding about being altruistic, helping another person, giving back and making a friend.
 

Diamonds Domains are Forever

Sahar compares the marketing of diamonds to the potential marketing of domains. http://www.conceptualist.com/2007/11/26/a-domain-or/

***FS***  This is a great analogy..  grading of domains is subtle.. little one character diffeences can amount to millions of dollars in price swings per name, just like diamonds.  Difference is that we don’t ‘need’ diamonds so much..  A bad economy and we’re going lower quality stones or CZ..  Own some of the 5-7 million domains that mean anything whatsoever and it’s a totally different ballgame.  We “need” those.
 

Sell!!

Affiliate.us gets 120,000 Euro bid at sedo auction. Has met it’s reserve. Zimbabwe.com at 130,000.  Has met it’s reserve. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/11/26/affiliateus-gets-eur-120000-bid/

***FS*** Be interesting to see if the Affiliate.us bidder is legit. Sell all day long at that dollar.  Zimbabwe.com is fair value.. IMO  ..  might still have some headroom but not for wildcat returns.

I Thought I bought This Name

Holiday domains.  SaintNick.com up for auction on Nov 29/07. http://www.domainnamenews.com/domain-sales/tis-the-season-to-buy-a-holiday-domain-name/1314

***FS***  Really!.. verno?
 

Country Code Domains

.BB redelegated to Barbados gov. Had been under management with the local office of Cable and Wireless. http://www.domainnews.com/icann/2007112622/icann-voted-to-redelegate-bb-to-the-government-of-barbados/

***FS***  Two consecutive characters might be easier to type, but they look funny and doesn’t sound right for the Country…  I live in Cayman where the Country code is .KY and so many people confuse us with Kentucky USA.  I think if country codes sounded like the Country (.CAY .BAR) they would sell way better, more people would use them.

China Rising

ICANN release 6 week IDNwili Report of user stats. Includes % share of use based on language. Highest is Chinese at 40.76 % share. http://blog.icann.org/?p=239

***FS*** A billion Chinese can’t be wrong

Do Evil.

Google stock share hits 666, and Sahar has some fun. http://www.conceptualist.com/2007/11/26/do-evil/

***FS***  Saw this yesterday..  had lots of fun with it..  What are the odds that it closes at exactly that to the penny anyway?  Would have been even weirder with 66 cents.
 

G-Storage

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119612660573504716.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news

***FS***  Throw enough stuff at the wall and something’s bound to stick.
 

‘Real’ Human People

Dotster offers live SEO consultations with “real” humans. http://www.domaininformer.com/news/news/071127Dotster.html

***FS***  Aaron Wall should offer “Extreme-VIP”  SEO  phone consultations at $20 a minute  ..  nice sideline
 

Cartoonist pokes Facebook.

http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/004355.html

***FS***  This is just funny.  Sometimes when the masses are ‘unsure’ or ‘listless’, those masses can be easily led astray..  true in life..  true for Facebook.

Seed Money 

Sendori gets more funding from First Round Capital, Baseline Ventures and Maples Investments. Compelling model that Sendori. http://www.personalbee.com/261/23600663

Domain Wire Mag

New issue online. (PDF) This issue contains an overview of the Domain Name System, an update on the Internet Governance Forum and everything you always wanted to know about Internationalised Domain Names. (Plus more.)https://www.centr.org/main/domainwire/3656-CTR.html Published by Centr.org: Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries

Dave Zan

Warns about inadvertently using parked pages when you’ve just bought a new domain name and it auto points to the parked pages of the company you registered the name with because you are using their nameservers by default. http://davezan.com/2007/domain-registrar-parking-pages-2-reasons-not-to-use-themSame goes with using free DNS with certain companies like mydomain.com.  If you point your new name at
mydomain.com servers, but haven’t set up the domain in your account with them, it will default to a parked page.

Gift Ideas for Domainers 

Different gift ideas to give domainers for the holidays. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/11/25/a-domainers-christmas-list/

Practical Domain Stuff

How Bodog lost, and then won by getting it’s traffic to come to it’s new domain name. http://www.domainersgazette.com/how-bodogcom-lost-and-eventually-won/

Thank-you God!!

Domainer gives thanks for being given the opportunity work in the domain business. http://www.domainersgazette.com/a-domainer-gives-thanks/  ***FS***  I give thanks each and every day

Retail

Online sales on Black Friday jump again. http://www.domainstate.com/showthread.php3?s=0a7476befc9215a5b98237ef145cd9be&threadid=84502

Online Retail

Cyber Monday/today is post-Thanksgiving web shopping sales day.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/23/news/companies/cybermonday.moneymag/index.htm?cnn=yes

The Real World..  and the Web

Web research drives brick and mortar purchases http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/web-research-drives-more-real-world-purchases/index.html

Picking up Chix..  It’s Marketing Baby

What marketers can learn from pick up artists and peacocking  http://www.shoemoney.com/2007/11/25/things-internet-marketers-can-learn-from-the-pickup-artist/  via Sahar:  (check out his pic of Roselyn Sanchez) Sahar: “In addition , I love women, the pursuit, challenge, understanding. As mystery says: “You should always appreciate beauty but never be distracted by it”. http://www.conceptualist.com/2007/11/25/shoemoney-things-internet-marketers-can-learn-from-the-pickup-artist/

TechCrunch on Facebook

Big Brother Facebook: Does anybody care? http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/25/big-brother-facebook-does-anyone-care/

Sahar

Sahar thinks a domain kiosk idea should be worked on now, not later. http://www.conceptualist.com/2007/11/24/frank-schilling-innovating-distribution-reach-and-retail-name-liquidity/

…..   If you read this far..  you’re more up to date on paid search and domain names than 99.99% of the population. 

 http://www.dnjournal.co